A method and apparatus for damping actuator flex cable vibrations in a disk drive during actuator seek operations to improve disk drive performance. The actuator flex cable loop includes a damping element inserted in the J-block area of the actuator arm. The damping element can be foam, rubber, encapsulated visco-elastic material, spring clip supports or extensions of the cable support brackets. The damping element damps the vibrations of the dynamic loop of the actuator flex cable between the actuator assembly and the arm electronic bracket fixed to the disk drive housing. Decreasing the amplitude of vibrations coupled to the actuator assembly results in improved arrival performance of the disk drive during seek operations.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to disk drives, and in particular to an apparatus and method to dampen flex cable vibration to the actuator in a disk drive to minimize the effects of vibrations on disk drive performance.
2. Description of Related Art
Moving magnetic storage devices, especially magnetic disk drives, are the memory devices of choice. This is due to their expanded non-volatile memory storage capability combined with a relatively low cost.
Magnetic disk drives are information storage devices which utilize at least one rotatable magnetic media disk having concentric data tracks defined for storing data, a magnetic recording head or transducer for reading data from and/or writing data to the various data tracks, a slider for supporting the transducer in proximity to the data tracks typically in a flying mode above the storage media, a suspension assembly for resiliently supporting the slider and the transducer over the data tracks, and a positioning actuator coupled to the transducer/slider/suspension combination for moving the transducer across the media to the desired data track and maintaining the transducer over the data track center line during a read or a write operation. The transducer is attached to or is formed integrally with the slider which supports the transducer above the data surface of the storage disk by a cushion of air, referred to as an air-bearing, generated by the rotating disk.
Alternatively, the transducer may operate in contact with the surface of the disk. Thus, the suspension provides desired slider loading and dimensional stability between the slider and an actuator arm which couples the transducer/slider/suspension assembly to the actuator. The actuator positions the transducer over the correct track according to the data desired on a read operation or to the correct track for placement of the data during a write operation. The actuator is controlled to position the transducer over the desired data track by shifting the combination assembly across the surface of the disk in a direction generally transverse to the data tracks. The actuator may include a single arm extending from a pivot point, or alternatively a plurality of arms arranged in a comb-like fashion extending from a pivot point. A rotary voice coil motor (vcm) is attached to the rear portion of the actuator arm or arms to power movement of the actuator over the disks. The term seek refers generally to the radial movement of the heads or transducer to a specified track on the disk.
The vcm located at the rear portion of the actuator arm is comprised of a top plate spaced above a bottom plate with a magnet or pair of magnets therebetween. The vcm further includes an electrically conductive coil disposed within the rearward extension of the actuator arm and between the top and bottom plates, while overlying the magnet in a plane parallel to the magnet. In operation, current passes through the coil and interacts with the magnetic field of the magnet so as to rotate the actuator arm around its pivot and thus positioning the transducer as desired.
The magnetic media disk or disks in the disk drive are mounted to a spindle. The spindle is attached to a spindle motor which rotates the spindle and the disks to provide read/write access to the various portions on the concentric tracks on the disks.
One or more electrical conductors extend over the suspension assembly to electrically connect the read/write transducer to a read/write chip on the actuator arm. A multiline flexible printed circuit cable (actuator flex cable) provides the electrical contact between the read/write chip and the disk drive electronics which are mounted outside the disk drive housing. Inside the disk drive housing, the actuator flex cable connects to an electrical connector pin assembly, which in turn, through an opening or connector port in the housing, connects to the external electronics.
The actuator flex cable is a flexible circuit that carries electrical signals to and from the actuator. It is typically comprised of a plurality of electrical conductors encapsulated within an insulating material, for example polyimide. The actuator flex cable provides electrical contact from the external electronics fixed to the disk drive housing to the actuator which is supported on bearings allowing radial motion of the actuator about its pivot point. The radial motion of the actuator allows the read/write transducers supported on suspensions fixed to the actuator to access data tracks on the disk surfaces located at any radial position from the disk ID to the disk OD. The preferred method of fixing the actuator flex cable between electronics card on the fixed disk drive housing and the rotatable actuator is to form the actuator flex cable in a loop so that the actuator flex cable causes minimal constraint on the actuator rotation. The loop of actuator flex cable connecting the actuator with the electronics card can vibrate during seeking of the actuator, introducing unwanted vibration modes to the actuator. Vibration (often referred to as random transient vibration) of the actuator during seek operations degrades settling performance of the disk drive.
There have been attempts in the prior art to minimize the affects of the flex cable on the actuator or head carriage assembly. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,195 issued to Morii et al. describes the placement of a double sided pressure sensitive adhesive tape between the flex cable and the actuator arm to mitigate deformation of the head carriage. JP 4-319592 describes the placement of a reducing member supporting mechanism and a reducing member sandwiched together at the base plate where the flex cable attaches to the disk drive housing. It can clearly be seen however that none of these approaches address the problem where the actuator is moved between the inner and the outer diameter of the disk and the flex cable loop moves between its most extended and its most compressed position. It therefore can be seen that there is a need for a method and an apparatus for reducing or eliminating vibration of the actuator flex cable during seek operations so as to minimize performance degradation of the disk drive.

Apparatus and method to dampen flex cable vibration to disk drive actuator

International Business Machines Corporation


A simple and effective method is disclosed in the present invention to adjust the near natural colour of a satellite color composite to a visually more pleasing natural colour. This method includes two steps: (1) extracting vegetation “greenness” from available multispectral bands, and (2) adding (injecting) the “greenness” into the vegetation areas of the green band being displayed.

Generally, the blue, green and red bands of multispectral satellite sensors do not cover the whole blue, green and red wavelength ranges, respectively. As a result, the "natural" colour composites from the blue, green and red bands do not reproduce natural colours as found in the nature or on a colour photo. Such colour is near natural colour, but still noticeably unnatural. In order to achieve a better visual effect, it is useful to adjust, either manually or automatically, the near natural colour to a more natural colour. Such a colour adjustment is useful in many applications, such as colour image mapping, GIS integration, image visualization, and other purposes.
The most representative ground covers on the Earth's surface are vegetation, water and soil (e.g., surface not covered by vegetation or water). Their general spectral reflectance in different spectral ranges is characterized in FIG. 1. Vegetation curves have a peak in the green range compared to the blue and red ranges. The spectral curves of soil reflectance rise proportional to the wavelength. However, the curve of clear water usually has a peak in blue range and then descends proportional to the wavelength. Therefore, when the blue, green and red bands of a multispectral sensor are displayed with blue, green and red colour, a near natural colour composite can be generated with water shown in blue, vegetation shown in green and soil shown in light yellow grey or light red grey). But, the colour of vegetation often does not show up as a natural green. This makes colour composites look unnatural and not visually pleasing.

Method for generating natural colour satellite images


A metering apparatus, which may be single or double acting, includes a valve device including a closure member, an inlet port, an outlet port and one or two other ports communicating with a metering chamber of the single-acting apparatus or respective metering chambers of the double-acting apparatus. The closure member prevents communication between the inlet port and the outlet port during normal working, but, to allow flushing of the apparatus by cleaning fluid, the closure member can be displaced to an abnormal position in which the inlet port communicates with the outlet port by way of the other port(s).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fluid flow control, particularly but not necessarily for use in metering apparatus for fluid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
EP-A-0280537 discloses a dosing system for filling containers with a particulate/liquid mixture. The system includes three single-acting piston-and-cylinder devices, of which a first device delivers the mixture downwards to containers advanced beneath it, a second device feeds a thick particulate/liquid mixture via a first conduit to the first device, and the third device feeds a thin liquid via a second conduit to a liquid supply port of the first device. The port is disposed peripherally in the cylinder of the first device and is swept by the piston thereof, and a conduit in continuous communication with the port extends through the piston to a lower axial end of the piston. One of the factors limiting the frequency of filling of the containers is the time taken to refill the second and third devices, which becomes relatively high for the second device with relatively viscous mixtures.
From GB-A-377939; GB-A-1305729; GB-A-1578981; FR-A-2068800; FR-B-2544491 and DE-B-1159341, for example, it is known to employ for metering purposes piston-and-cylinder arrangements which are double-acting in the sense that, while one metered dose is being delivered from one metering chamber, a second dose is being metered by another metering chamber and then, while that second dose is being delivered from the other chamber, a third dose is being metered by the one chamber. Of these, GB-A-377939; FR-A-2068800; FR-B-2544491 and DE-B-1159341 disclose that each arrangement includes a rotary change-over valve device which connects the fluid input to one metering chamber and the fluid output to the other metering chamber, and vice-versa, alternately. The valve device includes a cylindrical valve housing and a rotary closure member co-axially mounted in the housing. The housing is formed with four fixed ports, namely a fluid inlet port, a fluid outlet port, and two ports connected to the respective metering chambers. In FR-A-2068800; FR-B-2544491 and DE-B-1159341 the rotary valve device is disposed directly between the two metering chambers and the two pistons are disposed outwardly of the two chambers.
Cleaning of such apparatus in situ can be performed by treating a cleaning fluid as if it were the filling fluid(s) and thus causing it to flow through the apparatus along the path(s) of the filling fluid(s) by operating the whole of the filling system. However, with the known apparatus, the rate of flow therethrough would be relatively low, so that the metering chambers would be only poorly cleaned, to the extent that dismantling of the chambers could be necessary to clean them well. Moreover, the land(s) of the rotary valve device would be only poorly cleaned because they are in sealing contact with the valve housing throughout most of the normal operation of the filling system. Furthermore, if the cleaning fluid is hot, it may become cooled to an undesirable degree during the time taken for the normal reciprocatory operation of the metering arrangement.


A plurality of sub-arrays include a plurality of memory elements. First bit line pairs are connected to a plurality of memory elements provided in each of the sub-arrays. Second bit line pairs are provided so as to correspond to a plurality of sub-arrays. The first bit line pairs supply signals to the second bit line pairs. The second bit line pairs are operated at a lower frequency than the first bit line pairs.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to, for example, a static random access memory (hereinafter, referred to as SRAM), and more particularly to an on-chip semiconductor memory device used in a microprocessor or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, to meet a demand for system performance enhancement, system LSIs, such as microprocessors, have been speeded up. In parallel with this, the SRAM embedded in the system SLI has also been required to operate at high operating frequency.
The cell array of an SRAM has been divided into sub-arrays. The bit lines are composed of the local bit lines in each sub-array and the global bit lines shared by the sub-arrays. Hierarchizing the bit lines this way makes it possible to reduce the load on the bit lines required to charge and discharge in one cycle of the clock signal, which enables a high-speed operation.
As an SRAM of this type, the technique for preventing an increase in the number of bit lines per cell has been developed (for example, refer to Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-100187). Moreover, to reduce the chip area, a semiconductor memory device which has a hierarchic bit line structure with a decreased number of global bit lines has been developed (for example, refer to Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 10-308089).
However, when the bit lines are hierarchized, the operating frequency of the SRAM is determined by the operating frequency of a global bit line with a high load, not by the operating frequency of the memory access in the sub-array. For this reason, it is difficult to increase the operating frequency remarkably.
Furthermore, another type of SRAM has been developed. The SRAM, which does not use a hierarchic bit line structure, causes transfer gates connected between a pair of nodes and a pair of bit lines which memorize complementary data in a memory cell to operate in different phases of the clock signal. The SRAM operates as follows. In the first half of one cycle of the clock signal, the word line for the transfer gate connected to one bit line is activated, with the result that the data read from the selected cell is supplied to the one bit line. Then, in the latter half of the one cycle of the clock signal, the word line for the transfer gate connected to the other bit line is activated, with the result that the data read from the selected cell is supplied to the other bit line. The data read onto the respective bit lines are selected and output alternately according to the phase of the clock signal. In this example, the throughput of read-out data from the SRAM can be doubled by changing the phase of the clock signal used to access a pair of complementary bit lines. Therefore, the SRAM operates as if the operating frequency were doubled. However, since a pair of transfer gates is selected alternately, each memory cell has to be provided with two word lines. Accordingly, in the SRAM, the area occupied by the memory cells becomes large, which causes the problem of increasing the area of the entire SRAM. Therefore, there has been a need for a semiconductor memory device capable of a high-speed operation at a high operating frequency, while suppressing an increase in the cell area.

Semiconductor memory device capable of operating at high speed


A tensioning and damping element for chain drives, which comprises an elastically deformable ring part and a toothed rim arranged at the periphery thereof, the ring part being circular in the stress-free, uninstalled state and assuming, in the stressed, installed state, an ellipse-like shape between a non-loaded strand and a loaded strand of the chain drive, the toothed rim engaging with the non-loaded strand and the loaded strand and in so doing transmitting to the two strands a tensioning force which is caused by the ellipse-like deformation of the ring part. The ring part is constructed in such a manner that its cross-sectional profile steadily changes with increasing deformation of the ring part, in such a manner that the ratio of the height of the cross-sectional profile to the width of the cross-sectional profile in the maximally biased state of the ring part is at least 4% smaller than in the stress-free state of the ring part.

The invention relates to a tensioning and damping element consisting of an elastomeric material for chain drives, especially a tensioning and damping element for the secondary chain drive of a motorcycle exhibiting temporary alteration of the distance between the centers of the sprocket wheels.
In motorcycles having a secondary chain drive and a rear wheel swinging arm, there is the problem of the temporary alteration of the distance between the centers of the sprocket wheels during the swinging movement away from the middle position of the swinging arm, which is used as the position for adjusting the slack of the chain and the distance between the centers of the sprocket wheels, in the phases of the upper, deflected end position of the swinging arm and the lower, rebound end position of the swinging arm. Upon deflection and rebounding of the swinging arm, therefore, the distance between the centers of the sprocket wheels is also always reduced, with the effect that the chain slack in the non-loaded strand becomes greater. The cause of this is the position of the sprocket wheel at the gearbox output which is determined by the design and which does not coincide with the pivot of the rear wheel swinging arm but lies in front of the pivot in the direction of travel.
The temporary alteration of the distance between the centers is combined at the same time with an enforced rotation of the rear wheel, since the rear wheel is rolling along the roadway when the distance of the center point of the wheel from the sprocket wheel at the gearbox output changes. The same rotational movement as the rear wheel is performed, therefore, by the sprocket wheel on the rear wheel and, at a suitable gear ratio, also by the sprocket wheel at the gearbox output. The temporary alteration of the distance between the centers and the enforced rotation of the rear wheel by the rolling movement during deflection and rebounding exacerbate other and impair the driving stability of the motorcycle.
When there is a large amount of slack in the non-loaded strand, oscillations and shocks furthermore occur in the non-loaded strand, which have an adverse effect on the driving characteristics of the motorcycle. To avoid that disadvantage, therefore, a spring-loaded chain tensioning device directed towards the non-loaded strand is usually provided.
In the transition phases from acceleration to braking or during gear-changing, there will also be phases in which the loaded strand also is not loaded. One also speaks in this context of xe2x80x9cdouble non-loaded strand phasesxe2x80x9d in which also the loaded strand briefly runs under no load. Those phases are especially dangerous, since they may cause the circulating, temporarily overlong, chain which is loaded only by centrifugal force to ride up on the sprocket wheel at the gearbox end, which may result in indifferent changing of the gear ratio of the secondary chain drive and/or in skipping of the chain.
The alteration of the distance between the centers, the enforced rotation of the rear wheel and the double non-loaded strand phases result in indifferent phases of the vertical dynamics of the vehicle which are affected by springing, damping and tire resilience and in indifferent phases of the longitudinal dynamics (shifting of the center of gravity and pitching motion) of the motorcycle. When cornering with changing load caused by braking or acceleration and when there is a large amount of slack in the non-loaded strand in the lower, rebound end position of the swinging arm, the contact surface of the tires may be so greatly reduced that it is no longer possible to control the motorcycle and a fall is inevitable.
A tensioning and damping element for chain drives is known from DD 275 166 A3. In that specification, the element is an axleless ring of elastic material which mates with the chain and which is elastically deformable between the shape of a concentric ring and the shape of a Cassini curve having an ellipse-like configuration. That tensioning and damping element is arranged between strands of the chain drive and engages therein by its toothed rim, automatically securing its position in the chain drive and tensioning diametrically.
A tensioning and damping element is also known from DE 43 17 033 C1, which will be described in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 using, as an example, a secondary chain drive of a motorcycle exhibiting temporary alteration of the distance between the centers of the sprocket wheels.
The chain drive shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 has a sprocket wheel 1 at the gearbox end, a rear wheel sprocket wheel 2 and a circulating chain consisting of a loaded strand 5 and a non-loaded strand 6. Arranged between the non-loaded strand and the loaded strand is a tensioning and damping element 7 which assumes an ellipse-like shape in this stressed, installed state. That tensioning and damping element comprises an elastically deformable ring part and a toothed rim arranged at the periphery thereof, the ring part being circular in the stress-free, uninstalled state. In the installed state, the toothed rim engages with the non-loaded strand and the loaded strand, whereby a tensioning force caused by the ellipse-like deformation of the ring part is transmitted to the two strands.
The rear wheel sprocket wheel 2 is fastened to one end of a rear wheel swinging arm 4 which, at the other end, can be pivoted about a swinging arm pivot 3 from the middle position shown in FIG. 2 into a deflected and a rebound end position of the swing. In FIG. 3, the deflected end position of the swinging arm is shown.
Owing to the fact that the swinging arm pivot 3 and the pivot of the sprocket wheel 1 at the gearbox end do not coincide, temporary alteration of the distance between the centers of the two sprocket wheels 1, 2 occurs upon movement of the rear wheel swinging arm 4. In the middle position shown in FIG. 2, a maximum distance between centers amax is produced and, in the two end positions, see FIG. 3, a minimum distance amin. As a result of the distance between the centers being reduced, the chain slack in the non-loaded strand 6 increases.
The biased, installed tensioning and damping element always strives to attain its stress-free state in which it has a circular shape. The tensioning and damping element is so dimensioned that it never assumes its stress-free state in the installed state. That ensures that, even in the deflected end position shown in FIG. 3, in which greater chain slack occurs, a tensioning force will still be transmitted to the two strands by the tensioning and damping element. The tensioning and damping element therefore changes its shape in dependence upon the distance between the centers of the two sprocket wheels 1, 2, as can be seen especially from FIGS. 2 and 3. In the state shown in FIG. 2, the distance between the minor axis extremities N1, N2 of the tensioning and damping element deformed into an ellipse-like shape is smaller than in the state shown in FIG. 3. In addition to compensating for chain slack, the tensioning and damping element also damps deflections of the chain which may arise, for example, as a result of polygonal and over-running shocks and the effects of gravity and/or centrifugal force.
The tensioning force and the damping increase with increasing ellipse-like deformation of the tensioning and damping element as a result of dynamically elastic and plastic deformation parameters. In addition, the tensioning force is at the same time increased by static deformation parameters.
That means, however, that during driving operation, the tensioning and damping element 7 is dynamically loaded to a greater extent in the phases in which the rear wheel swinging arm 4 is in the middle position shown in FIG. 2, and in which the amount of chain slack is consequently smaller, than it is in the deflected end position of the rear wheel swinging arm shown in FIG. 3.
During operation of the chain drive, the tensioning and damping element rotates therewith owing to its engagement with the loaded and the non-loaded strand. In the process, elastic and plastic deformation occurs continuously in the ring part, the radially outside and inside regions of the ring part, in particular, being especially loaded. The deformation and recovery from deformation ultimately manifests itself in heat loss of the tensioning and damping element. Since, by reason of the material, the heat loss must not exceed a certain value in order to obtain sufficient tensioning force and damping, the maximum permissible rotation speed of the tensioning and damping element is predetermined.
Furthermore, large recovery distances and high recovery speeds of the elastic and plastic deformation components lead to more rapid fatigue of the material.
The disadvantage of the known tensioning and damping element for use in secondary chain drives on motorcycles having a rear wheel swinging arm is accordingly the fact that it is operated in the most frequently occurring middle position phase of the swinging arm, having the then correspondingly smaller amount of chain slack, in the range of its greatest ellipse-like deformation, and that, consequently, greater heat loss and material fatigue occurs as a result of the rotation.
As a result, in addition, the maximum permissible chain speed of the secondary chain drive and the maximum permissible speed of travel of the motorcycle are limited.
The problem underlying the invention is therefore to develop the tensioning and damping element in such a manner that it produces less lost heat in operation and is subject to slower material fatigue.
According to the invention, the ring part has a cross-section that, with increasing flection, exhibits a decreasing flexural resistance owing to its deformation, and, in the maximally deformed state caused by operation, the height to width ratio of the cross-section is at least 4% smaller than in the stress-free state.
The height to width ratio has a direct effect on the flexural resistance which opposes increasing deformation of the ring part. Thus, at a smaller height to width ratio, the flexural resistance also decreases.
That effect is especially advantageous in the case of a tensioning and damping element for a secondary chain drive of a motorcycle exhibiting temporary alteration of the distance between the centers of the sprocket wheels, since it is precisely in the middle position phase of the rear wheel swinging arm, in which the non-loaded strand has its smallest amount of slack in any case, that is to say when deflections and shocks are minimal, and in which the tensioning and damping element exhibits its greatest elliptical deformation, that the alteration of the cross-sectional profile results in a less flexurally resistant cross-section, so that ultimately less heat loss is produced and material fatigue is minimized.
In the case of the known ring part, in which the cross-section essentially does not change upon deformation, during rotation of the ring part, alternating uniaxial bending strains occur with stress concentrations in the peripheral fibers at the inside and the outside of the ring during passage through the regions of the major and minor axis extremities of the ring part deformed into an ellipse-like shape.
In the case of the ring part according to the invention, on the other hand, under the bending strain, a multi-axial stress distribution occurs with automatic deformation of the cross-sectional profile subjected to the bending strain to a less flexurally resistant cross-sectional profile. The special feature existing here is that the cross-sectional profile subjected to bending load yields by changing shape in several axial directions, specifically, however, into a shape having a lower flexural resistance, by virtue of the fact that the peripheral fibers, which are subject to greater load, orient themselves closer to the neutral bending axis as a result of the height reduction. The stresses caused by the rolling of the tensioning and damping element, which occur in the cross-sectional plane of the ring profile upon passage through the regions of the major and minor axis extremities (H1, H2, N1, N2) of the tensioning and damping element, are coupled with transverse expansion of the cross-section subjected to bending strain. That causes a kind of opening movement or a widening in the x axis and a constriction in the y axis of the cross-sectional profile. The cross-sectional profile existing after that spreading movement or widening and constriction has a lower flexural resistance than before. The deformation of the cross-sectional profile increases steadily with the deformation of the tensioning and damping element from its annular shape to the ellipse-like shape. With increasing deformation, therefore, the tensioning and damping element changes in a self-regulating manner to a state in which the flexural resistance or the tensioning force is reduced.
The tensioning and damping element accordingly has the advantage that, despite relatively great deformation in certain phases of the chain drive, especially during acceleration, braking and driving phases of a motorcycle in a relatively high speed range, associated with the middle position phase of the rear wheel swinging arm which then exists, it is subject to lower static, dynamic and thermal load, with the result that the maximum permissible chain speed can be increased.
Conversely, the tensioning and damping element has the advantage that, in the case of relatively slight deformation and a large amount of chain slack, it still tensions the chain sufficiently tightly. Such a situation arises in the case of motorcycles having a rear wheel swinging arm especially in the double non-loaded strand phase of the chain drive which can occur, for example, when shifting to a lower gear while simultaneously braking, double-declutching or engaging the clutch after changing gear combined with deflection and rebounding of the rear wheel swinging arm. Further embodiments of the tensioning and damping element will be explained in more detail using the following description of a number of illustrative embodiments and the drawings.


A face mask for covering a wearer's mouth, nose or both, with a single layer non-entraining filter medium which repulses or rejects particulate matter rather than catching or entraining particulate matter.

This invention relates to face masks, and more particularly to face masks wherein the filter consists of a repulsive filtering media.
Face masks are well known in the prior art, especially for industrial and medical purposes. Early face masks were made from cloth, such as gauze or linen, and usually consisted of a plurality of layers (see U.S. Pat. No. 1,292,095). While these masks had good air permeability, they had poor filtration ability. As such, they were suitable for filtering large dust particles, but were poor at filtering small particles, e.g. pollen and microbes. The layers of cloth would entrap various particulate matter, and even though the cloth might have been washable, washing would not remove all of the particles. The constant necessity for washing also caused wear and deterioration of the filtering medium. These cloth type filter mediums were also poor at maintaining a specific filtering accuracy.
Non-woven, melt blown or molded filters of a mat matrix (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 3,220,409) provide a filtering medium that is suitable for filtering smaller particles than cloth type filters. Like cloth filters, these mat filters entrain particulates on or within the matrix medium. They are also absorbent and cannot be washed or cleaned because the filtering medium would fall apart. These filters have a very limited life and are known as "disposables". In order to achieve a greater filtering ability, the mat matrix mediums of these filters have a built up thickness and an indirect air flow through the medium so that they have a reduced air permeability and require a stronger breathing effort.
There exists a need for a face mask with a filter medium having a high degree of filtration, a high air permeability capacity, that does not clog or entrain particulate matter, that has a long life, and that has a wide range of applications.


A combination furniture includes a base, a main cushion, two armrests, a backrest, and a fastener assembly. The top surface of the base is concavely provided with plural strip-shaped coupling grooves. The main cushion has a bottom plate provided with plural coupling strips integrally projecting from the bottom plate for being coupled with the coupling grooves. The two armrests have a pair of combining parts formed in parallel and slidingly and transversely installed on two sides of the base, respectively. The backrest has a pair of fixing parts formed on the backrest in parallel for correspondingly overlapping the two combining parts of the two armrests. The fastener assembly fastens the combining parts and the corresponding fixing parts to the base. Therefore, the combination furniture is easily assembled, manufactured, and transported.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to furniture, and more particularly, to a combination furniture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditional furniture usually is integrally made in one piece; however, due to the large volume thereof, inconvenience for transportation is caused. When damage upon the furniture during transportation is occurred, the furniture needs to be repaired by skilled professional; also, maintenance fee thereof is high.
Thus, combination furniture is created and on available in the market, while such combination furniture is assembled mainly by use of metal skeletons and attachments fastened up together, thereby facilitating the transportation process. However, volume of the skeletons of tradition furniture remains large which is unfavorable for sole manufacture. Also, when such combination furniture is damaged, the damaged parts are not able to be simply replaced and only allowed to be repaired by skilled professionals, such that maintenance fee remains high.
Therefore, the prevent invention aims at improving known disadvantages of traditional furniture.


The present invention provides monoclonal antibodies that specifically bind to human PD-1 with high affinity. Nucleic acid molecules encoding the antibodies of the invention, expression vectors, host cells and methods for expressing the antibodies of the invention are also provided. The PD-1 antibodies of the present invention inhibit the binding of PD-L1 to PD-1, thereby modulating immune responses in general, and those mediated by TcR and CD28, in particular. The invention also provides methods for treating various diseases, including infectious diseases and cancer using the PD-1 antibodies of the present invention.

An adaptive immune response involves activation, selection, and clonal proliferation of two major classes of lymphocytes termed T cells and B cells. After encountering an antigen, T cells proliferate and differentiate into antigen-specific effector cells, while B cells proliferate and differentiate into antibody-secreting cells.
T cell activation is a multi-step process requiring several signaling events between the T cell and an antigen-presenting cell (APC). For T cell activation to occur, two types of signals must be delivered to a resting T cell. The first type is mediated by the antigen-specific T cell receptor (TcR), and confers specificity to the immune response. The second, costimulatory, type regulates the magnitude of the response and is delivered through accessory receptors on the T cell.
A primary costimulatory signal is delivered through the activating CD28 receptor upon engagement of its ligands B7-1 or B7-2. In contrast, engagement of the inhibitory CTLA-4 receptor by the same B7-1 or B7-2 ligands results in attenuation of T cell response. Thus, CTLA-4 signals antagonize costimulation mediated by CD28. At high antigen concentrations, CD28 costimulation overrides the CTLA-4 inhibitory effect. Temporal regulation of the CD28 and CTLA-4 expression maintains a balance between activating and inhibitory signals and ensures the development of an effective immune response, while safeguarding against the development of autoimmunity.
Molecular homologues of CD28 and CTLA-4 and their B-7 like ligands have been recently identified. ICOS is a CD28-like costimulatory receptor. PD-1 (Programmed Death 1) is an inhibitory member of the CD28 family of receptors, that also include CD28, CTLA-4, ICOS and BTLA. PD-1 is expressed on activated B cells, T cells, and myeloid cells. The initial members of the family, CD28 and ICOS, were discovered by functional effects on augmenting T cell proliferation following the addition of monoclonal antibodies (Hutloff et al. (1999) Nature 397:263-266; Hansen et al. (1980) Immunogenics 10:247-260). PD-1 was discovered through screening for differential expression in apototic cells (Ishida et al. (1992) EMBO J 11:3887-95). The other members of the family, CTLA-4, and BTLA were discovered through screening for differential expression in cytotoxic T lymphocytes and TH1 cells, respectively. CD28, ICOS and CTLA-4 all have an unpaired cysteine residue allowing for homodimerization. In contrast, PD-1 is suggested to exist as a monomer, lacking the unpaired cysteine residue characteristic in other CD28 family members.
The PD-1 gene is a 55 kDa type I transmembrane protein that is part of the Ig gene superfamily (Agata et al. (1996) Int Immunol 8:765-72). PD-1 contains a membrane proximal immunoreceptor tyrosine inhibitory motif (ITIM) and a membrane distal tyrosine-based switch motif (ITSM). Although structurally similar to CTLA-4, PD-1 lacks the MYPPPY motif that is critical for B7-1 and B7-2 binding. Two ligands for PD-1 have been identified, PD-L1 and PD-L2, that have been shown to downregulate T cell activation upon binding to PD-1 (Freeman et al. (2000) J Exp Med 192:1027-34; Latchman et al. (2001) Nat Immunol 2:261-8; Carter et al. (2002) Eur J Immunol 32:634-43). Both PD-L1 and PD-L2 are B7 homologs that bind to PD-1, but do not bind to other CD28 family members. PD-1 is an inhibitory member of the CD28 family expressed on activated B cells, T cells, and myeloid cells. One ligand for PD-1, PD-L1 is abundant in a variety of human cancers (Dong et al. (2002) Nat. Med. 8:787-9). The interaction between PD-1 and PD-L1 results in a decrease in tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, a decrease in T-cell receptor mediated proliferation, and immune evasion by the cancerous cells (Dong et al. (2003) J. Mol. Med. 81:281-7; Blank et al. (2005) Cancer Immunol. Immunother. 54:307-314; Konishi et al. (2004) Clin. Cancer Res. 10:5094-100). Immune suppression can be reversed by inhibiting the local interaction of PD-1 with PD-L1, and the effect is additive when the interaction of PD-1 with PD-L2 is blocked as well (Iwai et al. (2002) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 99:12293-7; Brown et al. (2003) J. Immunol. 170:1257-66).

SHANGHAI ZHANGJIANG BIOTECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


While detecting a missing section from a biological signal acquired from a human body and while storing the biological signal values obtained at n (where n is a natural number) consecutive points in time, weighted addition is conducted on the biological signal values obtained at n points in time. In outputting its result as a final biological signal, the biological signal value at each of points in time included in the missing section is changed to an average value of the biological signal values at points in time which are not in the missing section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a biological information detection apparatus which detects biological information of a human being or an animal.
2. Related Art
At the present time, there has been proposed a sleepiness alarm system which judges the sleepiness state of a driver who is driving a vehicle by measuring a biological information such as heart rate, pulsebeat, respiration, temperature, skin resistance and blood pressure of the driver and notifies the driver of the sleepiness state. Electrodes which detect biological information from hands of the driver are attached to a steering wheel of a vehicle having such a sleepiness alarm system mounted thereon. Therefore, the driver must always touch the electrodes and consequently the driver is forced to undergo an excessive burden. Therefore, even if the driver temporarily releases one hand or both hands from the electrodes, a heart rate detection apparatus capable of correctly detecting the heart rate serving as biological information of the driver has been proposed. See, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. Hei-06-255518. If the driver temporarily releases one hand or both hands from the electrodes attached to the steering wheel and consequently the heart rate signal from the electrodes is missing in such a heart rate detection apparatus, the missing section of the heart rate signal is compensated for by using a heart rate signal obtained after recovery.
If the time over which the driver releases one hand or both hands from the electrodes becomes long in such a heart rate detection apparatus, however, the time when processing is conducted to compensate for the missing section of the heart rate signal is delayed. This results in a problem that the measurement of the heart rate is stopped over this time period.

Biological information detection apparatus


A dock system storage device includes a base and an enclosure including doors at one side. The enclosure is constructed of laminated panels connecting at their edges to connecting channel members. The storage device has a width and length substantially equal to dock system sections. The storage device connects to an edge of the dock system with connectors below an upper surface of the dock sections. The storage device includes legs or pontoons supporting the device independently of the dock sections.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a temporary storage device which may be utilized as part of a marine dock system, and in particular to a portable modular storage device.
2. Prior Art
Devices for storing marine related articles at the water side are well known. Permanent structures such as boat houses are often used for storage of boats and other equipment. It can be appreciated that on beaches and waterfront property, there are often many types of water toys and recreational equipment such as water-skis, life jackets, fishing gear and other articles that may be utilized in the water and which require storage. If there is no storage available at the water side, the equipment must be carried back and forth between storage space remote from the waterfront or placed in a boat which typically does not have adequate storage space.
In addition to permanent boat houses, dock storage boxes are utilized for storing equipment on a dock. However, the on-dock devices are not affixed to the dock in any manner and although they may provide protection for the equipment from the elements, the dock storage boxes do not provide an adequate level of security. Moreover, the storage capacity of dock boxes is very limited, requiring either several boxes for storing multiple pieces of equipment or requiring alternatives storage for larger items. Dock storage devices also generally sit on a dock, reducing the walk path available on the dock. This creates inconveniences and possible safety hazards.
Although permanent structures such as boathouses may provide adequate storage, such structures have several drawbacks. The permanent boat houses may be very costly to construct and maintain. In addition to the cost, the permanent structure may require a permit to build and occupy space along the beach. In many states, zoning regulations require that the permanent structure must be set back a predetermined distance from the waterfront, thereby decreasing the accessibility and convenience of such a structure. However, removable non-permanent devices such as boat lifts and their covers generally do not require a permit and are removable with the dock.
It can be seen then, that a new and improved storage device for use at the waterfront with a dock is needed. Such a device should provide adequate storage capacity while providing protection from the elements. In addition, such a device should not obstruct the open space on the dock. The device should be constructed of lightweight, low maintenance materials and be easily removable and portable along with other components of the dock system so it does not require a special permit.
Moreover, such a device may be modular for adapting to standard dock configurations. The present invention addresses these problems as well as others associated with waterfront storage devices.


A memory device having memory cells in which a single access transistor controls the grounding of at least four storage elements, such as resistive storage elements, for purposes of reading the respective logical states of the storage elements. Unique sensing techniques are provided to sense the states of the storage elements. The logical states of the storage elements are decoupled from one another and are read independently.

Integrated circuit designers have always sought the ideal semiconductor memory: a device that is randomly accessible, can be written or read very quickly, is non-volatile, but indefinitely alterable, and consumes little power. Emerging variable resistance memories increasingly offer these advantages. Programmable Conductance Random Access Memory (PCRAM) is one example of such a memory. Additionally, Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM) technology has been increasingly viewed as offering all these advantages. Other types of variable resistance memories include polymer-based memory and chalcogenide-based memory.
A PCRAM element has a structure including a chalcogenide-based glass region incorporating a metal (or metal ions) and electrodes on either side of the glass region. Information can be stored as a digital "1" or "0" as stable resistance states. A typical chalcogenide glass used in PCRAM devices is GexSe100-x. The chalcogenide glass can also be used in conjunction with layers of Ag and/or Ag2Se. An example of a PCRAM device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,348,365 to Moore and Gilton. The glass region of a PCRAM element can be made less resistive upon application of a threshold voltage. This less resistive state is maintained in a non- or semi-volatile manner and is reversible by applying a reversed voltage. The resistance state of a PCRAM element can be sensed by the application of a sub-threshold voltage through the cell element.
A magnetic memory element has a structure which includes ferromagnetic layers separated by a non-magnetic barrier layer that forms a tunnel junction. An example of an MRAM device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,756 to Sandhu et al. Information can be stored as a digital "1" or a "0" as directions of magnetization vectors in these ferromagnetic layers. Magnetic vectors in one ferromagnetic layer are magnetically fixed or pinned, while the magnetic vectors of the other ferromagnetic layer are not fixed so that the magnetization direction is free to switch between "parallel" and "antiparallel" states relative to the pinned layer. In response to parallel and antiparallel states, the magnetic memory element represents two different stable resistance states, which are read by the memory circuit as either a "1" or a "0." Passing a current through the MRAM cell enables detection of the resistance states.
As mentioned above, polymer memory, another type of variable resistance memory, utilizes a polymer-based layer having ions dispersed therein or, alternatively, the ions may be in an adjacent layer. The polymer memory element is based on polar conductive polymer molecules. The polymer layer and ions are between two electrodes such that upon application of a voltage or electric field the ions migrate toward the negative electrode, thereby changing the resistivity of the memory cell. This altered resistivity can be sensed as a memory state.
Chalcogenide memory, another type of variable resistance memory, switches resistivity states by undergoing a phase change in response to resistive heating. The two phases corresponding to the two stable resistivity states include a polycrystalline state and an amorphous state. The amorphous state is a higher resistive state, which can be read as stored data.
A problem encountered in variable resistance memory array architectures is the generation of sneak paths. Sneak paths during read operations are most prevalent in cross-point array architectures, and exist wherever memory cells are in direct electrical contact with one another through the array. A sneak path is a parasitic path or logic flow within a system which, under certain conditions, can initiate an undesired function or inhibit a desired function. Typically, in variable resistance memory circuits the problem is exhibited when reading data from a desired cell. Other cells in electrical contact with the addressed cell provide alternate routes for current, causing a sneak path and lowering the memory circuit's resistance to potentially unreadable levels.
A variable resistance memory array 10, in this example an MRAM array, is shown in FIG. 1a. MRAM cells 12 are located and addressed at the intersecting points of bit lines 16 (also called column lines) and word lines 18 (also called row lines). When the cell 12 to be read is addressed by coupling the word line 18 and forcing a current on the bit line 16, the addressed cell 12 exhibits a resistivity based on its programmed state, which can be sensed by sense circuitry 14 coupled to the bit lines 16 and/or word lines 18. However, parasitic current also flows through other non-addressed cells 12a of the array 10 in multiple sneak paths. These sneak paths reduce the total resistivity of the cell 12 being sensed by the sense circuitry 14. With the diminished resistance there is a smaller margin between the programmed higher and lower resistive states of the memory cell 12, making the memory more difficult to read.
Sneak path equivalent resistance, which is an equivalent resistances of the memory cells of the sneak path, provides an alternate route for current in the array architecture when the selected cell 12 is being sensed. Thus, the sneak path creates an effective parallel current path. To minimize the impact of the sneak path an equal potential voltage VA, which is equal to the sensed bit line voltage VA′, is applied to all unselected bit lines 16a, and unselected word lines 18a. Based on the equal potential voltage scheme, FIG. 1b shows the equivalent circuit and resistances between the sensed bit line 16 (e.g., VA′), the forced equal potential VA voltage on the unselected bit lines 16a and word lines 18a, and the grounded word line 18. The resistance R20r between the sensed bit line 16 and unselected bit lines 16a is approximated to be:Rsneak1=R/(r−1),  (1)where R is the average resistance of the MRAM memory cells and r is the total number of word lines 18 or rows in the memory array 10.
The second sneak path resistance R20c is formed through node VA and ground. This resistance is approximated to be:Rsneak2=R/(c−1),  (2)where R is the average resistance of the MRAM memory cells and c is the total number of unselected bit lines 16a or columns in the memory array 10.
Since node VA is forced to a voltage equal to VA′, Rsneak2 will not in the path of the sensing current, and the total equivalent resistance looking from the sense amplifier will not be impacted by Rsneak2. Based on this network the resistance that the sense amplifier 14 connected to bit line 16 will see is calculated to be a function of VA, VA′, R, and Rsneak1 as follows:Rsense=VA′/(((VA′−VA)/Rsneak1)+VA′/R),  (3)orRsense=R/(((R(VA′−VA)/(Rsneak1*VA′))+1),  (4)where VA′ is the voltage applied to bit line 16 (approximately 0.5v).
If the difference between VA and VA′ is zero (VA′−VA), then Rsense=R, which is desired, however due to noise, offsets any difference between VA, and VA′ will cause a large reduction in the Rsense value, and the resistance change will be very hard to be sensed.
Noise sensitivity due to the architecture structure and is spread throughout the entire array 10. The resistance change between the two states will result in small input impedance change due to small sneak path resistance, as indicated above. A 20% change in R will result into a very small change in Rsense and will necessitate special biasing circuits as described above (e.g., an equal potential scheme) to increase the Rsense change. For example a 20% resistance change on an average one Mega Ohm resistance and an array with 1000 rows will result in a 1.5% change with 5 mv offset between VA and VA′, 5.8% change with 1 mv between VA and VA′ and 9.0% change with 0.5 mv between VA and VA′.
Therefore, to sense the selected resistive cell in the presence of a noise sneak path that reduces its equivalent sensed resistance change, a special sensing scheme is also required.
An integration sensing scheme is used to amplify the difference above the noise level and then detect the difference between the high resistance programmed state, and low resistance un-programmed states of the resistive cell. Accordingly, sneak path resistance makes sensing above the noise level more difficult. Thus, it would be advantageous to have a memory array architecture suitable for a variable resistance memory array that could provide similar integration characteristics as a cross-point array architecture, but which would also mitigate the detriments of sneak path occurrence.

Serial transistor-cell array architecture


An optical transport system is configured to use a modulation scheme in which a phase rotation applied to a sequence of PSK or QAM constellation symbols encoding a codeword of an FEC code produces a modified sequence of PSK or QAM constellation symbols encoding a bit-word that is not a valid codeword of that FEC code. Based on this property of the modulation scheme, an optical receiver may be configured to relatively accurately recover the absolute phase of the optical carrier wave of the received modulated optical signal by applying maximum likelihood sequence estimation processing to each portion of the signal carrying a valid codeword of the FEC code. For example, for a modulation scheme employing a 2n-PSK constellation, the optical receiver may be able to recover the absolute phase of the optical carrier wave with an accuracy that is better than 360/2n degrees.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to optical communication equipment and, more specifically but not exclusively, to the use of forward-error-correction techniques for carrier-phase estimation in optical transport systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the invention(s). Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.
Advanced modulation formats, such as quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), enable data to be modulated in both the phase and the amplitude of the optical carrier wave. However, a known drawback of these modulation formats is a relatively complex receiver structure, where the relative phase between the optical local-oscillator (OLO) signal and the carrier wave of the received modulated optical signal needs to be tracked continuously for the modulated data to be recovered. The tracking can be done, e.g., using a phase-lock loop (PLL) circuit, which is a negative-feedback control system configured to lock the OLO signal to the phase and frequency of the carrier wave of the received modulated optical signal. However, PLL circuits may add significantly to the cost and complexity of the corresponding coherent optical receiver. An alternative to a PLL circuit is the use of intradyne detection, where the phase tracking is implemented in the electrical-digital domain via digital signal processing after optical-to-electrical conversion, sampling, and analog-to-digital conversion. However, efficient synchronization and phase-estimation algorithms for intradyne detection are still undergoing research and development.

Use of parity-check coding for carrier-phase estimation in an optical transport system


The present invention is directed to methods and compositions useful for altering the transcriptional expression of genes in eukaryotic cells. The invention employs novel antibody derivative molecules which function to recognize and bind to specific cis-regulatory DNA sequence elements of a eukaryotic gene. When two antibody derivative molecules are bound to adjacent cis-regulatory DNA sequence elements of a gene, those molecules may interact to form an antibody binding site which is capable of recognizing and binding to a transcription factor protein for the target gene, thereby affecting the functionality of that transcription factor protein and, in turn, the transcriptional activity of the gene. Also provided herein are isolated nucleic acids encoding the novel antibody derivative molecules of the present invention and expression vectors comprising those nucleic acids.

Eukaryotic cells are capable of controlling gene expression and the synthesis of proteins through a variety of different regulatory mechanisms. These regulatory mechanisms include, for example, regulatory control at the level of gene transcription, control over RNA processing and transport within the cell, control over mRNA degradation, control over mRNA translation and control over the activity of proteins once they have been synthesized By far the most important of the eukaryotic regulatory control mechanisms described above, however, is the regulation of gene expression and protein synthesis at the transcriptional level. In fact, only regulatory control of gene expression at the transcriptional level ensures that no superfluous RNA or protein intermediates are synthesized.
The regulation of eukaryotic gene expression and protein synthesis at the transcriptional level generally involves both cis-regulatory DNA sequence elements, which are often located near the transcription initiation site of any gene of interest, and trans-acting transcription factor proteins. In the most general case, eukaryotic gene transcriptional activity is regulated by the sequence-specific binding of trans-acting transcription factor proteins to specific cis-regulatory DNA sequence elements. Then, depend ing upon whether the trans-acting transcription factor proteins are "positive" or "negative" transcription al regulators, the sequence-specific binding of those trans-acting transcriptional factor proteins to their respective cis-regulatory DNA sequence elements will act to either increase or decrease the transcriptional activity of the gene with which those cis-regulatory DNA sequence elements are associated.
Numerous effort s have been made to manipulate the transcriptional activity of eukaryotic genes in vivo. Many of these efforts have concentrated on attempting to interfere with the binding of various DNA binding proteins to their respective cis-regulatory DNA sequence elements, thereby affecting the ability of those DNA binding proteins to either activate or suppress transcription from the target gene. These efforts, however, have proven, for the most part, to be less than successful. Moreover, many of these methods result in adverse consequences such as, for example, altering the express ion of more than just the desired gene.
Thus, there is a need for novel methods and compositions which are useful for altering the transcriptional expression of one or more target genes in eukaryotic cells without significantly affecting the transcriptional expression of other cellular genes. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide novel methods for altering the expression of a eukaryotic gene without significantly affecting the expression of other cellular genes. It is also an object of the present invention to provide novel compositions for use in methods for affecting the transcription of eukaryotic genes in vivo.

Antibody derivatives for controlling gene expression


A method and apparatus for improved scanning keyboard and diodes option is disclosed. Each of the pins is treated as one independent dimension so as to define a multi-dimensional configuration. The circuit includes a clock generation circuit, a keyboard I/O port device comprising a plurality of ports associated with the pins and a key detection register device. A key is arranged at the interconnection of any two ports. When the key is depressed, by maintaining the ports at a first level and applying a second level to each of the ports to check which port goes from the first level to the second level, the location of the key may be determined. The output of the ports are stored in the key detection register device for the determination of the key location.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a keyboard scanning circuit, and, more particularly, to an improvement over the conventional two-dimensional telephone keyboard scanning circuit which provides the maximum number of keys available in a telephone system with a given number of pins and to integrate other functions thereon to be selected by means of diodes.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A conventional two-dimensional keyboard scanning circuit of a telephone system has a configuration that data ports thereof are divided into two dimensional ports, i.e. the row ports and the column ports, to correspond to a two-dimensional matrix. In the two-dimensional keyboard configuration, a key switch is available in the interconnection between any one of the row ports and any one of the column ports, as shown in FIG. 1. Such a conventional keyboard configuration has a limitation in the maximum number of keys that are available for no key is arranged on the interconnection between any two ports of the same set, for example between two columns or between two rows.
As shown in FIG. 1, the keyboard scanning circuit of the conventional two-dimensional keyboard configuration, which is designated with reference numeral 1, comprises m columns (C1, C2, . . . , Cm) and n rows (R1, R2, . . . , Rn). In accordance with the conventional two-dimensional keyboard arrangement, a key switch may be provided between each of the rows and each of the columns, namely in mathematical form between the ith column (1.ltoreq.i.ltoreq.m) and the jth row (1.ltoreq.j.ltoreq.n). Hence, the maximum number of keys available in the two-dimensional keyboard configuration is m.times.n and no key is available between any two rows or between any two columns. However, since actually, the rows and columns have no difference from each other, it is a waste for not being able to provide a key between any two rows or any two columns.
Furthermore, in the conventional two-dimensional keyboard configuration, a 3.58 MHz oscillator is usually adopted to provide the system frequency of the keyboard scanning operation. In detecting the actuation of a key, all the columns are set to for example a logic high level and the rows are set to logic low level so that a detection of the change of output from high to low occurring at one of the columns indicates the associated key is depressed or actuated. Using a 3.58 MHz oscillator to provide the system frequency consumes dissipates much more power than using a 32768 Hz oscillator and it is about 100 times more power dissipation. This is also a serious problem to be overcome.

Method and apparatus for scanning keyboard and diode option


A method of reducing staining by an oral care composition, including providing an effective amount of a metal chelator, wherein the oral care composition includes chlorhexidine.

Oral care composition commonly include a variety of antibacterial and/or antimicrobial agents to promote oral hygiene and health. Chlorhexidine (CHX) is often the antimicrobial agent of choice as it combines superior anti-plaque and anti-gingivitis properties with an excellent safety profile. However, CHX is also known to lead to the staining or discoloration of dental surfaces.
Accordingly, there is a desire for oral care compositions and methods to reduce staining for oral care compositions that use CHX.

Methods and compositions to reduce staining for antibacterial oral care compositions


A power transmission system of a hybrid electric vehicle includes an input shaft configured to receive torque of an engine. A first motor/generator includes a first rotor directly connected to the input shaft and a first stator selectively connected to a first motor housing and the input shaft. An intermediate shaft is disposed in series with the input shaft and selectively connected to the first stator. A second motor/generator includes a second rotor directly connected to the intermediate shaft and a second stator directly connected to a second motor housing. A final reduction gear is configured to receive torque from the intermediate shaft and to output the torque. A battery supplies electricity to the first and second motor/generators or is charged by torque of the first and second motor/generators.

In recent years, an environmentally-friendly vehicle technology has becoming a very important technology in the automotive industry. Vehicle manufacturers have been focusing on development of environmentally-friendly vehicles, such as electric vehicles (EV), hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV), to satisfy the environment and fuel consumption regulations.
These eco-friendly vehicles have technical restrictions in terms of weight and cost, and thus, the vehicle manufacturers keep observation on the hybrid electric vehicles for the exhaust gas regulations and improving fuel consumption performance.
A hybrid electric vehicle is a vehicle using more than two power sources. A gasoline or diesel internal combustion engine using fossil fuel and a motor/generator driven by electrical energy are the main power source for the hybrid electric vehicle.
The hybrid electric vehicle uses the motor/generator having relatively low-speed torque characteristics as a main power source at a low-speed and uses the engine having relatively high-speed torque characteristics as a main power source at a high-speed.
Since the hybrid electric vehicle stops the engine operation using the fossil fuel and uses the motor/generator at a low-speed region, fuel consumption may be improved and exhaust gas may be reduced.
However, a power transmission system of the hybrid electric vehicle has different durability, power delivery efficiency, and the size that depends on connections of planetary gear sets, the motor/generators, and a torque delivery apparatus. Therefore, designs for the connection structure of the power transmission system of the hybrid electric vehicle are also under continuous development to achieve robust and compact power transmission system having no power loss.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention, and therefore, it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Power transmission system of hybrid electric vehicle


A medicament dispensing cell for use in an automatic dispensing machine includes a housing defining a medicament storage section, a discharge section leading to an outlet, a passage between the sections, a rotatable platen and a dispensing assembly for dispensing medicament in single file from the storage section to the discharge section. A resilient, flexible bushing having outwardly extending fingers encloses the hub of the platen for conveying medicament through the passage. The platen includes a plurality of spirally configured conveying members defined on the surface thereof and the dispensing assembly includes a selectively adjustable passage wall for adjusting the breadth of the passage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of automatic medicament dispensing machines. In particular, the invention is concerned with a medicament dispensing cell for use in an automatic dispensing machine.
2. Description ot the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,919 discloses an automatic medicament dispensing machine having a plurality of dispensing cells for storing and dispensing various types of solid medicament units such as pills, capsules and caplets. Each cell includes a rotatable platen presenting a driven gear. A manipulator arm of the machine retrieves an empty vial and positions the vial adjacent the outlet of a selected dispensing cell. The manipulator arm includes a drive gear that engages the driven gear of the cell for selective rotation thereof in order to dispense medicament from the cell. The filled vial is then positioned on a discharge conveyor for subsequent handling such as labeling and inspection.
While generally adequate, the dispensing cell as disclosed in the '919 patent presents some problems. For example, medicament units sometimes cling to the housing of the cell or to one another due to static charge or moisture. Additionally, medicament units are sometimes dispensed without adequate spacing therebetween resulting in an inaccurate count by the photoelectric eye on the manipulator arm. Breaking and jamming of medicament units has also been a problem. All of these factors have contributed to a dispensing speed slower than that desired.


A Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner has a plurality of photo detector blocks. Each photo detector block or region has a plurality of photo detectors, a multiplexer receiving output signals from the plurality of photo detectors and generating a multiplexer output signal, a multiplexer control unit controlling switching of the multiplexer, and an analog-to-digital converter receiving the multiplexer output signal and generating a digital output signal.

In the field of medical image technology such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) or gamma cameras, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of scintillators 130 and associated photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) 110n or avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are usually arranged in a circle of a detector ring 130. Such a detector ring 130 surrounds the patient to be scanned. To conduct a so-called PET scan, a short-lived radioactive tracer isotope, which decays by emitting a positron, is injected usually into the blood circulation of a living subject. After the metabolically active molecule becomes concentrated in tissues of interest, the research subject or patient is placed in the imaging scanner. The molecule most commonly used for this purpose is fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), a sugar, for which the waiting period is typically an hour.
As the radioisotope undergoes positron emission decay, it emits a positron, the antimatter counterpart of an electron. After traveling up to a few millimeters the positron encounters and annihilates with an electron, producing a pair of gamma photons moving in almost opposite directions. These are detected when they reach one of a plurality of scintillation crystals in the scanning device, creating a burst of light detected by an array of photo detectors comprised either of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) or silicon avalanche photodiodes (Si APDs). Generally a plurality of PMTs or APDs are arranged in a matrix and assigned to a single scintillator detector as shown in the enlarged section 160 in FIG. 1. The scintillator detector can be a single scintillation crystal or can be, as shown, a matrix of scintillator crystals 130 coupled to the PMTs via a light guide 135. To be able to increase the resolution of the system without the high costs of 1:1 coupling, the number of photo detectors per block is generally significantly lower than the number of scintillation crystals. For example, a block detector may have a plurality of photo detectors with, for example, 4 or 9 PMTs or APDs arranged in a 2×2 or 3×3 matrix behind an array of scintillation crystals. Other arrangements with more or less photo detectors are possible. Thus, the event localization may be determined or interpolated by such a scintillation block detector by processing the associated photo detector signals. This can be done by analog filtering, integration, and multiplication of weighted combinations of the photo detector signals or by using digital algorithms that use discrete time sample points of signals obtained directly from the photo detectors. The PET technique depends on simultaneous or coincident time detection of the pair of photons.
On the right side of FIG. 1a block diagram is shown of the typical architecture of detectors and associated analog-to-digital-converters in a conventional system. Each matrix of PMTs or APDs produces a plurality of signals that need to be processed to generate an image from a plurality of single events that are detected by a PMT. To determine the position of a detected annihilation, the system needs to accurately measure the timing and energy of both detected photons. Consequently a high amount of data has to be produced by the respective measurement circuits.
For example, as shown on the right side of FIG. 1, each scintillator has an associated matrix of detectors, such as PMTs 1101 . . . 110n. Each signal of each PMT 1101 . . . 110n is first amplified, for example by an associated discriminator/filter 1201 . . . 120n which are capable of optimizing desired photoelectron signal response while minimizing noise and amplifying the respective signals for further processing. The output signal of all discriminators/filters 1201 . . . 120n are then concurrently converted into discrete-time digital signals by associated analog-to-digital converters (ADC) 1401 . . . 140n. The sample rate frequency for each ADC is provided at terminal 150. Using this digital processing architecture requires n independent ADC channels with peripheral circuitry to concurrently sample each of n photo detector signals per block. This causes high costs on the design of a detector unit.


A solid-state imaging apparatus includes a solid-state imaging device and a signal processing circuit. The solid-state imaging device includes: a plurality of photoelectric converting sections provided with color filters having different spectroscopic characteristics, and each converting light incident thereon into a charge and accumulating the charge, and a plurality of vertical charge transfer sections for vertically transferring the charge read from each of the photoelectric converting sections. A plurality of reading operations to read the charges accumulated in the photoelectric converting sections to the plurality of the vertical charge transfer sections are performed within a time duration for scanning an image for one image plane, and the charges read from the photoelectric converting sections are transferred through the vertical charge transfer section separately for each of the reading operations. The signal processing circuit includes: a plurality of color separation circuits each for performing color separation of signals based on the charges read by the plurality of reading operations and transferred separately; and a synthesis circuit for synthesizing the signals sent by the color separation circuits and outputting the resultant signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid-state imaging apparatus having a solid-state imaging device and a signal processing circuit, used in a video camera and the like and a method for driving the solid-state imaging device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, solid-state imaging devices and signal processing circuits used for such solid-state imaging devices has been improved in performance and are in use in a video camera for consumer use.
A conventional solid-state imaging device and a signal processing circuit used for such a solid-state imaging device described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2-87685 will be described with reference to FIG. 18.
Such a conventional solid-state imaging device includes photoelectric converting sections arranged two dimensionally and a vertical charge transfer section for vertically transferring charges which are output by the photoelectric converting sections. A plurality of reading operations are performed within a period in which images corresponding to one image plane are formed, and the charges which are output are mixed in the vertical charge transfer section. The vertical charge transfer section outputs the result.
For example, the two reading operations are performed within the above-described period. A charge Q1 read in the first reading operation is accumulated in time duration t1, and a charge Q2 read in the second reading operation is accumulated in time duration t2, which is different from time duration t1. FIG. 18 illustrates the photoelectric converting characteristic of the conventional solid-state imaging device. In FIG. 18, the vertical axis represents the intensity of light, and the horizontal axis represents the level of the voltage obtained by converting the quantity of the output charge. The solid line indicates such a characteristic of the charge Q1, and the dashed line indicates such a characteristic of the charge Q2. The chain line represents such a characteristic of a charge Q3 obtained as a result of the mixture of the charges Q1 and Q2. As is illustrated in FIG. 18, the voltage based on the charge Q1 which is output in the first reading operation reaches a saturation level of the photoelectric converting section when the intensity of light becomes B. The voltage based on the charge Q2 which is output in the second reading operation reaches a saturation level of the photoelectric converting section when the intensity of light becomes D. The charge Q2 provides a wide dynamic range, but provides a low S/N ratio when the intensity of light is low due to the low signal level thereof. The charge Q1 provides a narrow dynamic range, but provides a high S/N ratio due to the high signal level thereof. Thus, the charge Q3 provides a wide dynamic range and a high S/N ratio even if the intensity of light is low.
A solid-state imaging apparatus having the above-described structure has drawbacks. Specifically, the saturation levels of the photoelectric converting sections corresponding to different pixels are not uniform. Thus, the knee point of the charge Q3 at which the curve representing the photoelectric converting characteristic turns drastically is different among different pixels. Such non-uniformity is represented as noise having a fixed pattern in an area of a video image having a high luminance, which significantly deteriorates the quality of the image.
Moreover, in the case where a plurality of color filters having different spectroscopic characteristics are provided in order to display a color image by a single solid-state imaging apparatus, color separation cannot be done due to the photoelectric converting characteristic having a knee point.

Signal processing circuit and method for driving a solid state imaging device using plural reading operations per image scanning time

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Systems and methods for providing remote network security using a network embeddings model are provided. A method consistent with the present disclosure includes retrieving a corpus of network activity data associated with a first network. The network activity data may be generated from users within the first network submitting network requests for network assets to service the network requests. The method also includes creating a crafted encoded corpus by selecting a subset of the corpus of network activity data and creating a network embeddings model based on the crafted encoded corpus. Lastly, the method includes generating an alert in an event that the network security system identifies an anomaly associated with the crafted encoded corpus of network activity data.

Natural Language Processing (NLP) involves the programming of computers to process, analyze, and learn from large amounts of natural language data. With advances in NLP, specifically in the areas of auto-encoding, significant progress has been made in the ability to learn semantics from documents in an unsupervised manner from unlabeled data. Embeddings techniques have recently been employed to solve various NLP problems.
Similar to the challenges of developing applications to operate in an unsupervised manner, differentiating simple outliers from anomalies is a challenge for network security applications which aim to operate in an unsupervised manner with limited security administrators that can label the data. As each computer network is unique, developing network security systems to generate less false positives is desired.

Network embeddings model for personal identifiable information protection

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


In a device for conveying and positioning structural elements at a conveying track, a structural element is brought into pending state at the conveying track and the conveying track is tilted in conveying direction so that the structural element slides downwards to approach a target point. The position of the structural element is detected. The device further includes a control unit wherein the position of the structural element is detected within a predetermined range of the target point to be reached, and a time, at which the conveying track is tilted and re-tilted at a predetermined angular speed by a predetermined angle, is determined by using a calculation and control algorithm, so that the structural element is intercepted.

The present invention relates to a device for conveying structural elements sensitive to touch along a conveying track in a non-contact way. Furthermore, the invention relates to a device for positioning structural elements sensitive to touch on a conveying track.
Several technologies for transporting structural elements, containers or materials held pending along a conveying track are known. Especially, conveying systems which use air bearings for conveying, and magnetic systems which utilize repulsive forces generated by homopolar magnets are known. Also, the principle of so-called sound levitation is conventionally used for conveying structural elements very sensitive to touch. According to this technology, sound waves are eratiated by a conveying track, which generate an air cushion for the structural element to be conveyed pendingly.
The structural elements to be conveyed pendingly are not allowed to contact other parts, even if they are accelerated or decelerated. Conventionally, acceleration and deceleration of structural elements is realized by using a fan, for example. However, this technology shows several disadvantages. The gaseous material used for accelerating and decelerating structural elements must meet clean-room conditions, i.e. must be filtered very strongly. Moreover, particle eventually present may be whirled up by the turbulence generated during the blowing operation. Therefore, with this technology, it is impossible or very difficult to stop the conveyed structural elements at the predetermined position on the conveying track. In case of conveying very light-weighed structural elements, such elements can be blown off from the given track by air or gas whirls appearing stochastically. Also, particle-like material can be accelerated by the blowing operation.

Device for conveying and positioning of structural elements in non-contact way


The subject invention features substituted N-heteroaromatic compounds, libraries of substituted N-heteroaromatic compounds, and methods of synthesis thereof. For example, the present invention provides methods for synthesizing substituted N-heteroaromatic compounds, and is particularly amenable to the generation of libraries of substituted N- heteroaromatic compounds by combinatorial chemistry. The methods of the invention generally feature the reaction of O-linked heteroaromatic N-oxides with nucleophiles to produce substituted N-heteroaromatic compounds.

Substituted pyridines (and other N-heteroaromatic compounds) are widely distributed in nature, and many substituted synthetic N-heteroaromatic compounds are also important synthetic chemicals in the agrichemical and pharmaceutical industries. For example, certain substituted pyridines have herbicidal activity (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,438,033 and 3,495,969); histamine antagonists (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,175); fungicides (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,339); and ferroelectric liquid crystals (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,601); and as intermediates in synthesis. There are numerous references to the synthesis of substituted pyridine compounds; however, many of these reported approaches can be used to synthesize only a few types of substituted pyridine compounds.

Synthesis of substituted N-heteroaromatic compounds and methods of use thereof


A method for determining a direction of arrival of an electromagnetic wave comprises the steps of: measuring sets of electric and magnetic components of an electromagnetic wave as sensed from a lumped antenna structure; finding a cross product for each measured set of electric and magnetic components so as to derive an orthogonal vector value therefrom; deriving the Castesian components for each direction vector value so determined; averaging like component vectors for each measured electric and magnetic vector component set over a plurality of measurements; and deriving a direction vector from the averaged vector values.

Most existing methods for localizing a source of electromagnetic signals employ a multi-sensor, dispersed array. Output data from each sensor is a scalar value that corresponds, for example, to the magnitude of the electric field at the sensor. Using such magnitude values, a direction vector can be derived from the array to the source of electromagnetic energy based upon time difference of arrivals. Directionally adjustable single sensors (e.g. rotatable loops) have also been used to derive a vector direction to an electromagnetic source, based upon an orientation of the sensor wherein a maximum signal output is seen. Multi-sensor arrays, because they occupy considerable space, are not well suited to airborne applications or to mobile systems which require limited size antenna sensors. Single sensor systems that rely upon scalar electric field values are slow in response. In the prior art, investigators have designed electromagnetic sensors that detect not only an electromagnetic wave's electric field but also its magnetic field. Kanda et al., in studying the biological effects of electromagnetic radiation, designed loop antenna type sensors to provide simultaneous voltage outputs that gave both electric and magnetic field component values for an incident electromagnetic wave. The resultant field measurements were employed to derive the magnitude of a Poynting vector (a vector that is the power flux density of the field). Kanda et al. used the calculated Poynting vector values to describe an electromagnetic field's energy flow and thus its potential effect on biologic materials. The Kanda et al. work is described in: "An Electromagnetic Near/Field Sensor For Simultaneous Electric and Magnetic/Field Measurements", IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility, Vol. EMC-26, No. 3, 1984, pages 102-110; "An Optically Linked Electric and Magnetic Field Sensor For Poynting Vector Measurements In The Near Fields of Radiating Sources", IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility, Vol. 30, No. 4, November 1988, pages 495-503; and "A Three-Loop Method For Determining the Radiation Characteristics of an Electrically Small Source", IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility, Vol. 34, No. 1, February 1992, pages 1-3.
It is an object of this invention to provide a method for determining a direction to a source of electromagnetic radiation in a noisy environment, such method employing a lumped vector sensor.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved method for determining a direction of arrival (DOA) of an electromagnetic wave in a noisy environment, the method employing both electric and magnetic field measurements.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a improved method for determining the DOA of an electromagnetic wave that is suited to airborne and mobile applications.

Method for eletromagnetic source localization


A circuit that includes a single grounded fault sensing transformer coupled to a resonant circuit that produces an output signal used by a microcontroller to determine a load current flowing through at least two conductors passing through the center of the sensing transformer. The microcontroller pings the resonant circuit, causing an impulse disturbance at the output signal, and the microcontroller calculates the inductance component of the resonant circuit based on the frequency of the decaying output signal. The microcontroller calculates the resistive core loss as a function of a known resistance of the resonant circuit, a known capacitance of the resonant circuit, the calculated inductance, and the determined rate of decay of the output signal. The calculated resistive core loss is compared to a table or to a polynomial function that characterizes known resistive core losses with known load currents to determine the load current corresponding to the calculated resistive core loss.

Measuring load current consumed by a load connected to a circuit is useful for metering analysis. One way to measure accurately a range of load currents is to couple a current sensor (typically a current transformer) to a conductor carrying the load current, and convert the sensor output into a representation of the load current. Current transformers are bulky as they are shaped like a toroid and are positioned so that the load conductor passes through an opening in the toroid-shaped core. A ground fault detector already includes a ground fault sensing transformer, so to measure load current, a second transformer is needed. Eliminating the need for a bulky second current transformer would be beneficial. In addition, load shifts caused by variations in the windings of the ground fault sensing transformer can permit the sensed ground fault current to reach too high a value. Eliminating these load shifts would be beneficial.
What is needed, therefore, is an apparatus and method for measuring load current using a ground fault sensing transformer without the use of an external sensor. The present disclosure is directed to addressing these and other needs.

Apparatus and method for measuring load current using a ground fault sensing transformer


A method for operating a power plant having a gas turbine, a heat recovery steam generator, a steam turbine, an auxiliary heat source, and a control system, wherein the method includes controlling the power plant such that the heat recovery steam generator receives an input of heat from the gas turbine; determining the gas turbine is operating at its maximum capacity or at an upper end of its control range and the power plant is operating at less than a target value for a power plant capacity; determining a target pressure value immediately upstream of the steam turbine, wherein the target pressure value is derived from a primary pressure for the steam turbine and a steam turbine capacity for the steam turbine; based upon the target pressure value, controlling the heat store to release heat into the heat recovery steam generator to achieve the predefined power plant capacity.

In future, it is assumed that plants for generating electricity in a deregulated power market will increasingly be required to operate in an extremely flexible manner, simultaneously combined with the maximum possible efficiency.
Increased flexibility in gas and steam turbine plants can be achieved e.g. by means of capacity-increasing measures such as, e.g. chillers, and/or by the employment of auxiliary heat sources such as, e.g. auxiliary burners and/or heat stores.
To date, these measures have either been executed manually, according to the best available knowledge and experience of operating personnel, or an automatic operating mode has been implemented which, on the basis of a complex thermal balance calculation for the entire power plant (potentially involving the extraction of process steam or district heat), calculates a pre-controlled target value (e.g. a burner capacity target value) for an auxiliary burner and/or a discharge capacity of a thermal store, with the resulting necessity for the correction of the residual control deviation (e.g. a control pressure deviation) using a slow-acting corrective controller.


An asynchronous memory controller comprises plurality of flip-flops connected in a series. The input of the first flip-flop receives a signal indicating the start of a bus cycle. The input of each succeeding flip-flop in the series is connected to the output of the preceding flip-flop. The odd-numbered flip-flops in the series are activated by a first state of a clock pulse; the even-numbered flip-flops in the series are activated by a second state of a clock pulse. Each flip-flop responds to a level of the clock pulse rather than a rising or falling edge.

When a microprocessor and memory such as a DRAM operate together, they must be able to communicate with each other in order that data are properly written into and read from the memory. Normally, however, the microprocessor and the memory do not speak the same language. The microprocessor delivers a particular set of signals in conjunction with transferring data to or from storage, but the memory requires a different set of signals in order to play its complementary role in the data storage/retrieval process. In the case of a DRAM, the refresh cycle may also require communication with the microprocessor. Therefore, an interface or controller is required, to receive the signals from the microprocessor and convert them into signals that can be understood by the memory.
Interface circuits which use common microprocessor control signals to control a DRAM fall into essentially two categories: those which rely on delay lines, and those which rely on clocked state machines. In the delay line approach, a particular strobe signal is used to initiate an external delay line device. The delay line has a number of taps which provide rising or falling edge signals at preselected intervals. The problem with the older delay lines is that many are bulky and inaccurate. The newer, solid state delay lines are more accurate, but they are quite expensive. In general, many computer designers are reluctant to use delay line circuits.
In the clocked state machine approach, flip-flops are arranged to form state machines which generate the required timing. Since a particular flip-flop can be either rising-edge triggered or falling-edge triggered (but not both), two sets of flip-flops are required to trigger events on both edges of a single clock pulse. This prevents the design from being suitable for implementation on a PLD (programmable logic device).
Alternatively, a second "2X" clock is added to provide a clock pulse at twice the frequency of the internal microprocessor clock. This allows all rising-edge triggered flip-flops to be used, and permits the design to be implemented in a PLD. However, where no internal 2X clock is available, an external 2X clock must be provided. This adds to the expense of the interface. Moreover, in high speed systems (for example, those operating at 16 MHz) there is the problem of determining and minimizing the skew between a 32 MHz state machine clock and the 16 MHz microprocessor clock. If the skew is indeterminate or very long, it is difficult to keep the 2X clock and the microprocessor's clock tightly synchronized. A further problem arises from the fact that some microprocessors have a clock scaling function which saves power by allowing the central processor unit to slow down the clock during periods of inactivity. Most clock state machines are unable to anticipate such random changes in the timing of the CPU clock.
In accordance with this invention, a DRAM control circuit is provided which avoids the need for a 2X clock or two sets of flip-flops, one rising-edge triggered and the other falling-edge triggered.

Single-component memory controller utilizing asynchronous state machines