The interference cancellation (IC) system (500) includes a plurality of IC units, for which IC is applied. Each IC unit has its spread spectrum code generator, delay devices, correlators or matched filters (MF), spreading circuits and subtracting and adding devices. The IC process in accordance with the invention includes using a bank of MF to despread the received signal at every time instant corresponding to every identified multipath of every user's transmitted signal. Based on the despread signals, an initial decision for the present information symbol of every user can be made using a single-user receiver such as, for example, the conventional Rake receiver or an equalizer. Based on the initial decisions, IC regenerates the multipath signals for each user using timed versions of the spread spectrum code, the delays of the multipaths, and the corresponding channel medium estimates. By adding the regenerated signal estimates for the multipaths of all users, an estimate of the received signal at the input of the receiver prior to despreading can be reconstructed. Each IC unit despreads the regenerated received signal using timed versions of the corresponding spread spectrum code for each multipath delay. The result is subsequently subtracted from the initial despread signal and, to avoid removing the desired user path component, the reconstructed, interference-free, desired despread signal path is also added. The above IC process may be repeated several times (e.g., using several IC stages). Performing interference cancellation after despreading the regenerated estimate of the received signal leads to substantially smaller complexity than the prior art approach where the interference cancellation occurs prior to dispreading.

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) has been extensively used in such applications as cellular and satellite communications. CDMA signals increase the spectrum required for the transmission of a particular data rate by modulating each information symbol with a spread spectrum code having a rate larger than the data rate. The same spreading code is used for each information symbol. Typically, the spreading code includes a few tens or a few hundreds elements, called chips, and is chosen from the set of orthogonal (Walsh) codes of the given code length. To decrease the correlations among spreading codes assigned to different users and thereby reduce the interference among different users, the data stream after spreading is typically scrambled with a pseudonoise (PN) code that is generated serially and cyclically and has a larger period than the spreading code. PN codes have considerably better correlation properties than orthogonal codes. Examples of such CDMA signal spreading are the schemes used by the IS-95/CDMA2000 and Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) systems.
With CDMA, the signals from all users simultaneously occupy the same frequency band. The receiver discriminates the multiple signals by exploiting the properties of the spreading and scrambling codes that are applied to the signal of each user. The receiver attempts to match in time with the codes of the desired signal a replica of those spreading and scrambling codes. Only then is the demodulation result meaningful; otherwise it appears noise-like. Thus, if the arriving signals have different codes or different code offsets, they can be discriminated at the receiver.
In the downlink of cellular communication systems, i.e. the communication from base stations to mobile terminals, the wireless channel may introduce multipath propagation. Even if the signals transmitted by the base station are spread using orthogonal codes (Walsh codes), the multipath propagation will destroy the orthogonality and produce Multiple-Access Interference (MAI). In the uplink (i.e., the communication from mobile terminals to base stations), the signals are asynchronously transmitted. Orthogonality in this case cannot be achieved and each user's signal will experience MAI.
Interference cancellation (IC) attempts to suppress the MAI by estimating and subtracting the contribution of each interferer from the received signal. Because the capacity of CDMA systems is MAI limited, estimating and canceling the MAI will increase the capacity. Alternatively, IC can reduce the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) required to achieve a specific symbol-error-rate (SER) value for a specific number of users, thereby increasing battery life and decreasing transmission power or increasing the communication range.
The challenge in the implementation of IC is that it may have to be performed for many code signals (and their multipath components) at the symbol rate or faster. The associated computation and data storage requirements can place a significant burden on the overall receiver design, not to mention the increase in design cost.
The prevailing considerations governing the implementation of IC are complexity and performance with the former being the dominant consideration. One prior art implementation is to perform IC by regenerating the MAI based on a tentative decision for each user, the channel medium estimates and delays of the associated multipaths, and the spreading and scrambling codes. The regenerated MAI is then subtracted from the received signal before despreading. Another prior art approach that avoids signal regeneration is based on the computation of the code cross-correlations among all signals and multipaths. The effect of MAI on the despread signal can then be evaluated and removed. For K users and L multipaths per user's transmitted signal, this approach results in complexity proportional to (KL)2 while the approach based on signal respreading can have complexity proportional to (KL) as it will be later discussed. Both approaches offer theoretically the same performance.
In addition to IC, MAI suppression can be achieved using linear Multiuser Detection (MUD) methods such as the decorrelating and the Minimum-Mean-Squared Error (MMSE) detectors. With the exception of IC using signal regeneration, all other approaches require knowledge of the code cross-correlations for all signal multipaths of all users. In the case of a long scrambling code having a considerably larger period than the data symbol period (e.g. by a factor of 1000 or more), the code cross-correlations computations need to be performed every symbol period. The total number of code cross-correlations is proportional to the square of the product of the number of interferers and the number of multipaths (KL)2. The decorrelating and MMSE detectors need to invert a code cross-correlation matrix with size proportional to the product of the observation window size, the number of users and the number of multipaths per user's signal. Because matrix inversion has cubic complexity relative to the matrix size, the decorrelating and MMSE detectors are not practical choices in CDMA systems employing long codes. IC based on code cross-correlation computations suffers from similar complexity drawbacks because it requires an equal number of code cross-correlation computations as the decorrelating and MMSE detectors. It also needs to perform the same number of interference subtractions as the computed code cross-correlations. Performing these computations at the symbol rate will substantially increase the corresponding receiver complexity relative to the complexity of a receiver that does not perform multi-user detection or IC.
A CDMA system employing short scrambling codes with a period a few times larger than the symbol period, e.g. 8 times, can alleviate the computational requirements of MUD/IC. This is because the code cross-correlations have the same values after every scrambling code period and have to be recomputed only when there is a change in the MAI such as a user signal or multipath being added or deleted, an existing multipath changing its arrival time, etc. Those changes occur at a rate that is much slower than the symbol rate. Nevertheless, the complexity order is still comparable with the one described for long codes, with the only exception that computations related to the evaluation of code cross-correlations are performed at a slower rate.
The implementation alternatives for IC are the Parallel IC (PIC) and the Serial IC (SIC). With PIC, all users are simultaneously demodulated, a tentative decision is made for their information symbols, the MAI is regenerated and the process is repeated a number of times until all significant improvements in the Frame-Error-Rate (FER) performance are achieved. With SIC, a similar process is performed with the exception that a decision on the stronger user is first made, the interference from that user on the decision statistic of the next stronger user is subsequently removed and a decision for the next stronger user is made, etc.
The main advantage of SIC relative to PIC is that the decision for the stronger users is more reliable than the decision for the weaker ones and therefore, the MAI removal of the stronger users is reliable and this benefits the weaker users. The main disadvantage of SIC relative to PIC is the decision delay associated with SIC because of its serial nature and the architecturally difficult re-ordering of the detection process each time the relative signal strengths change. There are also several modifications that can be applied to the IC process. For example, the decisions made at each IC stage can be hard, soft, clipped or threshold-based, the estimated IC can be weighted to account for the bias that exists in the decisions and for the reliability of the individual decisions depending on the IC stage.
The complexity of PIC can be made linear with the number of users and multipaths by using PIC with signal regeneration as suggested in an article entitled "Real-Time DSP Implementation of a Coherent Partial Interference Cancellation Multiuser Receiver for DS-CDMA", pages 1536-1540, ICC 1998, by N. S. Correal, et al. Each user has its multipath signals regenerated, time adjusted by their corresponding delays, and then added to construct the estimated MAI before despreading. Since this MAI estimate contains all signals subtracting it from the received signal will also cancel the contribution of the desired user's multipath component and therefore the estimated desired user's multipath component should also be added. The estimated MAI term is common for all users and only the desired user's estimated multipath contribution needs to be individually added for each multipath. This is the reason for the complexity reduction from quadratic to linear with the number of users and multipaths. By subtracting the estimated MAI from the received signal, despreading and then adding the estimated desired signal path to effectively remove its presence from the estimated MAI, all signals interfering with the desired signal path are eliminated from the detection of the desired signal. This assumes that the estimated MAI is correct which in turn requires a correct tentative data decision and accurate channel medium and delay estimates. The exemplary embodiment of this invention considers PIC.
The exemplary setup in FIG. 1 describes a conventional receiver (Rake receiver), as it is well known in the art, for K users with L multipaths per user's signal. It includes a plurality of despreading means, a plurality of timing means, a plurality of spread spectrum processing means, and a plurality of adding means. The signal, which is the superposition of KL signal paths and noise, is received at antenna 10 and is subsequently downconverted and digitized by a down converter 20 and an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter 30 respectively. The searcher 40 identifies L or more paths for each of the K users. Subsequently, L paths for each user's signal are passed to despreaders 51, 52, etc. Notice that L is generally different for each user. Each despreader (or finger) uses a replica of the spread spectrum code of the particular user's code that is appropriately delayed in time to synchronize with the corresponding multipath. The lth despreader output for the lth path of the kth user is denoted as Dk,l.
The plurality of despreaders is shown as 1st despreader through Kth despreader. Each despreader includes a chip-code signal generator, a modulo-2 adder and a summer (not shown). In addition to the despread signal paths, the despreader (possibly together with another unit) also provides a channel medium estimate for all multipaths of each user's signal (Ck,l, . . . , Ck,L for user k). The channel medium estimates are needed by the conventional receiver to combine the multipaths and by the IC to regenerate the despread signals. After despreading, the multipath signals for each user and the corresponding channel medium estimates are provided to decision devices, 61, 62, which in the exemplary embodiment comprises a Rake receiver. The Rake receiver performs maximal ratio combining (MRC) on the multipaths of each user's signal and provides a decision d0l 63, d0K 64 for the corresponding information symbol. The decision can be either hard or soft and, for the purposes of IC, it can be either clipped (the soft value is clipped at −1 and +1 for binary transmission) or thresholded (e.g., similar to the clipped one but the soft decision is set to zero if its absolute value is smaller than a threshold). For a receiver employing IC, the Rake decisions constitute the initial decisions and are subsequently provided to the IC system. In an alternate design, the initial decisions can be made with an equalizer circuit.
FIG. 2 describes the regeneration process of the signal at the input of the receiver after digitization. Based on the (possibly modified) decisions from the Rake receiver of each user (or another receiver such as a MUD or an equalizer), the IC system first regenerates in the plurality of respread channel blocks 71, 72 the signal from each transmitter by spreading the decision 63, 64 for each user with the corresponding spread spectrum chip code (CDMA code). Different users may have different spread spectrum chip codes. Subsequently, to account for the channel medium effects on each user's multipath signals, the respread signal is multiplied with the channel medium estimate for each multipath using blocks 81-84 and time delayed by the corresponding multipath delay using delay blocks 91-94. Adder 100 sums all multipaths for the signals of all users and the result 102 is an estimate of the signal at the input of the receiver before despreading.
Since the regenerated received signal contains the received signal for each user, its subtraction from the originally received signal will not only remove the interference relative to a desired user but it will also remove the signal of that user. Therefore, for the demodulation of a particular user's signal, the estimated signal for that user (including the multipaths) should be added to the received signal estimate that is commonly utilized by all users. This can be done prior to, or after, despreading with the second option being the more efficient one since it requires substantially less operations. The estimated signal of each user, including possible multipaths, after despreading is simply given by the estimated information data multiplied with the channel medium response estimate for each multipath. FIG. 3 describes these corresponding operations using devices 111-114 one for each of the multpaths.
The conventional (prior art) approach to perform IC is to subtract the estimated regenerated signal from the received signal before despreading. This IC approach is depicted in FIG. 4. In subtractor 120, the regenerated signal estimate 102 is subtracted from the received signal 101. Conventional despreading for each identified multipath of each user follows in the plurality of finger blocks 131-134. The desired user multipath component for each multipath is added in the plurality of adder blocks 141-144. Finally, in the plurality of Rake combiner blocks 151, 152, the multipaths are combined by a Rake combiner and a decision signal 153, 154 for the information symbol of each user is produced. The IC process is then repeated several times (IC stages) and typically 3 or 4 IC stages are enough to achieve essentially all performance gains. The regenerated signal at each stage may be weighted (scaled) with different weights having values smaller than or equal to one. This is done in order to remove a decision bias and to reflect that the decisions at the latter IC stages are more reliable. This approach was suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,062 entitled "Spread Spectrum CDMA Interference Canceller System and Method", by D. L. Schilling, et. al.
For the kth user, denoting by wk, ck,l, and dk, the spread spectrum code, the channel estimate of the lth path and the data decision, respectively, the equation describing the despread signal D(i)k,l at the ith IC stage (i>0) is
                              D                      k            ,            l                                (            i            )                          =                                            w              k              T                        [                                          r                _                            -                              (                                                      ∑                                                                  k                        ′                                            ,                                              l                        ′                                                                                w                                              k                        ′                                                                                c                                                                        k                          ′                                                ,                                                  l                          ′                                                                                d                                              k                        ′                                                                    (                                                  i                          -                          1                                                )                                                                                )                                      ]                    +                                                    c                _                                            k                ,                l                                                                                d                k                                  (                                      i                    -                    1                                    )                                            .                                                          (        1        )
A problem with the IC approach used in FIG. 4 is its computational complexity. The memory size required with the above approach is proportional to NsNc, where Nc is the number of chips per information signal and Ns is the number of samples per chip, and therefore a large amount of memory is required. A need thus exist in the art for a method and apparatus that can provide IC with reduced complexity and reduced memory requirements as compared to the prior art IC techniques.

Method and apparatus for spread spectrum interference cancellation


A medical imaging equipment is described, including a radiation source for emitting measuring radiation, a receiver for receiving the measuring radiation, and a measuring region in which an object to be measured is placed, and which is situated in the beam path of the measuring radiation The receiver comprises a support which can be pivoted about a rotational axis and is adapted to mount at least two receiving devices. The receiving surfaces may be disposed alternately into a measuring position. A surface of the receiving device is parallel to the rotational axis of the support, and the rotational axis of the support is substantially perpendicular to the beam path of the measuring radiation.

Mammography is an x-ray examination of the female breast carried out using medical imaging equipment to obtain mammographic images. Such devices generally have a radiation source for x-rays. The female breast that is to be examined is x-rayed and a radiographic (fluoroscopic) image is obtained on an x-ray film arranged in the beam path below the female breast. During the examination, the female breast is normally held between a compression plate and an object table.
The use of x-ray films has the advantage that it represents a solution that is technically relatively sophisticated and at least in its purchase price relatively inexpensive and at the same time allows the radiographic image obtained by the x-ray film to be archived permanently.
A further advantage of using x-ray films is that x-ray films have a very large receiving surface, typically 18×24 cm or 24×30 cm, and a relatively high spatial resolution of about 14 Lp/mm (Lp=line pairs), which allows a high-definition full x-ray photo of the female breast to be made in a single measurement.
Instead of the x-ray film, which can only be used once, the use of a charge-coupled-device (CCD) sensor is known. The CCD sensors can be used in mammography equipment in the place of the x-ray film.
CCD sensors are electronic components which are suitable for spatial resolution measurement of radiation, in particular, of x-rays and, as a rule, are a matrix of radiation-sensitive cells, also known as pixels. To ensure easy adaptation to existing equipment, the CCD sensor is frequently integrated into a holder in the form of a conventional x-ray film cassette. The advantage of using CCD sensors is that currently available CCD sensors have a resolution of between 10 and 20 Lp per millimeter, which exceeds the resolution of x-ray films and the images are made available immediately and can be processed digitally. Thus, CCD sensors (unlike x-ray films) are suitable for obtaining real-time images (for example, of a biopsy).
The disadvantage of using CCD sensors is that, at present, CCD sensors with the required high resolution have a receiving surface which is markedly smaller than the receiving surface of x-ray films. Therefore, high resolution CCD sensors are currently only suitable for detailed x-ray photos of the female breast.
In addition, within the scope of FFDM (Full-Field Digital Mammography) the use of low resolution digital detectors is known.
The digital detectors used for FFDM currently have a typical resolution of 5 to 10 Lp per millimeter and, hence, a lower resolution than x-ray films. However, it is possible to realize receiving surfaces whose size is similar to the size of the receiving surfaces of conventional x-ray films. Therefore, using FFDM detectors, it is possible to produce a complete image of the female breast in one recording.
Thus, an advantage of the FFDM detectors is that the images are available in real time, the images can be digitally processed, and the receiving surfaces are relatively large. The current disadvantage is the relatively low resolution.
In an alternative to FFDM detectors, the use of digital luminescence radiography with storage screen technology to obtain mammographic images is also known. The resolution that can be achieved using this technology is currently about 8 Lp/mm.
In order to be able to combine the advantages, for example, of an FFDM detector with the advantage of an x-ray film, medical imaging equipment for obtaining mammographic images is known, which equipment has two receiving surfaces for x-rays.
A related art device with two receiving surfaces is shown in FIG. 6. The medical imaging equipment 61 for obtaining mammographic images has a head 62 with a radiation source 63 for emitting x-rays 64 and a receiving device 65.
Both the head 62 and the receiving device are supported by a support column 66, which is, attached to a floor stand or to the ceiling of a room.
In the device shown in FIG. 6, the receiving device 65 has a first receiving surface 71 in the form of a holder for x-ray films and a second receiving surface 72 in the form of a large-area low-resolution detector for FFDM recordings.
The two receiving surfaces 71 and 72 are arranged at right angles to each other and are supported by a support 65 of the receiving device via a mounting 68 attached to the support column 66. The two receiving surfaces 71 and 72 can be pivoted around a rotational axis 70 alternately into a measuring position by turning the support manually. The rotational axis makes an angle of essentially 45° to the beam path of the x-rays 64 emitted by the radiation source 63.
The 45° angle between the rotational axis 70 and the beam path of the x-rays 64, together with the receiving surfaces 71, 72, which are arranged at an angle of 90° with respect to each other, ensures that after the support 65 has been pivoted about the rotational axis 70, one of the receiving surfaces 71 is disposed outside the beam path parallel to the beam path and the other receiving surface 72 is disposed inside the beam path at right angles to the beam path of the x-rays 64.
Provision is made for a measuring region, which is situated in the beam path between a respective receiving surface 71 or 72 in the measuring position and the radiation source 64, the measuring region being provided to arrange an object 67 for measurement.
In addition, a compression plate 75 which is transparent to the measuring radiation is provided in the beam path above the object for measurement 67.
The compression plate 75 is supported by a compression device 74. A vertical movement of the compression plate 75 effected by the compression device 74 enables the object for measurement 67 to be compressed between the compression plate 75 and a supporting surface formed by the respective receiving surface 71 or 72.
The previously known equipment has a disadvantage that it has a high space requirement 73 because of the wide pivoting movement about the axis 70 of the receiving surfaces 71 and 72 held by the support 65.
In addition, the manufacture of a correspondingly pivotable mechanical connection with the respective receiving surfaces 71, 72 having the precision required in the medical sector is technically very complex, and hence expensive.


A method and apparatus are provided for enabling spare capacity allocation (SCA) in a network for protecting against dual link failures using a successive survivable routing (SSR) algorithm that has better scalability and shorter computation time than other techniques. An embodiment method implemented by an apparatus includes computing the SCA for a plurality of flows in the network for a plurality of primary backup paths and a plurality of secondary backup paths corresponding to a plurality of working paths for the flows using a SSR algorithm. Another embodiment method includes computing the SCA for each of a plurality of flows in the network for a plurality of primary backup paths and a plurality of secondary backup paths corresponding to a plurality of working paths for the flows using a SSR algorithm, and aggregating the computed SCA for the primary backup paths and the secondary backup paths for all the flows.

Modern communications and data networks are comprised of nodes that transport data through the network via links that connect the nodes. The nodes may include routers, switches, bridges, or combinations thereof that transport the individual data packets or frames through the network over links between the nodes. The data frames may be forwarded on pre-established paths that include nodes and links. Different path protection schemes may be used to protect link or node failures on a path and avoid substantial data loss. Some path protection schemes handle single link failures, where a working path is assigned a backup path that is reserved in case of failures in the working path. Other more stringent schemes may be needed to handle dual link failures, where the working path is assigned a primary backup path that is reserved in case of failures in the working path, and a secondary backup path that is reserved in case of failures in the primary backup path. In some cases, at least some portions of the primary/secondary backup paths may share some network resource capacity (e.g., bandwidth) to save resources/cost in the network, which is referred to as spare capacity allocation for dual link failures. This may require a spare capacity allocation scheme for protecting against dual link failures.

System and method for spare capacity allocation for shared backup path protection for dual link failures using successive survivable routing


There is provided a wireless communication device that includes a first communication portion that performs non-contact communication with an other wireless communication device and receives unit specific data indicating the other wireless communication device's communication function; a second communication portion that can communicate wirelessly faster than the first communication portion; a determination portion that determines, based on the unit specific data, whether the other wireless communication device's communication function is compatible with the second communication portion; and a format conversion portion that converts a format of transmission data that is transmitted to the other wireless communication device to a format that reduces the volume of the transmission data. If the determination portion determines that the other wireless communication device's communication function is not compatible with the second communication portion, the first communication portion transmits the transmission data to the other wireless communication device in the converted data format.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, a wireless communication device, a program, and a wireless communication method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a non-contact communication method has been proposed that uses a terminal that is equipped with a non-contact integrated circuit (IC) chip and also uses a read/write unit that performs reading and writing of data from and to the terminal that is equipped with the non-contact IC chip. The non-contact communication method can perform data communication between the read/write unit and the terminal that is equipped with the non-contact IC chip when the two are brought into close proximity to one another.
Wireless communication technologies such as wireless local area networks (LANs), Bluetooth®, and the like have also come into widespread use. The wireless communication technologies can transmit and receive information among a plurality of wireless communication devices without connecting a plurality of communication devices by wire. The wireless communication technologies also have the advantage that the communication speed is generally higher than that of the non-contact communication method.
A wireless communication device that is compatible with both the non-contact communication method and the wireless communication technologies has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2002-204239, for example. Specifically, an information processing method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2002-204239 that uses non-contact communication to share, between a mobile telephone and a personal computer, setting data that are necessary for wireless communication between the mobile telephone and the personal computer and that establishes a wireless connection between the mobile telephone and the personal computer based on the setting data.

Wireless communication system, wireless communication device, program, and wireless communication method


Provided herein are novel, synthetic polypeptides having, for example, acyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) thioesterase (TE) activity, including polypeptides that convert pimeloyl-ACP to pimelic acid. In some aspects, the synthetic polypeptides have advantageous enzymatic activity and/or improved substrate specificity relative to a wild type acyl-ACP TE.

Biochemical pathways are utilized to produce products useful for an organism. See, for example, LEHNINGER, A. L., NELSON, D. L., & COX, M. M. (2000). Lehninger principles of biochemistry. New York, Worth Publishers. A biochemical pathway for the production of 7-Aminoheptanoic acid (7-AHA) utilizes the biotin biosynthesis pathway in E. coli (Lin et al., "Biotin Synthesis Beings by Hijacking the Fatty Acid Synthesis Pathway," Nat. Chem. Biol. 6(9): 682-688 2010). The first committed step in biotin biosynthesis is the methylation of malonyl-ACP by BioC. The malonyl-ACP methyl ester thus generated then serves as a starter unit for the fatty acid biosynthesis pathway.
Two rounds of fatty acid elongation and reduction then occur to generate pimeloyl-ACP methyl ester. Pimeloyl-ACP is then generated by the removal of the methyl group by the esterase BioH (FIG. 1). Pimeloyl-ACP is then acted upon by a thioesterase enzyme to produce pimelic acid. Thioesterases (TE) therefore play a crucial role in the production of 7-AHA using the biotin synthesis pathway (FIG. 2).
Polyamides, such as nylons, can be synthesized by the condensation polymerisation of a diamine with a dicarboxylic acid or alternatively by the condensation polymerisation of lactams. Nylon 6,6 is a ubiquitous nylon produced by the reaction of hexamethylenediamine (HMD) and adipic acid. Nylon 6 is produced by a ring opening polymerisation of caprolactam. Nylon 7 represents a novel polyamide with value-added characteristics compared to Nylon 6 and Nylon 6,6. The key intermediate for the synthesis of Nylon 7 is 7-AHA. However, no economically favorable petrochemical routes exist to produce 7-AHA.

Materials and methods for biosynthetic manufacture and utilization of synthetic polypeptides, and products therefrom


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprises a lower-metallization-layer forming step of forming a lower metallization layer on a semiconductor substrate, an insulating-film forming step of forming an interlayer insulating film on said lower metallization layer, and an upper-metallization-layer forming step of forming an upper metallization layer on said interlayer insulating film. The insulating-film forming step includes the step of mixing a solution of a particulate silanol condensate having a fluorine-silicon bond and a solution of a particulate silanol condensate having an organic group-silicon bond to prepare a solution mixture, which is applied onto the semiconductor substrate formed with the lower metallization layer and thermally treated to form the foregoing interlayer insulating film.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device wherein a lower metallization layer, an interlayer insulating film, and an upper metallization layer are formed sequentially on a semiconductor substrate. More particularly, it relates to the technology for reducing the relative dielectric constant of the interlayer insulating film.
In the formation of an interlayer insulating film which is low in relative dielectric constant, there have conventionally been known: (1) a method wherein an oxide film doped with fluorine (SiOF) is formed by plasma CVD; (2) a method wherein a TEOS derivative having an organic group as a substituent is hydrolyzed and condensed by dehydration to prepare a silanol sol, which is applied onto a semiconductor substrate and thermally treated to form a SOG film by a sol-gel process; (3) a method wherein a solution of a siloxane polymer is applied onto a semiconductor substrate and thermally treated to form an interlayer insulating film; and (4) a method wherein a solution of an organic polymer is applied onto a semiconductor substrate and thermally treated to form an interlayer insulating film.
In the first method of forming the interlayer insulating film from a solution of a fluorinated silica sol, the relative dielectric constant of the interlayer insulating film can be reduced to about 3.0 by increasing the content of fluorine. When the content of fluorine is increased, however, the moisture absorbency of the interlayer insulating film is extremely increased, so that a minimum relative dielectric constant that can be used in practice is about 3.5.
The second method of forming the interlayer insulating film from the solution of an organic silica sol presents the problems that the relative dielectric constant of the resulting interlayer insulating film is 3 or more, which is comparatively high, and that the interlayer insulating film is easily decomposed by an oxygen plasma since silicon-organic group bonds are evenly distributed in the film on a molecular level, which may cause side etching in forming a pattern by dry etching or degassing due to decomposition, resulting in adverse effects on the production yield of the device including the occurrence of a crack and increased contact resistance.
In the third method of forming the interlayer insulating film from the solution of a siloxane polymer, the relative dielectric constant of the interlayer insulating film is about 2.5, which is lower than the relative dielectric constant of the interlayer insulating film formed from the solution of a fluorinated silica sol. However, since silicon-organic group bonds are evenly distributed in the film on a molecular level, the interlayer insulating film is easily decomposed by an oxygen plasma, which may cause side etching in forming a pattern by dry etching or degassing due to decomposition, resulting in adverse effects on the production yield of the device including the occurrence of a crack and increased contact resistance.
Although the fourth method of forming the interlayer insulating film from the solution of an organic polymer is advantageous in that the relative dielectric constant of the interlayer insulating film is as low as 2, it has poor compatibility with the semiconductor manufacturing process owing to the problems that the strength of the interlayer insulating film is low because of its low resistance to oxygen plasma and that the heat resistance of the interlayer insulating film is low because of its low glass transition temperature.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device


An integrated, electronic communications system and method for a service provider that provides an intelligent interface between a client, a service provider and a data network and/or a telephone network. The system includes a storage device for storing a schedule of the service provider and an interactive voice response unit ("IVR") for interfacing with the client. The client may call into the IVR and through a series of menus, select an available appointment from the schedule or submit his own appointment. The system then notifies the service provider that an appointment has been established. The system may also provide information about the client to the service provider for use during the appointment. In addition, the system allows the client to leave voice mail messages and/or retrieve messages from the service provider. The system also includes a time measurement device that records a length of time for an interaction between the client and service provider. The interaction may be a telephone appointment, an in-person appointment, or a voice mail transaction. The length of time is then available for such purposes as billing the client for the interaction.

The remote accessability of people and information is continually increasing. A person now has at his disposal many different communication devices, such as a telephone, cellular telephone, pager, facsimile, and e-mail. However, despite the benefits of accessibility, being easily accessible often becomes difficult to manage or even burdensome, especially for service providers. For example, doctors are now readily accessible, such as through a simple telephone call. However, by answering and responding to each such call, a doctor has little time to tend to the patients in his office. Therefore, the doctor must balance the responsibilities of being accessible to callers while still providing prompt and timely service to the patients in his office. One solution to this problem is to have a staff member schedule times that the doctor can call back the patient. But the cost of a staff member to perform this task can be too expensive.
In addition to upsetting his and his patient's schedules, the doctor is typically not reimbursed for the time that he and/or his staff spend on the telephone. Although most patients would not like to be charged for telephone calls, in actuality they are indirectly paying for each call. For example, the doctor is forced to adjust his rates to account for the time taken to handle these calls. Also, the excessive time some patients spend waiting in the doctor's office is directly attributable to such calls. To resolve this dilemma, some doctors have tried to charge callers for receiving calls. However, there are many problems associated with charging for small increments of time. For one, there is no accurate way to track the time for each call that is reliable and accepted by most insurance companies or Medicare. Also, the amount of time for a person to prepare, calculate and bill for the calls negates any benefits from billing.
Therefore, what is needed is a system that allows the doctor to easily and automatically schedule call back times.
Furthermore what is needed is a system that keeps track of telephone time and other small charges and bills patients accordingly.

Communications system for a service provider


An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device and a method of fabricating the same are provided. When an organic layer having an emission layer (EML) is formed using a deposition mask, damage to a pixel defining layer due to inconsistencies or unevenness of the deposition mask is prevented or reduced using spherical spacers disposed on the pixel defining layer. A plurality of spherical spacers are applied on the pixel defining layer prior to forming an opening in the pixel defining layer exposing the first electrode. An organic layer having an emission layer (EML) is formed on the first electrode at the opening by using a deposition mask. The spherical spacers prevent or reduce damage to the pixel defining layer caused by inconsistencies or unevenness in the deposition mask by maintaining a spacing between the pixel defining layer and the deposition mask.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device and a method of fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) includes an organic layer interposed between a first electrode (i.e., an anode) and a second electrode (i.e., a cathode). The first electrode is a transparent electrode formed of, for example, indium tin oxide (ITO), and the second electrode is formed of a metal having a low work function, such as Ca, Li, or Al. When a forward voltage is applied to the OLED, holes emitted from the anode combine with electrons emitted from the cathode to form excitons, and while the excitons are making the transition from an excited state to a ground state, light is emitted.
The first electrode is generally formed as a reflective electrode that reflects light, while the second electrode is generally formed as a transmissive electrode that transmits light. Thus, the OLED may be fabricated so that light is emitted by the organic layer toward the second electrode.
In this case, the organic layer may be formed by various methods. For example, the organic layer may be formed by a deposition method. Specifically, the deposition of the organic layer includes closely adhering a mask having the same pattern as a thin layer to be formed on an underlying layer, and depositing the thin layer.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional schematic view of a deposition apparatus having a deposition mask.
Referring to FIG. 1, in a method of depositing a thin layer of an OLED display device (i.e., an organic layer having an emission layer (EML)), a frame 4 including a mask 1 is positioned at a portion corresponding to a crucible 3 installed in a vacuum chamber 2, and a target 5 (e.g., a pixel defining layer) on which a thin layer will be formed is mounted on the frame 4. A magnet unit 6 is driven to closely adhere the mask 1 and frame 4 to the target 5 on which the thin layer will be formed. A material contained in the crucible 3 is then deposited on the target 5.
However, the surface of the mask 1 may include inconsistencies (or unevenness) of about 2 to 3 μm. Thus, when the mask 1 is too closely adhered to the target 5, the target 5 may be scratched from the inconsistencies in the mask 1. Accordingly, a spacer structure is typically formed between the target 5 and the mask 1 in order to prevent damage to the pixel defining layer.
FIGS. 2A and 2B are cross-sectional schematic views illustrating a method of fabricating a conventional OLED display device.
Referring to FIG. 2A, a buffer layer 110 is formed on a substrate 100. A semiconductor layer including source and drain regions 120a and 120b and a channel region 121 is formed on the buffer layer 110. A gate insulating layer 130 is formed on the semiconductor layer, and a gate electrode 131 is formed on the gate insulating layer 130. An interlayer insulating layer 140 is formed on the gate insulating layer 130, and source and drain electrodes 150a and 150b are formed on the interlayer insulating layer 140 and electrically connected to the source and drain regions 120a and 120b, respectively, through contact holes.
An OLED is then formed. The OLED includes a first electrode 180 and a pixel defining layer 190. The first electrode 180 is formed on a protective layer 160 and a planarization layer 170, which are, in turn, formed on a thin film transistor (TFT). The first electrode 180 functions as an anode that is electrically connected to the drain electrode 150b through a via hole. The pixel defining layer 190 exposes a region of the first electrode 180, and has an opening defining a pixel.
A spacer film is coated on the pixel defining layer 190, and a photoresist layer is formed on the spacer film, and exposed and developed using a shadow mask, thereby forming a photoresist pattern. Thereafter, the spacer film is patterned using the photoresist pattern as a mask, forming a spacer pattern 191.
Referring to FIG. 2B, an organic layer 192 having an EML is formed using the deposition apparatus having the deposition mask, described above with reference to FIG. 1. A second electrode 193 is formed on the organic layer 192 using a sputtering process. In this case, when the organic layer 192 is formed using the deposition apparatus, the spacer pattern prevents or protects the pixel defining layer 190 from being damaged from inconsistencies in the deposition mask.
However, in this conventional method of fabricating the OLED display device, an extra photolithography process for forming the spacer pattern is added, and additional material costs for the spacer film are incurred.
Furthermore, since the spacer pattern is formed by patterning the spacer film using the photolithography process, a residual layer of the spacer film may remain on the first electrode.

Organic light emitting diode display device and method of fabricating the same


A recording medium, a signal recording apparatus thereof, and a signal reproducing apparatus thereof, the recording medium having a recording area divided into sectors, each of which is composed of a plurality of frames with a predetermined bit length, wherein at least one of the frames contains a first synchronous pattern representing the length of the frame, a second synchronous pattern composed of a predetermined signal pattern that is not present in a signal pattern of user data and representing the period of the sector, identification data disposed at a predetermined position corresponding to the second synchronous pattern and identifying the sector, and error detection data for detecting an error of the identification data, and wherein each of the other frames contains the first synchronous pattern, the user data, and at least predetermined fixed data with which the second synchronous pattern is substituted and that is present in a signal pattern of the user data, the identification data, the error detection data, and error correction data for correcting an error of the user data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium such as an optical disc, an apparatus for recording a signal thereon, and an apparatus for reproducing a signal therefrom.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an optical recording/reproducing system, a modulation system corresponding to optical characteristics is used so as to improve recording density, signal reproducing stability, and so forth. In addition, a data formatting process, such as grouping data with a predetermined block, is performed so as to prevent a data error due to scratches of a disc or the like from propagating.
FIG. 8 shows a sector format of a conventional rewritable optical disc. As shown in FIG. 8, a sector is composed of a header portion and a data portion. In the data portion, real record data (user data) is recorded.
In the header portion, an SM (Sector Mark) 1, a VFO 2, an AM (Address Mark) 3, and an address information (ID) 4 have been recorded.
The address information (ID) 4 is composed of a track number 9, a sector number 10, and a CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Code) 11.
The CRC 11 is a code that is used to detect data errors of track No. 9 and sector No. 10.
When data is recorded on an optical disc, a desired sector is detected corresponding to the address information 4 of the header portion, which has been pre-formatted. The data is written to the data portion of that sector.
When data is reproduced from the disc, a desired sector is detected corresponding to the address information 4 of the header portion and the data is read from the data portion of that sector.
Thus, when data is recorded and reproduced, a desired sector is physically identified corresponding to the address information 4 of the header portion. Consequently, the correct reading of the address information 4 greatly affects the reliability of the system. To improve the reliability of the system, the address information 4 is repeatedly recorded in the header portion.
In recent years, due to the improvement of image compression technologies, optical discs on which digitized images and sound are recorded have become common. In the system that reproduces data from such optical discs, namely a digital video disc system, it is important to record a large amount of image data in the limited area of an optical disc. To do that, the necessity for increasing the recording density has been considered.
When a large amount of image data is very densely recorded in the above-mentioned sector format of the rewritable optical disc, many problems occur. In other words, because the address information 4 is repeatedly recorded in the header portion in the above-mentioned format, the storage of redundant information increases, which presents an obstacle to high density recording. In addition, as the recording density increases, it is predicted that occurrences of data errors increase. However, in such a format, with the address information 4, only an error is detected corresponding to the CRC 11. In other words, in the conventional sector format including the above-described sector format, high density recording cannot be satisfactorily accomplished.
As described above, when the high density recording is performed for a recording medium, such as an optical disc, some countermeasures against an error in the address information, such as sector number, are required.

Recording medium formatted for error correction and high density recording and an apparatus for recording information thereon and/or reproducing information therefrom


A self-assembled film-forming composition for orthogonally inducing, with respect to a substrate, a microphase separation structure in a layer including a block copolymer, in the whole surface of a coating film, even at high heating temperatures at which arrangement failure of the microphase separation of the block copolymer occurs. The self-assembled film-forming composition includes a block copolymer, and at least two solvents having different boiling points as a solvent. The block copolymer is obtained by bonding: a non-silicon-containing polymer having, as a structural unit, styrene, a derivative thereof, or a structure derived from a lactide; and a silicon-containing polymer having, as a structural unit, styrene substituted with silicon-containing groups. The solvent includes: a low boiling point solvent (A) having a boiling point of 160° C. or lower; and a high boiling point solvent (B) having a boiling point of 170° C. or higher.

In recent years, as large scale integrated circuits (LSIs) are being further scaled down, techniques for fabrication of ultrafine microstructures have been demanded. For meeting such demands, an attempt has been made to form micro-patterns utilizing a phase-separated structure formed by self-organization of a block copolymer, in which polymers incompatible with each other are bound. For example, a method for forming a pattern has been proposed in which an underlayer film-forming composition is applied onto a substrate to form an underlayer film containing the composition, and a self-organized film containing a block copolymer, in which two or more polymers bonded to each other, is formed on the surface of the underlayer film, the block copolymer in the self-organized film is caused to suffer phase separation, and a phase of at least one polymer of the polymers constituting the block copolymer is selectively removed to form a pattern.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a method for forming a pattern using a composition containing a first polymer which is a block copolymer, and a second polymer having a surface free energy smaller than that of the block copolymer, comprising the steps of: forming a coating film, in which the second polymer is locally present in the surface layer region; causing at least part of the coating film to suffer phase separation in substantially the vertical direction to form a self-organized film; and removing a partial phase of the self-organized film.
However there still is a problem of defective orientation caused in micro-phase separation of a layer containing a block copolymer at high heat temperatures. Thus, a technique has been desired for allowing a layer containing a block copolymer to make a micro-phase-separated structure perpendicular to a substrate over the entire coating film even at such high temperatures.

Self-organized film-forming composition for use in forming a micro-phase-separated pattern


An illustrative integrated receiver circuit embodiment includes: a set of analog-to-digital converters that sample a receive signal in response to staggered clock signals to provide a parallel set of sampled receive signals; an equalizer that converts the parallel set of sampled receive signals into a parallel set of equalized signals; one or more quantizers that derives symbol decisions from the parallel set of equalized signals; a digital timing circuit that generates the staggered clock signals based on the parallel set of equalized signals; and a clock skew adjustment circuit that provides a controllable skew of at least one of said staggered clock signals relative to at least one other of the staggered clock signals. A monitor circuit is included to provide a reliability indicator for the symbol decisions, as is a controller that determines a dependence of the reliability indicator on the controllable skew.

Digital communications occur between sending and receiving devices over an intermediate communications medium, e.g., a fiberoptic cable or insulated copper wire, having one or more designated communications channels, e.g., carrier wavelengths or frequency bands. Each sending device typically transmits symbols at a fixed symbol rate, while each receiving device detects a potentially corrupted sequence of symbols and attempts to reconstruct the transmitted data.
A "symbol" is a state or significant condition of the channel that persists for a fixed period of time, called a "symbol interval." A symbol may be, for example, an electrical voltage or current level, an optical power level, a phase value, or a particular frequency or wavelength. A change from one channel state to another is called a symbol transition. Each symbol may represent (i.e., encode) one or more binary bits of the data. Alternatively, the data may be represented by symbol transitions, or by sequences of two or more symbols. The simplest digital communication links use only one bit per symbol; a binary '0' is represented by one symbol (e.g., an electrical voltage or current signal within a first range), and binary '1' by another symbol (e.g., an electrical voltage or current signal within a second range).
Channel non-idealities produce dispersion which may cause each symbol to perturb its neighboring symbols, causing intersymbol interference (ISO. As the symbol rate increases, ISI can make it difficult for the receiving device to determine which symbols were sent in each interval, particularly when such ISI is combined with additive noise. The open literature discloses many equalization and demodulation techniques for recovering digital data from the degraded receive signal even in the presence of ISI.
One technique for evaluating channels and equalization techniques is the "eye diagram", a representation of all possible paths the signal could follow within a given symbol interval, typically achieved via a superposition of many symbol intervals. Typically, the optimum sampling instant is near the mid-point of the symbol interval, where it is hoped that an opening can be found between the signal paths representing different symbol values. If such an opening exists, the transmitted symbol can be detected by a comparator that compares the sampled value to a decision threshold at the opening's center. The reliability of such decisions depends on the amount of noise relative to the distance between the decision threshold and the edges of the opening.
Often the eye diagram of a received signal has little or no opening, in which case an equalizer may be employed to create or increase the size of the opening relative to the average noise level. To evaluate receiver performance in such cases, it is often desirable to monitor the eye diagram of the equalized signal, i.e., the signal as it exists at the input to the symbol decision element. Such monitoring may be challenging for digital communications receivers operating in the tens-of-gigahertz range where integrated circuit implementations approach the physical limits of silicon-based device design.

Eye monitor for parallelized digital equalizers


A card medium having embossed patterns, which is capable of preventing forgery of the embossed patterns by charging a resin into each of concave portions defined in the back of the card medium according to the embossing of the patterns or affixing a film for covering a concave-portion region to the back thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a card medium having patterns such as embossed characters, numerics and symbols or the like, and particularly to a structure for preventing forgery of patterns embossed on the card medium and a method of manufacturing the structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has recently been an increasing tendency to use cards for payment and withdrawal of money to and from a bank, for the purchase of goods and for identification of an employee. Various types of such cards are known. As examples, a card capable of magnetically recording information therein and a card equipped with an integrated circuit having a memory and capable of allowing the memory to store information therein are known. Such information is generally used as information to be kept secret from those other than the card owners in most cases. To the contrary, information that may be known by those other than the card owners, is also included therein. For instance, the names of the card owners themselves and identification numbers such as account numbers individually applied to card owners by an agency that has issued cards thereto, are included in the information. Such information may preferably be set such that when a card owner has lost or dropped his or her card, a card finder can immediately confirm to which person the card belongs. Therefore, embossed patterns are provided on a card so that such information can be confirmed from the external appearance of the card. The patterns are comprised of a plurality of characters, numerics and symbols or combinations of these because of the names or identification numbers referred to above.
However, there may be cases where the patterns embossed on the card are imitated or forged or put to a bad use. There is therefore a demand for improving a technique for preventing card forgery. The embossed patterns are easy to be forged. Forgery is realized by, for example, pressing a card having embossed patterns so as to flatten the front and back of the card and thereafter embossing desired patterns therein.
Further, the embossed patterns can be simply provided on the card using molds or the like by a card issue agency. Thus, since the embossed patterns are easily formed, the application of complex processes for prevention of forgery of the embossed patterns is at variance with the reality.

Structure of card medium having embossed patterns and method of manufacturing the same


A cell reselection method and apparatus. When a terminal starts cell reselection, the terminal queries first correspondence information according to current frequency information of the terminal. The first correspondence information is corresponding to current location information of the terminal, and includes a correspondence between search frequency information and camp-on frequency information. The terminal determines to reselect a second cell for the terminal according to the first correspondence information.

With rapid development of communications technologies, a plurality of types of terminals, such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, and a netbook have emerged, and most of the terminals may support various types of networks, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (Global System for Mobile Communications, GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA), and Long Term Evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE). In addition, the terminals may further perform network reselection between different types of networks to ensure a high-quality network service.
Currently, when a terminal wakes up in a cell of a current network and from a discontinuous reception (Discontinuous Reception, DRX) period, the terminal may set a reselection condition by using a network parameter in a system message; for example, the terminal may set a threshold to −100 dB according to signal strength in the network parameter. If signal strength of the current network is lower than −100 dB, the terminal selects, according to delivered frequency information in the system message, a frequency that can meet the threshold, and switches to the frequency. If actual frequency information is not configured in the system message, the terminal cannot find the actual frequency information in the delivered frequency information, and cannot select a radio access technology (Radio access technology, RAT) cell with a relatively high service quality. Usually, to improve a camp-on priority capability, a terminal may perform optimization processing and start a network search. That is, the terminal starts an all radio frequency (Radio Frequency, RF) capability to perform an all bandwidth search on networks that are supported by the terminal. That is, the search is performed on all frequency bands supported by the terminal, and is not limited to the delivered frequency information in the system message, so as to find frequency information that meets the threshold, and reselect a cell that is corresponding to the frequency information in the network.
However, when the optimization is started, if the actual frequency information is not configured in the system message, when the terminal starts the all RF capability to search all bandwidths of the networks, a search time is relatively long. Consequently, the terminal cannot quickly perform cell reselection, and power consumption of the terminal is relatively high.

Cell reselection method and apparatus, and frequency information management method and apparatus


A motor starter assembly made up of sub-assemblies each formed from a circuit breaker 40 and a contactor 60 and positioned on a baseplate 20 with which a set of power bars 23 is associated. The baseplate includes a support area 21 for the sub-assemblies and a connection are preferably a bracket 22 that is overhanging in relation to the support area. The baseplate further includes power connection elements and or control connection elements provided on the bracket and the connection area to permit plugging in of the sub-assemblies on the baseplate along an engagement direction Z approximately parallel with the support area and perpendicular to a direction X of a set of bars.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an assembly of electrical equipment for the power control of loads, notably motor starter devices, this assembly comprising a baseplate and a set of power conductors provided to supply power to the loads, for each load, a pair of devices mounted on the baseplate and made up of a circuit breaker and a contactor, the pairs of devices being capable of being placed side by side on the baseplate.
2. Discussion of Background
Such an equipment assembly is used to supply power to a load such as a motor, in order to start it or when it is stopped according to the power up or power down of control conductors of the contactor; the circuit breaker is attached to the contactor in order to cut the power supply lines of the contactor when it detects, by means of suitable monitoring devices, an operational anomaly, for example an overcurrent in at least one of these lines.
Known motor starter assemblies include baseplates fitted with a length of section for supporting the circuit breaker and a length of section for supporting the contactor; the operator must wire up the contactor with the circuit breaker, connect this to the set of bars and wire up the control conductors to the corresponding terminals of the contactor and possibly to a signalling auxiliary contact deck which is attached to the circuit breaker and which opens the control circuit in the event that the circuit breaker is triggered. The wiring and mounting operations which this involves are long and tedious. It is on the other hand desirable to be able to group together several contactor-circuit breaker assemblies in a single device, particularly when these assemblies must be connected to a control bus.

Assembly of electrical equipment, notably a motor starter assembly


A pointer light tracking method wherein all black image and white square images located at four corners of the all black image are projected on the display, the display on which the all black image and the white square images are displayed is shot by a camera, a domain corresponding to the white square image is extracted from the obtained image data, central coordinates (x, y) of the extracted domain are computed, and a parameter necessary in performing distortion correction by use of projection conversion for coordinate expressing the position of the pointer light on the display is computed from the computed central coordinates (x, y) and central coordinates (X, Y) of the white square image.

The projector system is widely used in various scenes such as scholastic societies, lectures, explanation meetings and presentations, and when using the projector system, a user often performs the explanation or the like by pointing a desired portion of a projected image by use of a laser pointer.
Various studies and developments on combinations of the projector system with the laser pointer have been made (for example, refer to Patent Documents 1 to 3). Particularly the technology by which a simple line or a figure is drawn on a projected image by a light from the laser pointer (for example, refer to Non-Patent Documents 1, 2) enables drawing of an underline, encircling, arrow, or the like, which further attracts attention of viewers with the drawing overlapped on the image while displaying the image on a projector screen, thus enhancing a presentation effect at various scenes, and further improving a usability value of the projector system.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-85395
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-39095
Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-265235
Non-Patent Document 1: R. Sukthankar, R. Stockton, M. Mullin., "Smarter Presentation: Exploiting Homography in Camera-Projector Systems," Proceedings of International Conference on Computer Vision, 2001
Non-Patent Document 2: R. Sukthankar, R. Stockton, M. Mullin., "Self-Calibrating Camera-Assisted Presentation Interface," Proceedings of International Conference on Control, Automation, Robotics and Vision, 2000

Pointer light tracking method, program, and recording medium thereof


The invention relates to bis(aniline) compounds containing multiple arylethynyl, alkylethynyl, ethynyl groups or their combinations, processes of making such compounds and materials comprising such compounds. Such, bis(aniline) compounds preferably comprise multiple phenylethynyl (PE) groups, i.e. 2-4 PE moieties. Such compounds are useful monomers for the preparation of polyimides, polyamides and poly(amide-imides) whose post-fabrication crosslinking chemistry (i.e. reaction temperature) can be controlled by the number of PE per repeat unit as well as finding utility in thermosetting matrix resins, 3D printable resins, and as high-carbon-content precursors to carbon-carbon composites.

Traditionally, bifunctional monomers are used in the creation of polyimides. In order to create polyimides, diamines are combined with dianhydrides so that the diamines may be joined to form a linear polyimide. When a non-linear or crosslinked polyimide is desired, at least a portion of the diamine is replaced with a triamine, or the dianhydride with a trianhydride. Unfortunately, when a triamine and/or trianhydride is employed, the crosslinking process typically occurs early in the reaction thus resulting in a non-processable product as the polyimide precursor becomes insoluble gel. In order to avoid the aforementioned solubility problem, post-polymerization crosslinkable endcaps are used. However, such endcapping presents additional issues as it cannot overcome the diametrically opposing relationship of the linear-segment molecular weight and crosslink density that are both critical to the processability and the final thermal-mechanical properties of the polyimide. Further solutions to such problem included the use of diamines that comprise two aromatic moieties and a "single-pendant post-polymerization crosslinkable" (SPC) moiety, wherein the amine functions are separate aromatic moieties from said single pendant post-polymer crosslinkable moiety. Unfortunately the crosslinking onset temperature of such SPC materials is not tunable.
Applicants recognized that the source of the aforementioned problems was due to the spatial difference in the crosslinkable moieties such as the SPC moiety. As a result of such recognition, Applicants produced a diamine comprising one to four crosslinkable moieties that have a conformation that puts said moieties during the polyimide production process in close spatial proximity. Thus, the aforementioned problems are reduced and significant processing flexibility is obtained.

Bis(aniline) compounds containing multiple substituents with carbon-carbon triple-bonded groups

United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


Disclosed herein is a framework for facilitating patient signal analysis. In accordance with one aspect, patient signal data including at least one identified cycle is segmented into at least two regions of interest, including a late potential region of interest. The late potential region of interest may be an RS, RT, S-full or T-full signal portion. At least one patient signal parameter is determined based at least in part on the segmented regions of interest. A pathology or event may be detected based on the determined patient signal parameter.

Cardiac arrhythmia is a condition in which the electrical activity of the heart is irregular or faster or slower than normal. Cardiac arrhythmia may be classified by rate and/or mechanism. For instance, atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of serious arrhythmia that involves a very fast and irregular contraction of the atria. Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is a condition in which there is uncoordinated contraction of the cardiac muscle of the ventricles in the heart. Myocardial ischemia is a type of arrhythmia that occurs when blood flow to the heart muscle is decreased by a partial or complete blockage of the heart's arteries. Myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack) occurs when blood stops flowing properly to part of the heart and the heart muscle is injured due to not receiving enough oxygen. This can lead to irreversible scarring and necrosis of the muscle tissue, reducing the efficiency with which the heart can pump blood to the rest of the body and possibly leading to fatal cardiac arrhythmia.
Cardiac functional abnormality and arrhythmia usually slow down tissue performance (e.g., contracting and reperfusion) and reduce blood flow to regions of the heart. Cells respond by altering the action potentials. The changes in these individual cells manifest in electrograms during depolarization and repolarization, reducing signal energy (hyperkalemia or anoxia) or creating multi-phasic waveform, particularly distortions in the electrophysiological response morphology. Electrophysiological (EP) response and activity analysis is routinely used to manage such cardiac arrhythmias, disorders and irregularities. The 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) and multi-channel intra-cardiac electrograms (ICEG) are generally regarded as the diagnostic reference standard for evaluating cardiac rhythm and events.
Early myocardial ischemia and infarction (MI) analysis and characterization are critical for the management of cardiac disorders and irregularities. Usually, surface ECG signal analyses based on electrophysiological activity waveforms (e.g., ECG signals and intra-cardiac electrograms) and time domain parameters (e.g., magnitude voltage) of the waveforms are utilized for detecting cardiac arrhythmia and diagnosing pathology. Known systems use ECG waveform analysis of a P wave, QRS complex, ST segment and T wave, to monitor and identify cardiac arrhythmia.
However, known methods based on waveform morphology and time domain parameter analysis are often subjective and time-consuming, and require expertise and clinical experience for accurate interpretation and proper cardiac rhythm management. Known systems typically fail to provide sufficient information on cardiac electrophysiological function/activity interpretation, tissue mapping and arrhythmia localization. Additionally, known cardiac detection methods often focus on time (e.g., amplitude, latency) or frequency (e.g., power, spectrum) domain changes in an ECG signal, which may not detect small signal changes that are usually invisible in a signal wave morphology display. Further, known systems fail to provide quantitative clinical evaluation of myocardial ischemia events.
Accordingly, there exists a need to provide an improved framework to address these deficiencies and related problems.

Patient signal analysis and characterization based on late potentials


A fluid operated contractile drive which has a contractile hose (4) extending between two head pieces (2 and 3), and attached to at least one head piece (2 and 3) by having its respective end section (10) clamped in an annular clamping gap (26) defined between clamping surfaces (24 and 25), extending in an at least partially inclined manner in relation to the longitudinal axis (9) of the contractile hose (4) of a first clamping unit (22) having a force output means (17) serving for external force output and a second clamping unit (23) able to be shifted axially in relation to the first clamping unit. In addition to the contractile hose (4) between the two clamping unit (22 and 23) there are loading means (45), effective between same, such loading means (45) acting on the clamping unit (22 and 23) to produce a reduction of the width of the clamping gap (26).

In the case of a known contractile drive disclosed in the German patent publication 10,034,389 A1 a contractile hose extends between two head pieces which are respectively provided with two clamping units and which are screwed together like a gland nut. Between the clamping units an annular clamping gap is defined, in which the contractile hose is clamped at its associated end region. If the internal space of the contractile hose is charged with a pressure medium subject to a certain actuating pressure, the contractile hose will expand radially and will simultaneously pull the two head pieces toward one another. It is in this manner that it is possible for external structures or, respectively, components, which are fixed on the force output means of the head pieces, to be moved relatively toward each other and/or clamped together.
In the case of the known contractile drive there was the problem that owing to its liability to deformation the contractile hose could be pulled out of the clamping gap. Therefore the two clamping units were designed to be adjusted in the longitudinal direction of the contractile drive and the tightening faces were so contrived that owing to frictional effects between them and the contractile hose a certain entraining effect is produced with the result that on actuation of the contractile hose there is an automatic reinforcement of the gripping or clamping action between the two clamping units.
It has however now been discovered that there are still certain shortcomings with the known clamping attachment, which are more particularly significant at raised temperatures or in the case of the use of relatively soft hose materials. The material then tends to creep and in the worst case the contractile hose may slip out of the head piece completely.


The invention provides a method of manufacture of a display device which can achieve a reduction of the manufacturing process. In the manufacturing method, a semiconductor layer is formed over an upper surface of a substrate. An insulation film is formed over an upper surface of the semiconductor layer. Using a mask which covers a first region and exposes a second region, an implantation of impurities into the semiconductor layer is performed in the second region through the insulation film. After the mask is removed, a surface of the insulation film is etched in the first region and the second region to an extent that the insulation film in the second region remains, whereby the film thickness of the insulation film in the second region is set to be smaller than the film thickness of the insulation film in the first region.

The present invention relates to a display device and to a method of manufacture thereof, for example, to an active matrix type liquid crystal display device, an organic EL display device or the like.
In the active matrix type display device, on a surface of a substrate thereof, regions which are surrounded by gate signal lines (scanning signal lines), which extend in the x direction and are arranged in parallel in the y direction, and drain signal lines (video signal lines), which extend in the y direction and are arranged in parallel in the x direction, are defined as pixel regions, and an array of these pixel regions constitutes a display part.
Each pixel region is provided with a switching element, which is driven by a scanning signal received from a one-side gate signal line of a pair of gate signal lines which surround the pixel region, and an electrode, to which a video signal is supplied from the one-side drain signal line of a pair of drain signal lines which surround the pixel region, by way of the switching element.
The electrode is configured so that a voltage difference corresponding to the video signal is generated between the electrode and another electrode, which is arranged with liquid crystal sandwiched therebetween in the case of a liquid crystal display device.
In the case of an organic EL display device, although there are several methods, as one example, the electrode is constituted of an electrode of a capacitive element which receives the video signal. Here, the organic EL display device includes a circuit which generates an electric current which corresponds to the video signal between one electrode and another electrode, which electrodes are arranged between organic light emitting layers, in response to a video signal received by the capacitive element.
Although a display device having such a constitution is configured such that respective pixels of the display part are driven by sequentially scanning the pixel groups (lines) which use the gate signal lines in common, the display device includes a capacitive element which can store the video signal supplied to the pixel group until the same pixel group is the driven next time.
The above-mentioned switching element (for example, a thin film transistor) and capacitive element are respectively constituted of a stacked body having a given pattern which is formed of a semiconductor layer, an insulation layer, a metal layer and the like. Here, a gate insulation film of the switching element and a dielectric film of the capacitive element are usually formed of a common insulation film, which technique is employed for reducing the complexity of the manufacturing process.
However, in the above-mentioned constitution, since the characteristics of the thin film transistor are predetermined, the film thickness of the gate insulation film of the thin film transistor is preliminarily regulated, and, hence, there arises a drawback in that the film thickness of the dielectric film of the capacitive element is also predetermined. That is, with respect to the capacitive element formed in the inside of the pixel region, even when an attempt is made to increase a relatively large capacitance, since the film thickness of the dielectric film is predetermined, the area of the dielectric film must be inevitably increased, resulting in a lowering of a so-called numerical aperture.
Accordingly, a technique has been proposed in the form of a newly added step in which the dielectric film of the capacitive element is made thinner than the gate insulation film of the thin film transistor. In this technique, the gate insulation film, which is formed in a region where the capacitive element is formed, is removed by selective etching using a mask, thus forming a thermal oxide film after removing the mask.
Such a technique is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Hei6(1994)-175154.

Display device and manufacturing method of the same


An ionization device includes an ionization chamber (1) and a charging chamber (20) separately prepared therefrom. The ionization chamber (1) has a discharge electrode (6) and an opposing electrode (10) in an interior (4) of a case having an ionizing gas introducing inlet (14). The opposing electrode (10) has an orifice (8) communicating with outside and formed at a position opposing the tip end of the discharge electrode (6). The charging chamber (20) is arranged adjacent to the orifice (8) side of the ionization chamber (1). An introduction inlet (28) of a charge object introduction portion of the charging chamber (20) is arranged at the position near the exit of the orifice (8). The size of the orifice (8) is set so that the charge object is sucked therein by a negative pressure generated when a gas containing ions is sprayed from the exit of the orifice (8) into the charging chamber (20) and the ionization chamber (1) has a higher pressure than the charging chamber (20).

An ionization device has been proposed (see Patent Document 1) in which a needle-shaped discharge electrode is installed in an inner space of a case, with an electrode having an orifice being placed at a position opposing the tip end of the discharge electrode and an enlarged pipe that expands in a reverse tapered state from the orifice toward the outside space, and a gas containing molecules of a predetermined substance is supplied to the inside of the case. In this ionization device, a gas containing molecules of a predetermined substance is supplied into the case, and a predetermined voltage is applied between the two electrodes to generate a discharge so that molecules of the gas inside the case are ionized and discharged from the orifice toward the outer space. Here, water is used as molecules to be ionized, and cluster ions derived from water macromolecules are generated in the outer space. In this ionization device, it is considered that an abrupt pressure reduction occurs by a high-speed jet air discharged from the enlarged pipe to cause a heat-insulated expansion to form a supersaturated atmosphere, with the result that water molecules in the atmosphere aggregate to form water molecular ions to be grown into large water cluster ions.
In the proposed ionization device, by carrying out a discharge in the inner space of the case, the ionization and the charging process to the molecules of the predetermined substance are executed in the same space.
Another ionization device has been proposed (see Patent Document 2) in which, in order to measure fine particles in an exhaust gas, a charging device is installed in the middle of an exhaust-gas introducing pipe, and a corona discharge is exerted inside the charging device so that fine particles in the exhaust gas passing therethrough are charged. In this ionization device also, the object fine particles to be ionized are directly charged in the charging device by the corona discharge.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 3787773
Patent Document 2: JP-A No. 2005-24409
Non-Patent Document 1: J. Aerosol Sci., Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 109-123, 1985

Osaka Prefecture University Public Corporation


A connecting assembly for an electric cylinder and a control box includes an electric cylinder, an electric control box and a sheathing ring. The electric cylinder includes an actuator and a contractible pipe module perpendicularly connected to an end of the actuator. The electric control box is disposed on an internal side at a right-angled position with respect to the actuator and the contractible pipe module and slidably connected to a side of the actuator. The sheathing ring is sheathed onto a contractible pipe module and slidably connected to a side of the electric control box. The connecting assembly of the invention not only achieves a screwless application, but also provides a quick, simple, convenient and stable assembling process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a connecting assembly, and more particularly to a connecting assembly for connecting an electric cylinder and a control box of a medical bed.
2. Description of Prior Art
An electric cylinder or an actuator applied to an electric equipment such as a medical bed, a facial bed or a massaging chair not only improves the convenience of use, but also enhances the add-on value of the electric equipment, and applications of these electric equipments generally require a plurality of electric cylinders connected to an electric control box and an operation controller separately, and the operation controller is provided for controlling operations of each electric cylinder, such that a front section, a middle section and a rear section of the medical bed can be ascended or descended. To achieve an appropriate simplified effect and an integral aesthetic appearance, manufacturers usually combine the electric cylinder with the electric control box for installing each electric cylinder and the electric control box to the electric equipment.
A conventional connecting assembly for connecting an electric cylinder and a control box comprises an electric cylinder and an electric control box, wherein the electric cylinder comprises an actuator and a contractible pipe module connected to an end of the actuator, and a protrusion is formed on the electric control box and disposed at a position corresponding to a side of the actuator, and the actuator has an embedding slot disposed at a position corresponding to the protrusion. In an assembling process, the protrusion is embedded into the embedding slot, such that the electric control box is connected onto the electric cylinder, and then a screw is passed through the contractible pipe module and secured to the electric control box for assembling the connecting assembly for connecting an electric cylinder and a control box.
However, it is necessary to use a tool such as a screwdriver to secure the screws during the assembling process of the conventional connecting assembly for connecting an electric cylinder and a control box, and thus the conventional connecting assembly not only has the drawback of a slow assembling rate, but also requires a screwdriver or another tool to loosen the screws before opening the connecting assembly. Obviously, this arrangement makes the application of the connecting assembly inconvenient and the prior art requires improvements.

Connecting assembly for connecting electric connector and control box


It is an object of the present invention to provide a release film which is superior in the flexibility at high temperature, the conformability to circuit patterns, the heat resistance, the releasing property and the non-contaminative property, and easily discarded after use.

In manufacturing processes of a printed-circuit board, a flexible printed-circuit board and a multilayer printed-circuit board, release films are used in hot pressing a copper clad laminate or copper foil interposing a prepreg or a heat resistant film. And, in a manufacturing process of a flexible printed-circuit board, there is widely used a method of employing a release film in order to prevent the adhesion of a cover lay film to a pressing hot plate when hot press bonding the cover lay film or a reinforcing plate to a flexible printed-circuit board body provided with a electric circuit with a thermosetting adhesive or a thermosetting adhesive sheet through.
As a release film to be used in these uses, there have been employed such a fluorine base film, a silicon-coated polyethylene terephthalate film, a polymethylpentene film and a polypropylene film as disclosed in Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-2-175247 and Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-5-283862.
In recent years, from the growing social requests for environmental issues and safety, the ease of disposal treatment has been required in addition to the heat resistance withstanding hot press forming and a releasing property against a printed-circuit board or a hot pressing plate for these release films. Further, a non-contaminative property to a copper circuit has become important in order to improve the yields of products during hot press forming.
However, the fluorine base films having been heretofore used as a release film has the excellent heat resistance, releasing property and non-contaminative property, but had a problem that it is hard to burn and it generates a harmful gas in incineration for disposal after uses in addition to being expensive. And, the silicon-coated polyethylene terephthalate film and the polymethylpentene film might cause the contamination of a printed-circuit board, particularly a copper circuit, due to the migration of low molecular weight matter contained in silicon or constituents to impair quality. And, the polypropylene film had poor heat resistance and an insufficient releasing property.
And, in Japanese Kokai Publication 2003-313313, there is described a release film having at least one layer comprising a resin composition containing 100 parts by weight of resin comprising at least one species of a thermoplastic resin and/or a thermosetting resin and 0.1 to 100 parts by weight of laminar silicate. This release film does not produce a harmful gas as distinct from a fluorine base film and does not cause contamination due to the migration of the low molecular weight matter as distinct from a silicon-coated polyethylene terephthalate film and a polymethylpentene film and in addition it is extremely superior in heat resistance and a releasing property. However, this release film had a problem that this film was insufficient in point of the conformability to circuit patterns and there might be cases where it could not adequately conform to a printed-circuit board, a flexible printed-circuit board and a multilayer printed-circuit board and a flexible printed board, which are provided with complex electric circuits and have circuit patterns on their surfaces, in hot pressing. Further, since the laminar silicate necessarily has adherents of low molecular weight substances causing an outgas, there was a problem that the outgas resulting from this low molecular weight substance might be generated even slightly and might contaminate a substrate.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a release film, which is used in a manufacturing process of a printed-circuit board, a flexible printed-circuit board or a multilayer printed-circuit board, having a layer comprising a resin composition comprising a resin having a polar group in a main chain as a matrix and having a halogen content of 5% by weight or less on at least one surface.


The invention concerns a device for correcting the shape of an object by laser treatment.. The device comprises means (1) for emitting a laser beam (FL) and means (2) for generating a treatment laser beam (FLT) comprising at least one lobe of elongate cross-section. Means (3) enable focussing of the image of the lobe or lobes of the treatment laser beam on the area of the object (OE) to be corrected and means (4) enable displacement of the image of the lobe of the treatment laser beam in translation or in rotation over the area of the object to be corrected. The total correction or ablation is effected by the summation of a plurality of elementary discrete ablations.. Application to refractive surgery in the case of keratomileusis for myopia, hypermetropia or astigmatism, and to shaping contact lenses and intra-ocular implants.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for performing surgery on the cornea of the eye.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
The purpose of such modifications of the shape of the cornea is to correct ametropia by correcting dimensional optical characteristics of the cornea and principally its radius of curvature. At the present time such modifications, known as keratomileusis, are achieved by actually machining a disk removed from the cornea. The disk is made rigid by freezing it and then machined by the Barraquer process or applied to a template with the appropriate radius of curvature and recut using the Barraquer-Krumeich technique.
This type of operation has the major disadvantage of necessitating first removal of the disk of corneal material and then treatment of the aforementioned disk, which has to be reimplanted on the eyeball of the patient after treatment.
However, recent work has shown the very precise ablative properties of excimer laser radiation when this radiation is applied to the corneal tissue. The radiation emitted by an excimer laser, with a wavelength substantially equal to 193 nm, may be used to eliminate corneal material by photodecomposition. Generally speaking, a round light spot (an image of the laser beam) is formed on the cornea, the spot being substantially centered on the optical axis of the eyeball. The spot has a substantially circular or annular shape or a symmetrical shape relative to the optical axis of the eyeball and may be moved and/or the radius/size changed, the exposure time for a particular area depending on the thickness of the cornea to be eliminated.
Although such devices enable direct operation on the eyeball of the patient, enabling better centering through avoiding the aforementioned problem of cutting out, and reimplanting after correction, a piece of the cornea, they do not make it possible to implement a precise treatment method in that, although the exposure time can be defined with good precision, the effects and in particular the thickness of the cornea subjected to photodecomposition vary with the size of the light spot and the energy density of the laser beam used. Moreover, the surface state of the cornea after treatment and undesirable side effects due to thermal or shockwave phenomena vary significantly with the energy level delivered by each pulse and the repetition frequency with which the same area is successively irradiated.

Device for correcting the shape of an object by laser treatment

International Business Machines Corporation