A vehicle communications system having a remote control unit installed in the interior of a vehicle and a display unit located on the exterior of the vehicle. The display unit has an input from the remote control unit and an input from a vehicle interface module that has inputs from the vehicle such as the braking system and the turning signal system. The remote control unit is controllable by the driver in the vehicle and has a table of preset and preprogrammed messages selectable by the driver. The driver selects a message to be displayed and sends the message to the display unit. Any input to the vehicle interface module from the vehicle signaling systems overrides the signal input from the remote control unit unless the display unit is mounted on the front of the vehicle. The driver can select a message from a table of messages that are sequentially displayed on the remote control unit. The table of messages is stored on a flash memory in the remote unit and in a flash memory in the display unit. The table of messages in the remote unit is programmable via a USB programming port. The table of messages in the display unit can be programmed via an RF signal sent to the display unit by the remote unit.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a communication system installed in and on a vehicle to communicate to pedestrians or drivers of other vehicles. More specifically this invention relates to a communication system installed in and on a vehicle to communicate information concerning the operation of the vehicle or to communicate information concerning conditions the drivers of other vehicles will encounter. The invention also relates to a communication system installed in and on a vehicle to communicate various other types of information to other drivers and pedestrians such as commercial messages, safety messages and good cheer messages.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In many countries there is an increasing number of automobiles and other types of motor vehicles, such as trucks, vans and delivery vehicles that are crowded onto increasingly crowded roadways. There are basically two types of situations encountered by modern vehicles, first there is the high speed travel encountered on toll roads, freeways or interstate highways and second, there is the congested, crowded travel encountered mainly in cities and suburban areas. In either situation, it is becoming more and more important to increase the safety of travel to improve the quality of travel for all travelers.
Because of the high-speed travel encountered in the first situation and the congested and crowded travel encountered in the second situation it is important that as much information as possible concerning operation of a vehicle be communicated to other vehicles. In addition, it is important that as much information as possible be communicated to following vehicles concerning conditions the following vehicles will encounter. This information must be communicated quickly and easily and be clear and concise.
There is a need to enhance public safety by communicating safety messages or warning messages to others quickly and effectively. For example, police cars may need to communicate messages such as "STAY IN YOUR CAR", or "PULL OVER". An ambulance may need to communicate messages to others concerning safety and dangerous situations.
There is a need to enhance commercial messages in an unobtrusive method, including being able to send an advertising message including a logo.
The standard vehicle communication devices are well known in the art and include signals that indicate what the vehicle driver is doing or is going to do, such as braking signals, turning signals, and car-in-reverse signals. There are other signals such as hazard signals that indicate that there is an unsafe condition that is being encountered. Some of these signals occur without a separate action of the driver, such as the brake signals come on whenever the driver steps on the brake pedal and the car-in-reverse signals come on whenever the driver places the car in reverse. Others signals require a separate action of the driver, such as moving the turn signal lever or by pressing a hazard signal lever or button.
Various systems for automobile-to-automobile communication have been proposed. Generally, these involve the signaling of preselected messages from one vehicle to another in response to the manual operation of a switch to select the message to be communicated. These systems typically do not interface with the standard vehicle signaling devices. Other simple communicating devices include fixed signals with appropriate messages that are displayed somewhere on the vehicle. Some of the proposed methods include messages that are pre-programmable to be displayed at the rear of the vehicle. However, one of the problems in existing systems is that when these fixed signals are displayed there is a potential for confusing signals to be sent. There can be conflicting signals sent by the communications system to the drivers of other vehicles when the automatic signals are displayed, such as break lights or turn signals. For example, the driver of a vehicle may be displaying a fixed sign such as "SAFE TO PASS ON RIGHT", when an emergency braking situation occurs. The driver presses the break pedal and does not have time to remove the displayed fixed sign. This situation clearly has the potential to confuse a following driver and may cause an accident.
The existing systems, as well as proposed systems, do not have the capability to be reprogrammed by the user of the vehicle.
Therefore, what is needed is a communication system that increases the amount of information that is communicated to other drivers, avoid confusing signals being communicated to the other drivers and be rapidly and easily reprogrammed with new messages selectable by the user.


A nano-resonator including a beam having a composite structure may include a silicon carbide beam and/or a metal conductor. The metal conductor may be vapor-deposited on the silicon carbide beam. The metal conductor may have a density lower than a density of the silicon carbide beam.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to a nano electromechanical system, and for example, to a nano-resonator including a beam with a composite structure.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional micro electromechanical system (MEMS) includes a sensor for detecting various physical or chemical properties. As a dimension of a mechanical transducer is reduced, a new generation system having improved sensitivity, spatial resolution, energy efficiency, and reaction time, which is referred to as a nano electromechanical system (NEMS), has been developed.
For an apparatus in the communications field, a higher favorability, i.e., a higher Q (quality factor) value, is desired, so that a mechanical device may be used in an electronic device, e.g., in a SAW or a Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator FBAR. In the electronic device, frequency tuning may not operate structurally, and a next generation mechanism having a nano-mechanical resonator is needed.
In the case of a mechanical vibration, a resonant frequency fo may be expressed as
            f      o        =                  1                  2                    π                                                        k            r                                m            r                                ,where kr is a spring constant and mr is mass. The spring constant kr is inversely proportional to a length of a beam and increases in proportion to width and thickness of the beam. The mass mr is a product of a volume and a density (mass/volume) of the beam and is proportional to a magnitude of the entire beam.
In relatively colder temperatures, a trial performance of a conventional nano-resonator of a nano size at a level of giga-hertz (GHz) was performed. However, a conventional nano-resonator has technical problems at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, and in a normal magnetic field, i.e., in non-superconductivity.
In order to solve the technical problems of a conventional nano-resonator and to realize a practical application of the conventional nano-resonator at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, and in a non-superconductive magnetic field, a nano-beam of double or multiple structure has been suggested. If the nano-resonator is used as a communication apparatus (for example, as a filter and oscillator) in a higher frequency region (i.e., gigahertz (GHz) or more), Young's Modulus and stiffness of larger values are required. GaAs, Si and SiC are NEMS materials having values which meet the requirements of Young's Modulus and stiffness of larger values. For example, SiC has a larger value and a stability of SiC is recognized. However, vapor deposition of SiC is more difficult, and a limitation value for SiC is up to 30 nm. Due to the electrical conductivity of SiC, signal detection may be made only in a chamber of liquid He having a relatively lower temperature and a relatively lower pressure. The signal detection may be made only under superconductive magnetic force lines (e.g., up to 8 T).
Accordingly, a conventional nano-resonator has a lower electrical conductivity and requires a chamber having relatively lower temperature, relatively lower pressure, and superconductive magnetic force lines. Therefore, the conventional nano-resonator may not be used at room temperature and atmospheric pressure or in a non-superconductive magnetic field. The conventional nano-resonator is more difficult to operate in the higher-frequency region of giga-hertz (GHz) or more.

Nano-resonator including beam with composite structure


The present disclosure relates to the technical field of electric scissors, and in particular relates to a bidirectional driving mechanism for electric scissors blades and electric scissors. The bidirectional driving mechanism for electric scissors blade includes a fixed seat, a driving gear, a rotating shaft member, an upper blade group and a lower blade. The driving gear and the rotating shaft member are arranged on fixed seat, the lower blade and the upper blade group rotate around the rotating shaft member, an outer rack is arranged at a rear part of the lower blade, a front part of the upper blade group is an upper blade, a rear part of the upper blade group is a meshing block, and an inner rack is arranged at a rear part of the meshing block; and the inner rack and the outer rack are respectively meshed with both sides of the driving gear.

Electric scissors are branch and trunk pruning tools used for orchards, gardens, vines, 0 and the like. According to a traditional bidirectional drive mechanism for electric scissors blades, a driving gear is used to drive two bevel gears, and is then meshed with a swing arms with two racks through the bevel gears to drive two blades of the scissors to shear. However, the electric scissors of this structure have a large number of parts structurally, which makes it difficult to assemble, and this complex structure used is difficult to disassemble and to replace a certain part. In case of being damaged, the electric scissors need to be replaced entirely. In order to solve this problem, the applicant proposed a Chinese patent with number: CN202020466816.4 (published as CN212487415), entitled as "a novel electric scissors blade dual driving mechanism," which uses a gear connected to the motor to directly drive two blades with racks, such that the two blades of the scissors are directly driven to shear. The bevel gear is removed and the number of parts is reduced. However, 0 the design of this structure has the following problems:
First, for a thickness of the electric scissors, it is necessary to consider a diameter of the gear and thicknesses of the two blades. In order to ensure the meshing of the driving gear with the rack, a rear part of the blade must have a large thickness, but such a large thickness will hinder the blade when shearing some intricate vines and branches, causing inaccurate shearing.
Second, when the rear parts of the two blades swing to a maximum extent, the meshing degree between the driving gear and teeth will be affected to a certain extent, which will cause the blades to open outwards when cutting some thicker vines and branches, causing damage to the electric scissors and reducing service life thereof.
In view of this, it is necessary to further propose an improved solution to solve the problems above-mentioned.

Bidirectional driving mechanism for electric scissors blades and electric scissors blades


A method for making a semiconductor device having a first active region and a second active region includes providing first and second isolation structures defining the first active region on a substrate. The first active region uses a first operational voltage, and the second active region uses a second operational voltage that is different from the first voltage. A nitride layer overlying the first and second active regions is formed. An oxide layer overlying the nitride layer is formed. A first portion of the oxide layer overlying the first active region is removed to expose a first portion of the nitride layer. The exposed first portion of the nitride layer is removed using a wet etch method while leaving a second portion of the nitride layer that is overlying the second active region intact. Thereafter, a first gate oxide having a first thickness is formed on the first active region, the first gate oxide having a first edge facing the first isolation structure and a second edge facing the second isolation structure. The first edge is separated from the first isolation structure by a first distance. The second edge is separated from the second isolation structure by a second distance. Thereafter, a second gate oxide having a second thickness is formed on the second active region, the second thickness being different than the first thickness.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, more particularly a device having dual gate oxides and/or a guard ring separating two active regions.
With the advances in semiconductor technology, a semiconductor device is provided increasingly with multiple functions. Such a multi-functional device is provided with different circuitries that may operate in different voltage regimes within the same chip.
In addition, as the technology advances and the devices are scaled down, the operational voltage decreases as well, particularly for high density devices. However, these high density devices, operating a low voltage, generally need to interface with other devices that may use higher Vcc. Accordingly, the high density devices are provided with an I/O circuitry to interface with the external devices having higher Vcc. For example, a high density device is provided with first circuitry configured to operate at a high voltage, e.g., about 5 volts, and second circuitry configured to operate at a low voltage, e.g., about 3.3 volts.
For optimal operation, the devices having two different voltage regimes are provided generally with dual gate oxides: a thick gate oxide configured for the high voltage and a thin gate oxide configured for the low voltage. Therefore, employing these type of combined VLSI circuits requires a technique for fabricating gate oxide layers having a significant thickness difference for diverse uses within the same silicon substrate.

Semiconductor device with dual gate oxides


A method and system for an engine starter/generator is provided. The starter/generator system includes a three phase squirrel cage induction machine, a three phase inverter/converter electrically coupled to the three phase squirrel cage induction machine. The starter/generator system also includes a bidirectional DC-DC converter electrically coupled to the three phase inverter/converter, and a digital control board configured to sensorlessly determine a rotor angle from a plurality of phase currents to the induction machine during a start mode. During the start mode, logic in the digital control board configures the starter/generator system into a combination of an induction motor, a three phase DC-AC inverter, and a DC-DC boost converter, and during a generate mode, the logic in the digital control board configures the starter/generator system into a combination of an induction generator, a three phase AC-DC converter, and a DC-DC buck converter.

The field of the invention relates generally to a combination aircraft engine starter and aircraft electrical power generator, and more specifically, to an induction machine based sensorless aircraft engine starter/electrical power generator.
Typically, aircraft include a machine for use in starting an aircraft engine as well as for use in generating electrical power once the aircraft engine is operating. The electric machine is configured to receive externally supplied electrical power to drive the machine, which in turn, starts the aircraft engine. For example, the electric machine is used to begin the gas turbine cycle, and once the cycle is started, the aircraft engine is operating. Once the aircraft engine is operating, the aircraft engine is configured to power the electric machine, which facilitates electrical power generation.
Known aircraft engine starters include a direct current (DC) machine that includes brushes. An advantage of the brushed DC machine is a capability of providing both high torque for engine starting and high power for power generation at speeds two to three times the engine idle speed. However, disadvantages of the brushed DC machine are high maintenance and low life-span for some applications. Maintenance involves regularly replacing the brushes and springs which carry the electric current, as well as cleaning or replacing the commutator.
At least some known brushless methods to overcome the shortfalls mentioned above have been tried. One method is a permanent magnet brushless machine method, but the performance is rather disappointing due to an inability to accomplish both high torque at starting and high power generation over a three to one speed range with the competitive weight and size compared with those of a brushed machine. A second known method is a switched reluctance machine based approach. The performance of the switched reluctance machine is also unsatisfactory due to the same reason as the permanent magnet brushless machine approach. The third method is an induction machine based approach, which because of the method of implementation, the method did not achieve satisfactory performance due to issues that were are not addressed appropriately, thus previous induction machine based approaches suffer the same problem as the permanent magnet brushless machine and the switched reluctance machine. A fourth method is a synchronous wound field machine approach, which has had considerable success in achieving the two critical criteria of high starting torque capability and high power generation capability with a single machine. However the cost of the machine prohibits the method to be readily applied in many cost competitive aerospace applications, particularly for engines on business jets. Moreover, the synchronous wound field machine includes a rotating electronic assembly, the rotating rectifier in the shaft and has to have another machine, the exciter, which increases parts requirements and complexity that significantly reduces the reliability of the system. In addition, these methods also introduce a mechanical position sensor, which further reduces the reliability and further increases the cost of the engine.

Method and systems for an engine starter/generator


In a multi-station transmission method and receiver using training signals, a forward signal is transformed in a signal transformation part to two pseudo-orthogonal transmission signal sequences, which are framed in base stations of two adjacent zones and augmented with orthogonal training signals, thereafter being transmitted over the same channels. A signal received by a receiver of a mobile station is separated, by a signal separation part using the training signals corresponding to the respective base stations, into signal sequences received from the respective base stations. The received signal sequences are subjected to an inverse transformation by inverse transformation circuits to obtain two transmitted signal sequences, and one of these signal sequences which has a larger metric is selectively outputted.

The present invention relates to a multi-station transmission method which is used in a mobile communication system and a broadcasting system to transmit the same signal from a plurality of stations with a view to holding the continuity of a signal in the vicinity of the one boundary, and the invention also pertains to a receiver therefor.
In radio communication, especially in mobile communication, it is necessary to implement many channels in a limited frequency is an important technique For example, a cellular system has been employed in mobile communication, in the cellular system, the service area is divided into plurality of cells, i.e., zones, and different frequencies are assigned to the cells to prevent interference between them, but in a bid to promote the spatial reuse of frequency, it is customary to assign the same frequency to cells that are far enough apart not to interfere with each other. Such a cellular system requires a handoff capability which enables the mobile station to keep up conversation when it moves from one cell to another, that is, from one zone to another.
FIG. 1 shows the principles of a conventional zone switching scheme. Let it be assured that zones Z1 and Z2 covered by base stations BS1 and BS2 are adjacent and that a mobile station M is now moving across the boundary of the zones Z1 and Z2 in a direction from the base station BS1 toward the base station BS2. Forward signals to be sent from the base stations BS1 and BS2 to the mobile station M are transmitted from a switching center 13 to the two base stations BS1 and BS2 which are switched from the one to the other. A forward radio channel to the mobile station M is set first by a first channel CH1 via the base station BS1. When the field intensity of the first channel CH1 decreases with the movement of the mobile station M, a second channel CH2 is set as the forward radio channel via the base station BS2, while at the same time the first channel CH1 is cut off. Since an access channel is usually set up by a FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access) or TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) scheme, the same channel cannot be used in adjacent zones. Hence, the two channels CH1 and CH2 use different carrier frequencies. On this account, the channels cannot continuously be switched from one to the other, inevitably resulting in a momentary interruption during switching. In voice communication this interruption can be made sufficiently short as not to seriously affect the speech quality, but in multimedia transmission such as visual or data communication the momentary interruption causes significant quality deterioration because of high-speed transmission of digital signals in many cases.
On the other hand, in zone switching by a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) scheme, a spreading code is used for channel setting and the same carrier frequency is used in common to adjacent zones. Then when a multi-station transmission is carried out using different spreading codes for the adjacent zones, signals from two base stations can easily be received and interruption-free reception is possible. However, this method is inherent to the CDMA scheme and cannot be applied to the FDMA and TDMA schemes. Furthermore, to identify the respective channel defined by the spreading code, it is necessary to use a different spreading code for each channel. There is another method which, instead of changing the spreading code, shifts its timing to avoid overlapping of pulses detected by the two inverse transformation circuits for despreading of the two base station is, but highly accurate transmission timing must be provided between the base stations.
On the other hand, a forward control signal in the mobile communication system needs to call up mobile stations over a wide area. To cover a wide area with a low transmission output, a multi-station transmission system is needed which divides the area into a plurality of zones and transmits the same signal to the respective zones.
In the multi-station transmission system, even if the same signals are transmitted from the respective zones, they do not completely match in terms of transmission carrier frequency and transmission data timing, posing a problem that the signals from the plurality of zones interfere with each other fit the boundary between them. To solve this problem, frequency offset type transmitter diversity or the like has been employed. This method is one that offsets the transmitter carrier frequency of each zone in the range of from xc2xd to xc2xc of the modulation band and receives the frequency offset signals by a differential detector at the receiving side, thus enabling a diversity, reception. However, this method has a disadvantage in that if the data timing is not the same, interference will occur and the frequency offsetting enlarges the receiving band width correspondingly, making it hard to implement a narrow-band communication
An object of the present invention is to provide a multistation transmission method and a receiver therefor which, regardless of the access scheme used, allow zone switching free from signal discontinuity and enable simultaneous reception of identical signals from a 1 plurality of base stations without widening the receiving band, thereby implementing highly reliable reception based on the diversity effect.
In a mobile communication system in which the service area is broken up into a plurality of zones each having a base station and a mobile station performs communication via the base station of its visited zone, the multi-station transmission method according to the present invention, transmits the same signal from the base station of the visited zone and the base station of at least one adjacent zone when the mobile station moves across the boundary between its visited zone and the adjacent zone, the method comprising the following steps
(a) the same forward signal sequence destined to the mobile station is transmitted to N base stations including the base station of the mobile station""s visited zone and the base station of at least one adjacent zone, N being an integer equal to or greater than 2;
(b) each of the N base stations each converts the forward signal sequence to a transmission signal sequence and adds predetermined pseudo-orthogonal training signals to the transmission signal sequence for each frame to generate a framed signal sequence;
(c) the N base stations each send the framed signal sequence by a transmission radio wave of the same channel; and
(d) said mobile station receives the transmitted radio wave from each base station, then separates It into N transmitted signal sequences from the N base stations through utilization of the previously known N training signals and obtains a desired received signal sequence from the transmitted signal sequences.
The receiver according to the present invention, is provided with: separating means which separates received waves of the same channel by their training signals into a plurality of signal sequences corresponding to the training signals, respectively; inverse transformation means which subject these separated signal sequences to transformation inverse from that effected thereon at the transmitting sides to restore the original signal sequences; and means which outputs that one of the restored signal sequences which is high in reliability at the time of separation.

Multi-station transmission method and receiver for inverse transforming two pseudo-orthogonal transmission sequences used for metric calculation and base station selection based thereon


A structure having a proximal open end for inserting a treatment instrument into a channel of the insertion portion that opens to a display panel side, and is provided on the frame of the display portion, wherein the treatment instrument inserted from the proximal open end (forceps-port) that extends out from the open end of the distal portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus mainly used in the industrial field, which is inserted into a space, such as the inner space of a pipe, to inspect it.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an industrial endoscope has a slender insertion section, which is inserted into a to-be-inspected space, such as the inside of a pipe. In most cases, the proximal end of the insertion section is coupled to a hand-side operation section. A head portion is provided at the distal end of the insertion section. The head portion incorporates an observation optical system for observation, illumination optical system, etc. A bendable portion is provided behind the head portion. The directable section can be bent in vertical and horizontal directions. The tips of a plurality, e.g. 4, of bending wires are secured to the bendable portion. The proximal end of each bending wire is extended rearward (toward the hand-side). The end of the extended portion of each wire is coupled to a bending mechanism provided at the hand-side operation section.
Further, an operation knob is provided at the hand-side operation section. The operation knob is used to drive the bending mechanism and bend the bendable portion. When the operation knob is rotated, the bending mechanism is driven. When the bending mechanism is driven, the bending wires are pulled, thereby bending the bendable portion in the direction corresponding to the operation direction of the operation knob.
Also, an inner channel (treatment instrument insertion channel), through which a treatment instrument, such as forceps, is inserted, is formed in the endoscope. The front-side opening of the inner channel is situated in the head portion of the insertion section. Furthermore, the forceps port (proximal end opening) of the inner channel is situated in the operation section.
In accordance with recent bending mechanisms, which are motorized, bending may be performed using the manual operation knob, or switched to motorized bending means. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,373,317 discloses a bending-operation input means equipped with a joystick for generating a signal corresponding to an inclination angle.

Endoscope apparatus having an insertion channel


This disclosure relates generally to corrugated pipe, and more particularly to corrugated pipe with an outer wrap. In one embodiment, a pipe includes an axially extended bore defined by a corrugated outer wall having axially adjacent, outwardly-extending corrugation crests, separated by corrugation valleys. The pipe also includes an outer wrap applied to the outer wall. The outer wrap may include fibers and plastic. The outer wrap may span the corrugation crests producing a smooth outer surface.

Corrugated pipe is commonly used for drainage of soil and transportation of surface water. The corrugations typically create a pipe profile with steep sides and deep valleys. Given that these pipes are typically constructed using plastic, the corrugations may provide necessary structural integrity for the pipe by providing needed radial stiffness.
However, the valleys of the corrugated pipe may also require inconvenient construction accommodations. For example, corrugated pipe may require additional work to backfill. Filling material may not readily conform to the corrugated exterior, requiring additional work to fill the valleys of the exterior wall. Triple wall corrugated pipe may include an outer layer of plastic, which may produce a less capricious outer surface. However, triple wall pipe suffers from increased cost, weight, and thickness. For example, the outer layer of a triple wall pipe may require additional material, adding significant production material costs and resulting in a heavier pipe.
It is thus apparent that the need exists for a corrugated pipe having an outer wall or layer that may be lighter in weight, stronger, cheaper to produce, more efficient to construct, and exhibit a narrower width and a lower profile.


Image quality optimization during remote isolated sessions. In one embodiment, a method may include a remote isolation server receiving, at a remote isolation server, a request from a local browser on a local network device to obtain webpage data from a webserver, requesting, from the webserver, the webpage data, receiving, from the webserver, the requested webpage data, rendering a first image of the requested webpage data, storing a first copy of the first image of the requested webpage data in memory associated with the remote isolation server, compressing a first portion of the first image using a first compression method, sending, from the remote isolation server, the compressed first portion of the first image to the local browser, compressing a second portion of the first image using a second compression method, and sending the compressed second portion of the first image to the local browser.

A webpage is a document written in a standard markup language that is typically downloaded to a local network device over the World Wide Web of the Internet from a webserver. Once downloaded, the webpage is then rendered to a user of the local network device in an application known as a web browser (or simply a "browser"). When a webpage that was downloaded from a webserver is rendered in a browser, the webpage may have sub-resources that are downloaded from other third-party webservers (such as ad network webservers, Content Distribution Network webservers, third party analytics webservers, etc.). Further, webpages may include dynamic content, such as animations, videos, and links that are displayed in the webpage. Browsers may be configured to employ many different technologies and programming languages and may also be configured to execute executable content (that is downloaded as part of a webpage or from third-party webservers) during the rendering of the webpage. Allowing a browser to execute executable content may add dynamic functionality to the webpage, thus making the webpage more useful to a user.
In the infancy of the Internet and World Wide Web most webpages were simple and included text and perhaps some images. In more recent years, webpage content has come to include more complex elements. A standard webpage may not only include HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), but also may include different Fonts, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), scripts or other executable content, different plugins such as Flash, and video and/or audio content.
As webpages have become more complex (and more common in daily use), webpages have also become increasingly used by malicious actors to infect (e.g., in the form of malware, ransom-ware, viruses, phishing attacks using malicious links or attachments sent via email, drive by downloads, zero day browser exploits, etc.) computers that are used by users. The malicious code can be embedded in scripts (e.g., JavaScript, VBScript) of a webpage, plugins (e.g., Java, Flash) that are used by a webpage, or even within the images or video content that is part of a webpage (e.g., by taking advantage of how such content is handled by the local browser).
Malware, therefore, may be included with the downloaded content, resulting in potential infection of the user's computing system. For example, a purveyor of a computer virus may embed the virus as malicious content in a downloadable image of a webpage in an attempt to compromise a local network device with the virus.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one example technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.


An image pickup device comprises a motion detecting circuit for detecting the motion of the image from an image signal obtained from an image pickup element, a motion sensor for physically detecting the motion of the device, a memory for storing the image signal, a motion correcting circuit for correcting the motion by shifting the image readout position from the memory according to the motion detected by the motion detecting circuit, and a control circuit for controlling the function of the motion correcting circuit according to the output of the motion sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup device with image blur correcting function, adapted for use in a video camera or the like.
2. Related Background Art
Image taking equipment such as video cameras or electronic camera in recent years have shown remarkable progress in compactization and in the multitude of functions.
On the other hand, the hand vibration has been a drawback inherent to such equipment. Particularly in a compact video camera, the vibration of the supporting hand or other support may cause a blur in the object image, resulting in an unpleasant image or a deterioration in the resolving power. This phenomenon is particularly conspicuous in the video camera provided with a lens of a high magnification, and the blur becomes larger and more noticeable at the telephoto side.
For this reason there have been proposed and commercialized various video cameras with a function for correcting the image blur resulting from the vibration of hand or of other causes (such function being hereinafter called blur correcting function). An example of such video cameras is a video camera 400 shown in FIG. 1, with electronic blur correcting function.
In such video camera 400, an image signal obtained from a solid-state image pickup element 410 under the control of a solid-state image pickup element drive control circuit 415 is supplied to an analog signal processing circuit 411, and, after predetermined signal processing therein, is digitized by an analog/digital (A/D) converting circuit 412 to obtain digital image data, which are stored in a field memory circuit 413 and are supplied to an image motion detecting circuit 416.
In case the video camera 400 is set, by an unrepresented switch, at a mode in which the blur correcting function is activated (hereinafter called blur correcting mode), the image motion detecting circuit 416 executes an image motion detecting process on the image data from the A/D converting circuit 412, and sends the result of detection to a field memory control circuit 417.
In response to the result of detection from the image motion detecting circuit 416, the field memory control circuit 417 controls the reading operation for the image data stored in the field memory circuit 413.
More specifically, the field memory control circuit 417 controls the read-out addresses of the field memory circuit 413 in such a manner that the image data of an area, smaller by a predetermined number of pixels, are read from the field memory circuit 413 to a digital signal processing circuit 414.
The read-out address of the field memory circuit 413 can be moved within an area of the difference between the image data stored in the field memory circuit 413 and those read therefrom.
Thus the field memory control circuit 417 can execute the correction of the image blur by moving the read-out address according to the result of detection from the image motion detection circuit 416, within such movable range of the read-out address.
The image data, read from the field memory circuit 413 under the control of the field memory control circuit 417, are supplied to the digital signal processing circuit 414, and are subjected therein to interpolation to the standard number of pixels matching the predetermined television system. Thus interpolated image data are supplied to and displayed on an unrepresented monitor.
On the other hand, there is known a video camera capable of correcting the image blur, utilizing an angular velocity sensor for detecting the vibration of the hand or of other causes and a variable angle prism (VAP) for correcting the image blur. In such a video camera, the object image is focused on the light-receiving face of a solid-state image pickup device through the VAP, and, in the blur correcting mode, a signal representing the vibration, obtained by a external sensor such as an angular velocity sensor, is subjected to a filtering process consisting of amplification after the elimination of the DC component thereof and cutting-off of the low-frequency components. Such filtering process provides the target value of the vertex angle of the VAP, according to which the angle of the VAP is varied to achieve optical correction of the image blur. However, if such video camera is stably placed for example on a tripod in the blur correcting mode, the blur of the object image resulting for example from the noises released from the angular velocity sensor may become significant. Therefore, in the video camera of the above-mentioned kind, it has been proposed, in case the video camera is identified to be in a stable state, to eliminate such noises in the output signal of the angular velocity sensor by limiting the frequency band of such output signal with a high-pass filter (HPF) of which cut-off frequency is shifted to a higher frequency. Such method prevents the blur in the object image, resulting from the noises released from the angular velocity sensor.
In the image pickup device such as the video camera 400, however, in case the device is in the blur correcting mode and is free from the vibration caused for example by hand, if the object itself to be captured by the solid-state image pickup element 410 vibrates, such vibration is detected by the image motion detecting circuit 416 and the blur correction is conducted by the result of such detection. In such case, there is encountered a defective situation where the background or the entire image area, which should appear standstill, is displayed in the vibrating state.
Also in the image pickup device such as the video camera with optical image blur correcting function utilizing the angular velocity sensor and the variable angle prism, in case such device is placed in a stable state and is free from the vibration caused for example by hand, the blur in the object image, resulting for example from the noises in the output signal of the angular velocity sensor, is prevented by limiting the frequency band of the output signal of the angular velocity sensor through a shift of the cut-off frequency of the high-pass filter to a higher frequency, but, if the video camera is equipped with the lens of an ultra high magnification, the complete prevention of the image blur cannot be achieved unless the cut-off frequency of the high-pass filter is shifted to a considerably higher frequency.
It is therefore conceivable, in such video camera, to shift the cut-off frequency of the high-pass filter to a considerably higher frequency if the device is in a stable state.
However, if a vibration is suddenly given after such frequency shift, it becomes necessary to execute the blur correction by returning the cut-off frequency of the high-pass filter to the ordinary state, but the returning of the cut-off frequency of the high-pass filter from such considerably higher shifted frequency to the ordinary cut-off frequency requires a certain time. For this reason, there is required an additional time before the effect of blur correction can be reached.
The present invention is proposed to resolve the drawbacks mentioned above, and a first object thereof is to provide an image pickup device capable of providing a satisfactory image, by executing exact blur correction of the image without erroneous operation according to the vibration state of the device.
A second object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup device capable of reducing the time required to obtain the effect of blur correction from the stable state.
The above-mentioned objects can be attained, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, by an image pickup device comprising image pickup means for taking the image of an object and thereby generating an image signal, memory means for storing the image signal obtained by the image pickup means, motion detecting means for detecting the motion of the image based on the image signal obtained by the image pickup means, readout control means for reading the image signal from the memory means by controlling the readout address according to the result of detection by the motion detecting means, and vibration detecting means for detecting the vibration of the image pickup means and controlling the function of the readout control means according to the result of such detection.
Also according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an image pickup device comprising image pickup means for taking the image of an object and thereby generating an image signal, vibration detecting means for detecting the vibration of the image pickup means, filter means with variable filter characteristics for passing the detection signal generated by the vibration detecting means, output control means for controlling the output of the filter means, control means for controlling the filter means and the output control means according to the detection signal, and optical vibration blur correcting means for optically correcting the blur in the image taken by the image pickup means, based on the output of the output control means.
Still other objects of the present invention, and the features thereof, will become fully apparent from the following description which is to be taken in conjunction with the attached drawings.

Image pickup device having means for correcting the motion of an image


An image sensor structure that includes a first semiconductor substrate having a plurality of imaging sensors; a first interconnect structure formed on the first semiconductor substrate; a second semiconductor substrate having a logic circuit; a second interconnect structure formed on the second semiconductor substrate, wherein the first and the second semiconductor substrates are bonded together in a configuration that the first and second interconnect structures are sandwiched between the first and second semiconductor substrates; and a backside deep contact (BDCT) feature extended from the first interconnect structure to the second interconnect structure, thereby electrically coupling the logic circuit to the image sensors.

The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced exponential growth. Technological advances in IC materials and design have produced generations of ICs where each generation has smaller and more complex circuits than the previous generation. In the course of IC evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometry size (i.e., the smallest component or line that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased. This scaling down process generally provides benefits by increasing production efficiency and lowering associated costs.
As one application, imaging sensors are incorporated in an integrated circuit. The existing imaging sensor has logic and pixel array on the same Si wafer and another wafer is a carrier only. Various issues may present in the existing imaging sensor structure. In one example, process tuning to image sensors impacts logic circuit area. In another example, small pixel layout suffers low quantum efficiency (QE) and full well capacity (FWC) due to devices occupancy. In yet another example, image signal processor (ISP) seizes a larger layout area, leading to low gross die count per unit area.
Therefore, what is needed is a structure for imaging sensor and method making the same to address the above issues.

Structure and method for 3D image sensor

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.


A torque sensor assembly is used to measure torque in a powertrain of a motor vehicle, the powertrain including a power source and a transmission. A sensor is coupled to an oil seal housing, which is coupled to the engine. Each of the sensor and the oil seal housing has a mounting hole formed therein. The sensor is coupled to the oil seal housing, and the oil seal housing to the engine, by inserting one fastener into both mounting holes. The sensor measures an amount of torque exerted on a drive plate of the transmission. The drive plate includes a central disk, made of a magnetizable material, and an outer ring coupled to the central disk. The sensor is a magnetic torque sensor, which determines an amount of torque exerted on the central disk of the drive plate by sensing a magnetic flux passing through the drive plate.

The present invention pertains to torque sensors for automatic transmissions, and, more particularly, to the packaging of torque sensors near drive plate disks of dual clutch automatic transmissions.
An automatic transmission of a vehicle generally includes an input shaft and an output shaft. The input shaft receives an input torque from a power source, such as an internal combustion engine or an electric motor. The transmission then converts the input torque to an output torque. The output shaft transmits the output torque to the wheels of the vehicle in order to propel the vehicle.
The transmission typically converts the input torque to the output torque by adjusting a gear ratio (for example, during an upshift or a downshift) between the input shaft and the output shaft. This adjustment is accomplished by applying or releasing friction elements, such as clutches or brakes, in order to change torque relationships by altering planetary gear configurations of the transmission. Alternatively, in a transmission having one or more layshafts, the gears associated with the layshafts are used to change torque relationships. As a result, power flow paths are established and disestablished from the engine to the wheels.
The friction elements must be properly controlled in order to satisfactorily shift the transmission. To this end, information regarding the operation of the engine and transmission is generally used to control the friction elements. Typically, some of this information is estimated rather than directly measured. Direct measurement is preferred because it is more accurate. However, it is often more difficult to obtain direct measurements due to size constraints and other factors.
In the context of a dual-clutch automatic transmission, direct measurement of the operation of the engine and transmission is beneficial because accurate clutch slip control, through coordinated engine torque and clutch capacity control, is required in order to minimize drivability and noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) issues. In particular, a direct measurement of torque would be beneficial at a drive plate of the dual-clutch transmission in order to better understand engine and clutch torque relationships during a vehicle launch or gear shift. A direct measurement of torque can also improve clutch control by reducing hysteresis and temperature effects and increasing the accuracy of a clutch transfer function in terms of torque-to-actuator position.
Based on the above, there exists a need in the art for a way to directly measure torque at a drive plate of a dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Torque sensor assembly for a motor vehicle and method of measuring torque


A process wastewater treatment plant, and a process relating thereto, which converts process wastewater generated in battery manufacturing and the like into clean process water and sodium sulfate salt by treating the process wastewater to remove impurities and contaminants, including debris, oil/grease, heavy metal oxides, lead and other heavy metals, suspended solids, bacteria, organic compounds, and/or gases, from the wastewater to obtain a clean neutral sodium sulfate brine, subjecting the brine to heat to obtain distilled water and sodium sulfate salt, and purifying the distilled water by reverse osmosis for reuse as clear process water.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a treatment of industrial process wastewater, and more particularly concerns a process and a process wastewater treatment plant for converting sulfuric acid based process wastewater generated in industry, such as process wastewater generated during the manufacturing and recycling of lead-acid batteries, into (a) sodium sulfate salt and (b) clean water for reuse as process water.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Manufacturing plants, such as plants that manufacture lead-acid batteries and which may recycle scrap lead-acid batteries, generate large quantities of process wastewater from the process water used during manufacturing operations. Typically, such wastewater is disposed of by discharging it into the environment, i.e., into streams and rivers, and because such wastewater contains hazardous and residual waste generated during manufacturing operations, the law requires that the wastewater be treated to remove hazardous and residual waste before the water is discharged into the environment.
Historically, wastewater treatment has presented a challenge for the battery manufacturing industry as well as other metals related industries. It has been difficult or not feasible to remove sufficient quantities of heavy metals, sulfates, and dissolved solids from the wastewater to meet today's strict environmental standards.
Treatment of the wastewater using "Best Available Technology" (BAT) criteria, as currently defined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for wastewater treatment in the battery manufacturing and other metals related industries, produces a treated wastewater effluent containing high concentrations of dissolved solids (i.e., calcium sulfate) and residual trace concentrations of metals and other inorganics. The calcium sulfate typically is present in concentrations high enough (6,000 to 9,000 ppm (parts per million) to be a potential risk of creating a negative impact on aquatic organisms and drinking water quality. This conventional technology also produces a significant volume of sludge designated as hazardous due to its metals content. The sludge requires further treatment and then disposal, i.e., usually in a landfill.
Further, in metals related industries, large quantities of water are used daily during manufacturing operations. For example, in the lead-acid battery manufacturing industry, hundreds of thousands of gallons of wastewater may be generated each day. Under current practice, this wastewater is first treated, which is costly, before it is discharged into the environment. Over the course of a year, millions of gallons of fresh process water must be obtained since the process wastewater is not recycled, which results in added costs and possible depletion of ground water supplies.

Process for the reclamation of process water from process wastewater generated in the battery manufacturing industry and other metals related industries


A filter standpipe is mounted within a relief conduit of a cryopump. The relief conduit is joined to an exhaust conduit, and the exhaust conduit is joined to a housing which defines a vacuum chamber. The relief conduit and exhaust conduit define passages which are in fluid communication with one another and also with the vacuum chamber. The filter standpipe extends, from where it is mounted in the relief passage into the exhaust passage. A method for installing the filter standpipe includes the steps of removing a relief valve from a mount on the end of the relief conduit, inserting the filter standpipe through the mount, and remounting the relief valve.

Cryogenic vacuum pumps (cryopumps) remove gases from a surrounding atmosphere by freezing gas molecules onto low-temperature cryopanels. Many recently-produced cryopumps follow a common design concept. One such cryopump was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,046, issued to Eacobacci and Planchard in 1987. An embodiment of this cryopump is illustrated in FIG. 1. The cryopump includes a housing 12 containing a two-stage cryogenic refrigerator 18 and at least two cryopanels including a primary pumping panel 34 and a radiation shield 44. The housing 12 has a flange 14 mounted to it at its open end.
When used in industry, the flange 14 is mounted to a port on a vessel which defines a work chamber. Through a front opening 16 of the cryopump, gas can travel from the work chamber, into a vacuum chamber defined by the housing 12. Within the vacuum chamber, gases are condensed on each of the cryopanels 34 and 44. The radiation shield 44 generally comprises a housing which is closed except at a frontal array 48 positioned between the primary pumping panel 34 and the chamber to be evacuated. The radiation shield 44 is cooled by a first stage 29 of the refrigerator 18 to a temperature in the range of 60 to 130 K. High-boiling-point gases, such as water vapor, which enter from the work chamber condense upon the frontal array 48, while the remainder of the radiation shield 44 serves primarily to shield the primary pumping panel 34 from radiant heat. The primary pumping panel 34 is typically maintained at 4 to 25 K by a second stage 32 of the refrigerator 18 and is used to condense lower-boiling-point gases which pass through the frontal array 48. The underside of the primary pumping panel 34 is coated with adsorbent charcoal 36 which can remove gases with especially-low boiling points, such as hydrogen. Other panels may, for example, include stacked plates having charcoal on the bottom surfaces of the plates.
The cryogenic refrigerator 18 in this embodiment is a two-stage refrigerator which achieves cooling through a Gifford-McMahon cooling cycle, wherein the refrigerator 18 extracts heat from the cryopanels 34 and 44 as it expands compressed helium gas. The refrigerator 18 is driven by a motor 22 and is supplied with helium through a feed line 24. Processed helium is removed from the refrigerator through a return line 26, which returns the helium to a compressor which recompresses the helium for repeated processing.
The cryopanels establish a vacuum within the vacuum chamber essentially by freezing gas molecules out of the atmosphere. When a free-floating gas molecule impacts a cryopanel, the cryopanel extracts thermal energy from the gas molecule. If enough thermal energy is extracted, the phase of the gas molecule will be transformed from a vapor to a solid condensate on the cryopanel. With the gases thus condensed and/or adsorbed onto the cryopanels, a high vacuum is created within both the vacuum chamber and the work chamber.
Once a high vacuum has been established, work pieces can be moved into and out of the work chamber through partially evacuated load locks. With each opening of the work chamber to a load lock, additional gases enter the work chamber. Those gases are then condensed onto the cryopanels to again evacuate the chamber and provide the necessary low pressures for processing. Over time, the efficiency and pumping capacity of the cryopump drop as the amount of condensate accumulated on the cryopanels increases. Moreover, a danger of damage to work pieces within the work chamber as well as a potential health and safety risk exists due to the potential of power outage or other causes of rapid warming which would cause the condensed gases, which may include hazardous chemicals, to sublimate.
Accordingly, the cryopanels 34 and 44 are periodically subjected to a regeneration procedure in which the cryopanels 34 and 44 are warmed under a controlled schedule to release the condensed gases from the cryopanels. The released gases are removed from the vacuum chamber through an exhaust conduit 58. At the end of the exhaust conduit 58 is a relief valve 60 which controls the flow of gas out of the vacuum chamber. The relief valve 60 can likewise provide an outlet for sublimating gases in the event of an unscheduled shutdown of the cryopump.
A typical relief valve 60 is a pressure-release valve which includes a cap, which, when the valve is closed, is held against an o-ring seal by a spring. If the pressure is sufficient to open the valve, the cap is pushed away from the o-ring seal and the exhausted gases flow past the seal. Absent a filter, debris entrained within the exiting gas stream also flows through the exhaust conduit and will often collect on the o-ring seal and closure cap. This debris includes particles of charcoal from the cryopanel or other debris resulting from processing within the work chamber. The accumulation of debris on the seal and cap prevents the valve from sealing. As a result, leaks into the cryopump develop at the relief valve, providing an undesired load on the cryopump.
In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, a filter standpipe 62 is positioned at the mouth of the exhaust conduit to filter debris entrained within the exiting gas stream. The filter standpipe 62 includes a stainless steel mesh screen formed into a cylinder with an open end 64. The open end precludes a potentially dangerous pressure buildup in the chamber if the filter screen should otherwise become clogged. The filter standpipe 62 is at least about four inches in length and is installed in the cryopump through the front opening 16 either before the cryopanels 34 and 44 are installed or after removing the cryopanels 34 and 44 to provide access to the exhaust conduit 58 from within the vacuum chamber.


The invention provides a semiconductor device and its manufacturing method in which a memory transistor and a plurality of thin film transistors that have gate insulating films with different thicknesses are fabricated over a substrate. The invention is characterized by the structural difference between the memory transistor and the plurality of thin film transistors. Specifically, the memory transistor and some of the plurality of thin film transistors are provided to have a bottom gate structure while the other thin film transistors are provided to have a top gate structure, which enables the reduction of characteristic defects of the transistor and simplification of its manufacturing process.

In recent years, multifunctional and high-performance small semiconductor devices have been rapidly developed, which are typified by mobile devices such as a mobile computer and a mobile phone. With the development of these semiconductor devices, a transistor-type semiconductor memory element (hereinafter also referred to as a "memory transistor") has attracted attention as a memory included in the semiconductor devices.
As one of the semiconductor memory elements, the market of nonvolatile memories has been growing, to which data can be electrically rewritten and stored after the power supply is shut off. The nonvolatile memories have a structure similar to MOS transistors and are characterized in that a region capable of storing charge for a long time is provided over a channel forming region. In a floating gate nonvolatile memory, charge is injected into a charge accumulation layer (floating gate) through a tunnel insulating film over a channel forming region and stored. In a MONOS (metal-oxide-nitride-oxide semiconductor) nonvolatile memory, charge is trapped in a charge accumulation layer or silicon cluster is used as a charge carrier.
In a memory transistor included in such a nonvolatile memory, a tunnel insulating film formed between a semiconductor layer and a charge accumulation layer is required to be as thin as possible. This is because the tunnel insulating film is required to be thin enough that a tunnel current flows therethrough.
Transistors formed over the same substrate as a memory transistor have different configurations depending on the circuits including the transistors. For example, since a transistor provided in a logic circuit is required to operate at high speed, it is necessary to make its gate insulating film thin. On the other hand, a transistor provided in a circuit for controlling (writing, erasing, reading, and the like) a memory transistor is applied with a voltage as high as that applied to the memory transistor; therefore, it is necessary to make its gate insulating film thick in order to prevent damage to the transistor.
In Patent Document 1, a pixel portion, a driver circuit portion, and a memory portion are formed over the same substrate, and the thickness of a gate insulating film of the memory transistor is made to be smaller than those of gate insulating films of the pixel portion and the driver circuit portion.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2000-356788

Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof

Semiconductor Enery Laboratory Co., Ltd.


Method and device for separating a fine-grained solid material into a fines fraction and a coarse fraction at a cut point size of below 50 .mu.m, preferably below approx. 10 .mu.m. The fine-grained solid is dispersed in a liquid capable of forming drops and this dispersion is forced into a defined sink flow with a superimposed rotational flow that is generated independently from the jink flow. The relationship between the two rates, namely the sink flow rate and the rotational flow rate, is dictated by the cut point size. The device includes a deflector wheel which has a direction of flow from the outside to the inside, and vanes are fitted in the wheel parallel to its rotational axis to form flow channels, whereby the feed dispersion is charged to the deflector wheel at its outer periphery.

The preferred devices employed for separating a fine-grained solid with a particle size distribution ranging between 0 and max. 50 .mu.m into a fines fraction and a coarse fraction at a cut point of below about 10 .mu.m are hydrocyclones, in which the separation is achieved through the combined actions of centrifugal force, wall friction, and the drag force of a liquid exercised on the solid particles. Technical reasons related to the flow conditions in a hydrocyclone, however, make a sharp separation in the case of a defined particle size impossible, so that the overlap range, i.e. the particle size range which is present in both the fines fraction and the coarse fraction, is usually undesirably high.

Method and device to separate a fine-grained solid material into two fractions


A vehicle running control method includes: calculating, by a controller, a lateral velocity of an adjacent vehicle that travels in a lane adjacent to a traveling lane in which an autonomous vehicle travels in the road-width direction, and a longitudinal velocity of the adjacent vehicle in the direction in which the adjacent lane extends; specifying, by the controller, a predetermined road section based on the longitudinal velocity and calculating a first path on the assumption that an offset distance of the adjacent vehicle in the adjacent lane in the road-width direction is maintained within the road section; and applying, by the controller, the lateral velocity to the first path to calculate a second path corresponding to a predicted traveling path of the adjacent vehicle.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
General lane changing technology is merely configured such that, when a driver shows his/her intention to change lanes (for example, when the driver turns on a turn signal lamp), it is determined whether it is possible to change lanes within a predetermined time, and the lane change is performed upon determining that it is possible to change lanes.
Additionally, in most research on autonomous traveling, the lane change is performed only when it is possible to change lanes, for example, when a path that makes it possible to avoid a collision is generated. Furthermore, level-4 autonomous traveling must be designed such that traveling is possible from the current position to a destination without the intervention of a driver under limited operational design domain (ODD) conditions, unlike level-2 autonomous traveling (ADAS system). Therefore, general lane-changing technology has difficulty in satisfying the requirements of the level-4 autonomous traveling.
We have found that a general autonomous vehicle predicts the traveling path of an adjacent vehicle based on the relative velocity of the adjacent vehicle measured through a distance sensor, rather than in consideration of information about a traveling lane and boundary lines. As a result, it is not possible to determine whether the lane change will occur in various road situations (for example, an intersection and a curved road) or to accurately predict the time at which the lane change will occur and the location at which the lane change will occur. Consequently, it is possible only to passively respond to such situations through abrupt deceleration, rather than flexibly responding to such situations.

Autonomous vehicle and vehicle running control method using the same


In the present invention, an input component is provided. The input component includes a first area performing a first function while pressed with an external force, and a second area disposed around the first area and performing a second function while the first and the second areas simultaneously pressed with the external force.

In the current cellphone market, more and more functions are introduced into different types of cellphones, such as the personal digital assistant (PDA), the smart phone, the clam shell phone, the bar type phone, the flip type phone and so on. No matter how the form of cellphones varies, the basic amount of input component, i.e. the keys, is always the same. As the functions of the cellphone become more and more complicated, it would be a serious problem if the amount of keys is insufficient to meet these functions. Because the amount of keys is unchangeable, the operation of the keys for different functions would be complex and troublesome.
In addition, the size of cellphones tends to be miniaturized in the future. However, with so many functions in one cellphone, it has become an important issue for cellphone manufacturers to provide the user with a more convenient operation, by means of more convenient hot keys or more keys to meet so many functions. However, it is certain that there will be more and more functions introduced into the cellphone, and it is difficult for the cellphone to be equipped with so many keys thereon due to its limited space.
From the above description, it is known that how to develop an input component with more operational functions has become a major problem waited to be solved. In order to overcome the drawbacks in the prior art, an improved input component is provided. The particular design in the present invention not only solves the problems described above, but also is easy to be implemented. Thus, the invention has the utility for the industry.


Uniformly spaced insulating buttons support two signal conductors within a tubular cable. The signal conductors are twisted from 180 to 360 degrees and are in physical contact with each other at their crossing point between each pair of buttons. Between each pair of buttons one of the conductors is covered with an insulating sleeve. The insulating sleeve alternates from one conductor to the other over the length of the cable. The conductors and buttons are enclosed within an insulating and supporting tubing. The supporting tubing is reduced in diameter or has corrugations to provide flexibility between each pair of insulating buttons. An overall shield composed of wires or foil is woven or helically wrapped to form a straight tube that surrounds the supporting tubing. The overall shield is electrically connected to system ground at the source end, allowing current flow only in the signal conductors. The signal conductors are electrically connected at both the source and destination ends, providing a foreward and return current path for the signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of audio electronics, and in particular to cables for the transmission of line-level analog audio signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
High quality high-fidelity components used for music reproduction such as preamplifiers, amplifiers, digital-to-analog converters and tuners often employ analog signaling to convey the music signal from one component to the next.
Signal degradation can occur in interconnects that convey signals between these components due to the interaction of the signal conductors with the driving and receiving components. A number of measurable interconnect parameters can contribute to this degradation including: inductance, capacitance, dielectric absorption, dielectric loss, bandwidth and susceptibility. It is desirable to optimize these parameters in order to minimize degradation of the signal as it is conveyed from one component to the next.
An optimum interconnect should achieve low capacitance and inductance, uniform low-loss dielectric (preferably air), some form of shielding or common-mode noise rejection, have the ability to be terminated with standard RCA plugs or XLR connectors and have mechanical flexibility.
Line-level single-ended signaling generally involves a component containing a driver with an impedance in the range of 7-300 ohms which drives a signal over a cable or interconnect which terminates at a receiver in a second component with an impedance in the range of 10-75K ohms. Due to the small output signal voltages and high input impedances, the resulting currents are very small. Because of the high impedance of the receiver and the relatively high output impedance of the driver, capacitance and inductance in the interconnect can limit the bandwidth of the transmission system. It is therefore an objective to achieve the lowest possible inductance and capacitance in a single-ended interconnect. To accomplish this, tradeoffs must be made between: 1) spacing the conductors close together as in a twisted-pair to achieve low inductance, and 2) separating the conductors with air spacers to achieve low capacitance. As the inductance is reduced, the capacitance increases. Likewise, when the capacitance is reduced the inductance generally increases. There are also practical physical limits to spacing the conductors in order that the cable remain flexible and convenient to use in a system. An optimum balance of capacitance and inductance combined with uniform low-loss dielectric is required to achieve a theoretically ideal interconnect.
Balanced line-level interconnects also benefit from low capacitance and inductance although the drivers used for balanced signaling are generally lower impedance, typically in the range of 7-50 ohms, and the load is standardized with a termination of 600-1K ohms, which makes the interconnect less sensitive to these parameters.
Non-uniform or lossy dielectrics surrounding the conductors of the interconnect can cause phase shifts and noise in the signal that vary with frequency. These phenomena are generally manifested as what has been described as "veils" over the reproduced music material as reported from empirical study. These phase shifts and self-generated noise can also cause a defocusing of the image in the reproduced music program. This phenomena has been attributed to several mechanisms including conductor stranding effects, "skin effects" and imperfect dielectrics which are lossy and exhibit dielectric absorption. Dielectric absorption and dielectric losses can affect the signal by not allowing the interconnect to completely charge and discharge with transient musical passages.
In order to minimize the inductance, it would seem to be advantageous to utilize large gauge conductors in interconnects, however there is a practical upper limit because of "skin effects". Skin effects are present due to the wide band of frequencies that are present in most high-fidelity music material. The currents associated with the low frequencies tend to travel deeper within the cross-section of the conductor than the high frequencies which tend to travel more on the outer surface skin of the conductor. This is known as skin-effect. Skin effect is a function of the conductor material and geometry. Skin-effect can cause the music signal to become attenuated at some frequencies and distorted or smeared due to changing phase as the frequency changes. To minimize this attenuation and phase distortion, the currents of all frequencies of the audio spectrum can be forced to flow through the same media and have the same uniform dielectric around them. One method that has been used to accomplish this is to limit the gauge of the conductors so that the skin depth of the currents at the highest frequencies completely penetrate the conductors. The optimum gauge using copper has been analytically and empirically determined to be between 0.5 and 1 mm diameter. In order to further reduce inductance and resistance without increasing skin effects larger diameter hollow conductors have been used in some interconnects. These constructions confine the current flow at all frequencies mechanically.
The veiling affects are more noticeable in the high-frequency audio range although the defocusing effect of transients can give the impression of affecting mid-frequencies. Two manufacturers have eliminated the veils and defocusing in their products by inserting low-pass filters in the interconnect. This approach does seem to eliminate the veils, but at the expense of high-frequency response. Reproduction of cymbals and other high-frequency material tends to be compromised in the process.
Other interconnects locate hollow insulating tubing around and between the conductors to lower capacitance and capture more air in the dielectric. The capacitance and dielectric absorption can both be reduced by creating air spaces around the conductors.
There are currently five types of geometries utilized in high-fidelity single-ended and balanced cables, the coaxial, the twisted-pair, the parallel-pair, the woven and the helical-pair. The simplest geometry used in single-ended interconnects is a coaxial arrangement. This geometry locates the forward signal conductor at the concentric center of an overall shield. The shield is usually composed of a large number of fine wires woven into a tubular shape or wrapped in a helical fashion. The return signal current flows in the overall shield. To lower the capacitance of this interconnect, low-dielectric constant materials have been utilized for insulation of the center conductor. Air pockets have also been introduced by spiraling a solid or tubular insulator around the center conductor. The disadvantage of the coaxial arrangement is that there is significant capacitive coupling between the entire surface of the inner conductor and the inside surface of the overall shield conductor. The current distribution in the shield is also very different than that in the inner conductor. Only one successful high-fidelity audio cable currently utilizes this geometry. This particular cable utilizes a center conductor that is tubular in geometry, which reduces skin-effect. It also utilizes air-filled dielectric material between the overall shield and the center conductor. This interconnect has the disadvantage that the large adjacent surfaces of the inner conductor and overall shield creates a highly capacitive cable. Most types of coaxial constructions tend to have poor phase linearity when used with consumer electronics.
A typical twisted-pair is illustrated in FIG. 1a. The twisted-pair geometry has the disadvantage that the close proximity of the conductors 101 tends to decrease inductance at the expense of increasing capacitance. The shield 102 is usually composed of a large number of fine wires woven into a tubular shape or wrapped in a helical fashion. Sometimes the shield is a spirally wrapped foil or combination of braid and foil. Because there is dielectric material directly between the conductors but air around both of them as a result of inserting air-filled materials, this creates a non-uniform lossy dielectric. Since the EM fields have the highest magnitude directly between the two signal conductors, the dielectric absorption and losses of the insulating material can affect the signal quality. To minimize this effect, some interconnects utilize expanded Teflon.TM. which contains a high-percentage of air or other inert gases to insulate the conductors. This achieves a very low-capacitance cable. However, these interconnects have been shown empirically to have lack of focus in the stereo image. Some filtering is required in these interconnects to eliminate the "veils" as well. The veils are reduced as compared to an interconnect utilizing standard un-expanded Teflon.TM.. However, they are still present, it is believed, due to dielectric absorption effects.
Some versions of twisted-pairs are unshielded and therefore achieve significant air dielectric around the conductors to minimize capacitance, however they are more susceptible to noise. Versions with overall shields are not as susceptible to noise but the capacitance tends to be increased due to elimination of air in the dielectric and coupling of the signal conductors to the shield, causing the high-frequencies to roll-off.
Illustrated in FIG. 1b, the helical-pair geometry used in some interconnects comprises a helical wrap of two signal conductors 103 around a large Teflon.TM. tubing core 104. In some cases, small hollow tubing is also helically wrapped around the tubing core to act as spacers, holding the conductors in place. Air dielectric is present on three sides of the conductors in this construction. Because the two conductors are spaced apart as they wrap around the core, this makes the interconnect susceptible to noise. Therefore, these types of interconnects typically have an overall shield 105 to reduce susceptibility. The shield is generally spaced away from the signal conductors by additional insulating material. This type of interconnect has three disadvantages. First, only three sides of the signal conductors are adjacent to the air dielectric. Second, both signal conductors capacitively couple to the overall shield, which in most cases is spaced fairly close, causing increased capacitance. Third, the conductors are generally located on opposite sides of the tubing core, causing the interconnect to be inflexible and susceptible to mechanical damage. Bending the cable causes one signal conductor to stretch as the other is compressed.
FIG. 1c illustrates a woven geometry. The braided weave causes air to be interlaced between the conductors reducing the capacitance. The woven geometry has the disadvantage that it is susceptible to noise and that the forward and return paths are not identical. Noise susceptibility is high because the geometry is not twisted and therefore common-mode noise is not effectively canceled. No combination of two of the three signal conductors forms a twisted-pair geometry. The absence of an overall shield also tends to increase noise susceptibility. All three conductors are used for signal transmission in the woven geometry. This causes the geometry of the forward signal path to be different than the return signal path. Due to the differing geometry of the forward and return paths, electromagnetic field coupling between conductors can cause undesired currents to be induced. The effect has been empirically shown to be a defocusing of the stereo image forming a "musical soup", particularly noticeable at high frequencies.
Parallel-pair constructions suspend two parallel conductors within an overall shield. One version of the parallel-pair interconnect is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,095 of Cogan. Two parallel hollow solid copper conductors are shown being supported using spacers that suspend the signal conductors in an air dielectric. This creates air-filled spaces 180 degrees around the conductors and between the signal conductors and the overall shield. This construction minimizes capacitance and creates a uniform low-loss dielectric. It also has the advantage of utilizing a single identical conductor each for forward and return currents. The disadvantage of this interconnect is that it has limited flexibility in one dimension and is inflexible in the other dimension. The use of solid conductors causes the interconnect to be quite stiff and must be "formed" into the desired shape. It is also difficult to terminate this cable to conventional RCA and XLR type audio connectors. Manufacture of this cable is also very difficult to mechanize, increasing the cost. Constructions such as that utilized in Cogan use spacers to suspend the conductors in air which approaches the ideal combination of uniform air dielectric, low capacitance between combinations of conductors and shield, and low inductance. Low inductance is achieved in this case by using large gauge hollow single conductor tubing as opposed to twisting the signal conductors together.
The disadvantage of this and other existing spacer constructions is that they tend to be very inflexible, fragile and are difficult to terminate to RCA or XLR connectors.
Another version of the parallel-pair is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,890 of Magnan. The Magnan cable is actually a combination of two helically wrapped singles to form a parallel pair. This interconnect succeeds in creating air gaps around the signal conductors which creates a uniform low-loss dielectric. Skin-effects are eliminated by utilizing a multiplicity of small individually insulated conductors to convey the signal. The conductors in the Magnan cable are arranged in such a way as to approximate two tubular conductors that are parallel to each other. This technique has the disadvantage that it allows differences in group-delay to occur between conductors and non-linearities in phase response due to non-uniform current-sharing across all conductor strands. It is preferred to utilize a single identical conductor for each signal direction to avoid current-sharing and the need to electrically equalize all conductor lengths. The Magnan cable has the added disadvantage of having restricted mechanical flexibility, particularly in one dimension. It is also difficult to terminate to RCA and XLR connectors.
Yet another example of a parallel-pair that is suspended in a gaseous dielectric is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,034,033 of E. I. Green and H. E. Curtis. Green and Curtis describe a transmission-cable composed of a series of dielectric washers that hold two conductors at a specified spacing from each other inside an overall circular shield. The two conductors are twisted helically about the axis of the shield. The spacing relationships between the conductors and shield are critical to Green and Curtis for achieving low attenuation at high frequencies. The disadvantage of this construction is that the conductors cannot maintain their spacing relationship when the cable is severely flexed. The cable cannot withstand severe bends without compromising the conductor spacing or otherwise displacing the conductors from their optimum positions. The cable of Green and Curtis is also inflexible because the outer jacketing does not contain features which allow severe bending, such as corrugations.
None of the interconnect constructions described achieve an optimum balance of low capacitance and inductance, uniform low-loss dielectric, compatibility with standard RCA or XLR plugs, and mechanical flexibility that allows severe bending without altering the relationship of the conductors.


A method for producing a superconducting layer of YBa.sub.2 CU.sub.3 O.sub.7 on a sapphire substrate utilizes the steps of epitaxially growing an intermediate layer that at least contains a yttrium-stabilized zirconium oxide layer directly on the substrate, and then epitaxially growing a superconducting layer on the intermediate layer. In one embodiment, the step of growing the intermediate layer grows two sub-layers, with the first sub-layer being a yttrium-stabilized zirconium oxide layer and a second sub-layer being a yttrium oxide layer applied onto the first sub-layer.

The present invention is directed to a method for producing a superconductor layer of YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 on a substrate composed of sapphire.
Superconductor layers of high-quality YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 on substrates composed of sapphire are required, for example, in the manufacture of microwave devices. In the manufacture of such a superconducting layer of YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 on a substrate composed of sapphire by a direct deposit of the superconducting layer on the substrate, there is the risk of the diffusion of the aluminum from the sapphire through the superconducting layer. The temperature of the substrate must, therefore, be kept so low during the deposition that this diffusion fails to occur.
The deposition at low temperatures of the substrate, however, has the disadvantage that the superconducting layer has a faulty crystal perfection. The crystal perfection is too poor in order to supply good superconducting characteristics, such as transition temperature T.sub.c and critical current density J.sub.c.
It is known, for example see an article by K. Char et al, Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 57, 1990, pp. 409-411, to resolve the diffusion problem in that an intermediate layer is applied onto the substrate under the superconducting layer. The intermediate layer must, thereby, grow epitaxially on the substrate, which is composed of a sapphire. Over and above this, the epitaxial growth of the superconducting layer onto the intermediate layer must be possible. With respect to its grating constant, therefore, the intermediate layer must be adapted, first, to the lattice structure of the sapphire substrate and, secondly, to the lattice structure of the superconducting layer of YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7.
In the above-mentioned article by K. Char. et al, Appl. Phys. Lett, Vol. 57, 1990, pp. 409-411, the authors investigated an intermediate layer of SrTiO.sub.3 on a substrate composed of a sapphire under a superconducting layer of YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7. A critical current density of 2.times.10.sup.6 A/cm.sup.2 at 74.degree. K. was, thereby, achieved.

Method for producing a superconductor layer of YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 on a sapphire substrate


Certain tasks related to processing layer 7 (L7) data streams, such as HTTP data streams, can be performed by an L7 assist circuit instead of by general-purpose CPUs. The L7 assist circuit can normalize URLs, Huffman decode, Huffman encode, and generate hashes of normalized URLs. A L7 data stream, which is reassembled from received network packets, includes an L7 header. L7 assist produces an augmented L7 header that is added to the L7 data stream. The CPUs can use the augmented L7 header, thereby speeding up processing. On the outbound path, L7 assist can remove the augmented L7 header and perform Huffman encoding such that the CPUs can perform other tasks.

L7 data streams, such as HTTP data streams, are carried as network packets to servers for processing. L7 headers in the L7 data stream can be compressed via Huffman coding and can use different URLs (uniform resource locators) to specify the same location. Servers have general purpose processors that interpret the L7 header and the L7 data stream, process the L7 data stream, and respond to the sender.

Methods and systems for layer 7 hardware assist and CPU task offloads


The present invention relates to an application that is configured to provide secure access to confidential information. To protect the confidential information, the application may include functions that utilize a decoy application to disguise the functionality of the application. A unique sequence of inputs received through an interface associated with the decoy application may permit a user to access the confidential information. An authorized user that has been provided access to the confidential information may access configuration interfaces that permit the user to define the inputs that will serve as login credentials and to customize the appearance and functionality of the decoy application.

Many computer applications are used to store confidential information. For example, an application may store confidential information such as password information, medical information, financial information or personal contact information. A user may be required to enter login credentials before the user is permitted to access the confidential information. For example, a user may be presented with a login screen that includes an input form for receiving a username and password. After the user has submitted the login credentials, the application may determine whether the login credentials are valid. If the login credentials are determined to be valid, the user is given access to the confidential information that is maintained by the application. On the other hand, the user may be denied access to the confidential information if the login credentials are not valid.
Providing access to confidential information in the manner described above presents security concerns. The traditional login interface invites unauthorized users to enter login credentials and to attempt to improperly gain access to the confidential information that is protected by the application. Hackers or other unauthorized users are aware that they are able to gain access to the confidential information if they are able to enter valid login credentials via the application's login interface. Because the unauthorized users are aware of the location of the login interface, they can attempt to access the confidential information by manually entering login credentials or by writing password cracking programs. While some applications incorporate additional security features as part of the login process (e.g., limiting the number of invalid login attempts that are permitted), there is still a relatively high risk that unauthorized users may gain access to underlying confidential information that is maintained by the application. Thus, there is a need to provide a means for accessing confidential information that eliminates, or at least minimizes, these risks.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for providing a covert password manager


A LED driving circuit mainly includes a commutation unit to transform an AC input cycle signal to a DC cycle signal, a switch unit which divides a driving power signal output to a LED and has a duty voltage value, a valley filled power factor correction circuit to receive the AC input cycle signal and stop conduction of the commutation unit when the voltage value of the AC input cycle signal is lower than a cutoff voltage value, and a piezoelectric inverter to receive the driving power signal of the switch unit and regulate the signal to an AC modulated power signal within a duty range of the LED to drive the LED to emit light.

With introduction of high luminosity LED and well developed technology of white light LED, LED illumination products adopted for desk lamps, projection lamps and the like also have been developed that are very likely to replace the conventional incandescent lamps in the future to become the main lighting sources of indoor illumination. Most conventional LED driving circuits adopt a Charge-Pump circuit mode or a Boost-Buck circuit mode. These two types of driving circuits still leave a lot to be desired as far as efficiency is concern.
Take the charge-pump circuit mode for instance. Its efficiency curve is averaged at 60-70%, and might be as low as 50%. It also provides a limited range of output voltage (limited to two times of input voltage). To drive multiple LEDs, the LEDs have to be coupled in parallel, and current-limit resistors have to be added to prevent uneven current and uneven illumination. As a result, the cost is higher, and more energy is wasted on the additional elements, and efficiency also is lower. On the other hand, the boost-buck circuit mode adopts inductors that make circuit design more complicated. To drive multiple LEDs the high cost inductors have to withstand a greater current during energy transformation. Hence it also is not a desirable LED driving circuit. How to provide a more efficient driving circuit is a big issue in LED related industries.