A method of forming a ferroelectric capacitor includes forming inner conductive capacitor electrode material over a substrate. After forming the inner electrode material, an outermost region of the inner electrode material is treated to increase carbon content in the outermost region from what it was prior to the treating. After the treating, ferroelectric capacitor dielectric material is formed over the treated outermost region of the inner electrode material. Outer conductive capacitor electrode material is formed over the ferroelectric capacitor dielectric material.

One component used in integrated circuitry is a capacitor. Such a component includes at least two electrical conductors separated by a dielectric. Energy may be electrostatically stored in an electric field within the dielectric.
Memory is one type of integrated circuitry which may include capacitors. Memory may be fabricated in one or more arrays of individual memory cells. Memory cells may be written to, or read from, using digit lines (which may also be referred to as bit lines, data lines, sense lines, or data/sense lines) and access lines (which may also be referred to as word lines). The digit lines may conductively interconnect memory cells along columns of the array, and the access lines may conductively interconnect memory cells along rows of the array. Each memory cell may be uniquely addressed through the combination of a digit line and an access line.
Memory cells may be volatile or non-volatile. Non-volatile memory cells can store data for extended periods of time, in many instances including when the computer is turned off. Volatile memory dissipates and therefore requires being refreshed/rewritten, in many instances multiple times per second. Regardless, memory cells are configured to retain or store memory in at least two different selectable states. In a binary system, the states are considered as either a "0" or a "1". In other systems, at least some individual memory cells may be configured to store more than two levels or states of information.
One type of non-volatile memory is ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM). Individual memory cells in FeRAM may include a ferroelectric capacitor. These capacitors have ferroelectric dielectric material as at least part of the capacitor dielectric. Ferroelectric materials exhibit a spontaneous electric polarization that can be reversed by the application of an external electric field. In a ferroelectric material, polarization occurs in accordance with a suitable applied voltage between two electrodes, and such polarization remains after the applied voltage has been removed. The polarization can be reversed by application of a suitable inverted voltage. Each polarization state has different capacitance from the other, and which ideally can be used to store and read a memory state without reversing the polarization state until such is desired to be changed. FeRAM memory cells incorporating a ferroelectric capacitor are thereby non-volatile due to the bi-stable characteristics of the ferroelectric material that forms a part of the capacitor. Ferroelectric capacitors may also be used in integrated circuitry other than memory.
Properties associated with ferroelectric capacitors include endurance (how many programmed cycle changes can occur before device failure), retention (maintaining a programmed state without an un-programmed state change), and imprint (becoming resistive to programmed polarization reversal evidenced by a lateral shift of the hysteresis loop). Accordingly, it is desirable to have high endurance, high retention, and low imprint in ferroelectric capacitors.

Methods of forming ferroelectric capacitors


An IVR system may be designed by accepting designer inputs to generate, on a display screen, a flowchart of interconnected flowchart processing blocks and flowchart decision blocks that represent a process flow of processing steps and branches, respectively, in the IVR system. By allowing the designer to generate a flowchart of interconnected flowchart processing blocks and flowchart decision blocks on a single display screen, a potentially simplified graphical user interface may be provided for designing an IVR system. The flowchart of interconnected flowchart processing blocks and flowchart decision blocks may be executed, based on at least one designer input on a keypad image, to simulate or test the IVR system. A self-documenting audit trail may be provided during the design of the IVR system. These audit trails may be associated with a version of the IVR system, so that multiple versions of the system may be managed. When deploying the IVR system, caller inputs may be sequentially stored in an order in which they were provided by the caller, to provide call logging. Regulatory compliance thereby may be facilitated.

IVR systems are widely used as human/machine interfaces in a variety of applications. In an IVR system, a caller may communicate with a support center, call center and/or other information retrieval center. When the caller calls into the center, the caller may be presented with a welcome voice message and a variety of menu options. The menu options may be selected by entering a number on a touch-tone telephone and/or by speaking the number into a telephone. Selections from a computer display also may be allowed. The caller responses to the menu are typically used to route the caller to a desired destination, dispense information to the caller and/or collect information from the caller.
An IVR system may present the caller with voice queries and/or menu choices based upon a hierarchical scheme. More specifically, general voice queries often are presented first and, then, based on caller responses, more specific queries are presented, to help narrow and/or focus the caller's requests. IVR systems may be used by manufacturers for product support centers, by product suppliers to obtain product orders, by service providers such as hotels to obtain reservations, and in many other fields and applications.
One field in which IVR systems may be increasingly used is in the medical/pharmaceutical field. For example, IVR systems may be used to monitor clinical research. Specifically, contract research organizations may use IVR systems to implement clinical trials. In an IVR system that is used for clinical research, it may be desirable to comply with 21 CFR, Part 11, which defines requirements for clinical research that is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). IVR systems also may be used by medical practitioners for medical practice management.
IVR systems may be relatively expensive to design, deploy and manage. In an attempt to simplify the design, deployment and/or management of IVR systems, graphical user interfaces have been provided for IVR system designers. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,526 to Fawcett et al. entitled System and Method for Graphically Displaying and Navigating Through An Interactive Voice Response Menu; U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,527 to Porter et al. entitled Interactive Voice Response System; U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,790 to Narayanaswami entitled Graphical Voice Response System and Method Therefor; U.S. Pat. No. 6,259,444 to Palmer et al. entitled User-Definable Interactive System; U.S. Pat. No. 6,278,454 to Krishnan entitled Call Progress Graphical User Interface; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,321,198 to Hank et al. entitled Apparatus for Design and Simulation of Dialogue. Notwithstanding these graphical user interfaces, there may continue to be a need for IVR systems that can be designed, deployed and managed with relative ease.

Systems, methods and computer program products for designing, deploying and managing interactive voice response (IVR) systems


In a process for producing xylene by transalkylation of a C9+ aromatic hydrocarbon feedstock, the feedstock, at least one C6-C7 aromatic hydrocarbon and hydrogen are supplied to at least one reaction zone containing at least first and second catalyst beds located such that the feedstock and hydrogen contact the first bed before contacting the second bed. The first catalyst bed comprises a first catalyst composition comprising a molecular sieve having a Constraint Index in the range of about 3 to about 12 and at least one metal or compound thereof of Groups 6-10 of the Periodic Table of the Elements, and the second catalyst bed comprises a second catalyst composition comprising a molecular sieve having a Constraint Index less than 3. The at least one reaction zone is operated under a first set of conditions effective to (i) dealkylate aromatic hydrocarbons in the feedstock containing C2+ alkyl groups and to saturate C2+ olefins formed in the first catalyst bed and (ii) transalkylate C9+ aromatic hydrocarbons with said C6-C7 aromatic hydrocarbon to produce xylene in the second catalyst bed. Periodically the supply of the feedstock and said at least one C6-C7 aromatic hydrocarbon, but not the hydrogen, to said at least one reaction zone is interrupted and the first and second catalyst compositions are contacted with the hydrogen under a second set of conditions effective to enhance the activity of the first and second catalyst compositions.

An important source of xylene in an oil refinery is catalytic reformate, which is prepared by contacting a mixture of petroleum naphtha and hydrogen with a strong hydrogenation/dehydrogenation catalyst, such as platinum, on a moderately acidic support, such as a halogen-treated alumina. Usually, a C6 to C8 fraction is separated from the reformate and extracted with a solvent selective for aromatics or aliphatics to produce a mixture of aromatic compounds that is relatively free of aliphatics. This mixture of aromatic compounds usually contains benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX), along with ethylbenzene.
However, the quantity of xylene available from reforming is limited and so recently refineries have also focused on the production of xylene by transalkylation of C9+ aromatic hydrocarbons with benzene and/or toluene over noble metal-containing zeolite catalysts. One such process, using MCM-22 as the zeolite catalyst is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,787. However, during the transalkylation of C9+ aromatics with, for example, toluene to produce xylene and benzene, saturated by-products, which boil in the same temperature range as the desired aromatic products, are typically produced making separation of the desired products at high purity levels difficult. For example, a commercial benzene product may need a purity of 99.85 wt % or higher. However, initial benzene purity after distillation of a transalkylation reaction product is typically only 99.2% to 99.5% due to the presence of coboilers, such as methylcyclopentane, cyclohexane, 2,3-dimethylpentane, dimethylcyclopentane and 3-methylhexane. Therefore, an additional extraction step is usually required to further improve benzene product purity to the desired level.
One solution to the problem of the production of benzene co-boilers during the transalkylation of heavy aromatics is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,942,651 and involves the steps of contacting a feed comprising C9+ aromatic hydrocarbons and toluene under transalkylation reaction conditions with a first catalyst composition comprising a zeolite having a Constraint Index ranging from 0.5 to 3, such as ZSM-12, and a hydrogenation component. The effluent resulting from the first contacting step is then contacted with a second catalyst composition which comprises a zeolite having a Constraint Index ranging from 3 to 12, such as ZSM-5, and which may be in a separate bed or a separate reactor from the first catalyst composition to produce a transalkylation reaction product comprising benzene and xylene. A benzene product having a purity of at least 99.85% may be obtained by distilling the benzene from the transalkylation reaction product, without the need for an additional extraction step. According to the '651 patent, the second catalyst composition comprises up to 20 wt % of the total weight of the first and second catalyst compositions.
Another problem associated with heavy aromatics alkylation processes is catalyst aging since, as the catalyst loses activity with increasing time on stream, higher temperatures are normally required to maintain constant conversion. When the maximum reactor temperature is reached, the catalyst needs to be replaced or regenerated, normally by oxidation. Depending on the C9+:C6 or C7 composition of the feed, the cycle length may vary from only 9 months for high C9+:C7 ratios of 85:15 to about 5 years for low C9+:C7 ratios of 20:80. Recent work has shown that the aging rate of existing transalkylation catalysts is also strongly dependent on the presence in the feed of aromatic compounds having alkyl substituents with two or more carbon atoms, such as ethyl and propyl groups. Thus these compounds tend to undergo disproportionation to produce C10+ coke precursors.
To address the problem of C9+ feeds containing high levels of ethyl and propyl substituents, U.S. Published Application No. 2009/0112034 discloses a catalyst system adapted for transalkylation of a C9+ aromatic feedstock with a C6-C7 aromatic feedstock comprising: (a) a first catalyst comprising a first molecular sieve having a Constraint Index in the range of 3-12 and 0.01 to 5 wt % of at least one source of a first metal element of Groups 6-10; and (b) a second catalyst comprising a second molecular sieve having a Constraint Index less than 3 and 0 to 5 wt % of at least one source of a second metal element of Groups 6-10, wherein the weight ratio of said first catalyst to said second catalyst is in the range of 5:95 to 75:25. The first catalyst, which is optimized for dealkylation of the ethyl and propyl groups in the feed, is located in front of said second catalyst, which is optimized for transalkylation, when they are brought into contact with said C9+ aromatic feedstock and said C6-C7 aromatic feedstock in the presence of hydrogen.
However, although the multiple catalyst bed system of U.S. Published Application No. 2009/0112034 allows significantly increased cycle lengths over single catalyst bed processes in the transalkylation of heavy aromatic feeds, it is still inherently subject to catalyst deactivation albeit at a reduced rate. Thus, even with a multiple catalyst bed system, there remains a need to extend catalyst life and thereby decrease operation downtime. According to the present invention, it has now been found that periodically treating a multiple bed transalkylation catalyst with hydrogen gas in-situ reduces the formation of coke precursors and helps maintain catalyst activity.

Transalkylation of heavy aromatic hydrocarbon feedstocks


A method and computing system for providing, using one or more computing devices, a synchronous communication session for a plurality of users of a social network. A first video stream of a first user of the plurality of users is rendered within a primary viewing field associated with the synchronous communication session. At least a second video stream of at least a second user of the plurality of users is rendered within the primary viewing field associated with the synchronous communication session.

The Internet currently allows for the free exchange of ideas and information in a manner that was unimaginable only a couple of decades ago. One such use for the Internet is as a communication medium, whether it is via one-on-one exchanges or multi-party exchanges. For example, two individuals may exchange private emails with each other. Alternatively, multiple people may participate on a public website in which they may post entries that are published for multiple people to read. Examples of such websites may include but are not limited to product/service review sites and topical blogs.
As is known in the art, social networks allow for users to engage in a quasi-real-time, interactive dialogue. Social networking websites have allowed people to interact and socialize in ways that were unimaginable ten years ago. For example, the use of such social networking websites has allowed for long lost friends to be reunited, long-distance friendships to be easily maintained, and information to be broadcast to groups of people.

Synchronous communication system and method


A control unit controls an operation of an electric power conversion unit so that load current that flows through a light source load becomes a constant value, using electric power setting value that is used to determine a size of electric power that is supplied to the light source load and a current detection value that is detected by a current detection resistor (current detection unit), and a load electric power calculation unit obtains load electric power of the light source load using the electric power setting value and a voltage detection value that is detected by a voltage detection unit, and an input electric power estimation unit corrects a circuit loss for the obtained load electric power and estimates input electric power.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a lighting device that estimates input electric power, a lighting apparatus using the lighting device, and a lighting system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a power source apparatus has been proposed that measures input electric power (power consumption) and presents the measurement result to the outside while converting electric power that is supplied from an external power source as appropriate and supplying the electric power to a load. The measurement result of the input electric power that is obtained from such a power source apparatus is presented to a user of the power source apparatus, an administrator of a facility in which the power source apparatus is installed, etc., so that it is possible to help reduction (saving) of wasted power consumption, etc.
In a light source load using a light emitting diode (LED), which has attracted attention in recent years, the impedance is changed depending on the ambient temperature due to the temperature characteristic. In view of this point, a lighting device is known that tries to obtain input electric power sufficiently accurately even when the ambient temperature of the light source load varies, and for example, is disclosed in Japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2012-074156.
The lighting device that is disclosed in the above-described related art includes an electric power conversion unit configured to adjust electric power that is supplied to a light source load by an ON/OFF operation of a switching element and a control unit configured to input an electric power setting value that is used to determine the size of the electric power that is supplied to the light source load and control an operation of the electric power conversion unit. In addition, the lighting device includes a current detection unit configured to detect current that flows through the switching element and an electric power estimation unit configured to estimate input electric power using the value that is detected by the current detection unit. The electric power estimation unit corrects a portion of variation in a current detection value, which is generated due to change in the ambient temperature of the light source load, using the electric power setting value and the current detection value that corresponds to an output of the current detection unit, and obtains the input electric power.
In particular, in the electric power estimation unit, the electric power setting value is normalized using the electric power setting value when electric power that is supplied to the light source load becomes maximum, as a maximum electric power value, and the input electric power is obtained using an electric power adjustment value that corresponds to a difference between the electric power setting value and the current detection value.
In the conventional example that is disclosed in the above-described related art, it is necessary that the maximum electric power value of the light source load be stored in advance in order to obtain the input electric power. Therefore, for a certain light source load the maximum electric power value of which is stored, the input electric power can be obtained sufficiently accurately, and on the other hand, for another light source load having a different characteristic, there has been a problem in that the input electric power cannot be obtained sufficiently accurately due to variation in characteristics of light source loads.

Lighting device, lighting apparatus using the same, and lighting system

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


A recombinant virus (ICP10.DELTA.RR) has been developed which is useful in a Western blot assay to specifically detect antibody to HSV-2, even the presence of co-existing antibody to HSV-1.

Humans are infected by two herpes simplex viruses respectively designated HSV-1 and HSV-2. The two viruses have well defined biologic and antigenic differences but are 50% similar at the DNA and protein levels (have 50% type common antigenic determinants). There are 78 proteins which are encoded by the viral DNAs. In most of these, approximately 50% of the antigenic determinants are type-common and they are generally the most antigenic. Only a few proteins have primarily type-specific epitopes.
Mucosal and skin surfaces (generally abraded skin) are the usual site of infection with both of these viruses. The mouth and lips are the most common sites of infection with HSV-1, while HSV-2 is associated with genital infections. Although HSV-1 and HSV-2 are usually transmitted by different routes and involve different areas of the body, there is much overlap between the epidemiology and clinical manifestations of infections caused by these viruses.
Primary infection with HSV-1 generally occurs in children less than 5 years of age where it is often asymptomatic or very mild manifesting as oropharyngeal disease (gingivostomatitis). Primary infection can also occur in young adults where it has been associated with pharyngitis and, often, a mononucleosis-like syndrome. Primary HSV-1 infection leads to virus shedding in the mouth for as long as 23 days, on the average for 7-10 days. Neutralizing antibodies begin to appear on days 4-7 after clinical onset of disease and peak at approximately 3 weeks. Neutralizing antibodies and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity antibodies persist for the lifetime of the host. Virus shedding in the saliva of asymptomatic children was documented in approximately 3-20% of children under 15 years of age. Virus is transmitted from infected to susceptible individuals by respiratory droplets or through direct contact with infected secretions during close personal contact. Primary infection is followed by the establishment of latency with periodic recurrent symptoms. Primary infection with HSV-2 occurs later in life (transmission is generally by sexual contact) and it occurs in the presence of neutralizing antibody to HSV-1. The presence of HSV-1 antibodies prior to infection with HSV-2 generally affects the development of the HSV-2 antibodies.
Studies designed to examine the protein specificity of the antibody response have shown that early after infection antibodies appear to gD, gB, ICP4, gE, gG and gC although not all proteins were studied. The more severe the primary infection or the more frequent the recurrences, the greater the band intensity or the quantity of antibodies. However, the absence of an antibody response (or the enhanced antibody response) to a specific viral protein does not correlate with the severity of the disease or the frequency of recurrences. In fact, the appearance of antibody to a specific protein depends on the inherent antigenicity of the specific protein (as determined after exposure only to that protein) and its presentation to the immune system by professional antigen presenting cells. The levels of expression of the specific protein in virus infected cells is effected by the presence of additional viral proteins. The appearance of antibody to a specific viral protein is further regulated by the previous immune status of the host. For example, antibodies to HSV-2 proteins must develop in a host that already has antibody to the homologous HSV-1 proteins resulting, for at least some of the HSV-2 proteins, in downregulation.
Serologic Assays
A variety of serologic assays are available, although none is currently practical for quantitating type-specific antibodies. Indeed, many assays can give rise to confound the results. Because of the extensive cross-reactivity between the two HSV serotypes, it is difficult to detect HSV-2 antibodies in patients who already have high titers of antibodies to HSV-1 and vice versa. Therefore serodiagnosis is not routinely done in diagnostic laboratories. Available assays include neutralization, complement fixation, passive hemagglutination, antibody-dependent cytotoxicity, ELISA and immunoblots.
Microneutralization, originally used to distinguish between antibody to HSV-1 and HSV-2, has since been shown to suffer from problems due to the presence of type-common antibodies. Another variation on the microneutralization, termed the multiplicity analysis kinetics of neutralization assay (MAKNA) was more specific because it used an artificial mixture consisting of wild type HSV-2 and a HSV-1 mutant which lacks a viral glycoprotein designated gC that primarily induces type specific antibody (Infection and Immunity 40:184 (1983)). The virus mixture used in the MAKNA assay consists of type-common and type-specific antigens. However, the assay is not widely accepted for clinical use because it is very complex and can only be performed in research laboratories.
Recently, immunoblot assays using gG-1/gG-2 have been described as the method of choice for the detection of type specific assays. However, there is a significant body of data which indicate that gG assays have low sensitivity. Thus, in direct comparison experiments, the effectiveness of glycoproteins to induce high titers of serum antibody was ranked as: gD>gB>gI>(gC=gE)>gG>gH (Invest. Ophthalmol. Visual Sci., 36:1352 (1995); J. Virol., 68:2118 (1994)). In a large scale study, among women with gG-2 antibody (measured by immunodot) only 13% reported a history of genital herpes; among men with gG-2 antibody only 19% reported a history of genital herpes, while most of those patients had HSV-2 antibodies. A similar pattern of low sensitivity and moderate specificity was also seen for facial herpes infection and gG-1 antibody and probably reflects the relatively poor antigenicity of gG (J. Am. Med. Assoc., 268:1702 (1992)). Anti-gG-2 antibody was detected only in 47% of cases with HSV-2 infection after a prior HSV-1 infection suggesting that a prior HSV-1 infection modifies the HSV type-specific serological response (J. Gen. Virol., 70:2365 (1989)). Major problems with identification of patients with HSV-1 antibody or dual antibody status using gG was also shown by others (J. Virol. Methods, 18:159 (1987)).
It is, therefore evident that a serologic assay capable of differentiating between HSV-1 and HSV-2 antibody while retaining good sensitivity is not yet available. The methods currently in use in the art lack sensitivity and accuracy. The instant invention solves this problem and provides a highly specific assay using a patient's blood to distinguish HSV-1 antibodies from HSV-2 antibodies.

Herpes simplex virus type specific seroassay


A manual resuscitator apparatus having a patient valve includes a housing having a first port for connection to ventilator bag, a second port for connection to a patient mask and a third port for an atmospheric vent. An air channel is configured integrally within the interior of the housing and a manometer is used for receiving air from the air channel. Either a linear or dial manometer is formed as a portion of the housing so the clinician can read both patient inhalation pressure from the first port and patient exhalation pressure from the second port.

A manual resuscitator is a device using positive pressure to inflate the lungs of an unconscious person who is not breathing. The resuscitator is used in order to keep the patient oxygenated and alive. There are three basic types for resuscitators, a manual version (also known as a bag valve mask) consisting of a mask and a large hand-squeezed plastic bulb using ambient air, or with supplemental oxygen from a high-pressure tank. The second type is the Expired Air or breath powered resuscitator. The third type is an oxygen powered resuscitator. This type of resuscitator is driven by pressurized gas delivered by a regulator, and can either be automatic or manually controlled. The most popular type of gas powered resuscitator are time cycled, volume constant ventilators. All modern resuscitation devices typically are required to deliver greater than 85% oxygen when a gas source is available.
Bag valve mask resuscitators was a further advancement in resuscitation. Introduced in the 1960s, this device allowed two rescuers to perform CPR and ventilation on a non-breathing patient with an acceptable chance of success. This type of resuscitation device includes a non-rebreathing valve to provide positive pressure for manual ventilation needed when a patient lacks respiratory drive during resuscitation involving oxygen or air. The bag valve mask resuscitator now mostly replaced the demand valve as the primary method of ventilation, largely due to concerns of potential over-inflation with the demand valve by untrained rescuers. The bag valve mask resuscitator, unlike the older version of the demand valve (all new models of demand valve now have pressure relief valves set at 60 cm of water to prevent accidental over inflation of the lungs), may have a "pressure relief" valve to prevent inflation at greater than 40 cm H2O (3.92 Kilo-pascals) pressure with the result being that it is generally more common in the pre-hospital setting than the demand valve. However, the demand valve remains popular with basic life support providers and in situations where conserving supplies of oxygen is of paramount importance. The demand valve, while less popular today than it was previously, still remains in service, albeit with important safety features added, including the addition of a pressure-relief valve to prevent over-inflation and the restriction of its flow to 40 liters a minute.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

Patient valve for use with manual resuscitator


Example apparatuses and methods for cancellation of transmitter self-interference leakage in a transceiver are described. An example transceiver includes a multiport transformer that may be used as a part of the impedance matching network on the receiver side of the transceiver. One primary port of the multiport transformer may form a portion of a cancellation circuit that, along with other components in a cancellation path, provide amplitude and/or phase modulation to a cancellation signal. The cancellation circuit may tunable and may include only reactive components in some examples.

The continued demand for higher levels of access and increased data rates for a variety of wireless applications, from mobile smart phone devices to back haul point-to-point communications, continues to drive research towards high speed, wideband and low cost radios. Frequency division duplexing (FDD), rather than time division multiple access (TDMA) standards, achieve higher speeds. However, in a FDD system, since the transmitter and the receiver share the same antenna and operate at the same time using a duplexer, a non-negligible transmitter leakage signal may appear at the transmitter front-end through the duplexer. For example, in the WCDMA standard, although the duplexer significantly suppresses transmitter leakage (up to 55 dB), the residual attenuated signal still remains at the receiver input. Thus, the transmitter leakage is often the largest blocker present at the receiver input, making a low-noise and low-power linear receiver design very challenging. This leakage problem is exacerbated by applications such as future cognitive and software-defined radios where the duplex band would ideally be kept to a minimum, to improve spectral efficiency. An off-chip surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter is usually connected between the low noise amplifier and downconverter to further suppress transmitter leakage. However, these filters are band specific, prohibiting highly programmable solutions. Moreover, additional discrete filters are area inefficient, and increase cost/power consumption.
Several recent efforts have attempted to attenuate or reduce the effect of transmitter leakage in the receiver signal path. However, these recent approaches tend to utilize an active cancellation path, which is problematic from a noise and power perspective.

Systems, transceivers, receivers, and methods including cancellation circuits having multiport transformers

University of Washington Through Its Center For Commercialization


A cellular telephone location system for automatically recording the location of one or more mobile cellular telephones comprises three or more cell site systems 12. Each cell site system is located at a cell site of a cellular telephone system. Each cell site system includes an antenna that may be mounted on the same tower or building as the antenna employed by the cellular telephone system and equipment that may be housed in the equipment enclosure of the corresponding cell site. The cell site systems are coupled via T1 communication links 14 to a central site 16. The central site may be collocated with the cellular telephone system's MTSO. The central site 16 is further coupled to a database 20, which may be remotely located from the central site and made available to subscribers.

Prior to the invention disclosed herein, there has been no known system for automatically tracking mobile cellular telephones. Although related technologies (radio navigation systems such as direction finding and LORAN, emergency location devices for aircraft, satellite tracking and surveillance, and the like) have been extant for many years, none of these technologies has been applied to automatically locate cellular telephones as described herein. Accordingly, the background information most pertinent to gaining an understanding of the present invention relates to a cellular telephone system itself, as opposed to the peripherally related radio navigation and location technologies. The following discussion refers to FIGS. 1A-1C in providing an overview of a cellular telephone technology. In addition, it should be noted that the inventive concepts disclosed herein are applicable to both analog and digital (for example, TDMA) cellular systems that employ analog control channels.
Cellular telephone systems typically include many cell sites and a centrally-located cellular switch, called a Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO). There are typically sixty to one hundred cell sites in large cities and fifteen to thirty cell sites in smaller cities. Cell sites are usually spaced at distances of one-half to twenty miles. Each cell site generally comprises one or more antennas mounted on a triangular platform. The platform is placed on a tower or atop a tall building, preferably fifty to three hundred feet above the surrounding terrain.
The fundamental idea behind a cellular system is frequency reuse. This concept of frequency reuse is implemented by employing a pattern of overlapping cells, with each cell conceptually viewed as a hexagon. This concept is illustrated in FIG. 1A, which depicts a layout for a cellular system employing seven distinct sets of frequencies. In this figure, each shading pattern represents a unique frequency set. FIG. 1C schematically depicts the main components and arrangement of cellular telephone system. As discussed above, frequency reuse allows the cellular system to employ a limited number of radio channels to serve many users. For example, FIG. 1A depicts an area served by 14 cells, divided into two clusters. Each cluster contains seven cells. A separate set of channels is assigned to each cell in a cluster. However, the sets used in one cluster are reassigned in the other cluster, thus reusing the available spectrum. The signals radiated from a cell in channels assigned to that cell are powerful enough to provide a usable signal to a mobile cellular telephone within that cell, but preferably not powerful enough to interfere with co-channel signals in distant cells. All cellular telephones can tune to any of the channels.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has allocated a 25 MHz spectrum for use by cellular systems. This spectrum is divided into two 12.5 MHz bands, one of which is available to wire line common carriers only and the other of which is available to non-wire line common carriers only. In any given system, the non-wire line service provider operates within the "A side" of the spectrum and the wire line provider operates within the "B side" of the spectrum Cellular channels are 30 KHz wide and include control channels and voice channels. In particular, the twenty-one control channels for "A" systems are numbered 313 through 333 and occupy a 30 KHz band of frequencies 834.390 MHz to 834.990 MHz. The control channels for "B" systems are numbered 334 through 354 and occupy 835.020 MHz to 835.620 MHz. Each cell site (or, where a cell site is "sectored" as described below, each sector of that cell site) uses only a single control channel. The control channel from a cell site to a mobile unit is called the "forward" control channel and the control channel from the cellular telephone to the cell site is called the "reverse" control channel. Signals are continuously broadcast over a forward control channel by each cell site. In contrast, signals are discontinuously (periodically) broadcast by the cellular telephones over a reverse control channel. If the cell sites are so close to one another that control channels using the same frequency interfere with each other, the control channel at each cell site is further qualified by a digital color code ranging from zero to three. This allows each cell site to be uniquely identified, for example, within a range of twenty to thirty miles.
Directional cell site antennas may be used to reduce co-channel and adjacent-channel interference. FIG. 1B illustrates how sectored antennas may be used to reduce such interference. The circles represent cell sites and the broken lines represent the azimuthal edges of the front lobes of 120.degree. directional antennas. The labels "A" , "B" , and "C" refer to channel sets, cells, and cell sites simultaneously. The labels "1" , "2" , and "3" refer to directional antennas and sectors of cells simultaneously. Thus, for example, if a particular channel is assigned to sector 1 of cell B and adjacent channels are assigned to cells A and C, these adjacent channels should be assigned to sector 1 in cells A and C.
When a cellular telephone is first turned on, it scans all forward control channels, listening for the channel with the strongest signal. The telephone then selects the forward control channel with the strongest signal and listens for system overhead messages that are broadcast periodically, for example, every 0.8 seconds. These overhead messages contain information regarding the access parameters to the cellular system. One such access parameter is the frequency of registration, which refers to how often a given telephone must inform the system that the telephone is within the system's geographic confines. Registration frequencies typically range from once per minute to once per thirty minutes.
The overhead messages also contain busy/idle bits that provide information about the current availability of the reverse control channel for that cell. When the reverse control channel becomes free, as indicated by the busy/idle bit, the cellular telephone attempts to register itself by seizing the reverse control channel. Cellular telephones re-register themselves at the rate determined by the cellular system. Registration parameter requirements are determined by each cellular system. For example, the options include (1) 7-digit NXX-XXXX, (2) 3-digit NPA, and (3) 32-bit electronic serial number. Each of these options constitutes a digital word. Because of sync bits and error correction techniques, each digital word is 240 bits long. With an initial 48-bit sync stream, each cellular telephone transmission is a minimum of 288 bits long, and as long as 1488 bits. Moreover, each discontinuous transmission by a cellular telephone includes a period of unmodulated carrier. Therefore, an average transmission on the reverse control channel lasts about 100 milliseconds. Cellular telephones also transmit in response to pages by the cellular system, as well as in response to user-initiated calls. The term "paging" is used to describe the process of determining a mobile telephone's availability to receive an incoming call. The complementary function of initiating a call by the mobile telephone is called "access." The paging and access functions occur on the control channels.
When turned on but not in active use, a mobile cellular telephone periodically scans the control channels assigned to the system and marks for use the strongest carrier found. With the mobile receiver tuned to this strongest carrier, the cellular telephone continuously decodes a digital modulating data stream, looking for incoming calls. Any call to a mobile terminal is initiated like a normal telephone call. A seven- or ten-digit number is dialed and the telephone network routes the call to a central computer. The number is broadcast on the control channels of every cell in the system. When a called telephone detects its number in the incoming data stream, it sends its identification back to the system. The system uses a digital message on the control channel to designate a channel for the telephone to use. The telephone tunes to this channel and the user is then alerted to the incoming call. A similar sequence is involved when a cellular telephone user originates a call. The user dials the desired telephone number into a register in the telephone. This number is transmitted over the control channel to the nearest cell (i.e., the cell with the strongest carrier). The system computer then designates a channel for the call and the mobile unit is automatically tuned to that channel.
The cellular telephone industry has enjoyed widespread success in its relatively brief lifetime. New subscribers, apparently recognizing the many advantages in being able to initiate and receive calls while away from home, are being enrolled in ever-increasing numbers. Indeed, in many cities, the competition between the A and B sides to enlist new subscribers is fierce. Accordingly, there is a great need for new services to offer current and potential subscribers. The present invention sprang from the recognition that mobility, the main advantage offered by a cellular system, is also a disadvantage in certain situations. For example, a lost or stolen cellular telephone is difficult to recover. Thus, a system that could automatically locate the telephone would be quite beneficial to users. In addition, if the cellular telephone were in an automobile and the automobile were stolen, a system that could locate the telephone would also be able to locate the automobile, thus providing a valuable service to users. Moreover, there are situations where the user of a cellular telephone may become lost. An example of such a situation is where the user is driving in an unknown area at night with his telephone in the car. Again, it would be a great advantage for the system to be able to automatically locate the telephone and, upon request, inform the user of his location. Similarly, a cellular telephone user experiencing a medical emergency who dials an emergency telephone number (for example, 911) may not be able to tell the dispatcher his location. Prior art systems are unable to trace a call from a cellular telephone. Therefore, a cellular telephone user in such a situation would be in a dire predicament. Once again, it would be highly advantageous for the system to be able to ascertain the user's location and provide this information to emergency medical personnel. There would be numerous other applications for a system that could automatically locate a cellular telephone.


A system locates the elements of a randomly dispersed, untethered, array of sonobuoys from which are suspended active, transmitting, transducer elets and passive, receiving, transducer elements. The system comprises a data conditioning unit which receives high-frequency element-locating signals from a radio receiver, which may be located on an aircraft, and processes them so that they are quantized at its output. An acoustic delay processor, whose input is connected to the output of the data conditioning unit, correlates a reference signal R received from an active element suspended from the sonobuoy with a corresponding received signal from another element, active or passive, suspended from another sonobuoy.. A position tracker, whose input is connnected to the output of the acoustic delay processor, calculates the relative position of each element of the random array from the propagation delays measured by the acoustic delay processor. An operator interface, having inputs to and outputs from, the position tracker is used to enter and display appropriate system and processing parameters.

The objective of passive acoustic systems designed for undersea surveillance and antisubmarine warfare (ASW) is to detect target-radiated acoustic signals in the presence of complex noise fields. The most advanced systems of this type today employ a combination of temporal gain achieved through narrowband signal-processing, and spatial gain, achieved through linear hydrophone arrays, to obtain a high level of performance. If it be true that the gains achievable through these means are now approaching a practical limit, then further improvement and performance will have to be obtained through other means, such as the use of multi-dimensional arrays.
The invention herein disclosed resulted from an effort to develop the technology required to form thinned planar and volumetric hydrophone arrays from fields of randomly placed, freely drifting, sonobuoys. The use of sonobuoys is intended to minimize the cost of such arrays, formerly thought to be prohibitive. It also allows the arrays to be readily deployed from a mobile platform, such as a long-range aircraft.
There are two basic issues that had to be resolved to demonstrate the feasibility of the random array concept. The first is whether the positions of the individual sensors of the array can be determined with sufficient accuracy for beamforming purposes. The second issue is whether the rate of dispersion of the sensors is sufficiently low to allow the array to be operated for a useful period of time. These two issues have been resolved satisfactorily.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A syringe for sequentially injecting a plurality of liquids into an intravenous (IV) infusion component that has a connector fitting includes a syringe vessel having a preferably needleless injection port that is engageable with the connector fitting of the IV component. A syringe plunger is slidably disposed in the syringe vessel, and at least one barrier plunger is slidably disposed in the syringe vessel between the injection port and the syringe plunger. The barrier plunger is formed with a pathway for fluid communication therethrough, and a valve is positioned in the pathway of the barrier plunger to block fluid communication through the pathway. A nipple extends inwardly from the injection port for opening the valve of the barrier plunger when the barrier plunger is urged against the nipple. A first liquid is disposed in the syringe vessel between the barrier plunger and the injection port and a second liquid is disposed in the syringe vessel between the two plungers. The syringe plunger can be advanced against the second liquid toward the injection port, thereby urging the barrier plunger against the first liquid to expel the first liquid through the injection port. As the syringe plunger is advanced further into the vessel, the barrier plunger is urged against the nipple of the injection port to open the valve, thereby establishing a pathway for fluid communication through the channel of the barrier plunger for expelling the second liquid through the injection port.

Many modern medical therapies require the intravenous (IV) infusion of liquid medicaments into the patient undergoing treatment. Typical liquid medicaments include simple saline solutions, to prevent patient dehydration, solutions containing nutrients for the patient, and solutions that contain medicinal compounds. These liquid medicaments can be infused into the patient by, e.g., gravity drain from an elevated IV bag into the patient, pumping the liquid medicament from a medicament source into the patient, or any other method which is appropriate for the particular therapy and patient.
Ordinarily, the liquid is infused into the patient by connecting the liquid source to one end of an IV line, attaching a needle to the other end of the line, and inserting the needle into the patient. Regardless of how the particular IV infusion therapy is effected, however, the need occasionally arises to infuse other medicaments, in addition to the medicament being infused, into the patient. Commonly, this means that a second needle must be inserted into the patient or injection site. It can be appreciated that this is uncomfortable for the patient and may introduce additional hazard to the health care worker. Moreover, the use of needles preferably should be minimized, to minimize the chances of health care workers inadvertently puncturing themselves with needles, which can be especially nettlesome in the era of AIDS.
Accordingly, devices have been developed which permit the infusion of more than one medicament type through a single IV line. For example, connectors familiarly referred to as injection sites (i.e., "Y"-site or "T"-site valves because of their shape) have been introduced. A Y-site valve has a first port that can be connected to an IV line leading to the source of the liquid medicament to be infused, a second port that can be connected to an IV line leading to the patient, and a third port that can be connected to a second source of liquid medicament. Flow from the first source can be stopped, e.g., by engaging a roller clamp with the IV line leading to the source and then operating the roller clamp to collapse the line, and the infusion of liquid from the second source into the patient can be then be effected through the Y-site valve and the IV line that leads to the patient. Alternatively, a check valve can be positioned just up stream of the Y-site valve or T-site valve.
It is sometimes the case, however, that infusion of a first type of medicament through an IV line into a patient or another IV component, such as an IV bag, cannot immediately precede the infusion of a second type of medicament through the same IV line. This is because some medicaments are not compatible with certain other medicaments. Accordingly, when it is desired to infuse a second medicament into, for example, a patient, through an IV line through which a first medicament which is incompatible with the second medicament has been infused, infusion of the first medicament through the IV line must be halted. Then, a source of flushing fluid must be connected to the Y-site valve, and fluid infused through the Y-site valve and IV line to flush the line.
Next, the source of flushing fluid must be disconnected from the Y-site valve, and the source of the second medicament connected to the valve. Then, the second medicament is infused into the patient. After infusion of the second medicament, the source of the second medicament must be disconnected from the Y-site valve, the IV line flushed again, and the source of the first medicament reconnected to resume the IV therapy.
Understandably, the disconnecting and connecting of a series of IV lines to a single injection site valve can be a time-consuming, labor-intensive evolution, and can also lead to human error in connecting and disconnecting the lines in proper sequence and potential leaking of the injection site. Such mistakes can not only result in ineffective IV infusion therapy, but can also cause grave complications in the patient.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a syringe for infusing a plurality of medicaments into a patient in a predetermined sequence. It is another object of the present invention to provide a syringe which reduces the need to use needles or other sharp components. A further object of the present invention is to provide a syringe for infusing a plurality of liquid medicaments into a patient in a predetermined order, without requiring repeated connections and disconnections of IV lines to an IV connector. Another object of the present invention is to provide a syringe for infusing a plurality of liquid medicaments into a patient in a predetermined order which is easy to use and cost-effective to manufacture.

Multi-liquid medicament delivery system with reflex valves


A method and apparatus for fully restoring the context of a user program, including program status word (PSW) and CPU register contents, following an asynchronous interrupt. Upon the occurrence of an asynchronous interrupt event, control is transferred from the normally executing part of the user program to an interrupt handler of the operating system kernel. The kernel interrupt handler saves the contents of the CPU registers and PSW as they existed at the time of the interrupt in a save area associated with the user program before transferring control to a signal catcher routine of the user program. When it has finished handling the interrupt, the signal catcher routine restores the previous state of program execution as it existed before the interrupt by storing the address of the save area in a selected register (which may be a general register/access register pair), restoring the contents of the registers other than the selected register containing the address of the save area, and then restoring the contents of the PSW and selected register by using a new Resume Program (RP) instruction. The RP instruction contains an operand field specifying through the selected register the base address of the save area together with offset fields specifying the offsets of the saved contents of the PSW and selected register relative to the beginning of the save area. Upon decoding an RP instruction, the CPU executing the instruction adds the displacement to the base address contained in the specified register to form the beginning address of the save area, to which it adds the specified offsets to access the saved PSW and selected register contents. The current PSW and selected register contents are then restored with the saved contents to fully restore the previous program context and return control to the instruction being executed at the point of interrupt. To ensure system integrity, only those fields of the PSW are restored that could have otherwise been restored by a program operating in problem state.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for fully restoring a program context following an interrupt and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for restoring the contents of the CPU registers and program status word (PSW) as they existed prior to the asynchronous interrupt of a user program executing in problem state.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a modern computing environment, an operating system is a program (or set of programs) that manages the facilities of a computing system such that the system can be shared among many disparate users being served by multiple independent programs running under the control of that operating system. Hardware resources are under the control of the operating system, which allocates these to the various programs under its control as they request an allocation of them. Thus, real storage space, virtual addressing capability, auxiliary storage space, and ports to the outside world are shared by the programs under the auspices and control of the operating system.
To enforce its management and control over system resources and to provide sharing of facilities with system integrity maintained, the architecture of a system provides mechanisms useful for fencing the operating system from the programs it serves and controls and for fencing those programs from each other. One of these is the operating authority state. Generally, at least two operating states are provided, often called supervisor state and problem state. The supervisor state allows system-wide access authority without fencing, and allows the operating system which uses it to allocate and control which programs have access to which parts of which facilities at which time.
The problem state provides the logical and arithmetic capabilities necessary to solve the problems of a broad range of application programs, and to allow middleware, e.g., database managers or communication access methods, to provide the services to other programs as expected of such middleware. But, in problem state a program is restricted in its accessing capability to that fenced for it by the operating system using the access control mechanisms of the system architecture. These mechanisms are designed to prevent unauthorized access to the operating domain of any other program. Except for performance, and for operating system interfaces expressly provided for intercommunication among programs, the separate programs should not be affected by sharing the system with other programs, and should not be aware of the existence of the other programs. Because of the prevalence of programming error, caused by the complexity of some programming, middleware generally operates in problem state for most of its operating time in order to isolate each such program from the others, in order to minimize the effect of the occasional error, ease detection of the cause of such errors, and improve the recoverability of the system when such errors occur. Further, application programs must be authorized only to those system aspects that affect their own execution. This is particularly true in a world in which computer viruses are seen, and in which, though infrequent, other cases of programming malice are experienced.
Although the present invention may be used in other architectures, it will be discussed in the setting of the IBM.RTM. S/390.RTM. architecture as documented, for example, in the IBM publication Enterprise Systems Architecture/390 Principles of Operation, SA22-7201-02, 1994, and successor versions thereof, incorporated herein by reference.
One of the key mechanisms in an S/390 system is the program status word (PSW), which directs the processor in the execution of a program. It indicates the next instruction to be executed and contains controls constraining the operating state and authority of the program executing under that PSW. Another mechanism is virtual addressing, where the operating system supplies the real backing storage for the virtual storage accessed by problem state programs. Another control mechanism is the set of control words that determine new PSW content on events that must be handled asynchronously by the operating system. For example, when the processor wishes to present a signal that an input/output (I/O) operation has completed and the device or control unit wishes to make a report of the event, this area will indicate the instruction location of the first instruction of the routine that handles the event. The operating system must handle this external event since the I/O devices as a group are shared with different programs allowed access to different ones. The operating system must reflect the completion, in accordance with its own protocols, to programs requiring notification. The PSW content established on the occurrence of an event to be handled by a part of the operating system generally puts the system into the supervisor state, but the interrupted state is saved for later reestablishment when the interrupted program is later to be resumed. Most of the time, the interrupted program was one executing in problem state and restoring state will return the processor to that state. Because the PSW is used to constrain the capability of the program executing on a processor, loading the PSW is restricted to programs executing in supervisor state. One obvious reason is that, depending on the setting of its problem state bit, the PSW authorizes supervisor state or restricts the executing program to problem state with its access and operational restrictions. The restrictions imposed on a problem state program would be of little consequence if the program could simply upgrade its state to supervisor state by overwriting the problem state bit in the PSW.
There are sound technical reasons for allowing a complex program, running in a system with an operating system, to itself contain asynchronous processes associated with asynchronous events for which the program provides special event processing, but to execute in problem program authority state nonetheless, for system integrity reasons. One example occurs in UNIX.RTM. programs in which one program may send a message or signal to another program, with the signal arrival occurring asynchronously to the normal processing of the program which is to receive the signal. The kernel program interrupts the normal flow of the program to which it is to deliver the signal and transfers control to a different part of the program designed and coded to handle the asynchronous arrival of the signal. We can call this part of the program its signal catcher routine. The problem posed is that of an efficient return to the normal operating part of the program at its point of interruption after the signal handling part of the program has completed its processing of the signal event. When the operating system kernel handles a logical interruption to an executing program, it has saved the operating state of that program, allowing later resumption of the program, as if the interruption never occurred. In an S/390 system, this involves saving all general purpose resisters (GRs), access registers (ARs), the content of the PSW at the point of interruption, including both the instruction address of the point of interruption and the state variables controlling the execution of the program. The PSW also records the current setting of the condition code, which reflects the kind of result obtained in the last arithmetic or logical operation, or special circumstances arising in other types of instruction. The program mask, indicating how the processor should behave when certain program exceptions occur during the performance of certain instruction types is also part of the PSW, and actions by the program, which do not require any special authority, can change bits in this field. These are set by the program in concert with its own structure, and each program may have a different program mask and may change it from time to time without communication with the operating system, in order to change the handling of an exception condition. The PSW also specifies the addressing mode, i.e., whether the processor should produce 24-bit addresses or 31-bit addresses when forming effective addresses. This can be changed freely as part of certain branch instructions, so the mode may be either value at any time, and must be restored to that value after an interruption if the program is to operate correctly. The PSW also indicates whether a problem state program is in primary space mode or access register mode at any point in its execution, and this must be properly restored if the program is to execute correctly. Since a problem state instruction can be used to switch between the two addressing modes, the program may be in either mode at any time, unpredictably, and after an interruption, the correct value must be restored.
In the S/390 operational environment, the UNIX kernel itself operates as part of the operating system, and has saved the status of the interrupted program at the point of its interruption. The save area contains the PSW contents as well as the general registers (GRs) and access registers (ARs). Since this save area is provided to allow what is essentially an emulation of an interruption within a single problem state program, it will be preserved should the signal handling part of the program be itself interrupted after it has been entered to handle the signal received. The operating system will use another save area should an interruption occur while the signal handling routine is executing. The save area to be used in returning from the signal handling part of the program to its interrupted part is preserved in storage for that process, in an area accessible by the program itself with its normal storage access authority.
In an S/390 system, which uses the general registers for specifying the addresses of storage operands, it is impossible for a problem state program to transfer control directly to another program using a normal branch instruction and, at the same time, restore all the general registers to some saved earlier value. That is because the save area address is specified by the contents of a general register/access register (GR/AR) register pair, and these values were not the content of the registers at the earlier time of saving the register contents, in the most general case. Also, the branch address must be specified in another general register whose content would generally have been different at the time of saving the registers. Also, it is impossible to properly reflect the control fields of the PSW as they were at the time of the interruption without the use of a Load PSW instruction, which requires the issuing program to be in supervisor state. This is particularly true of the condition code field in the PSW.
The problem has been solved within the operating system since it must perform such actions routinely in dispatching programs. It does this by the use of a PSW in low storage which can be accessed without use of a GR, after disabling the system's interruption capability so that it can not be interrupted in the middle of restoring the execution state of an interrupted program. It would be possible for an operating system service to be defined that would perform the restoration of control back to the interrupted part of the program that the signal catcher is part of, but this would require transition from problem state to supervisor state, and establishment of the PSW to be restored in the low storage area of the computing system, and use of the Load PSW instruction, with the performance negatives of such an instruction path.
What is desired instead is a processor mechanism that provides a direct resumption of an earlier interrupted program without disabling the processor from hardware interruption handling, and without requiring the program to be in an authorized state to cause the resumption from the logical interruption, and without causing a transition to an authorized state to have it done by an authorized system service. It is estimated that such a mechanism would save hundreds, and perhaps even thousands, of executed instructions in doing the program control restoration to the program at the point at which it was logically interrupted for the signal delivery.

Method and apparatus for fully restoring a program context following an interrupt

International Business Machines Corporation


Embodiments discussed herein refer to systems and methods for identifying relevantly similar sentiment in text strings.

With the advancement of the computer and network technologies, various operations performed by users from different applications lead to extensive use of web services. This proliferation of the Internet and Internet based user activity continues to create a vast amount of digital content. For example, multiple users may provide feedback (e.g., responses to surveys, social media reviews, and opinions otherwise expressed during an interaction) about a business entity (e.g., a hotel or a restaurant) via different applications, such as mobile applications running on different platforms, as well as web-interfaces running on different browsers in different operating systems. Furthermore, users may also use different social media outlets to post their feedback about the business entity.
An application server for the business entity may store the feedback in a local storage device. Machine learning techniques can be used on the feedback to determine useful properties of the feedback, e.g. its sentiment. Sentiment analysis involves determining whether the text in feedback expresses positive, negative, neutral, or mixed sentiments. Such sentiment analysis typically uses a historic data set for training a sentiment analysis model. For example, a sentiment analysis model can be trained using a training data set that has been labeled by a user (e.g., the sentiments have been identified by the user). The trained model learns the associations between various language patterns and the corresponding sentiments in the training data set. The trained model is then used to analyze subsequent new data sets. When the trained model is used to analyze new data sets similar to the training data set, the model can achieve high accuracy.
Certain text strings can be embodied by very limited input, sometimes referred to as single judgment strings. Accurately assessing the sentiment of a single judgment input is difficult, prone to errors, and can lack general wide ranging applicability.

Systems and methods for identifying sentiment in text strings


A braking apparatus for a blind, used to reduce the speed of a shielding member of the blind when it is lifted and lowered, in which weights are stably supported and operated without an increase in the size of the braking apparatus. The braking apparatus has a casing, a rotor rotatably supported with in the casing, and weights adapted to rotate together with the rotor in such a way that they can be in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the casing. A cylindrical shaft portion and weight support portions radially projecting from the peripheral surface of the shaft portion at equal intervals in the circumferential direction are formed on the rotor. One end of each weight is swingably supported by the weight support portion extending over the axial-direction entire length of the weight.

As a braking apparatus for blind of such a type, there is known one disclosed in Jpn. UM Appln. Publication No. 1-45353 or Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 11-270257.
A braking apparatus of Jpn. UM Appln. Publication No. 1-45353 has a brake shoe drum, brake shoes frictionally engaged with the brake shoe drum by centrifugal force, and a planetary gear drive rotatably supporting the brake shoes. The planetary gear drive supports the brake shoes by a support integrally formed with a central gear thereof. Because of the function of the planetary gear drive, the support formed integrally with the central gear of the planetary gear drive rotates with an increased speed. The rotation of the support exerts centrifugal force on the brake shoes, allowing the brake shoes to be engaged with the brake drum, whereby braking power is obtained.
The support is constituted by a support piece and a pair of shafts extending from the support piece. The brake shoes are pivotally supported by the shafts, respectively.
In a fluid brake disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 11-270257, a partitioned chamber housing a liquid and an impeller and the impeller relatively rotates to cause the liquid to rotate, allowing the rotation of a winding element to which the impeller or partitioned chamber is connected to be delayed.
The impeller has a plurality of vanes. A rounded bead formed on the bottom of the vanes is slidingly inserted into a longitudinally-extending, rounded groove formed around an impeller hub.


There are provided an SPR sensor cell and sensor, both having very excellent detection sensitivity. The SPR sensor cell includes: an under-cladding layer; a core layer, at least a part of the core layer being adjacent to the under-cladding layer; and a metal layer covering the core layer. The core layer includes a uniform layer and a gradient layer arranged between the uniform layer and the under-cladding layer; a refractive index NCO of the uniform layer satisfies a relationship of 1.34≦NCO<1.44; a refractive index NCL of the under-cladding layer and the refractive index NCO of the uniform layer satisfy a relationship of NCO−NCL≧0.020; and a refractive index of the gradient layer gradually increases from an under-cladding layer side to a uniform layer side in a thickness direction of the gradient layer within a range of from more than the NCL to less than the NCO.

Hitherto, in the fields of chemical analysis, biochemical analysis, and the like, a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor including an optical fiber has been used. In the SPR sensor including an optical fiber, a metal thin film is formed on an outer circumferential surface of a tip end portion of the optical fiber, and an analysis sample is fixed to the optical fiber into which light is guided. Among the light to be guided, light having a particular wavelength generates surface plasmon resonance in the metal thin film, and light intensity thereof is attenuated. In such an SPR sensor, the wavelength of the light generating surface plasmon resonance generally varies depending on a refractive index of an analysis sample to be fixed to the optical fiber. Therefore, if a wavelength at which light intensity is attenuated after the generation of surface plasmon resonance is measured, the wavelength of the light generating surface plasmon resonance can be identified. Further, if a change in the wavelength at which light intensity is attenuated is detected, it can be confirmed that the wavelength of the light generating surface plasmon resonance has changed, and hence a change in refractive index of the analysis sample can be confirmed. As a result, such an SPR sensor can be used for various chemical analyses and biochemical analyses such as measurement of a sample concentration and detection of an immunoreaction.
For example, in a case where the sample is a solution, the refractive index of the sample (solution) depends on a concentration of the solution. Therefore, the concentration of the sample can be detected by measuring the refractive index of the sample (solution) with the SPR sensor in which the sample (solution) is in contact with the metal thin film, and further, it can be confirmed that the concentration of the sample (solution) has changed by confirming a change in the refractive index. In an analysis of an immunoreaction, for example, an antibody is fixed onto the metal thin film of the optical fiber in the SPR sensor through intermediation of a dielectric film, an analyte is brought into contact with the antibody, and surface plasmon resonance is generated. In this case, if the antibody and the analyte perform an immunoreaction, the refractive index of the sample changes. Therefore, it can be determined that the antibody and the analyte have performed an immunoreaction by confirming that the refractive index of the sample has changed before and after the contact between the antibody and the analyte.
In the SPR sensor including an optical fiber, the tip end portion of the optical fiber has a fine cylindrical shape, and hence there is a problem in that it is difficult to form the metal thin film and fix an analysis sample to the optical fiber. In order to solve the problem, for example, there has been proposed an SPR sensor cell including a core through which light is transmitted and a clad covering the core, in which a through-hole extending to a surface of the core is formed at a predetermined position of the clad, and a metal thin film is formed on the surface of the core at a position corresponding to the through-hole (see, for example, Patent Literature 1). In such an SPR sensor cell, it is easy to form the metal thin film for generating surface plasmon resonance on the surface of the core and fix the analysis sample onto the surface.
However, in recent years, there is an increasing demand for detection of a minute change and/or a trace amount of component, and thus further enhancement of the detection sensitivity of the SPR sensor cell is being demanded in chemical and biochemical analyses.


An attaching-detaching mechanism (23, 63) of a gripping device includes: a tubular support member (44, 84) provided to a movable member (3, 4) to protrude in the guide hole (24, 64); engagement members (46, 86) respectively inserted in support holes (45, 85) of the support member (44, 84) so as to be radially movable; an operation portion (49, 89) inserted in a guide hole (24, 64); wedge portions (50, 90) provided on an inner peripheral wall of the operation portion (49, 89); a connecting rod (53, 93) provided to protrude from a claw member (22, 62) and configured to be insertable into a tubular hole (51, 91) of the support member (44, 84); and a lock portion (56, 96) provided on an outer peripheral wall of the connecting rod (53, 93).

Known examples of such a gripping device with the attaching-detaching mechanism include a device described in Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2016-030320). The known art is structured as follows.
A main body of the gripping device is attached to a distal end portion of an articulated arm of a robot. Two movable members are moved, by a driving means provided in the main body, in a direction in which the movable members come close to each other and in a direction in which the movable members go away from each other. A claw member is detachably connected to each movable member by an attaching-detaching mechanism. The attaching-detaching mechanism is structured as follows. A connecting rod is provided to protrude downward from an under surface of the movable member. The connecting rod is configured to be insertable into an attachment hole provided at an upper portion of the claw member. A permanent magnet is attached to an upper end portion of the connecting rod. A to-be-attached portion, which is configured to be attracted by and attached to the permanent magnet, is provided on a peripheral wall of the attachment hole of the claw member. A radially extending support hole is provided at an outer peripheral wall of the connecting rod, and a compression spring and an engagement ball are attached into the support hole so as to be movable radially. The compression spring biases the engagement ball radially outward. The engagement ball is configured to be insertable into a recess provided at an inner peripheral wall of the attachment hole of the claw member. When the connecting rod is inserted into the attachment hole, the to-be-attached portion of the claw member is attracted by and attached to the permanent magnet of the connecting rod, and the engagement ball is engaged in the recess of the attachment hole. As a result, the connecting rod is connected to the claw member.


A multiple access communication system with communication links between one or more central nodes each with a transmitter 1 including an antenna with one or more antenna beams, and user terminals 2 located in antenna beam coverage area 3. User terminals 2 assigned to one beam coverage area 3 use multiple access channels that are mutually orthogonal for receiving digital message information. These multiple access channels are reused by other user terminals 2 in adjacent and other beam regions. Single-axis error correcting coding 4, interleaving 5, channel assignment changes 7, precoding 8, and selected 90° phase rotation 9 are used in the central node transmitter 1 to reduce potential interference at a user terminal 2 from signals using the same orthogonal multiple access channel destined for user terminals 2 in other beam coverage areas 3. The communication system can realize complete reuse of all orthogonal multiple access channels in other beam coverage areas, i.e., a reuse factor of unity.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to multiple access communication in digital radio systems, and more particularly to improvements in the multiple access communication from one or more centrally based nodes having multibeam antennas to fixed remote user terminals and/or mobile user terminals.
2. Background
Multiple access radio systems provide communication services for fixed remote user terminals and/or mobile user terminals. Examples of multiple access radio systems include land mobile radio networks, cellular mobile radio networks, and wideband radio networks between one or more central nodes and fixed subscribers. The central node in a multiple access radio system may use multibeam antennas for increasing system capacity and improving communications quality. The forward link or downlink in a multiple access radio system is a communications link between a central node and a fixed remote or mobile user terminal. The central node can be located at either a fixed location on the Earth in a terrestrial radio system or as part of an orbiting satellite in a satellite radio system.
Digital radio systems transmit and receive digital message information, e.g., computer or Internet data. Alternatively, digital radio systems accept analog message information, e.g., voice or video data, and convert this analog information to a digital format during transmission and reception. Accordingly, a central node transmits message information in a digital format using downlink beams defined by a multibeam antenna to a fixed remote or mobile user terminal where the receiver processes the digital message information to extract user message information. In some satellite radio systems, the central node processing is divided between a satellite repeater and a ground-based station processor.
User terminals within the same beam coverage area generally avoid mutual interference through the use of some form of multiple access scheme. Conventional multiple access radio services use Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), or some combination thereof. Generally, FDMA separates users into different frequency subbands; TDMA separates users into different time intervals or slots; and, CDMA separates users by assigning different signature waveforms or codes to each user. These CDMA codes can be either orthogonal, i.e., there is no interference between synchronized users, or quasi-orthogonal, i.e., there is some small interference between users. FDMA and TDMA are orthogonal multiple access (OMA) schemes because with ideal frequency filters and synchronization there is no mutual interference. Another example of an OMA system is CDMA with orthogonal codes. Quasi-Orthogonal Multiple Access (QOMA) systems include CDMA with quasi-orthogonal codes and FDMA/TDMA with randomized frequency hopping.
For an isolated beam, an OMA scheme generally provides a larger system capacity than a QOMA scheme. However, when other beams are taken into account, practical systems often use QOMA schemes for reducing interference between users to acceptable levels.
Interference between a user in one beam and users in other beams is normally reduced by crossbeam antenna attenuation. However, in OMA radio systems, such cross-beam attenuation usually does not reduce interference enough to allow the reuse of the same orthogonal waveform or channel in adjacent beams. Instead, channel management is typically required for determining when a multiple access channel can be reused in another beam. This leads to a reuse factor that is less than 1. The reuse factor for an orthogonal channel is defined as the number of user terminal assignments to that orthogonal channel in different beam coverage regions divided by the total number of beam coverage regions. Because the capacity of a multiple access system is proportional to the average value of the reuse factor with respect to all the multiple access channels, it is desirable to make the reuse factor for each multiple access channel as large as possible subject to interference constraints. Practical limitations on multibeam antennas typically cause the reuse factor in conventional cellular OMA systems to vary between ⅓ and 1/12.
In contrast, in a QOMA radio system, e.g., the uplink of a CDMA radio system in the IS-95 standard, the reuse factor can be unity because the crossbeam antenna attenuation can be sufficient to keep mutual interference between users in different beams to adequately small levels. However, one drawback is that a QOMA radio system generally has a theoretical capacity that is less than that of an OMA radio system.
Conventional multiple access digital radio systems provide means for coding/decoding message information for error correction, means for interleaving/deinterleaving the message information, and a transmission format for the message information that includes a reference signal. The reference signal is generated and transmitted at the central node and used by the user terminal receiver for obtaining channel parameters to aid in demodulating a user signal.
Further, the message information is conventionally coded for transmission on both quadrature axes of a radio frequency carrier, e.g., cos ωt and sin ωt. One example of quadrature coding is to alternate coded symbols between the two axes. Error correction coding techniques that use a complex signal constellation also exploit both quadrature axes. For a single-axis coder in which the coder only exploits one of the two quadrature axes, i.e., the coder output is real, the information rate is reduced by a factor of two relative to quadrature coding. On the other hand this dimension reduction provides a more robust signal form in the presence of interference.
In downlink transmissions from a central node to a particular user terminal, the central node transmitter may include a multibeam antenna and one of these beams includes the particular user terminal. Generally the user terminal has a single antenna for receiving the downlink transmission. Adaptive equalization of multiple antenna signals cannot be applied to a downlink system because these techniques must be applied at the receiver, i.e. the user terminal.
At a user terminal with a single antenna, interference cancellation techniques that process multiuser signals with different signatures can be employed. Examples of these multiuser processors are given in Linear Multiuser Detectors for Synchronous Code-Division Multiple Access Channels, R. Lupas and S. Verdu, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. IT-35, No. 1, pp. 123–136, January 1989; Decorrelating Decision-Feedback Multiuser Detector for Synchronous Code-Division Multiple Access Channels, A. Duel-Hallen, IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. COM-41, No. 2, pp. 285–290, February 1993; and, A Family of Multiuser Decision Feedback Detectors for Asynchronous Code-Division Multiple Access Channels, A. Duel-Hallen, IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol.COM-43, Nos. 2, 3, 4, February–April 1995.
Further, Transmitter Precoding in Synchronous Multiuser Communications, B. R. Vojcic and Won Mee Jang, IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 46, No. 10, October 1998, shows a precoding method employed at a single antenna transmitter to provide interference cancellation between quasi-orthogonal signals that have different signatures.
However, in an OMA technique the same channels or signatures are reused in adjacent beam coverage areas so as to increase the reuse factor. At a single antenna user terminal, there is no antenna discrimination; and, because the signatures are the same, there is no signature discrimination. Thus, the multiuser processor and transmitting precoding techniques referenced above are not applicable to a downlink OMA system with a single user terminal antenna.
Precoding at the transmitter in a downlink system is analogous to equalization at the receiver in an uplink system. Numerous algorithms for precoding, i.e., beamforming, have been proposed to reduce both co-channel, i.e., other user interference, and intersymbol interference in downlink transmissions. An example of such an algorithm is given in Transmit Beamforming and Power Control for Cellular Wireless Systems, F. Rashid-Farrokki, K. J. Ray Lui, and L. Tasseulas, IEEE Journal on Sel. Areas of communication, vol. 16, No. 8, pp. 1437–1450, October 1998. In this article a transmitter precoding method is described for cellular systems that reduces both other user and intersymbol interference. The objective according to the authors is to either reduce the frequency reuse distance or increase the channel capacity. However, the authors do not disclose that a reuse factor of unity, i.e., a frequency reuse distance of zero, can be achieved nor do they introduce and combine additional elements such as error-correction coding, interleaving, and periodic channel assignment changes.
Future multiple access radio systems will be unsymmetrical with typically greater downlink than uplink channel capacity requirements in order to satisfy Internet downloading demands. This future unsymmetrical capacity requirement places increased emphasis on finding techniques to increase downlink capacity.
The capacity of a downlink system is either limited by user interference in an OMA system, which keeps the reuse factor less than unity, or theoretically limited by the choice of QOMA. It would be desirable to have a multiple access scheme that can be used to obtain a unity reuse factor in downlink transmissions from one or more central nodes to a plurality of user terminals.

Multiple access technique for downlink multibeam digital radio systems


A wireless adapter (10) is removably connected to an electronic device (30) to provide wireless connectivity for the electronic device (30). One or more operating parameters of the wireless adapter (10) are measured whilst the wireless adapter (10) is in use. A measure of the temperature of the wireless adapter (10) is obtained based on the measured one or more operating parameters.

Wireless adapters (often also called "dongles") are self-contained devices which are used to provide wireless connectivity for devices, in particular for electronic devices that may not have the hardware necessary for wireless connections. The wireless adapter is typically plugged into a port of the electronic device, using for example a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection. A known problem with wireless adapters is that they can become very hot in use.

Method, device and computer program for obtaining a measure of the temperature of a wireless adapter

VESTEL ELEKTRONIK SANAYI VE TICARET A.S.


A system for opening a substrate carrier includes a substrate carrier having an openable portion. The substrate carrier also has an opening mechanism coupled to the openable portion. A substrate transfer location has a support adapted to support a substrate carrier. The substrate transfer location also has an actuator mechanism. The actuator mechanism is positioned relative to the support so as to interact with the opening mechanism of the substrate carrier. The actuator mechanism of the substrate transfer location and the opening mechanism of the substrate carrier are adapted to interface with each other at the substrate transfer location so as to employ movement of the substrate carrier to achieve opening and closing of the substrate carrier.

Semiconductor devices are made on substrates, such as silicon substrates, glass plates or the like, often termed wafers, for use in computers, monitors, etc. These devices are made by a sequence of fabrication steps, such as thin film deposition, oxidation, etching, polishing and thermal and lithographic processing. Although in many cases multiple fabrication steps may be performed in a single processing apparatus, substrates typically must be transported between different processing tools for at least some of the fabrication steps required for device fabrication.
Substrates generally are stored in carriers for transfer between processing tools and other locations. In many cases substrate carriers completely enclose the substrate or substrates contained therein in a stationary volume of air or gas, to reduce the risk of particulate contamination of the substrates. Accordingly, when the substrate carrier is interfaced to a processing tool, it is necessary to open and/or remove a door of the substrate carrier to permit the substrates to be extracted from the substrate carrier. While existing techniques and arrangements for removing doors from substrate carriers are generally satisfactory, it would be desirable to simplify such techniques and arrangements so as to reduce the cost and complexity thereof.

Methods and apparatus for using substrate carrier movement to actuate substrate carrier door opening/closing


The present application describes a method for transmitting data through a MIMO-OFDM system which requires the computation of a function f(H(sk)), where H is the channel matrix and sk=exp(j*2*pi*k/N). The method splits function f into a first, nonpolynomial part, which is in turn a function of one or more polynomial functions in sk.

The demand for ever-increasing data rates in communication systems dictates the use of large bandwidths. Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) (see refs. [1], [2]) has become a widely accepted technique to significantly reduce receiver complexity in broadband wireless systems. Multiple standards employing OFDM modulation for the physical layer have emerged by now, among them the 802.11a/g wireless local area network (WLAN) standard (see ref. [3]), the 802.16 broadband wireless access (BWA) standard (see ref. [4]), and the European digital audio broadcasting (DAB) and digital video broadcasting standards (DVB-T). OFDM is also widely used in wireline systems, such as covered by the various xDSL standards. In wireless applications, OFDM is often combined with bit loading and/or precoding at the transmitter, and usually referred to as discrete multi-tone (DMT) modulation.
For wireless systems, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems employ multiple antennas at both the transmitting and receiving side of the radio link to improve spectral efficiency. Other MIMO systems can, e.g., transmit data in parallel through a number of cables with crosstalk between the same. MIMO techniques in conjunction with OFDM modulation (MIMO-OFDM) are popular for modern broadband communication systems and can be used to transmit at high data rates (see ref. [5]). MIMO-OFDM is, among others, under consideration in the 802.11n high throughput working group, which aims to extend the data rates of 802.11a/g based WLANs beyond the current maximum of 54 Mbit/s. As a wireline example for MIMO-OFDM systems, high-rate xDSL links are often impaired by crosstalk between wires running in parallel and can thus also be modeled as MIMO-OFDM systems. MIMO-OFDM transceivers are computationally very complex. For the implementation of practicable systems, it is, therefore, crucial to devise efficient algorithms for MIMO-OFDM.
Systems of this type, as shown in FIG. 4, generally have a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter comprises MT transmitter units TU0 . . . TUMT−1 and the receiver comprises MR receiver units RU0 . . . RUMR−1.
A sequence of original data symbols is fed to the transmitter, each original data symbol comprising N>1 vectors ck with k=0 . . . N−1, wherein each vector ck has MT complex-valued coordinates (c0)k . . . (cMT−1)k to be fed to the transmitter units TU0 . . . TUdi T−1.
The original data symbols are OFDM-modulated in the transmitter units, the result of which is transmitted over a dispersive channel to the receiver units, which demodulate the channel output into received symbols. Each received symbol comprises N vectors rk with k=0 . . . N−1, wherein each vector rk has MR complex-valued coordinates (r0)k . . . (rMR−1)k. For a linear channel (or an approximately linear channel) we have,rk=√{square root over (Ex)}·H(sk)ck+wk,  (i)with
√{square root over (Es)} being a constant, namely the square root of an energy scaling factor Es,
sk=exp(−j2πk/N), j being the imaginary unit,
                                          H                                      (                              s                k                            )                                =                                    ∑                              l                =                0                                            L                -                1                                                                                H                l                                                          s                k                l                                                    ,                            (        ii        )
L an integer smaller than N,
Hl being an MR×MT matrix having coefficients (Hij)l describing the value at discrete-time delay l of the discrete-time impulse response of the channel between transmitter unit TUj and receiver unit RUi, and
wk being the noise vector of the system, which is assumed to be a complex valued circularly symmetric white Gaussian zero-mean noise.

Method for calculating functions of the channel matrices in linear MIMO-OFDM data transmission