The disclosure relates to systems and methods for detecting when a microelectronic substrate is no longer properly secured or lost from a rotating chuck. A microelectronic substrate may be secured to a rotating chuck that may rotate the substrate when exposing the substrate to the chemicals during a treatment in a process chamber. The rotating chuck may include one or more detectors to detect the position of a gripping mechanism that secure the microelectronic substrate. The detectors may generate an electrical signal that correlates to the position of the microelectronic substrate. When the electrical signal(s) exceed a threshold the system may stop rotating the chuck to prevent additional damage to the process chamber.

Integrated circuits (ICs) may be formed on microelectronic substrates, such as semiconductor substrates, with ever increasing density of active components. The ICs may be formed through successive process treatments that form structures that perform electrical functions as needed. The processing of the microelectronic substrates may be automated to secure and treat the microelectronic substrate in a controlled manner. One aspect may include rotating the microelectronic substrate during treatment or processing. The rotation may enable more uniform processing across the microelectronic substrate. However, the rotation speed may be relatively high, such that if the microelectronic substrate becomes unsecured the substrate may break and the processing equipment may be damaged. Hence, it may be desirable to determine when the microelectronic substrate becomes unsecured and to disable the rotation mechanism to reduce the possibility of substrate breakage and to prevent or minimize damage to the equipment caused by the loose microelectronic substrate.

Detection of lost wafer from spinning chuck


An internally ventilated motor vehicle brake disc which includes at least in parts of a fiber composite material, having two parallel friction surfaces on one or more friction rings with cooling channels, wherein the friction ring or rings are arranged on a brake disc hub in a non-rotating manner, and wherein the two friction surfaces include fiber composite material, a disc-shaped carrier for the friction surfaces is provided parallel to the friction surfaces, and wherein the carrier is connected to the brake disc hub as one piece.

Brake disks which have internally ventilated carbon-ceramic friction rings are known from motor sport and from Bremsenhandbuch (Brake Handbook), Springer Verlag 2006, Breuer/Bill, page 420-426, which is incorporated by reference. A friction ring is formed from CMC material (Ceramic Matrix Composite). For this purpose, randomly oriented, short-staple carbon fibers are embedded in a silicon carbide matrix. The finished friction ring is screwed or clamped interchangeably on a brake disk hub made from stainless steel or aluminum material. Throughput and production are capable of improvement.
An integral motor vehicle brake disk of the type in question is known from DE 42 37 655 A1, which is incorporated by reference. In this case, two friction rings are connected to one another, wherein an outer friction ring consists of a fiber composite material and an inner friction ring together with the brake disk hub consists of a gray cast iron material, making it possible to obtain a tribologically favorable and also thermally durable composite construction with an improved weight balance. Countersunk rivets, in particular hollow rivets, are used to connect the friction rings.
The thermal performance of a brake system is primarily determined by the energy balance thereof in the region of the brake disks. In the case of conventional metallic brake disks, the phenomenon referred to as bowing under the effect of high temperature, in particular, can lead to unwanted vibration or uneven wear on brake pads. The connection between the brake disk hub and the friction ring is therefore particularly important. Sometimes, a separate design using different materials is recommended, additionally increasing the outlay on construction and complexity. Moreover, the geometry requirements on the brake disks have become considerably more stringent, given the high cost pressure and the necessary saving in weight, and it is therefore an object of the present invention to propose a further improved built-up motor vehicle brake disk of lightweight construction which takes particular account of the energy balance of sophisticated, particularly high-performance motor vehicles and allows lower-cost large-volume production.

Internally ventilated motor vehicle brake disc made of fibre composite material


A method and system for web-based document service are provided. The method in the cloud side may include: receiving the data backed up automatically, retrieving the visual appearance of the backed up data and saving the retrieved visual appearance into a universal data and storing the universal data in cloud side, converting the universal data into a format supported browser.

Nowadays, cloud services have become a trend. There are several kinds of cloud services that can be used to handle documents. Google Docs is the most featured one, and allows users to manually upload their documents to the cloud, and view, edit and share documents in the cloud. But Google Docs cannot automatically upload desktop (PC, Mac, etc.) documents to the cloud. Even though you manually upload your document to the cloud, the uploaded document often looks slightly or even extremely different than the original desktop document. This is because Google converts the uploaded document to Google's format, but its conversion technology cannot retain the layout (or visual appearance) of the original document.
Dropbox is another successful document cloud service. Dropbox users need to install Dropbox client software on every device (PC, Mac, cell phone, iPad) they use. Dropbox's client software then creates a Dropbox folder, all Dropbox folders owned by the same user are synced (so the user always has the same files), and then the user can drop a file into the Dropbox folder on any of his devices in order to use it later in another device. But Dropbox only provides a document storage service. It doesn't provide viewing or editing functions, and users must install the desktop software (e.g., MS Office) to open documents stored in the Dropbox folder. Furthermore, the Dropbox folder is a specific folder created by Dropbox, so users cannot access any documents that are not stored in the Dropbox folder in the cloud.
Google Docs, Dropbox and all other document cloud services do not allow users to view their own documents through a web browser only, and also cannot provide a document in the browser that looks exactly the same as it does on the desktop.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.

Method and system of web-based document service


Methods and apparatus are disclosed to provision virtual machine resources. An example method includes labeling a copy of memory associated with an established virtual machine with an execution status based on an architecture type associated with the copy, and constraining a fetch operation in response to a page fault to a labeled portion of the copy that matches an architecture type of a received processor instruction.

In recent years, cloud computing services have been developed and deployed that allow customers to utilize computing resources without making capital expenditures to acquire such computing resources. Typically, a cloud computing service provider configures one or more computers and/or computer systems having at least one processor, memory storage and network access to the one or more computers and/or computer systems. These cloud computer systems may include any number of processors, memories and/or network access devices (e.g., network interface card(s) (NICs)) to allow any number of customers access to services provided by the computer systems. Services may include, but are not limited to, numerical processing, commercial transaction processing and/or web hosting.
In some examples, the cloud computing service provider configures the computer systems with one or more virtual machines (VMs) to service the one or more customers' computing needs. Generally speaking, VMs are virtual instances of an operating system that execute on underlying hardware resources in a time-sliced manner. A VM user is provided with computing services, such as an operating system user interface, storage space and/or applications (e.g., database query engines, numerical processing applications, graphical processing applications, web server applications, etc.) that are logically separated from any other instantiated VMs operating on the underlying hardware resources managed by the cloud computing service provider.

Tagging a copy of memory of a virtual machine with information for fetching of relevant portions of the memory

The Governing Council of the University of Toronto


A ligation clip module of unitary construction adapted for use with a ligation clip applicator for housing and applying a ligation clip around a vessel. The ligation clip module comprises a module housing, ligation clip and pusher. The module housing forms a cavity having a first and second channels therein that house the ligation clip and pusher therein. The ligation clip includes a Y-shaped clip track having two extended arms and a U-shaped clip body with an extended slot for slidably engaging the clip track and closing the arms of the clip track about the vessel during application by the applicator. The module housing includes a frustoconical section with opposing tapered beveled portions that enhance visibility along the longitudinal axis of the module housing and a reduced diameter section that is adapted for attachment to the applicator. In operation, the module is attached to a distal neck portion of the applicator wherein an advancing element of the applicator forces the pusher inside the module housing forward through the two channels. The pusher then engages the proximal end of the clip body which slides over the clip track, thereby ligating the vessel between the two arms of the track.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a medical instrument for use with a surgical ligation clip applicator. More particularly, the invention is directed to a unitary single-fire module for housing a two-part ligation clip for securing and closing the two-part ligation clip around a vessel to be occluded.
2. Prior Art
A surgical ligation clip is used to compress a severed blood vessel to stop the flow of blood. The single-fire module of the subject invention is particularly designed for housing and applying a two-part surgical ligation clip. The first part comprises generally a Y-shaped clamp or track having two extended arms for fitting around a vessel to be ligated. The second part is a U-shaped clip body with an extended slot for slidably engaging the track and closing the arms of the clip track about the vessel. Ligation clips of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,937 and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,283, both of which are assigned to the assignee of the subject invention and are incorporated herein by reference.
There are many types of known modules for use with mechanical applicators for closing a conventional ligation clip around a vessel. The module can be attached to the distal end of the mechanical applicator by a spring loaded latch as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,304 or other type of latching means which attachably secures the module to the applicator. Several examples of other known applicators include the so-called push-pull type, which uses a plunger or a piston, or a fulcrum type applicator having scissors-like or pliers-like handle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,304 discloses a preferred single-fire mechanical applicator for use with the subject invention and is incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,304 further discloses a prior art single-fire module for housing the two-part ligation clip prior to application. The prior art module holds the clip track of the ligation clip in a stationary position as an advancing pusher at the proximal end of the module moves the sliding clip body of the ligation clip forward in order to compress the clip track around a vessel of a patient. The prior art module comprises two substantially identical cartridge halves that are joined together by integral alignment pins that align the two halves together so that the two halves may be welded securely together during manufacturing. Upper and lower metal latches, each having an integral spring and opposing trunions, are housed inside the middle portion of the module and pivot in holes formed in each cartridge halve. The integral springs press against ribs also formed inside each cartridge halve and urge the proximal ends of the metal latches toward each other so that the metal latches are compressively housed inside the module. A prior art pusher is also provided at a proximal end opening of the module for actuating the two-part ligation clip when the applicator is actuated by the user. The latches are also provided with a V-shaped end portion which engages opposing grooves formed on either side of the prior art pusher for retaining the pusher inside the cartridge housing.
Although the above prior art module provides an efficient and advantageous means of occluding a vessel with a two-part ligation clip, several disadvantages remain. The prior art module is costly to manufacture because of the different parts that must be manufactured and put together during assembly. Specifically, the metal latches with their cantilevered compression springs are costly to manufacture and time-consuming to assemble into the prior module since this must be done manually. Further, the prior art module can tend to jam due to the metal latches being improperly assembled or defects that occur during manufacturing of the metal latches. Finally, the prior art module has a wide profile along its longitudinal axis which may block or interfere with the user's view of the vessel during application of the two-part clip, with the applicator.
There therefore exists a need in the art for a unitary single-piece module for housing and applying a ligation clip in which the module is of a single unitary design with no separate parts therein. There also exists a need in the art for a single-piece module that is less costly to manufacture and requires little or no assembly during manufacturing. Finally, there also exists a need for a single-piece module housing having a low profile that permits clearer viewing of a vessel during ligation.


A printing apparatus having plural printing paper loading devices and a main controller. Each of the printing paper loading devices has a sub-controller to generate a test signal, and an inverting circuit of an open collector type to generate an output signal by performing an inverting operation with respect to an input signal. The printing paper loading devices are consecutively connected so that the output signal of one of the printing paper loading devices becomes the input signal input into another of the printing paper loading devices. The inverting circuit outputs a low level signal regardless of the level of the test signal when the input signal is high level, and outputs a signal of a same level as the test signal when the input signal is of the low level. Each of the sub-controllers sets its own ID based on the level of the output signal of the printing paper loading device corresponding thereto. The main controller receives the IDs set by the sub-controllers through a common bus. As the IDs of the printing paper loading devices are automatically set, a user does not have to set the IDs. In addition, malfunction of the printing apparatus caused by mistakes in setting the IDs can be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus such as a printer or a photocopying machine, and more particularly, to a printing apparatus having plural printing paper loading devices to store printing papers, and a method of setting IDs of the plural printing paper loading devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
A printing apparatus such as a printer or a photocopying machine to output letters and pictures on printing papers has a printing paper loading device to store papers used in printing. When the printing apparatus performs the printing, the printing papers stored in the printing paper loading device are taken out by a printing paper delivery device, such as a roller, and are transmitted to a printing unit. Known designs include a printing apparatus having plural printing paper loading devices. Since various types of printing papers can be loaded into the plural printing paper loading devices, a user can select the proper size and type of paper for the particular print job.
The printing apparatus having the plural printing paper loading devices has a selection means for the user to select a desired printing paper loading device from among the numerous printing paper loading devices. For example, when the user selects one of the printing paper loading devices by using a manipulation button provided on a manipulation panel of the printing apparatus, a printing paper loaded in the selected printing paper loading device is used during the printing operation.
However, in the printing apparatus having the plural printing paper loading devices, IDs (Identification Codes) for each of the printing paper loading devices should be set in advance before the user inputs a selection command with respect to the printing paper loading devices. The printing paper loading devices are consecutively given numbers, starting at 1. For example, 1 is given to a printing paper loading device placed at the highest position, and 2 is given to a next printing paper loading device. The IDs can be set while the printing paper loading devices are being manufactured, or can be set afterwards for the user's convenience when the printing paper loading devices are additionally installed in accordance with the user's needs.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the conventional printing apparatus having conventional plural printing paper loading devices. The printing apparatus in FIG. 1 has three printing paper loading devices. The printing apparatus includes a main controller 10, first through third printing paper loading devices 20A–20C, and first through third cassette controllers 22, 24 and 26 respectively disposed in the printing paper loading devices 20A–20C.
The main controller 10 controls overall operations related to printing, such as interfacing printing data with a host connected with the printing apparatus, data processing, controlling various motors, and controlling various sensors. The first through third cassette controllers 22, 24 and 26 are independently connected with the main controller 10 through three data buses 15a, 15b and 15c. The controllers 22, 24 and 26 control the operation of a printing paper delivery motor (not shown) and a printing paper delivery sensor (not shown) in each of the printing paper loading devices 20A–20C, in accordance with a command transmitted from the main controller 10.
In the above printing apparatus, the data buses 15a, 15b and 15c are allocated to each of the printing paper loading devices 20A–20C. Accordingly, the main controller 10 can set the IDs with respect to each of the first through third printing paper loading devices 20A–20C.
FIG. 2 is a view showing another example of a conventional printing apparatus having the conventional printing paper loading devices. As in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus has a main controller 30, first through third printing paper loading devices 40, and first through third cassette controllers 42, 44 and 46, respectively disposed in each of the printing paper loading devices 40. Moreover, the cassette controllers 42, 44 and 46 are connected with the main controller 30 through a common data bus 35. Each of the cassette controllers 42, 44 and 46 has ID set-up switches 41, 43 and 45 to manually set an ID.
In the above printing apparatus, as the main controller 30 and each of the cassette controllers 42, 44 and 46 transmit data through the common data bus 35, the main controller 30 can recognize the IDs of the printing paper loading devices 40 according to a set-up state of the ID set-up switches 41, 43 and 45. The main controller 30 also transmits the data to the proper one of the printing paper loading devices 40 to be controlled based on a recognized ID.
In the case of FIG. 1, when the main controller 10 and each of the cassette controllers 22, 24 and 26 respectively have the independent data buses 15a, 15b and 15c, the cost of manufacturing the printing apparatus increases as the number of the data buses 15a, 15b and 15c increases. In addition, when an additional printing paper loading device is installed afterwards, an additional data bus must be provided.
In the case of FIG. 2, when the separate ID set-up switches 41, 43 and 45 are installed in the printing paper loading devices 40, the user has to manually set the IDs for the respective printing paper loading devices 40. Additionally, when the user mistakenly sets a same ID for different ones of the printing paper loading devices 40, the command of the main controller 30 is transmitted to plural ones of the printing paper loading devices 40, which may cause serious damage to the printing apparatus.

Printing paper loading device, printer having the same and method of setting IDs of plural paper loading devices


A provider code is added to a request signal transmitted to contents server SP1 from mobile unit MS by mobile communication network GSM. Border switching station CMMS adds a roaming flag to the request signal, and forwards the request signal to gateway unit GW. Gateway unit GW converts the provider code contained in the request signal into the country code by referring to the code conversion table, and transmits HTTP request to contents server CP1 after adding the country code and roaming identification information to HTTP header. When contents server CP1 receives the above-mentioned HTTP request, CP1 determines whether the requested contents are allowed to be transmitted abroad by referring to the transmission table. When transmission of the requested contents is not permitted, contents server CP1 transmits an error notification to mobile unit MS to notify that transmission is not permitted.

In recent years, a roaming service for not only a fixed telephone, but also for a cellular telephone has been in common use. A roaming service provides a user who has a contractual agreement with a communication provider, several communication services from another communication provider, which is affiliated with the user's communication provider by using a network facility of the affiliated communication provider.
For example, when a user uses a roaming service across the border (hereinafter, referred to as an international roaming service), the user of a cellular telephone can receive the communication services provided by the communication provider of his/her country, even when the user is in a foreign country, via a network facility of a communication provider of the foreign country. Various features have been proposed as to how to appropriately provide to a user several communication services in the international roaming service (for example, refer to Laid-Open Disclosure Public Patent Bulletin issue by the Japan Patent Office 93-236074).
In recent years, a cellular telephone has tended to be used more for non-voice communication than for voice communication. For example, a cellular telephone is commonly used for downloading various contents from the WWW (World Wide Web) server via the Internet, and for reproducing and outputting the downloaded contents.
A contents transmission service for storing and transmitting the various contents accessed by users from the WWW is provided by a number of different contents providers. Contents, both visual and audio are provided, for example, a character image of a popular cartoon, or the music of a hit song. But such contents are often protected by copyright. In such a case, a contents provider carries out a contents transmission service by signing an approval contract with a copyright holder beforehand by which the requisite fee for the content is collected from the user and paid to the copyright holder.
In regions where the international roaming service explained above is widely available, a user is able to receive the above-mentioned contents transmission service anywhere in the world via a mobile communication network of the region the user is in.
Although the above service is convenient for the user, there remains the issue of the copyright of contents. An approval contract of the copyright use is normally signed as a result of limiting the region where contents can be used (transmitted). Hence, for example, in the case of contents that can be used (transmitted) only in Japan according to the contract, the transmission of contents is allowed in Japan, but the transmission of contents abroad is not allowed. Therefore, receiving contents outside their copyright permitted region by using the transmission service of an international roaming service would violate the copyright of the contents.
In addition to the problem of copyright, the use of an international roaming service for downloading contents can pose a further problem. Depending upon a country's socio-cultural, political or moral values the transmission of certain contents may be unacceptable or even prohibited in a country or region. Hence, contents providers are required to carry out a more appropriate contents transmission process by taking into account the circumstances of a country or a region.
Further, a steady increase in integration, amalgamation, capital and business alliances, between a plurality of communication providers will be seen in the future, because of continuing globalization of economy. Hence, for example, communication providers with a close relationship to carry out capital alliance with each other might wish to achieve a roaming service which is more effective and reliable than a roaming service carried out with other communication providers. Therefore, a system by which a roaming service can be switched between various communication providers would be more convenient to each communication provider.

Communication system, mobile communication network, contents server, program and recording medium


An apparatus and method for transmitting and receiving a signal in a communication system are provided. The signal transmission apparatus generates a parity check matrix for an LDPC code in accordance with a code rate to be used and generates a codeword vector by encoding an information vector using the parity check matrix. When the code rate is a first code rate, the signal transmission apparatus generates a first parity check matrix as the parity check matrix for the LDPC code. When the code rate is the second code rate, the signal transmission apparatus generates a second parity check matrix supporting a second code rate lower than the first code rate by adding columns of a degree of 1 and columns of a degree of 2 to the first parity check matrix and generates the second parity check matrix as the parity check matrix for the LDPC code.

A future-generation communication system has been developed to be a packet service communication system in which bursty packet data is transmitted to a plurality of mobile stations. The packet service communication system is designed especially for high-speed large-data transmission and reception. To support high-speed large-data transmission and reception in the future-generation communication system, many schemes including a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) scheme and an Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC) scheme have been proposed. The use of the HARQ scheme and the AMC scheme requires support of various code rates.
Along with turbo codes, block LDPC codes are under serious consideration for the future-generation communication system due to their advantages of excellent performance gain during high-speed data transmission and increased reliability of data transmission through effective correction of noise-incurred errors in a transmission channel. However, the block LDPC code has shortcomings in code rate. In view of the nature of the block LDPC code, a codeword vector has a relatively high code rate and thus the block LDPC code is not free in terms of code rate. Most of block LDPC codes proposed so far have a code rate of 1/2 and some of them have a code rate of 1/3. This limitation of the block LDPC code in code rate makes the block LDPC code unsuitable for high-speed data transmission.
Accordingly, there is a need for a technique for transmitting and receiving a signal by supporting various code rates ranging from low to high in a communication system using block LDPC codes.

Apparatus and method for transmitting and receiving signal in a communication system


A fluid dispensing valve used for printing and marking, having a valve body with an end wall which defines an aperture and a spring biased valve element disposed within the valve body to open and close the aperture. A spring element is coupled to the tubular body adjacent the circular wall, the spring element and the wall defining a chamber for receiving a fluid metered through the aperture of the valve body when the aperture is opened, the spring element having at least one aperture communicating with the chamber. A porous member is affixed to the spring element such that the porous member covers the aperture in the spring element. The porous member transfers the fluid received in the chamber to a surface in the form of a printed geometric image. In operation, a printing force applied to the porous member causes the spring element to compress and engage the portion of the valve element thereby pushing a portion of the valve element partially back through the aperture in the open position to allow the passage of a marking fluid therethrough to the chamber to wet the porous member. The porous member has a predetermined rigidity which substantially prevents the porous member from distorting from its predetermined geometric shape under the printing force. The fluid dispensing valve is typically affixed to the open end of a container which contains the fluid to be dispensed. A removable cap is provided for covering the valve when it is not being used.

Devices for dispensing various fluids are well known in the art and generally comprise a container which holds the fluid to be dispensed, and a flow control or dispensing valve arrangement for metering the fluid from the container. Many of these devices are used for applying liquid products to surface areas of various articles and even the human body. For example, such dispensing devices are commonly used for applying medicaments, deodorants, cleaning fluids, pre-wash laundry products, polishes, inks, paints, etc.
The fluid dispensing valves of these devices generally include a tubular valve body and a valve arrangement, these parts being typically resiliently positioned relative to one another to prevent flow of the fluid from the container and arranged so that the valve member may be moved relative the valve body, by the application of an exterior force, to an open or unsealed position to permit the flow of the fluid from the container. The opening force is usually applied so that when the valve body is unsealed, the fluid flows by gravity onto the surface of the object, via some type of porous rubbing applicator pad located over the dispensing valve.
Somewhat recently, the use of such dispensing devices has been extended to the marking of bingo cards. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,156 to Paulish describes a fluid dispensing device referred to therein as a square bingo dobber, that utilizes an internal square porous applicator to impart a transparent color, such as yellow, to a central portion of a bingo square to be marked. A perimeter square ring applying an opaque coloration, frames the central square pad to highlight the central coloration and demarcate the particular square from surrounding ones. A central reservoir provides coloring fluid to the central square dobber portion and a surrounding reservoir provides fluid to the aforementioned ring-like dobber portion.
Another fluid dispensing device used for marking bingo cards is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,171, to Rocheleau. In this patent, a bingo dabber having a hollow head portion and a hollow handle portion providing the overall appearance of a hammer, is disclosed. The head portion has a ink dispensing valve-operated applicator at each end, the applicators preferably being of different diameters. The head and handle portions are filled with a colored, indelible, transparent ink. During use, the bingo player applies the desired applicator to the desired location by using a smooth, soft hammer-like motion while gripping the handle portion of the dabber.
A problem associated with virtually all of these fluid dispensing devices used for marking or printing, especially the fluid dispensing devices used for marking bingo cards, is that they tend to print images which have very low resolution. This is because these prior art fluid dispensing devices employ the ink dispensing valves which meter too much liquid to the overlying fluid transfer pad.
Accordingly, it should be appreciated that there is a continuing need for an improved ink dispensing valve for use in marking bingo cards and other items.


A display panel includes a substrate and a plurality of light emitting elements. The substrate has an inner edge and an outer edge opposite to each other. The inner edge is enclosed to form an enclosed opening. The light emitting elements are disposed on the substrate and enclose the enclosed opening to form an inner loop at the inner edge of the substrate and an outer loop at the outer edge of the substrate. The inner loop and the outer loop have similar shapes. A composite display panel is also disclosed.

Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a display panel.
Description of Related Art
With the maturity of the electronic device industry, display panels have been widely used in a variety of products to provide different display images. In recent years, large-sized display panels have become overwhelmingly popular. However, with consistently increasing size of the display panels, the manufacturing process is more complicated. The panel components are more difficult to manufacture, and the cost is also increased. For the forgoing reasons, there is a need to increase the size of the display panels with a limited cost.

Display panel and composite display panel using the same


An apparatus and method for processing accounting in a wireless communication system are provided. The method includes creating an accounting data base (DB) for a mobile station (MS), determining whether a state transition of the MS occurs, if the state transition of the MS occurs, updating state information in the accounting DB, and transmitting the accounting information including the state information to an accounting server.

Today, many wireless communication techniques are being proposed to achieve high-speed mobile communication. Among them, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)/Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) scheme is accepted as one of the most promising techniques for a next generation wireless communication. The OFDM scheme is expected to be widely used in future wireless communication techniques, and is currently used as a standard in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16-based Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN) known as the 3.5 generation technology.
The OFDM/OFDMA-based broadband wireless communication system can create a plurality of Service Flows (SFs) for each user (or mobile station (MS)). The created plurality of SFs can support different Quality of Services (QoSs) or service classes.
In communication systems, accounting information is used as a reference for imposing a service charge to a user. Thus, accuracy is required in the accounting information, and an accounting process needs to be performed in more detailed steps to provide a differentiated service to the user.
A conventional accounting method is based on a single service in which accounting information is generated under the assumption that one service is activated for an MS. Therefore, the convention accounting method cannot be used when the MS activates a plurality of services. A method of generating an accounting session for each SF has recently been proposed, but this method has a drawback in that accounting is not accurate since an SF state and a Media Access Control (MAC) state of the MS are not taken into account.
In a broadband wireless communication system, the MAC state of the MS is classified into an awake state, a sleep state, and an idle state, and the SF state is classified into a provisioned state, an admitted state, and an active state.
The awake state denotes a state in which there is a traffic flow per the MS. If there is no traffic flow during a sleep timer period in the awake state, the MS transitions from the awake state to the sleep state. If there is no traffic flow during an idle timer period, the MS transitions to the idle state. When in the idle state, a radio link connection is released but SF information is maintained in an Access Service Network-Gateway (ASN_GW).
The active state denotes a state in which there is a traffic flow per the SF. The admitted state denotes a state in which a Traffic Connection IDentifier or a Transport Connection IDentifier (TCID) is allocated and a resource is reserved. The provisioned state denotes a state in which only a Service Flow IDentification (SFID) is allocated. Herein, if there is no traffic flow during a preset time period in the active state, the SF may transition from the active state to the admitted state, and if there is no traffic flow during a longer time period, the SF may transition to the provisioned state. Further, when a state transition occurs, the MS and an Access Service Network (ASN) can transition to another state after exchanging a message according to the state transition.
In the conventional accounting processing method, an SF is generated when a transition occurs from the idle state to the awake state, and the SF is terminated when a transition occurs from the awake state to the idle state. That is, the sleep state and the awake state are equally treated, and likewise, the admitted state and the active state are equally treated. However, accounting may not be imposed in the admitted state since resources are not actually used, or may be imposed since SF generation is limited in another aspect. In addition, since the sleep state uses less resources than the active state, accounting may be differently applied according to a policy of a service provider. To apply various accounting policies, an accounting policy has to be individually applied to each MAC state and each SF state. In addition, in the conventional method, an accounting session has to be released and generated whenever a state transition occurs, which leads to a problem in that a signaling overhead increases. Accordingly, there is a need for a flexible and optimized accounting processing method in which an accounting policy can be individually applied to each MAC state and each SF state and in which a signaling overhead can be reduced.

Apparatus and method for performing accounting in wireless communication system


An aqueous liquid composition containing dihydrogen phosphate salt, surfactant(s), and a dual coordinate bonding agent for iron cleans soiled metal surfaces without damaging any plastic parts that come into contact with the composition, supporting the growth of bacteria that cause unpleasant odors, or obscuring the transparency of any transparent window that it contacts. The composition is particularly useful for cleaning unpainted aluminum sided rail transport cars that have polycarbonate housings insulating electrical contact points that provide motive electric power to the cars; many conventional aqueous alkaline and acid cleaners promote stress cracking of polycarbonate plastics.

This invention relates to cleaning metal surfaces, both painted and unpainted, more particularly when the metal surfaces are adjacent to elements of plastic, especially polycarbonate plastic, which is susceptible to stress cracking when repeatedly contacted with many conventional metal cleaning compositions. This invention also relates to cleaning compositions that are useful in such cleaning processes, are not overly acidic or alkaline, and are not susceptible to developing undesirable odors from micro-organisms that readily come into contact with the compositions during normal storage or use.
A very wide variety of cleaning compositions are known in the art. Few if any of these compositions, however, are known to be capable of fulfilling all the desiderata noted above, particularly for railroad cars that are powered by electricity. Such cars, like other railroad cars, come into contact with a wide variety of atmospheric pollutants and air-borne soils that often lead to rapid deterioration in the aesthetic appearance of the exteriors of the cars. Ordinary rail cars that do not supply their own motive power can be readily cleaned by a variety of cleaners, usually most readily by fairly highly alkaline cleaners. However, rail cars that are directly powered by electricity, a type especially frequently used in mass transit operations, generally have housings of polycarbonate plastic on their exterior surfaces to protect electrical contacts that supply power to move the cars from a "third rail", overhead power line, or the like. This plastic readily develops stress cracks when contacted repeatedly by many alkaline solutions, including some of the most generally effective aqueous metal cleaning compositions. Such large vehicles can most conveniently be cleaned by sprayers, but it is a practical impossibility in many cases to protect any plastic parts of the exterior surface from contact with a sprayed cleaner composition, and frequent replacements of the plastic insulating housings are economically unacceptable.
Major objects of the present invention are to provide compositions and/or processes that (i) effectively clean painted and unpainted metal surfaces, (ii) do not damage any plastic materials, particularly polycarbonate plastic insulating housings, that are adjacent to the metal surfaces to be cleaned, (iii) are not susceptible to becoming malodorous as a result of infestation from commonly ambient micro-organisms, and (iv) do not have a pH lower than about 3 or higher than about 9, so as to minimize the likelihood of personal injuries to workers using the cleaners. A subsidiary object is to brighten unpainted aluminum surfaces, particularly those of Type 6061 T6 aluminum, that are cleaned using the compositions. Other objects will be apparent from the description below.
Except in the claims and the specific examples, or where otherwise expressly indicated, all numerical quantities in this description indicating amounts of material or conditions of reaction and/or use are to be understood as modified by the word "about" in describing the broadest scope of the invention. Practice within the numerical limits stated is generally preferred, however. Also, unless expressly stated to the contrary: percent, "parts of", and ratio values are by weight; the term "polymer" includes "oligomer", "copolymer", "terpolymer", and the like; the first definition or description of the meaning of a word, phrase, acronym, abbreviation or the like applies to all subsequent uses of the same word, phrase, acronym, abbreviation or the like and applies, mutatis mutandis, to normal grammatical variations thereof; the description of a group or class of materials as suitable or preferred for a given purpose in connection with the invention implies that mixtures of any two or more of the members of the group or class are equally suitable or preferred; chemical descriptions of materials apply to the materials at the time of addition to any combination specified in the description or of generation within the composition by chemical reactions specified in the description between a newly added material and a distinct material already present, and do not necessarily preclude chemical changes to the materials as a result of reaction in the combination; in addition, specification of materials in ionic form means that the materials are supplied to prepare the compositions containing them in the form of soluble salts containing the ions specified and implies the presence in any composition specified to contain ionic materials of sufficient counterions to produce electrical neutrality for the composition as a whole; and any counterions thus implicitly specified preferably are selected from among other constituents explicitly specified in ionic form, to the extent possible; otherwise such counterions may be freely selected, except for avoiding counterions that act adversely to the objects of the invention.

Concentrate for a dihydrogen phosphate-based metal cleaning composition that does not damage plastic


There is provided an oscillator circuit capable of obtaining stable frequency by avoiding output having unstable frequency that is likely to occur to an operation/stop-control-feasible type oscillator circuit when oscillation begins. In such an oscillator circuit, an oscillation permitting signal (EN) sets an oscillator section in oscillation-operable state, whereby a controller section starts operation. The controller section that has stared its operation change an oscillation-frequency control signal (VR) into a signal value corresponding to predetermined oscillation frequency so as to set oscillation frequency at an oscillator section. Further on, the oscillator section outputs an oscillation signal in response to a detection signal (MON) that is outputted after a detector section compares a signal inputted therein with a predetermined signal value and detects that the inputted signal reaches a predetermined signal value. Thereby, transient state of an oscillation-frequency control signal (VR) can be detected. That is, there can be avoided an output of an unstable oscillation signal due to a transient oscillation-frequency control signal (VR).

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to an oscillator circuit which is capable of controlling its actuation/stoppage, a semiconductor device and a semiconductor memory device provided with the oscillator circuit, and a control method of the oscillator circuit. More particularly, the invention relates to operational stability at the start of oscillation.
2. Description of the Related Art
In view of the recent progress in electronic devices having advanced functions, there is a strong demand for the reduction of current consumption in a circuit of semiconductor devices or semiconductor memory devices together with the demand for advanced functions. Technologies for reducing current consumption are now considered to be a necessity not only for portable electric devices but it is considered essential for future products in connection with the recent tendency of energy conservation caused by an increase in environmental problems.
To meet such a demand, control has been performed to reduce bias current necessary for circuit operation to the limit, and to stop unnecessary circuit operation. The same control is conducted for oscillating operation of an oscillator circuit. Circuitry has been presented, in which a bias current necessary for oscillating operation is reduced to the limit. Control to reduce current consumption such as stopping the oscillating operation of the oscillator circuit and further shutting off a current path of a bias circuit in a stand-by period such as a power-down mode where operation of only a limited circuit is conducted.
In a semiconductor device 1000 shown in FIG. 22, when an external interface of a voltage higher than its own power source voltage is necessary, or when access is made to a memory cell, a boosted voltage higher than the power source voltage may be necessary, or a negative voltage may be necessary for backgate biasing of a MOS transistor. Accordingly, a boosting/negative power source circuit 200 is provided. Generally, in the semiconductor device 1000, in order to generate a boosted voltage higher than a power source voltage or a negative voltage of reverse polarity inside the device, electric charges must be supplied to a capacitor by a charge pump system or the like, or drawn out from the capacitor. Thus, an oscillation signal is entered from an oscillator circuit 100 to the boosting/negative power source circuit 200.
Here, the reason why two sets of oscillator circuits 100 are provided in FIG. 22 is to supply an oscillation signal to the boosting/negative power source circuit 200 according to the operation state in the semiconductor device 1000. For one oscillator circuit 100, an activation signal ACT is entered into an enable (EN) terminal. For the other oscillator circuit 100, a stand-by signal SBY inverted from the activation signal ACT is entered into an enable (EN) terminal.
If the activation signal ACT is in an activated state, since an internal circuit 400 is in an operating state, the boosting/negative power source circuit 200 must have a sufficient power supplying capability. Accordingly, in order to secure a sufficient power supply capability from the boosting/negative power source circuit 200, the oscillator circuit 100 activated by the activation signal ACT must output an oscillation signal at a high oscillation frequency. At this time, the oscillator circuit 100 activated by the stand-by signal SBY is in a stopped state.
If the stand-by signal SBY is in an activated state, the internal circuit 400 is in a stand-by state. In this case, current consumed at the semiconductor device 1000 must be reduced to the minimum. Accordingly, it is only necessary for the boosting/negative power source circuit 200 to supply minimum required power to maintain a bias state in the internal circuit 400. Thus, the oscillator circuit 100 activated by the stand-by signal SBY may be operated at a lower frequency compared with that in the activated state. At this time, the oscillator circuit 100 activated by the activation signal ACT is in a stopped state.
In a semiconductor memory device 2000 shown in FIG. 23, as in the case of the semiconductor device 1000 (FIG. 22), a boosting/negative power source circuit 200 may be necessary for supplying a boosted voltage or a negative voltage to an internal circuit 410. An oscillator circuit 100 which oscillates at a high frequency during activation, and an oscillator circuit 100 which oscillates at a low frequency in a stand-by period are switched to be used. Further, in the semiconductor memory device 2000, a refresh control circuit 300 is provided to refresh electric charges stored in a memory cell 500. At the oscillator circuit 100, a refreshing cycle is timed to perform cyclical refreshing operation. In the semiconductor memory device 2000, this oscillator circuit 100 is configured to operate when the activation signal ACT is in an activated state. In an operation specification of the portable device or the like in which data holding operation is necessary only in an activated state, current consumption can be reduced to the limit during a stand-by period by stopping the oscillator circuit 100 in a stand-by state to suspend the refreshing operation.
Hereinafter, an oscillator circuit 100 as a first prior art is described. The oscillator circuit 100 in FIG. 24 includes a controller section 4 in addition to an oscillator section 5, and an oscillation frequency of the oscillator section 5 is controlled to be a predetermined frequency by an oscillation-frequency control signal VR from the controller section 4. The controller section 4 and the oscillator section 5 are controlled by an enable signal EN, and actuated/stopped according to the enable signal EN. They are designed such that unnecessary oscillating operation is stopped by the control of the enable signal EN, thereby reducing current consumption. In order to achieve oscillating operation with a predetermined frequency by required minimum current consumption, the controller section 4 is constructed separately from the oscillator section 5 to supply a required minimum bias. In stoppage, the operation is stopped to reduce current consumption.
FIG. 25 shows an oscillator circuit of a first specific example of the first prior art. In the controller section 410, a switch element 5100 controlled by the enable signal EN is connected to a power source voltage VDD and a source terminal of a PMOS transistor TP100, and an oscillation-frequency control signal VR is output from a gate terminal and a drain terminal connected to each other. Connection is also made through a resistance element 8100 to a ground voltage VSS. The oscillation-frequency control signal VR is generated by a bias current IC flowing on a current path formed through the switch element S100, the PMOS transistor TP100 and the resistance element 8100. Here, the bias current IC is generally set to a small current value limited by a request for a low current consumption operation. For example, if a resistance value of the resistance element 8100 is set to 1 MQ, then the bias current IC is set to about several microamperes.
In an oscillator section 500, odd stages (3 stages in FIG. 25) of inverter elements INV100 to INV102 are connected in a loop to form a ring oscillator. A power source terminal of each of the inverter elements INV100 to INV102 is connected through a PMOS transistor TP101 to a power source voltage VDD. A gate terminal of the PMOS transistor TP101 is controlled by an oscillation-frequency control signal VR. An oscillation signal VOSC is output from the inverter element INV102 through a switch element S101 controlled by the enable signal EN.
FIG. 26 shows an oscillator circuit of a second specific example of the first prior art. An oscillator section 54 is provided in place of the oscillator section 5J0 of the first specific example. The oscillator section 54 includes a NOR element NOR100 in place of the inverter element INV102, and the enable signal EN is entered into the other input terminal of the NOR element NOR100.
In the first and second specific examples, the enable signal EN is activated in a low level state. The switch element S100 is made conductive to supply the bias current IC to the controller section 410, and a control line VR is biased by the oscillation-frequency control signal VR. At each of the oscillator sections 54, and 500 which receive the oscillation-frequency control signal VR, a bias current IC equivalent to that of the controller section 410 flows as a driving current, and the ring oscillator performs oscillating operation. In the first specific example, an oscillation signal VOSC is output because the switch element 5101 is in a conductive state. In the second specific example, the ring oscillator is operated to output an oscillation signal VOSC because the NOR element NOR100 receiving the low level enable signal EN functions as a logic inversion element.
FIG. 28 shows an oscillator circuit of a third specific example of the first prior art. A controller section 420 is provided in place of the controller section 410 of the second specific example. In the controller section 420, in place of the switch element 5100, a switch element 5102 is inserted between a resistance element 8100 and a ground voltage VSS. The switch element 5102 is controlled by the enable signal EN. The enable signal EN is inverted by an inverter element INV103, and entered into the other input terminal of a NOR element NOR100.
In the third specific example, as shown in FIG. 29, the enable signal EN is activated in a high level state. The switch element S102 is made conductive to supply a bias current IC to the controller section 420, and a control line VR is biased by an oscillation-frequency control signal VR. A bias current IC also flows to an oscillator section 54, thereby causing a ring oscillator to oscillate. In the third specific example, the enable signal is inverted by the inverter element INV103, and entered at a low level to the NOR element NOR100. The NOR element NOR100 functions as a logic inversion element, and the ring oscillator is operated to output an oscillation signal VOSC.
As a second prior art of an oscillator circuit 100, an oscillator circuit disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-317623 is shown in FIG. 30. The oscillator circuit in FIG. 30 comprises an oscillator section 910 and a pulse generator section 920. A monostable multi-vibrator MM of the pulse generator section 920 detects rising of a power source voltage VCC, and generates a high-level control pulse signal P of a fixed time t1. Accordingly, a switch SW is kept ON for the fixed time t1 after power is supplied to the oscillator section 910, supplying a large initial current to a piezoelectric vibrator X.
FIG. 31 shows an operational waveform at a starting time. When a power source voltage VCC rises at a time T1, the multi-vibrator MM detects this rising, and generates a control pulse P of the time t1. The switch SW is turned ON to supply a large initial current to the piezoelectric vibrator X. By the switch SW, oscillation is started earlier by a time t2.
However, in the oscillator circuit 100 (FIG. 24) of the first prior art, as shown in the circuit diagrams of the first to third specific examples (FIGS. 25, 26 and 28), the enable signal EN is entered into the oscillator sections 5, 54 and 500 to control the actuation/stoppage of the oscillation, and also control may be made to permit/inhibit outputting of an oscillation signal VOSC. The controller sections 4, 410 and 420 where the enable signal EN is entered control the oscillation-frequency control signal VR for controlling oscillation frequencies of the oscillator sections 5, 54 and 500. Since a predetermined time is required until the control line VR reaches the oscillation-frequency control signal VR after the activation of the enable signal EN, the oscillation frequency becomes unstable for a period until the oscillation signal VOCS is shifted to a stable state where oscillation occurs at a predetermined frequency. This is a problem because a certain unstable period is present after the activation. The presence of such an unstable period may cause the following specific problems.
At the oscillator sections 5, 54 and 500, since a control state is determined only by a logical level of the enable signal EN, when the enable signal EN is activated, an oscillation state is set simultaneously. On the other hand, at the controller sections 4, 410 and 420, the current path being shut off in the stand-by state is established by the activation of the enable signal EN to supply the bias current IC, and thus the control line VR is set up to the oscillation-frequency control signal VR. Here, since the bias current IC is a small current value limited by the request for the low current consumption operation, a predetermined time is required until the control line VR reaches the oscillation-frequency control signal VR. The oscillator sections 5, 54 and 500 are oscillated at the same time with the activation of the enable signal EN. Consequently, the oscillation signal is output at an oscillation frequency different from a predetermined frequency with respect to a transient voltage level until the oscillation-frequency control signal VR is reached. This period is an unstable period, causing various problems in circuit operation.
An unstable period X1 shown in FIG. 27 is generated in the first and second specific examples (FIGS. 25 and 26). At the controller section 410 of the first and second specific examples, the control line VR is reduced to the ground voltage VSS in an inactive period when the enable signal EN is at a high level. When the enable signal EN becomes low level, and activated, the control line VR is gradually increased. However, if the bias current is a small current value, a predetermined time (unstable period X1) is required until the oscillation-frequency control signal VR is reached. Thus, in this period, a low voltage is applied to the PMOS transistor TP101 of each of the oscillator sections 54 and 500 by the oscillation-frequency control signal VR, and the ring oscillator is driven by a driving current larger than the set bias current IC. This causes the oscillation signal VOS to be oscillated at a frequency higher than a predetermined frequency.
In the unstable period X1, in addition to an increase in current consumption of the oscillator circuit 100 itself, a speed of the circuit operation of the boosting/negative power source circuit 200 or the like in the semiconductor device 1000 or the semiconductor memory device 2000 becomes higher than necessary. In the semiconductor memory device 2000, the refresh control circuit 300 executes a refreshing operation at a cycle shorter than necessary, causing a great amount of current to be consumed. In the case of operation in an environment where a power supplying capability is limited such as battery driving, or in an environment where impedance of the power supply path cannot be ignored, the great amount of current consumption in the unstable period X1 reduces a power source voltage supplied to the semiconductor device 1000 or the semiconductor memory device 2000 more than necessary, causing an operational failure.
If the boosting/negative power source circuit 200 is operated at a frequency higher than necessary, a voltage equal to/higher than a set value may be generated, adversely affecting device reliability. Especially, this is a problem in a use environment of a cellular phone or the like where activation/inactivation of the enable signal EN is frequently repeated.
An unstable period X2 shown in FIG. 29 is generated in the third specific example (FIG. 28). At the controller section 420 of the third specific example, at an inactive time when the enable signal EN becomes low in level, the control line VR is increased near a voltage (VDD−Vthp) obtained by subtracting a threshold voltage Vthp of the PMOS transistor from the power source voltage VDD. When the enable signal EN becomes high in level, and activated, a voltage level of the control line VR is gradually reduced to the oscillation-frequency control signal VR. However, if the bias current IC is a small current value, a predetermined time (unstable period X2) is required. Accordingly, in this period, a high voltage is applied to the PMOS transistor TP101 of the oscillator section 54 by the oscillation-frequency control signal VR, and the ring oscillator may be driven or not driven by a driving current smaller than the set bias current IC. Thus, the oscillation signal VOSC is oscillated or oscillation-stopped at a frequency lower than a predetermined frequency.
In the unstable period X2, since the oscillation frequency of the oscillation signal VOSC becomes lower than the predetermined frequency, a voltage generated at the boosting/negative power source circuit 200 or the like in the semiconductor device 1000 or the semiconductor memory device 2000 becomes insufficient. If there is a shortage of boosted voltage, an operational failure in an external interface section or a failure of access to the memory cell may occur. If there is a shortage of negative voltage, backgate biasing of the MOS transistor may be insufficient, causing fluctuation in a threshold voltage, deterioration of noise resistance or the like.
In the semiconductor memory device 2000, the cycle of the refreshing operation to be controlled at the refresh control circuit 300 is extended more than necessary, causing a data loss depending on a data holding characteristic.
Now, a relation between the oscillation-frequency control signal VR and the oscillation frequency of the oscillation signal VOSC will be described. The oscillation frequency is decided by a propagation delay time of the inverters INV100 to INV102 or the like constituting the ring oscillator. In the case of the first to third specific examples where a driving capabilities of the transistors constituting the inverter elements INV100 to INV102 is sufficiently large, the propagation delay time is decided by the bias current IC which is a driving current supplied to each power source terminal. It is because a charging/discharging time of an input capacitor of each stage becomes a propagation delay time by the bias current IC. In other words, the oscillation frequency of the oscillation signal VOSC is proportional to the bias current IC.
The bias current IC is operated by a saturation characteristic of the PMOS transistor TP101, and has the following relation:IC=Kx((VDD−VR)−Vthp)2 =Kx((VDD−Vthp)−VR)2 Here, K denotes a physical constant of the PMOS transistor TR101, and Vthp a positive value. Accordingly, a threshold voltage becomes −Vthp. This equation is established when VR<VDD−Vthp because it is based on the condition that a voltage between the gate and the source is not lower than the threshold voltage.
Thus, IC=0 is established when VR=VDD−Vthp, stopping the oscillating operation. In a region where VR<VDD−Vthp, the bias current IC is changed by a square characteristic with respect to a change of VR. In other words, the oscillation frequency is changed by a square characteristic with respect to the change of VR, causing great changes in the oscillation-frequency of the oscillation signal VOSC during the unstable periods X1 and X2.
In the oscillator circuit of the second prior art (FIG. 30), oscillation is started earlier by time t2 by the switch SW. However, an oscillation signal OUT immediately after the start of oscillation has small amplitude, and it is gradually increased to be stabilized. Even if the time until the oscillation start is shortened, the problem of the unstable period after the oscillation start still remains.
The second prior art is directed to circuitry where an operation is started with power-ON as a starting signal. As shown in FIG. 31, for a rising waveform of the power source voltage VCC, a steep voltage transition is assumed. Accordingly, the circuitry cannot be applied when it is mounted on the semiconductor device 1000 or the semiconductor memory device 2000 where a function is provided to change between the stand-by state of the power down mode or the like and the active state where a power source voltage is ON, and a starting operation is carried out based on an entry of a control signal such as the enable signal EN.
The fixed period t1 when the control pulse P is at a high level is set by resistance element Ra and capacitor element Ca which are passive elements. On the other hand, the switch SW controlled to an ON state by the high-level control pulse P is an active element. Further, the fixed period t1 for supplying an initial current to the piezoelectric vibrator X is selected by experiment in such a way as to make a starting time the shortest. As the passive and active elements are made of different elements and structures, generally, there are some differences between the two caused by the fact that they are manufactured separately. Thus, the fixed time t1 decided by the passive elements Ra and Ca is arbitrarily combined with a threshold value to the ON state of the drive element SW and a driving capability, making it difficult to maintain the experimentally selected conditions.
For example, if the starting of the piezoelectric vibrator X becomes insufficient because of the shortage of the fixed time t1 or the driving capability, starting time is further required after the end of the fixed time t1. Conversely, if the fixed time t1 is excessive, the starting time of the piezoelectric vibrator X continues more than necessary. In either case, the optimization of the starting time is failed, which is a problem.

Oscillator circuit, semiconductor device and semiconductor memory device provided with the oscillator circuit, and control method of the oscillator circuit


An artificial chordae tendineae implantation system includes a clamping device, a puncture device, a pushing device, and a detection device. The pushing device includes a pushing shaft. The clamping device includes a clamping push rod that receives an artificial chorda tendineae, and a distal clamp and a proximal clamp for cooperatively clamping a valve leaflet. The detection device includes one probe that is movably disposed in the pushing shaft. A probe outlet is provided at one of a clamping surface of the proximal clamp and a clamping surface of the distal clamp, and a probe accommodation chamber corresponding to the probe outlet is provided at the other one. When the clamping device is closed, the distal end of the probe protrudes from the probe outlet and is accommodated in the probe accommodation chamber, and whether the valve leaflet is clamped is detected.

The mitral valve is a one-way "valve" between the left atrium (LA) and the left ventricle (LV), which ensures that blood flows from the left atrium to the left ventricle. Referring to FIG. 1, a normal healthy mitral valve has multiple chordae tendineae. The leaflets of the mitral valve are divided into an anterior leaflet and a posterior leaflet. When the left ventricle is in a diastolic state, the two leaflets are in an open state, and the blood flows from the left atrium to the left ventricle; when the left ventricle is in a contracted state, the chordae tendineae are stretched to ensure that the leaflets will not be rushed into the left atrium by the blood flow, and the anterior and posterior leaflets are well closed, thereby ensuring that the blood flows from the left ventricle through the aortic valve (AV) to the aorta. If there is a lesion in the chordae tendineae or papillary muscles, such as a rupture of the chordae tendineae of the posterior leaflet as shown in FIG. 2, when the left ventricle is in a contracted state, the mitral valve cannot return to a closed state as normal, and the impulse of the blood flow will further cause the leaflet to be detached into the left atrium, causing blood reflux.
At present, lesions in the chordae tendineae are treated by surgically implanting artificial chordae tendineae. This requires adopting invasive open thoracotomy approaches, under general anesthesia, and moderate hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass as auxiliary support. Such surgical operations have the disadvantages of complicated surgical procedures, high surgical costs, high degrees of patient trauma, high risks of complications, long hospitalization, and painful recovery processes.
At present, there is a device that implants artificial chordae tendineae by minimally invasive open surgery approaches. The device first clamps a leaflet by a capturing device, and then determines the clamping effect by a capturing verification system, and then implants the artificial chordae tendineae. The operational principle of the capturing verification system is making a determination by using an optical fiber to generate different colors upon meeting the leaflet and the blood. When the leaflet is clamped, an optical fiber transmits to the leaflet clamping surface of the capturing device and generates optical signals like reflection and refraction, and another optical fiber detects the signals to determine whether the leaflet is clamped. The artificial chordae tendineae implanting device applies the optical fibers to the interventional therapy device, resulting in a complicated device structure. Also, the optical fibers must enter a patient's body with the device, thereby increasing the surgical risks. In addition, since the capturing verification system must be equipped with capturing verification monitors, the device structure becomes more cumbersome, the manufacturing process is complicated, and the production cost and the operation cost are high.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Artificial chordae tendineae implantation system


A virtual machine receives a first set of code. At least a portion of the first set of code is provided to a compiler and is partitioned into a plurality of groupings of code. At least one of the groupings of code is compiled into a plurality of second sets of code. At least two of the second sets of code are provided to differing processor resources. The differing processor resources include a plurality of processing elements embodied on one processor device.

Software is typically written in a high-level language, and then compiled into machine-readable language, or native instructions, for execution by a processor. A virtual machine may assist in compiling the high level language. As part of the compiling process, the various functions of the software may be mapped to particular modules of the processor for execution. This approach for processor programming may be adequately efficient for programming of a single processor or a device comprising a symmetric multi-processor platform, but may not be a particularly efficient approach for programming a device with multiple heterogeneous processing elements such as a network processor.
Programming a multi-core processor such as a network processor may entail making determinations such as which processor core will execute particular modules, and may require the programmer to make determinations concerning partitioning of functions, and how best to utilize each processing core. This may cause programming a multi-core processor to be burdensome and complex, as well as making the use of available processing resources less efficient. A need exists, therefore, for an improved method of writing code, and a virtual machine including the capability to use processor. resources more efficiently.

Virtual machine to provide compiled code to processing elements embodied on a processor device


The present invention discloses a solar water cooler, which includes a water tank, a condensing panel, and an auxiliary refrigerating devices, wherein the water tank has an insulating panel transversely embedded into the water tank for separating the water tank into an upper cooling chamber and a lower chilling chamber, a pair of inner conduits for respectively communicating the cooling chamber to the chilling chamber, each of the cooling chamber and the chilling chamber has a water inlet port and a water outlet port, a plurality of conduits for respectively communicating the water tank to the condensing panel and the auxiliary refrigerating devices, wherein the auxiliary refrigerating device electrically powered by solar cells and by thermocells.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to refrigeration system, and more particularly, relates to a refrigerating system directly or indirectly utilizing solar energy to achieve an efficient performance.
2. Description of Related Arts
Energy is an unavoidable topic in the new century. It is witnessed that sciences and technologies related to the energy industry had been significantly concerned all over the world. Especially, the solar energy, widely considered as an unexhausted energy source, had been employed in a variety of applications, such as refrigeration industry. Nowadays, the solar energy refrigeration is exclusively focused on the air-conditioning refrigeration, in which a plurality of refrigerating modes had been unveiled, such as, solar absorption refrigeration, solar adsorption refrigeration, solar mechanic compression refrigeration, solar dehumidification refrigeration, solar injection refrigeration, and so on. However, the above mentioned solar air-conditioning devices are so complicated and costly, which in turn, restricting its prevailed applications in practices. As a result, it is rarely seen such solar refrigerating means had been used for household purposes. What is more, such solar refrigerating means are supposedly operated under sealed or closed chambers, the ventilation is out of reach thus resulting the air quality really unserviceable. To a worse extent, CFC had been sometimes employed in some occasions. The damage to the environment of the CFC was terrible. The solar cold water air-conditioner had been introduced in 1980s, wherein the solar energy is converted into heat for producing cold water. A very common method for producing cold water is the heat absorption process, wherein the water is utilized as refrigerating medium, and the lithium bromide is employed as absorbing agent. Unfortunately, the dehumidification process would be a bottleneck and low temperature chilled water ranging from 7–9° C. had to be prepared for ensuring such dehumidification. It is noted that whenever a single centigrade dropped of such chilled water temperature, the refrigerating efficiency of such refrigerating process would be decreased by 3%. This is undesirable for most users. In short, such solar absorption refrigeration is still costly, complicated, and bulky in occupied area.


The invention relates to low density ready-to-spread frosting compositions and related methods.

"Icing" and "frosting" are terms conventionally used to identify spreadable, semi-solid confectionery products that are applied as toppings to sweeten and decorate baked goods such as cakes, breads, cookies, and the like. Generally, icings and frostings can be categorized into several basic types depending in part on whether a particular product contains fat (generally shortening) or not, and whether or not the product is aerated. Types include royal icings, fluffy frostings, cream icings, and aerated creamy frostings. The presence of a fat affects the emulsion characteristics of an icing or frosting. "Icing" is sometimes used to refer to an unaerated composition, while "frosting" tends to refer to an aerated product.
Within this broad category of sweetened spreadable toppings or fillings are ready-to-spread ("RTS") frostings, which, as the name indicates, are fully prepared frostings that can be spread onto a food product without the need for preparation steps by a consumer-purchaser. RTS frostings are a popular consumer food product due to the convenience of being fully prepared. RTS frostings presented for sale in a fully prepared and optionally aerated state. They can be packaged and stored unopened at room temperature for extended times (a one year shelf life target is typical), or stored after opening at refrigerator temperatures for relatively shorter times. RTS frostings can be applied directly out of a product container to a cake or other baked good without mixing or any other preparation step. RTS frostings are thus formulated so as to be usable without the addition of ingredients or other further preparation steps by the consumer.
Desired organoleptic and performance properties for RTS frostings include a smooth texture, desired consistency, spreadability without flowing or running, resistance to syneresis or weeping of the frosting in an unopened container, resistance to syneresis or weeping between cake layers upon overnight storage, and stability. A density suitable for a low-density, whipped RTS frosting can be from about 0.75 to about 0.95 grams per cubic centimeter. For these low density products, stability requires good resistance to air cell collapse or coalescence upon extended shelf storage or during stirring or other use by a consumer.
Fat-containing RTS frostings, as is typical with many fat-containing prepared food products, are likely or certain to contain a hydrogenated fat ingredient, and, therefore, to include trans fats. "Trans" fats are isomers of naturally occurring unsaturated fatty acids that are typically created during hydrogenation processes of many fat ingredients of frostings, including previous RTS and low density RTS frostings. Partially and fully-hydrogenated fats have been used in processed foods for many years, meaning that many commercial processed food product formulations contain trans fats. Recently trans fats have become disfavored. There is a current strong interest for fat compositions that can be useful substitutes for trans-containing hydrogenated fats in commercial food product formulations, i.e., useful fat ingredients that contain low levels of trans fats or are free of trans fats.
While a strong interest lies in removing trans fats from food products, including RTS frostings and low density RTS frostings, the challenge of re-formulating previous commercial products to avoid trans fats is daunting, especially if consumer expectations are already in place, which is true for low density RTS frostings. The food industry would expect high demand for a low density frosting that includes a low or a very low amount of trans fats, e.g., zero trans fats, but such a product would be less successful if the change in frosting ingredients or processing necessary to reduce the level of trans fats caused changes to the product that would upset consumer's expectations relative to past products.
Thus, although the use of low trans fat in food products is a general goal, replacing a fat ingredient of a food product such as a low-density RTS frosting, which is well established with a consuming public, is an imposing challenge. Replacing any ingredient of an established commercial food product must be done in a manner that does not have an overwhelming affect on taste and non-taste properties of the product. In the case of low density frosting, these challenges are at least as great as with other consumer food products due to consumer expectations that a low density frosting exhibit desired flavor, density, texture, appearance, and stability.


A hand-held light curing apparatus is used with a housing (12), a light source (14), in particular at least one LED, which is connected to a control unit (36), an energy source (20) and at least one energy storage unit in the form of at least one double layer capacitor (26, 28). It is provided that the light source (14) is fed simultaneously by the energy source (20) which is formed as a local energy source such as an accumulator and the double layer capacitor (26, 28).

Hand-held dental devices with a light source and an energy source like an accumulator have been known for a long time in dental technology. An example of this is the dental device disclosed in DE 42 11 230 A1 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,129, which is hereby incorporated by reference, in which the light source is powered by rechargeable accumulators.
Cordless light curing devices should not be too heavy, if possible.
Dentists and dental technicians are striving for polymerization cycles to be as short as possible. High-performance LED chips have become available for this in the meantime which allow for light emission cycles of e.g. 20 or 30 seconds.
DE 10 2004 033 699 A1, which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a cordless light curing apparatus which is provided with an Ultra-Cap-Capacitor as an energy storage unit. This Ultra-Cap-Capacitor was able to supply the LED chips which were available at that time with enough energy so that 6 or 7 polymerization cycles were possible until the Ultra-Cap-Capacitor had to be recharged.
In the case of too little energy the problem is that the available charge quantity is not sufficient for one polymerization cycle, and this would lead to the fact that non-polymerized monomers would stay in the lower layers of the dental restoration part which is considered very critical as free radicals are suspected to be carcinogenic.
This becomes even more critical as the power of LEDs reaches up to 10 Watts currently, so that even one polymerization cycle might lead to the danger that the charge quantity stored is not sufficient when the local Ultra-Cap-Capacitor has not been charged sufficiently.
A further example of such light curing devices with an Ultra-Cap-Capacitor that have been known for a long time now, is evident from WO 2010/029519, which is hereby incorporated by reference. In this solution, too, the Ultra-Cap-Capacitor that is to replace the batteries known from the prior art, is charged with the aid of a charging device, and is then intended to emit the desired power for the operation of the light source.
Especially with hand-held light-curing devices, in particular pencil-shaped hand-held light-curing devices, the space available for the accommodation of the Ultra-Cap-Capacitor is limited, and the hand-held light-curing device must not be too heavy either.
Attempts have been made to increase the specific power density by using capacitors whose rated voltage is exactly the charge voltage in order to thus realize a capacity as large as possible. In this respect it is disadvantageous, however, that no voltage reserve is available and also that in case of a tolerance of the capacitors, those highly-sophisticated electronic components are overloaded.
In dental practices an explosion of a capacitor would have disastrous consequences, since the materials used in the capacitor are highly toxic and—should the situation arise—would be absorbed by the patient via the mucous membranes thereof.
A further problem of the light curing devices with an Ultra-Cap-Capacitor that have been known for about ten years now, is the necessity to make available a light curing device in the dental practice that is ready to be used any time.
If, for instance, after the light curing of the dental material to be polymerized, which has been applied by the dentist in several layers whereas each layer has been cured at least partially, the dentist discovers that the final curing should take place now, there may not be available enough energy in the Ultra-Cap-Capacitor anymore.
A partial light curing with insufficiently charged capacitors, however, results in the curing of the top layers only, and the lower layers remain uncured for the time being. However, later, in post-curing, these layers contract so that the dental restoration shrinks laterally which leads to the extremely undesired formation of marginal gaps.
Therefore, it is important that enough energy is available for final curing which is typically supposed to take longer than the partial curing of the individual incremental layers of the polymerisation material. Typically, however, the Ultra-Cap-Capacitor has the lowest energy reserves exactly when the demand is highest which can lead to critical situations and rights of recourse towards the dentists.
In order to avoid this it has become established to always make available two light curing devices when using such light curing devices wherein one serves as a reserve in such a situation.
On the other hand, this results in substantial additional costs.


An image forming apparatus includes an image carrying member, an image writing unit, a development unit, a transfer device, a charging device, and a toner charge control device. The image writing unit forms a latent image on the image carrying member, which is developed as a toner image by the development unit, and the toner image is transferred to a transfer member by the transfer device. The charging device charges the image carrying member and toner on the image carrying member. The toner charge control device, controls a polarity of charge and charging voltage level of toner remaining on the image carrying member. The toner charge control device includes an endless belt having a surface made of a conductive material, a support member extending the endless belt pressed against the image carrying member, and a bias voltage applicator for supplying a voltage to the surface of the endless belt.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure generally relates to an image forming apparatus, such as a copier, a facsimile, or a printer, and a process cartridge used for an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
Typically, an image forming apparatus using electrophotography produces an image by sequentially conducting a series of processes such as a charging process, an exposure process, a development process, a transfer process, a fixing process, and a cleaning process, for example. In the charging process, an image carrying member, such as a photoconductor, is uniformly charged. In the exposure process, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the image carrying member by scanning a light beam on the charged image carrying member. In the development process, the electrostatic latent image is developed as a toner image. In the transfer process, the toner image is transferred directly to a recording medium or indirectly transferred to a recording medium using an intermediate transfer device. In the fixing process, the toner image is fixed on the recording medium. In the cleaning process, the image carrying member is cleaned to remove residual materials, such as toner particles, remaining on the image carrying member after the transfer process. In general, such a cleaning process is conducted by using a cleaning blade, such as a rubber blade made of elastic material, in which the cleaning blade is pressed against the image carrying member to remove or scrape toner particles remaining on the image carrying member after the transfer process.
In addition to such a cleaning process using a cleaning blade, another configuration that does not use such cleaning blade has been developed as a "cleanerless system," in which toner remaining on an image carrying member is removed and recovered after a transfer process without using a cleaning blade and a recovery system specifically used for collecting toner.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus employing such a cleanerless system. As illustrated in FIG. 1, such an image forming apparatus includes a toner charge control device 105 to realize the cleanerless system, for example. The image forming apparatus further includes an image carrying member 101, a charging device 102 for charging the image carrying member 101, a development unit 106, and a transfer roller 104 for transferring a toner image from the image carrying member 101 to a transfer member 103. The toner charge control device 105 is disposed at a space between the transfer roller 104 and the charging device 102 with respect to a direction of rotation of the image carrying member 101. Specifically, the toner charge control device 105 is disposed at a downstream of the transfer roller 104 and at an upstream of the charging device 102 with respect to a direction of rotation of the image carrying member 101 as shown in FIG. 1. The toner charge control device 105 controls the polarity of charge and the charging voltage level of toner remaining on the image carrying member 101 after a transfer process. Hereinafter, the toner remaining on the image carrying member 101 after the transfer process may be referred to as "remaining toner" for the simplicity of expression.
The remaining toner is supplied with a given voltage having one polarity from the toner charge control device 105, in which the toner charge control device 105 supplies a given voltage having the same polarity as the toner. With such configuration, the polarity of charge and the charging voltage level of the remaining toner can be adjusted to a given level.
The remaining toner having the adjusted polarity and charging voltage level is then transported to a portion facing the charging device 102 by rotation of the image carrying member 101. The charging device 102, such as a fur brush roller, supplies a given bias voltage, composed of direct current having a same polarity as the toner and an alternating current superimposed to the direct current, to the remaining toner. When such bias voltage is supplied to the remaining toner, the remaining toner is separated from a surface of the image carrying member 101, and then recovered to the charging device 102.
After a given time later, the charging device 102 is set to a toner ejection mode, in which the charging device 102 is supplied with a given voltage having only direct current, so as to transfer the remaining toner, recovered in the charging device 102 as above described, to the surface of the image carrying member 101. Such transferred remaining toner is transported to a portion facing the development unit 106 with a rotation of the image carrying member 101, and is recovered into the development unit 106.
As such, a cleanerless system can reduce an amount of waste toner and can omit devices specifically used for transporting and colleting waste toner, by which an image forming apparatus can be configured with a smaller size. In such a cleanerless system, the toner charge control device 105 is used to enhance a recovery performance of remaining toner.
For example, the toner charge control device 105 may employ a conductive sheet as shown in FIG. 1, which has a relatively small and inexpensive structure. FIG. 2 illustrates an expanded view of the toner charge control device 105 employing a conductive sheet. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the toner charge control device 105 includes a conductive sheet 105a, an elastic member 105b, and a casing 110, for example. As shown in FIG. 2, one end of the conductive sheet 105a is fixed to the casing 110, and a free end portion of the conductive sheet 105a is pressed against a surface of the image carrying member 101 using the elastic member 105b that biases the conductive sheet 105a to the image carrying member 101. However, such configuration may have some drawbacks as described below.
In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, a same portion of the conductive sheet 105a may be consistently pressed to the image carrying member 101, by which the remaining toner may stick to such portion of the conductive sheet 105a. If toner sticks on the conductive sheet 105a, a charge control of remaining toner may not be conducted effectively, and resultantly, abnormal or defective image may be produced.
Further, the conductive sheet 105a may not be pressed to the image carrying member 101 with a sufficient contact area, which is needed for sufficiently controlling a polarity of charged toner and charging voltage level of charged toner. Although such charge control can be conducted by increasing a voltage supplied to the conductive sheet 105a even if the conductive sheet 105a is pressed to the image carrying member 101 with a smaller contact area, such increased voltage may cause a greater electrical stress to a photosensitive layer of the image carrying member 101, and resultantly, an abnormal or defective image may be produced.
Although such contact area of the conductive sheet 105a can be increased by some amount by increasing a size of the elastic member 105b, which presses the conductive sheet 105a, such increased contact area may cause uneven charge distribution between the conductive sheet 105a and the image carrying member 101. Further, because the free end portion of the conductive sheet 105a may not be pressed to the image carrying member 101 at a desired position easily, the image carrying member 101 and the conductive sheet 105a may not contact each other with a desired contact area.
Further, the conductive sheet 105a may be deformed when an image forming apparatus is not used for a long period of time. If such deformation occurs to the conductive sheet 105a, a contact condition of the conductive sheet 105a and the image carrying member 101 changes over time, and a charge control condition for the remaining toner may undesirably fluctuate or vary, and resultantly a lifetime of the conductive sheet 105a may be reduced. Although such deformation can be prevented by providing a deformation preventor for the conductive sheet 105a, such configuration may increase a cost and a size of an image forming apparatus.
In light of such background, a cleanerless system that effectively conducts charge control of toner remaining after a transfer process is desired. Such a cleanerless system may reduce occurrence of abnormal or defective images, and enhance a lifetime of an image forming apparatus or a process cartridge.

Process cartridge and image forming apparatus including a toner charge control device with an endless belt