An on-chip differential multi-layer inductor includes a 1st partial winding on a 1st layer, a 2nd partial winding on the 1st layer, a 3rd partial winding on a 2nd layer, a 4th partial winding on the 2nd layer, and an interconnecting structure. The 1st and 2nd partial windings on the 1st layer are operably coupled to receive a differential input signal. The 3rd and 4th partial windings on the 2nd layer are each operably coupled to a center tap. The interconnecting structure couples the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th partial windings such that the 1st and 3rd partial windings form a winding that is symmetrical about the center tap with a winding formed by the 2nd and 4th partial windings. By designing the on-chip differential multi-layer inductor to have a desired inductance value, a desired Q factor, and a desired operating rate, a desired resonant frequency and corresponding desired capacitance value can be determined. Having determined the electrical parameters of the multi layer established, the geometric shapes of the windings, number of windings, number of layers to support the inductor, and the interconnecting structure may be determined.

As is known, wireless communication standards place stringent requirements on wireless communication devices' dynamic range of operation to accommodate for the dramatic variations in signal strength of receive signals, which may vary by orders of magnitude. To meet these requirements, wireless communication devices are designed using radio frequency (RF) integrated circuits (IC) that consume low power and produce little noise. As is also known, on-chip inductors are significant components of RFIC's and are used in oscillators, impedance matching networks, emitter degeneration circuits, filters, and/or baluns. Thus, it is desirable to use on-chip inductors that consume as little power as possible and produce as little noise as possible. In addition, it is desirable to use on-chip inductors that provide a desired inductance value at a desired operating rate consuming as little IC real estate as possible.
To minimize power consumption and to reduce noise, an inductor should have a high quality factor (Q factor). As is known, the Q factor is a measure of an inductor's performance characteristics expressed in power capabilities at a resonant frequency and its selectivity (i.e., power ratio in decibels versus frequency). As is known, CMOS on-chip inductors have a relatively low Q factor in the range of 5–10.
As with any circuit or component implemented on an integrated circuit, the circuit and/or component should be as small as possible (i.e., have as small of an IC footprint as possible) and still be able to achieve the desired performance criteria. In general, on-chip inductors' performance criteria is becoming more and more demanding as the demands for larger inductance values, high Q factors, lower noise levels, higher operating rates, et cetera increase.
FIG. 1 illustrates a single ended multi-layer on-chip inductor, which includes multiple windings (Windings #1–#3) on multiple layers (Layers #1–#3). As shown, the windings are connected by vias (Vias #1 and #2). While such an inductor provides a relatively small footprint and can have higher inductance values than single layer inductors of a similar footprint, it typically has a relatively significant capacitance value that limits the resonant frequency, which in turn limits the operating frequency of the inductor. In addition and as is generally known, single ended circuits are inherently noisier than differential circuits. Thus, for noise sensitive circuits, a differential inductor is often chosen over a single ended inductor.
FIG. 2 illustrates a single layered differential inductor having 1st and 2nd windings (Windings #1 and #2) on one layer (Layer #1). Winding #1 is coupled to Winding #2 via a bridge on Layer #2 and interconnecting vias #1 and #2. The differential single layered inductor receives a differential signal via nodes 1 and 2. Such a differential inductor has a low capacitance value, but to achieve a large inductance value, it consumes a significant amount of IC real estate. In addition, the differential inductor is not symmetrical because node #1 to ground is all on the first layer and node #2 to ground includes the bridge and the vias, thus it is longer.
Therefore a need exists for a differential inductor that minimizes the use of integrated circuit real estate, can operate at relatively high frequencies, has a relatively high Q factor and a need also exists for a method of design and a method of manufacture for a multi layer differential inductor.

On-chip differential multi-layer inductor


A microscope for use in transmissive and reflective infrared spectral analysis of a sample positioned on a sample plane. The microscope uses a collimated beam for infinity correction. A collimated irradiating beam of infrared energy is input to the microscope and focused through a single confocal aperture whereupon the beam is re-collimated and provided to a focusing lens. The focusing lens focuses the beam on a subject sample which generates a resulting image beam. The resulting image beam is re-collimated and provided to an optical element which focuses the resulting image beam back through the single confocal aperture and to an infrared detector. In a preferred embodiment, the size of the single confocal aperture is adjustable and a dichroic element is included for providing simultaneous viewing and infrared measurement of a measured sample. Also in a preferred embodiment, a detector mounting apparatus is included for facilitating orientation of a detector at an infrared output of the microscope.

I. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to microscopy and spectroscopy. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a microscope for use in molecular microspectrometry using infrared radiant energy.
II. Description of the Related Art
The spatial resolution from conventional microscope-spectrometer combinations is limited by the relatively long wavelength (.lambda.) of infrared radiation. For example, the diffraction limited spatial resolution (d) for a microscope with a limiting numerical aperture (N.A.) is d=(0.62.lambda./N.A.). For analyzing molecular compounds such as organic substances, certain ionic salts and silicate minerals, radiant energy in the mid-infrared range of 2.5 to 25 .mu.m is most useful. In this mid-infrared spectral range, the conventional diffraction limited spatial resolution is about 10 .mu.m.
In the field of light microscopy, there has been a steady progression away from fixed tube-length optical designs to infinity corrected microscopes. An infinity corrected microscope objective lens produces a nearly collimated beam of light from a sample. Viewing this collimated beam with a telescopic optical system produces a magnified image of the sample. Infinity corrected microscope optical designs have the advantage of allowing the placement of various optical elements in the collimated beam without degrading image quality.
Confocal apertures were first applied to infrared microspectroscopy by Messerschmidt and Sting to improve spatial resolution as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,960. In this development, a pair of matched dual remote image plane masks or apertures were used to achieve the confocal geometry, as introduced by Minsky and explained in U.S. Pat. No. 3,013,467. On closer inspection, it was discovered that the separate masks or apertures were only required in a transmission mode for transmissive analysis. In a reflection mode for reflective analysis, however, use of a single aperture produces the confocal effect by defining both the area of the sample illuminated with radiant energy from the source, and the area of the sample reflecting radiant energy to the detector. The dual function of the sample defining aperture in reflection microspectrometry is common to several earlier designs.
For transmissive analysis with confocal sample defining masks, prior art systems require dual remote apertures having equal size images and the same geometrical shape at a sample plane. The infrared light used to radiate the transparent sample is masked twice; the first masking occurs before the light is incident to the surface of the sample such as when the light is travelling from a light source to the sample, and the second masking occurs after the radiant energy transmissively exits from the sample, i.e. when the light is travelling from the sample to a visible and/or infrared light detector.
The need for two separate apertures for transmission microspectrometry adds complexity and cost. For example, to properly operate such a system the user must align and match both the size and orientation of the two separate remote apertures as well as bring them both to a common focus. In addition, technical skills are required to adjust sample masks. As a result of the problems associated with dual remote aperture systems, many commercial microspectrometers have elected to employ single aperture systems for transmission measurements wherein the radiation signal travels through the aperture only once, i.e. in a direction from a radiation source to a sample, thus yielding simplicity of operation while sacrificing resolution.
Another drawback of existing microspectrometers is the inability to provide simultaneous visual observation of an object image while measuring or detecting the infrared light. For example, in many prior art systems, including the system described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,085, a reflecting element (shown as element 24 in FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,085) must be removed from the path of the reflected or transmitted light so that the visible light is viewable by a user or a visible light detector, such as a video camera. When infrared measurements are needed, however, the reflecting element must be re-positioned in the light path of the irradiated sample so that the infrared light is reflected back to a detector. When so positioned, visible image observation is no longer available, thus making continuous automatic focusing features difficult, if not impossible, to implement.
A further drawback of prior art microspectrometer systems is that for an automated sequence of spectral measurements, the size or area of the dual apertures used to mask an object and to control the amount of light is fixed. Since the masked area of the sample cannot be varied during an automated spectral collection sequence, optimum sample masking is sacrificed. For example, if a sequence of particulates or cells were to be analyzed sequentially in an automated fashion, the prior art would require that the dual remote apertures be sized to the smallest feature and this size could not be changed during the sequence.
Still a further drawback of prior art microspectrometer systems is that they only accommodate and direct infrared light back to a single detector unit. If a different detector unit is desired, such as to obtain analyses other than those capable of being rendered by a first detector, the first detector must be disconnected or otherwise removed from an output light path and another detector substituted therefor.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a microscope using a single confocal aperture for transmission and reflection microspectrometry wherein during a transmission mode of operation, radiant energy passes through the aperture in a first and a second direction.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a microscope having simultaneous visible image observation and infrared detection features so that an object image can be observed while infrared measurements are obtained and which provides a means for continuous adjustment of the sample focus by a focusing means.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a microscope having a mechanism for adjusting and regulating the area of a single confocal aperture to vary the radiated area of a subject sample.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a microscope accommodating multiple detectors and for selectively directing infrared light therebetween.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide detector mounting platforms capable of three-dimensional movement for aligning a detector with an output infrared beam emanating from the microscope.


A performance data editing apparatus is realized by a computer system and/or an electronic musical instrument to provide rich expressions of an automatic performance by performing a variety of editing processes on performance data. Herein, the performance data correspond to multiple parts of the music played by the automatic performance, so at least one of the parts is designated as an editing part. For example, a velocity expander editing process is provided to broaden a distribution range of velocity data representing tone volumes of musical tones of the editing part. Thus, it is possible to emphasize ups and downs in variations of the tone volumes with respect to the editing part. A sound duplication editing process is provided to duplicate generation of a same musical tone under a condition where a shortage of tone-generation channels does not occur. Thus, it is possible to produce a marrowy and thick musical tone with respect to the editing part. Further, a timing tuner editing process is provided to perform an adjustment such that playback timings of the musical tones of the editing part will substantially coincide with desired playback timings which are requested by a human operator.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to apparatuses which are capable of editing performance data.
2. Prior Art
Recently, there are provided a variety of personal computers equipped with sound sources as well as software programs handling performance data. So, everyone can enjoy creating and playing computer music with ease. In the personal computer having a capability of handling the computer music, for example, a user (or a human operator) manipulates a keyboard to input performance data by each step, so it is possible to edit a series of performance data representing sounds which are comprehensible as the music. Therefore, even a person who is not accustomed to playing musical instruments or a person who cannot play musical instruments at all is capable of enjoying creation of the music such as the composition and arrangement of the music.
As described above, the keyboard of the computer is manipulated to create performance data, wherein manipulation of the keyboard of the computer is made in order to play the musical performance. However, such a `mechanical` manipulation of the keyboard of the computer is very much different from the actual playing of the musical instruments by which the intention and feelings of the human being can be directly presented. So, it seems that an automatic performance having a rich expression may not be achieved by the mechanical manipulation of the keyboard of the computer which is very much different from the musical presentation of the intention and feelings of the human being. Herein, a `computerized` automatic performance is carried out by an electronic musical instrument based on performance data which are edited using the computer. As compared with the actual performance of an electronic musical instrument which is actually played by a person, the computerized automatic performance merely provides monotonous sounds which merely offer a `flat` impression or an `expressionless` impression. Such a monotonousness is enhanced when the person manipulates the computer to create performance data with merely looking at a musical score. In such a case, an automatic performance should lack individuality.


A method for guaranteeing a data frame transmit opportunity in a wireless LAN system having three different transmission modes includes: setting a first transmission protection interval based on a lowest transmission mode, when a node of a mode having a lowest transmission rate among the three transmission modes exists in the wireless LAN system, aggregating a data frame to be transmitted within time of the set transmission protection interval, and transmitting the data frame; and setting a second transmission protection interval based on a mode having a highest transmission rate, when only nodes of a mode having a highest transmission rate among the three transmission modes exist, aggregating a data frame to be transmitted within time of the set transmission protection interval, and transmitting the data frame.

1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a transmission method and control technology for protecting transmit opportunities in a wireless LAN.
2. Description of Related Art
IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11a/g standards for wireless LANs can support a transmission rate of 54 Mbps. Such IEEE 802.11a/g standards are designed to use a single antenna and a bandwidth of 20 MHz. In contrast, IEEE 802.11n standards can improve the transmission rate by using multi-antenna technology, i.e. use of a plurality of antennas, and bandwidth extension transmission technology, i.e. use of 40 MHz bandwidth. To be specific, IEEE 802.11n standards can support up to four antennas and can support a maximum of 600 Mbps physical layer transmission rate by applying a 64-QAM modulation scheme, a 5/6 code rate, and a short guard interval mode in a bandwidth of 40 MHz. In the MAC layer, furthermore, aggregation technology and BA (Block Acknowledge) technology are employed so that a throughput corresponding to about 86% of the physical layer transmission rate is obtained theoretically.
An important issue requiring consideration together with the history of establishment of wireless LAN standards is the backward compatibility problem. This means that, even in a network where IEEE 802.11a/g standard equipment and IEEE 802.11n standard equipment coexist, channels should be occupied according to a wireless LAN protocol based on fair competition without causing signal collision. To this end, IEEE 802.11n standards employ an L-SIG TXOP protection (Legacy Signal Field Transmit Opportunity protection) scheme. Specifically, during a TXOP interval in which a HT (High Throughput) mode (which is another name of IEEE 802.11n) packet (11n mode packet) is transmitted, a legacy signal field is used to set time to transmit the HT-mode packet so that legacy mobile stations, which failed to obtain rights to occupy channels, are prevented from occupying channels, thereby avoiding signal collision due to legacy equipment.
Recently, IEEE 802.11ac is extensively discussing VHT (Very High Throughput) technology as the next-generation wireless LAN technology. The IEEE 802.11ac standards are supposed to employ multi-user multi-antenna technology and multi-channel technology, and to have a longer period of time during which an access point and at least one mobile station occupy a channel. In summary, consideration of the above-mentioned problems based on such technical background reveals limitations of conventional TXOP protection methods using legacy signal fields.

Method for protecting opportunity to transmit data frame in wireless LAN system

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


The invention provides compounds of formula

Reproduction in women depends upon the dynamic interaction of several compartments of the female reproductive system. The hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis orchestrates a series of events affecting the ovaries and the uterine-endometrial compartment that leads to the production of mature ova, ovulation, and ultimately appropriate conditions necessary for fertilization. Specifically, luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH), released from the hypothalamus, initiates the release of the gonadotropins, luteneizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) from the pituitary. These hormones act directly on the ovary to promote the development of selected follicles by inducing granulosa and theca cell proliferation and differentiation. FSH stimulates aromatization of androgens to estrogens and increases the expression of LH receptors in the theca cells. The follicles, in turn, secrete steroids (estradiol, progesterone) and peptides (inhibin, activin). Estradiol and inhibin levels progressively increase during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle until ovulation. Inhibin decreases FSH secretion from the pituitary gland, while estradiol acts on the hypothalamus and pituitary to induce the LH surge in mid-cycle, which results in ovulation. Afterwards, the post-ovulation, ruptured follicle forms the corpus luteum, which produces progesterone. Ovarian hormones, in turn, regulate the secretion of gonadotropins through a classical long-loop negative feedback mechanism. The elucidation of these control mechanisms has provided opportunities for the development of effective strategies to control fertility, including both enhancement of fertility and contraception. For recent reviews of FSH action see: "FSH Action and Intraovarian Regulation", B. C. J. M. Fauser Editor, Parthenon Publishing Group, Vol. 6, 1997 and A. J. Hsueh, T. Bicsak, X.-C. Ja, K. D. Dahl, B. C. J. M. Fauser, A. B. Galway, N. Czwkala, S. Pavlou, H. Pakoff, J. Keene, I. Boime, Granulosa "Cells as Hormone Targets: The Role of Biologically Active Follicle-Stimulating Hormone in Reproduction", Rec. Prog. Horm. Res., 45, 209-227, 1989.
Current hormonal contraception methods are steroidal in nature (progestins and estrogens) and modulate long-loop feedback inhibition of gonadotropin secretion, as well as affecting peripheral mechanisms such as sperm migration and fertilization. The development of specific antagonists of the receptor for FSH (FSH-R) would provide an alternative strategy for hormonal contraception. Such antagonists would block FSH-mediated follicular development leading to a blockade of ovulation, thereby producing the desired contraceptive effect. Support for the effectiveness of this strategy is provided by the mechanism that causes resistant ovary syndrome which results in infertility in women. The infertility experienced by these women is the result of non-functional FSH receptors (K. Aittomaki, J. L. D. Lucena, P. Pakarinen, P. Sistonen, J. Tapainainnen, J. Gromoll, R. Kashikari, E.-M. Sankila, H. Lehvaslaiho, A. R. Engel, E. Nieschlag, I. Huhtaniemi, A. de la Chapelle "Mutations in the Follicle-Stimulating Hormone Receptor Gene Causes Hereditary Hypergonadotropic Ovarian Failure" Cell, 82, 959-968, 1995). This approach to contraception may be applicable to men as well, since idiopathic male infertility seems to be related to a reduction in FSH binding sites. In addition, men with selective FSH deficiency are oligo- or azoospermic with normal testosterone levels and present normal virilization (G. Lindstedt, E. Nystrom, C. Matthews, I. Ernest, P. O. Janson, K. Chattarjee, Clin. Lab. Med., 36, 664, 1998). Therefore, orally active, low molecular weight FSH antagonists may provide a versatile novel method of contraception. Such an antagonist could be expected to interfere with follicle development and thus ovulation, while maintaining sufficient estrogen production and beneficial effects on bone mass.
FSH actions are mediated by binding of the hormone to a specific transmembrane G protein-coupled receptor exclusively expressed in the ovary, leading to activation of the adenyl cyclase system and elevation of intracellular levels of the second messenger cAMP (A. Mukherjee, O. K. Park-Sarge, K. Mayo, Endocrinology, 137, 3234 (1996)).

Pyrrolobenzodiazepines and heterocyclic carboxamide derivatives as follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSH-R) antagonists

Abstract: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein R, R1, R2, R3, and B are as defined in the accompanying specification. Methods of making such compounds are also provided.


The subject matter of this specification can be implemented in, among other things, a method that includes receiving, by a host server providing a remote desktop environment to a client device, a request from the client device to execute an application, selecting a first terminal server to execute the application, initiating execution of the application on the first terminal server, determining that the application is to be transferred to a second terminal server, determining identifiers of storage locations of one or more application files that are opened by a user of the client device in relation to the application, causing execution of the application on the first terminal server to be terminated; and initiating execution of the application on the second terminal server using the identifiers of the storage locations of the one or more application files.

In a network environment, it is often advantageous for a user of a computing device to execute applications on a remote server rather than on the local device. Multiple client devices (clients) can have access to the remote server and applications installed on that server. This eliminates the need to install and upkeep separate applications on client devices, decreases administration demands and costs, and promotes uniformity of user experiences and interchangeability of client devices. Such server-based computing allows utilizing remote server's computing power and memory capabilities, which often significantly exceed resources available on client devices. Often, a client device is a "lean" (or "thin") machine, which itself performs little computing, or storage of data, with only keyboard, mouse, and graphical interface data exchanges between the lean client and the remote server device with the bulk of computing, data processing, and data storage taking place on the remote server. The applications executed on the remote server are being delivered to the client device via, for example, a remote desktop session, where the local client device communicates with the remote sever using a remote display protocol.

Seamless switching of terminal servers in remote-access computing environments


Compositions and methods of treating textiles are disclosed. More specifically, stable compositions and methods for softening a wide range of fabrics are disclosed, including 100% cotton and hydrophobic synthetic fabrics, without detrimentally affecting the water absorbency properties of the fabrics. The compositions and methods provide desirable odor control without interfering with the stability of the product. The compositions contain at least one fatty material, water-dispersible polyolefin or at least one water-soluble or waterdispersible polyorganosiloxane, and at least one bleaching agent, preferably hydrogen peroxide. The compositions may optionally contain discrete, individual polymer particles, preferably polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polyvinyl acetate (PVA), polyvinyl acetate/acrylic copolymer (PVA/a), or a combination thereof. The compositions are particularly useful when added to the rinse water in the laundering process, or in the final scouring of a fabric finishing operation.

Fabric softeners are widely used by home consumers and commercial laundries to provide softness, surface smoothness, good draping qualities, fluffiness and antistatic properties while avoiding surface greasiness or excessive build-up on the fabric. Although fabric softener technology is well known, the exact softening mechanism is not known. One commonly accepted mechanism relates softness to the lubricity of the adsorbed softener on the cloth and the consequent reduction of friction between the fabric fibers.
Fabric softener compositions that can be added to the rinse water when washing household laundry normally contain, as active substance, a water-insoluble quaternary ammonium compound. Commercially available fabric softener compositions are based on aqueous dispersions of water-insoluble quaternary compounds. Recently, there has been increasing interest in biodegradable active substances. Such substances include, for example, esters of quaternary ammonium compounds, so-called "esterquats," which have at least one long-chain hydrophobic alkyl or alkenyl group interrupted by carboxyl groups.
Active substances in fabric softener compositions that impart a good soft handle to the treated textile generally have the disadvantage that they may lower the water absorbency and wickability of the textile fabric. This is troublesome in the use of 100% cotton items, such as towels and diapers, where softness and water absorbency properties are both desired. The problem is generally exacerbated in more hydrophobic synthetic fibers, such as polyester, polypropylene, and nylon and blends thereof with other synthetic and natural fibers. The problem may be so severe that many garments made from high performance fabrics where the ability to rapidly wick water from the skin and dry quickly actually include warnings against using any fabric softener during the laundering process because the use of the fabric softener may destroy the water-absorbency, rewettability and wickability properties of the fabric—properties key to their performance. The disadvantage of reduced water absorbency is often highly pronounced in the case of certain active substances, such as the fatty acid quats.
Others have addressed this trade-off in softness and water-absorbency properties. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,913 discloses a fabric softener composition containing:    (a) as an active substance, a quaternary ammonium compound of the formula:
                where R is the aliphatic radical of tallow fatty acid, in particular a mono- or polyunsaturated aliphatic C17 radical; and            (b) a nitrogen-free polydiorganosiloxane having terminal silicon-bonded hydroxyl groups. As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,843 discloses a liquid fabric softener composition comprising:    (a) about 0.05% to about 50% by weight of the composition of a cationic quaternary ammonium fabric softening compound or amine precursor;    (b) about 0.01% to about 50% by weight of the composition of a dispersible polyolefin;    (c) optionally, about 0% to about 30% by weight of the composition of a dispersibility modifier; and    (d) the balance comprising a liquid carrier selected from the group consisting of: water; C1-4monohydric alcohol; C2-6polyhydric alcohol; propylene carbonate; liquid polyethylene glycols; and mixtures thereof;            wherein the level of amphoteric surfactant, if any, is less than about 1% by weight of said composition.
Rinse cycle fabric softener compositions desirably contain a bleaching system to further clean and remove unwanted odors remaining in the fabric after washing. This bleaching system is often an oxidizer, such as a hydrogen peroxide source. As such, the bleaching system may interfere with the stability of the rinse cycle fabric softener composition.
Accordingly, there is a need for additional fabric softener compositions that improve the water-absorbency, rewettability and wickability properties of the treated textiles without impairing the other desirable properties of the treated textiles provided by use of the compositions, such as softness and static properties, while providing desirable odor control without interfering with the stability of the product. The present invention is directed to this, as well as other important ends.


A retransmission control method of the present invention includes the steps in which a receiving terminal: measures a round trip time (RTT) between the receiving terminal and a sending terminal; calculates an RTO by using the measured RTT; and starts a time counting operation of the RTO upon reception from a point in time when a segment is received from the sending terminal; transmits a segment prompt signal which prompts the sending terminal to transmit a segment, when the segment is not received from the sending terminal until the RTO is completed, and in which the sending terminal: retransmits a segment to the receiving terminal when there is a segment to be retransmitted; and transmits a data-less signal to the receiving terminal when there is a segment that should be retransmitted, the data-less signal indicating that there is no segment that should be retransmitted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communication terminals and a retransmission control method for controlling retransmission when performing data communications by using Transport Control Protocol (TCP).
2. Description of the Related Art
Sending terminals and receiving terminals which perform data communications in accordance with TCP used in the internet and the like are currently in wide use. In TCP, in order to achieve reliable data communications, a sending terminal has functions of transmitting a segment, and of re-transmitting the segment when the sending terminal has not received an acknowledgment (ACK) corresponding to the transmitted segment from a receiving terminal for a certain period of time.
In TCP, the sending terminal measures a round trip time (RTT) by using an ACK which the receiving terminal sends back in response to a segment transmitted from the sending terminal; calculates a retransmission timeout (RTO) by using the following set of formulas 1 to 4; and retransmits the segment when the sending terminal has not received an ACK from the receiving terminal before the RTO is completed (for example, refer to V. Paxon and M. Allman, "Computing TCP's Retransmission Tuner," RFC2988, November, 2000).Err=M−A  (1)A<−A+gErr  (2)D<−D+h(|Err|−D)  (3)RTO=A+4D  (4)
In the formulas 1 to 4, Err denotes a difference between an actually-measured value M and a currently estimated value of the RTT; A denotes a smoothed RTT (a smoothed mean RTT value); D denotes a smoothed mean deviation; g denotes a coefficient of the mean (usually, ⅛); and h denotes a coefficient of the mean (0.25).
Note that an RTT is calculated as follows. Specifically, when a timestamp option is used, the sending terminal calculates the RTT by using a timestamp echo. Alternatively, when the timestamp option is not used, the sending terminal stores a time of transmitting a segment firstly, and then calculates the RTT by receiving an ACK corresponding to the segment previously stored (for example, refer to "Transmission Control Protocol," RFC793, September, 1981, and V. Jacobson, R. Branden, and D. borman, "TCP Extensions for High Performance," RFC1323, May , 1992).
When an ACK has not been returned from the receiving terminal to the sending terminal during the RTO thus calculated, the segment is retransmitted. Thereafter, when the ACK is also not returned, the retransmission of the segment is repeated. In this case, the sending terminal continues retransmitting the segment with the RTO doubled each time (maximum 64 seconds), since a possible reason for the failure of receiving the ACK is that the communication status is poor, for example.
When TCP is used under a wireless environment, handover and phasing cause the wireless environment to be in a poor state. This results in bursty losses of segments, which causes an RTO. In addition, when the segment retransmitted due to an occurrence of the RTO is again lost, the sending terminal cannot retransmit the segment during a time period of the first RTO×2. As a result, the throughput is considerably lowered.
FIG. 1 shows a state in which the throughput is lowered. When an ACK is not returned for a certain period of time because a first segment is lost due to a poor state of the wireless environment, the segment is retransmitted at the first attempt in response to an occurrence of the RTO. When the receiving terminal does not receive the segment retransmitted at the first attempt, the sending terminal retransmits the segment at the second attempt after the time period of the RTO×2 elapses. When the receiving terminal does not receive the segment transmitted at the second attempt as well, the sending terminal retransmits the segment at the third attempt after the time period of the RTO×4.
In this way, the time period until the retransmission of the segment increases every time the retransmitted segment is lost. Accordingly, when the retransmitted segment is lost, the sending terminal does not retransmit the segment immediately regardless of the recovery of the wireless status of the receiving terminal. As a result, in spite of a status in which segments can be exchanged between the sending terminal and the receiving terminal, the segments are not transmitted, and thereby the throughput is lowered.
These problems can be mitigated by shortening the time period of the RTO, or by causing the RTO not to be doubled at a time of the segment retransmission. However, when the RTT varies due to a retransmission technique or the like used in a wireless link, another problem occurs that a segment is retransmitted even though the segment is not lost. In addition, there is still another problem that a wasteful retransmission is repeated when the wireless status of the receiving terminal does not recover.

Communication terminal and retransmission control method


A solenoid valve is provided that comprises a valve body having an inlet and an outlet, and a movable member for moving a valve element away from a valve seat to open the valve. The moveable member engages and moves the valve element away from the seat to an open position when the solenoid is actuated. When the solenoid is not actuated, a biasing spring moves the moveable member to disengage from the valve element, which returns to a closed position. The moveable member does not transfer any impact force to the valve element on closure of the valve member, so that the valve may be operated a significant number of cycles without failure.

Solenoid actuators are commonly used to control the flow of fluids through a valve, and may be electrically actuated. Various references have disclosed solenoid valve designs in which a moveable member is in engagement with a valve, and operates the valve between an open and a closed position. However, such valve designs are not capable of withstanding numerous cycles of the valve opening and closing due to the impact force imparted by the moveable member on the valve and valve seat. Also, the typical valve design is such that a connection of both the inlet and outlet are required, which adds to the cost and assembly time of the valve.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A DC-DC converter circuit includes a transformer with a resonate filter or snubber connected at a primary side and a switch for controlling operation of the converter. A secondary side of the transformer includes self-driven synchronous rectifiers and an output filter. Transistors are provided at the gates leads of the rectifiers and themselves are provided with a fixed voltage at their gates so as to clamp the peak voltages across to the rectifiers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention related generally to DC-DC voltage converters and, in particular, to synchronous rectifying DC voltage converters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electronic devices are generally supplied with power from a power supply unit that converts AC line power to a DC voltage. However, various components in the electronic devices may require different voltages than is supplied by the power supply. In addition, some of these components require a highly regulated voltage to operate properly. DC to DC converters are used to convert the output of the power supply unit to a different, regulated voltage.
Electronic devices which may use DC to DC converters are computers, network cards, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) cards, and the like. The DC to DC converters may be required to produce a 5 volt regulated output, or in some cases a 3 volt regulated output, 12 volt regulated output or 15 volt regulated output, for example. In a computer, the power supply unit may produce one voltage for supply to components such as disk drives while another lower voltage is required for the memory chips or processor. It is important in such applications that this lower voltage level be maintained as precisely as possibly since the logic circuitry depends upon voltage levels for accuracy. This is true even when current demands are being placed on the main power supply for instance during start-up when the disk drives are operating and drawing more power than usual.
One type of DC-DC voltage converter is known as a synchronous rectifier. The term synchronous rectifier refers to the active element, here a FET operating synchronously with a conducting state of a diode. Synchronous rectifiers are low loss devices. An example of a synchronous rectifier is shown in FIG. 1 in the configuration of a self-driven synchronous rectified forward converter. The device is self-driven by virtue of deriving the driving voltage from the secondary. A cross-connected configuration provides the self-driven aspect, as opposed to use of an external control circuit which would not be self-driven.
In FIG. 1, a DC voltage is applied at an input 10. Also at the input side of the DC-DC power converter is a transistor 12 which serves as a power switch. An inductor 14, a capacitor 16, and a pair of diodes 18 and 20 complete a resonant primary snubber circuit. This snubber circuit is connected to a primary side 22 of an isolation and step-down transformer 24. The secondary 26 of the transformer 24 includes two synchronous rectifiers 28 and 30. The rectified signal from the secondary 26 is filtered by an averaging filter made up of an inductor 32 and a capacitor 34. The node between the inductor 32 and the capacitor 34 serves as an output node to which is connected a load of the DC-DC power converter stage.
A non-synchronous construction of the circuit is also possible by replacement of the transistors or rectifiers 28 and 30 with Schottky diodes.
A problem with the foregoing circuit is that the secondary voltage from the transformer 24 appears directly across the gate-to-source of both of the rectifier elements 28 and 30. Some synchronous rectifier field effect transistors have a maximum gate voltage rating as low as 12 volts. This precludes their use in this type of circuit for all but the lowest output voltages.
Thus, in a self-driven synchronous rectifier, peak gate voltages can easily exceed the gate-source breakdown voltages of the synchronous FETs, particularly at 5 volt outputs or greater. This leads to destruction of the FET and failure of the device. Therefore, it has been required to limit the self-driven synchronous to an output voltage of 5 volts or lower.
One possible way to limit the gate voltages of the FETs is to connect Zener diodes across each of the gate-to-source leads. The Zener diodes limit the voltages but do so by conducting current when the limit voltage is met, resulting in lost energy through the Zener. Thus, this is a lossy circuit. It also results in the nominal output voltage being limited to the Zener voltage.
An alternative is to use integrated circuits to control the FETs, so that the circuit is no longer self-driven. This permits more power to be supplied by the circuit, however, the use of such IC is costly.

Active gate clamp circuit for self driven synchronous rectifiers


A carbon dioxide (CO2) separation membrane plant abnormality detection system includes: an entrance unit through which gas containing CO2 enters a plant including a CO2 separation membrane module; a separation membrane module; a permeation unit configured to discharge the gas with the relatively high CO2 concentration, which is discharged from the separation membrane module, to the outside of the plant; a residue unit configured to discharge the gas with the relatively low CO2 concentration, which is discharged from the separation membrane module, to the outside of the plant; a measurer configured to measure information; and a controller configured to determine the presence of an abnormality, wherein the controller determines whether the plant is in an abnormal situation.

Efforts are being made worldwide to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to reduce the rapid climate change caused by global warming. Accordingly, there is a growing demand for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology that can capture CO2 from exhaust gas generated by burning fossil fuels.
Conventional CCS technologies include an absorption technique in which exhaust gas is brought into contact with a chemical CO2 absorbent such as amine, ammonia, or potassium carbonate, an adsorption technique, such as pressure swing adsorption (PSA) and temperature swing adsorption (TSA) in which exhaust gas is caused to pass through an adsorbent using a difference in temperature or pressure, and a cryogenic technique in which target gas is selectively cooled and condensed using a difference in vapor pressure according to the gas species. However, such conventional CCS technologies have high energy consumption and have clear limitations in terms of the processing capacity or facility repair.
One of the newly developed CCS technologies is the CO2 separation membrane plant, which is capable of separating CO2 from exhaust gas generated from coal-fired power plants at low cost and high efficiency. The CO2 separation membrane separates and captures CO2 in the exhaust gas using a difference in size of gas molecules contained in the exhaust gas, a difference in permeation rate, and a difference in polarity of separation membrane modules.
Generally, the CO2 separation membrane plant uses a module unit which combines a separation membrane material with a support body or the like in an internal pressure vessel, causes injected gas to pass therethrough, captures CO2, and then discharges CO2 and the filtered gas. The CO2 separation membrane plant may expand facility and processing capacity in a relatively easy way by increasing the number of separation membranes or modules according to operation conditions and separation performance goals.
In addition, the CO2 separation membrane plant has advantages in that it is highly efficient in terms of energy because it does not involve phase change in the CO2 separation process, it is environmentally friendly because it does not emit harmful substances in the air and does not discharge wastewater, it is relatively easy to install a device and facility therefor because it is in the form of a module, and it is possible to expand its application, beyond the CO2 capture process, to other gas capture technical fields such as the gas refining field.
However, since the CO2 separation membrane plant is a relatively recently introduced technology, there are not many cases of application and commercialization of the CO2 separation membrane plant in actual power plants. Accordingly, there is a great need for continuous research and technology development for an efficient operation of the CO2 separation membrane plant.
As an example, in similar technical fields such as a water treatment separation membrane and a methane/nitrogen gas separation membrane which have already been commercialized, since, in order to derive suitable operation conditions according to performance of an installed separation membrane, a plant has to be test-operated and then result values have to be changed while being continuously monitored on site, there are problems in that there is an inconvenience of having to undergo many trials and errors, it is difficult to predict whether an abnormality will occur in the plant according to a change in an operation condition, and it is difficult to accurately check a spot or a time point at which an abnormal situation has occurred.
In addition, in the case of the CO2 separation membrane plant, since a response speed is higher as compared with those in the similar technical fields, it is important to rapidly detect or predict an abnormality in the separation membrane.
Therefore, in relation to a method of operating the CO2 separation membrane plant, there is a growing need for developing a method capable of detecting or predicting an abnormality so that abnormalities such as a time point at which an operation method should be changed, whether it is necessary to clean the separation membrane, and whether a separation membrane module is damaged and needs to be replaced are detected.

System for detecting an abnormality in a carbon dioxide separation membrane plant


In one aspect there is provided a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising forming gate electrodes over a semiconductor substrate, forming source/drains adjacent the gate electrodes, depositing a stress inducing layer over the gate electrodes. A laser anneal is conducted on at least the gate electrodes subsequent to depositing the stress inducing layer at a temperature of at least about 1100° C. for a period of time of at least about 300 microseconds, and the semiconductor device is subjected to a thermal anneal subsequent to conducting the laser anneal.

There exists a continuing need to improve semiconductor device performance and further scale semiconductor devices. A characteristic that limits scalability and device performance is electron and/or hole mobility (e.g., also referred to as channel mobility) throughout the channel region of transistors. As devices continue to shrink in size, the channel region also continues to shrink in size, which can limit channel mobility.
One technique that improves scaling limits and device performance is the introduction of strain into the channel region, which can improve electron and/or hole mobility. Different types of strain, including expansive strain, uniaxial tensile strain, and compressive strain, have been introduced into channel regions of various types of transistors in order to determine their effect on electron and/or hole mobility. For some devices, certain types of strain improve mobility whereas other types degrade mobility.
One process known and used to create strain within the channel region is to form a layer of strain inducing material over the gate structure. The strain inducing material is then subjected to a furnace thermal annealing process to create the strain within the channel region. While the stress induced by such processes has shown an improvement in transistor performance, further improvements in device performance may be desired, as devices continue to become even smaller.

Semiconductor device made by using a laser anneal to incorporate stress into a channel region


A grease formulation containing a thickener and a Fischer-Tropsch derived base oil, in particular a heavy or extra heavy base oil. The use of a Fischer-Tropsch oil results in an increase in thickener concentration and in improved properties such as anti-wear and copper corrosion performance. Also provided is the use of a Fischer-Tropsch derived base oil in a grease formulation, for the purpose of improving its anti-wear and/or copper corrosion performance, and/or for reducing the concentration of an additive in the formulation.

It is known to prepare industrial and automotive grease formulations by mixing a thickener, for example a soap, into a suitable base oil. The oils used for this purpose tend to be mineral-derived base oils, typically of the same type as would normally be used in oil-based lubricants.
Depending on its intended use, the properties of a grease formulation need to be carefully tailored to meet applicable specifications and/or consumer demands. It needs to have a suitable consistency, for example. Ideally it should exhibit good mechanical stability and oil separation. Good oxidation stability and cold flow properties are also desirable, as is good anti-wear performance.
Often it can be difficult to achieve all of the desired properties in a typical mineral oil-based grease formulation. In such cases, one or more additives need to be included in the formulation so as to modify its performance. The inclusion of additives does, however, significantly increase the cost of producing the formulation. It would therefore be desirable to provide a grease formulation having certain desired properties, but with lower additive levels than are currently needed to achieve those properties.
Aside from the mineral-derived base oils, it is also now known to prepare base oils via a Fischer-Tropsch condensation process. This process is a reaction which converts carbon monoxide and hydrogen into longer chain, usually paraffinic, hydrocarbons in the presence of an appropriate catalyst and typically at elevated temperatures (e.g. 125 to 300° C., preferably 175 to 250° C.) and/or pressures (e.g. 5 to 100 bar, preferably 12 to 50 bar). Hydrogen:carbon monoxide ratios other than 2:1 may be employed if desired.
The Fischer-Tropsch process can be used to prepare a range of hydrocarbon fuels, including LPG, naphtha, kerosene and gas oil fractions. The heavier fractions can yield, following hydroprocessing and vacuum distillation, a series of base oils having different distillation properties and viscosities, which are useful as lubricating base oil stocks.
The higher molecular weight, so-called "bottoms" product that remains after recovering the lubricating base oil cuts from the vacuum column is usually recycled to a hydrocracking unit for conversion into lower molecular weight products, typically being considered unsuitable for use as a lubricating base oil itself. This product is often known as an "extra heavy" base oil cut.
Fischer-Tropsch derived base oils tend to have excellent low temperature properties, for example low pour points, and relatively good oxidation stability. They are also attractive because of the relatively simple process used to make them as compared to similar oils prepared from mineral crude sources. However they also have, as a result of the catalytic processes used to prepare them, relatively low polarity. This in turn gives them a relatively low affinity (solvency) for the high polarity thickeners (for example soaps) contained in grease formulations, and means that their inclusion in grease formulations would necessitate the use of relatively high thickener concentrations in order to achieve an appropriate consistency or stiffness (penetration). High thickener concentrations tend to be seen as undesirable due to the associated increased raw material costs. It is also generally believed that too high a thickener content in a grease formulation can lead to problems when pumping the formulation, particularly at lower temperatures; it is therefore thought to be desirable to seek to reduce rather than increase thickener concentrations.
It has now surprisingly been found that when a Fischer-Tropsch derived base oil is used in a grease formulation, with correspondingly increased levels of thickener, improvements in the properties and performance of the overall formulation can result, in particular in anti-wear performance. These improvements can in many cases outweigh the potential disadvantages of the higher thickener content.
Other relatively low polarity base oils have been used in grease formulations in the past, although not without their disadvantages. For example, synthetic polyalpha-olefins (PAOs) are occasionally used as a base for greases, but their high cost makes them suitable only for special applications. So-called "XHVI" (extra high viscosity index) oils, which are highly refined and chemically treated mineral oils, are also sometimes used in grease formulations, but these oils are only available with low viscosities which again limits their potential applications.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a grease formulation which could overcome or at least mitigate the above described problems, and ideally benefit from one or more improvements in overall performance.


Four novel water soluble cholesterol derivative compounds are disclosed. These compounds have various applications in studies of membrane proteins, including drug screening and studies of receptor stability and folding. In one aspect the water soluble cholesterol derivatives disclosed may be used to replace cholesterol in micelle-solubilized membrane protein preparations.

In order to be fully functional, many cellular receptors and other membrane proteins require interactions with cholesterol within the lipid bilayer. Therefore, when reconstituting these proteins for in vitro biochemical and structural studies, it is desirable to mimic the native bilayer as closely as possible. This can be accomplished by adding the appropriate lipids and cholesterol to micelle-solubilized membrane protein preparations. One obstacle however, is that cholesterol is notoriously difficult to solubilize under the micellar conditions typically used for membrane protein solubilization. In the present invention, four novel water soluble cholesterol analogs are disclosed which have various applications in studies of membrane proteins.


A storage device includes a first memory to which data can be written a plurality of times and a second memory that includes storage elements for which electrical characteristics can be changed only once. The first memory storing first encryption key information and the second memory storing second encryption key information. A controller generated an encryption key using the first encryption key information and the second encryption key information in combination and then encrypts and decrypts data written or read from the first memory. When a host requests an encryption erase, the controller attempts to erase the first encryption key information from the first memory. If the requested erase fails, the controller erases the second encryption key information from the second nonvolatile memory.

In recent years, storage devices incorporating a nonvolatile memory have become widespread. As one of such storage device, a solid state drive (SSD) including a NAND flash memory is known.
The storage device may have a function of automatically encrypting user data to be stored (referred to as a self-encryption function in some contexts) in order to prevent leakage of data. The storage device having a self-encryption function is also called a self-encrypting drive (SED).
A SED erases information for generating the storage encryption key (encryption key generation information) according to an encryption erasure request (this is referred to as a cryptographic erase in some contexts). As a result, certain measures that might be taken to decrypt the encrypted user data is fail, and thus data leakage can be prevented.
However, in some cases, the storage encryption key generation information may not be erased due to wearing-out of the storage device. If this occurs, the encrypted user data can still be decrypted, and data leakage cannot be prevented.


An apparatus for controlling an automatic transmission of a vehicle in the absence of a driving mode signal indicating a driving mode of the vehicle, includes monitoring means for monitoring output from a driving mode sensor; determining means for determining whether a driving mode signal has been received from the driving mode sensor based on the monitoring; sensing means for sensing a direction in which the vehicle is traveling; transmission control means placing the automatic transmission in first gear when the determining means determines that a driving mode signal has not been received, and for controlling the automatic transmission such that the vehicle continues to travel in the detected direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method and apparatus for controlling an automatic transmission in the absence of a driving mode signal from a driving mode sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicles equipped with an automatic transmission typically have several driving modes. Those driving modes generally include park (P), reverse (R), neutral (N), drive (D), and lower speed ranges. The vehicle is equipped with a driving mode select lever by which a driver can select one of the driving modes P, R, N, D, etc. A driving mode sensor generates a signal indicating which of the driving modes the vehicle operator has selected. For example, a potentiometer can serve as the driving mode sensor, wherein the resistance changes as the driving mode select lever changes position.
As the driving mode select lever is moved from one driving mode to the other, the driving mode sensor outputs a signal indicating each driving mode. For instance, as the driving mode select lever is moved from park to drive, the driving mode sensor indicates the driving modes of park, reverse, neutral, and then drive. The driving mode sensor, however, can become damaged or malfunction. As a result, the driving mode sensor may fail to output a signal indicating a particular driving mode, may simultaneously output signals indicating two different driving modes, or may fail to output any type of driving signal at all.
The transmission control unit (TCU) of conventional automatic transmissions include methodologies for determining the driving mode when such driving mode sensor errors occur. When the conventional TCU fails to receive driving mode signals indicating driving modes between the driving modes indicated by two sequentially received driving mode signals, the conventional TCU determines the driving mode as the driving mode indicated by the last received driving mode signal. For instance, if the conventional TCU receives a driving mode signal indicating park and then a driving mode signal indicating drive without having received driving signals indicating reverse and neutral before the driving signal indicating drive, then the conventional TCU determines that the driving mode is drive.
If the conventional TCU receives a driving mode signal, and thereafter receives no driving mode signal or receives two different driving mode signals simultaneously, then the conventional TCU will select as the driving mode, the driving mode indicated by the previously received driving mode signal. For instance, if the conventional TCU receives a driving mode signal indicating park, and then receives no driving mode signal, or receives driving mode signals indicating neutral and drive simultaneously, then the conventional TCU selects park as the driving mode.
Furthermore, if after starting the vehicle, the conventional TCU receives no driving mode signal, then the conventional TCU selects neutral as the driving mode. Unfortunately, once the driver starts the vehicle, the driver typically moves the driving mode select lever to either reverse or drive. Because of gravity, the vehicle often tends to begin moving in the direction corresponding to the selected driving mode. Thereafter, the driver depresses the accelerator pedal. Because the conventional TCU selects neutral when no driving mode signal is received, the engine merely revs up. This can be very disconcerting to the driver.

Method and apparatus for controlling an automatic transmission in the absence of a driving mode signal from a driving mode sensor


A search system generates an index for databases by generatively sampling the databases and uses that index to identify and formulate queries for searching the databases. The generated index is referred to as a domain-attribute index and contains a domain-level index and site-level indexes. A site-level index for a database maps site attributes to distinct attribute values within the database. The domain-level index for a domain maps attribute values to database and site attribute pairs that contain those attribute values. To generate a site-level index for a database within a certain domain, the search system starts out with an initial set of the sample data for that domain. The search system generates sampling queries based on the sample data and submits the sampling queries to a database. The search system updates the site-level index based on the sampling results and uses the results to generate more sampling queries.

The World Wide Web ("web") provides a vast amount of information that is accessible via web pages. Web pages can contain either static content or dynamic content. Static content refers generally to information that may stay the same across many accesses of a web page. Dynamic content refers generally to information that is stored in a web database and is added to a web page in response to a search request. Dynamic content represents what has been referred to as the deep web or hidden web.
Many search engine services allow users to search for static content of the web. After a user submits a search request or query that includes search terms, the search engine service identifies web pages that may be related to those search terms. These web pages are the search result. To quickly identify related web pages, the search engine services may maintain a mapping of keywords to web pages. This mapping may be generated by "crawling" the web to identify the keywords of each web page. To crawl the web, a search engine service may use a list of root web pages to identify all web pages that are accessible through those root web pages. The keywords of any particular web page can be identified using various well-known information retrieval techniques, such as identifying the words of a headline, the words supplied in the metadata of the web page, the words that are highlighted, and so on.
These search engine services, however, do not in general provide for searching of dynamic content, which is also considered noncrawlable content. One problem with searching of dynamic content is that the content of the web databases cannot be effectively retrieved and indexed for several reasons. One reason is that the content of multiple web databases may be too large to retrieve and index. Another reason is that the schema of web databases are hidden behind the search interface, that is, only the attributes of the search web page (and result web page) are exposed to a user. Another problem with searching of dynamic content is that the generated index would need to support both unstructured and structured queries. An unstructured query is a list of search terms that are generally used when searching for documents. For example, an unstructured query may be "Harry Potter Rowling." A structured query is a list of attributes and attribute values that are generally used when searching a database. For example, a structured query may be "title=Harry Potter and author=Rowling."
Considerable research has been conducted into developing a "metasearcher" that provides searching across multiple web databases. When the metasearcher receives a query, it selects the web databases that most likely contain relevant content, referred to as "source selection." The metasearcher then translates the query into a suitable format for each of the identified web databases, referred to as "query translation." For example, the metasearcher would need to understand how to map the attributes of the metasearcher's queries into site attributes of each selected web database. For example, the metasearcher may use an attribute named "format" to refer to the medium (e.g., paperback or hardback) of a book, whereas a web database may use an attribute named "type" to refer to the same data. Query translation needs to map the format attribute of the metasearcher to the type attribute of the web database. The metasearcher sends the translated queries to the selected web databases, referred to as "dispatching." When the metasearcher receives the results of the searches, it integrates them into an overall result, referred to as "result integration."
It would be desirable to have a technique for efficiently generating indexes for web databases that would allow for effective searching using both unstructured and structured queries.

Method and system for indexing and searching databases


The present invention is implemented within a distributed network operating environment (such as a CDN) in which content providers offload given content for delivery from servers (e.g., CDN edge servers) managed by a service provider (such as a CDN operator). It is assumed that the given content is secured using a digital rights management (DRM) scheme. According to the invention, a distributed set of license server processes are provided to manage the issuance of content licenses. Each of the license server processes is operative to generate licenses by which a given end user client obtains given rights for given content, typically the content served from the machine. A distributed set of license server processes operates in a de-centralized manner and without access to third party business logic (e.g., a payment mechanism) or authentication information associated with end users requesting the given content.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to techniques for content delivery.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known in the art for a content provider to outsource its content delivery requirements to a content delivery network (a "CDN"). A content delivery network is a collection of content servers and associated control mechanisms that offload work from Web site origin servers by delivering content on their behalf to end users. A well-managed CDN achieves this goal by serving some or all of the contents of a site's Web pages, thereby reducing the customer's infrastructure costs while enhancing an end user's browsing experience from the site. For optimal performance, the CDN service provider may maintain an objective, detailed, real-time view of the Internet's topology, reliability, and latency, and this view may then be used to power a dynamic DNS-based system to direct end users to the best CDN server to handle a particular request.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) refers to the technology used for the protection of digital media content, typically audio or audiovisual works. DRM works by encrypting the content before distribution, and by limiting access to only those end-users who have acquired a proper license to play the content. The DRM license enforcement is done at the player/client, and therefore, the integrity of the client-side (of DRM) is critical for the scheme to work. Microsoft, Real and Apple have developed proprietary DRM technologies for their audio and audiovisual content distribution. Apple's DRM technology is used in its iTunes music service. Microsoft and Real Networks support DRM protection for both on-demand and live media content. There are some standardization efforts around DRM (MPEG4/ISMA and Open Mobile Alliance), but these standards are still in the specification stage.
An end-to-end DRM system typically comprises three (3) parts: encryption, business-logic and license-delivery. DRM starts with the encryption of the content. Once the content is encrypted, a key is required to unlock the content. The encrypted content can be delivered through any number of delivery methods: HTTP, streaming, FTP, P2P, email, or the like. An end-user who desires to play the content visits an e-commerce web site and transacts with the business-logic process, usually involving one of registration, login, and/or payment; once this is done, the end-user is issued a license to play the content. The issued license typically comprises (i) a key (for decrypting the content), (ii) a set of rights (e.g. play exactly once, play for 30 days, or the like), and (iii) with the property that the license is valid only on the end-user machine to which it is issued. When an end-user attempts to play the DRM protected content, the player first checks the license cache on the machine, and if a license is found, the playback starts by decrypting the content. If a license is not found, the player attempts to get a license, typically from the storefront URL that is embedded in the content. Ultimately, it is the player/client that enforces the DRM. In a typical DRM scenario, a media file (e.g., a stream) is encrypted by a packager component using a key. Alternatively, the stream can be encrypted on the fly by an encoder. A streaming Server serves the encrypted stream to an end user browser's media player. As noted above, the player needs to get a license (which includes the key) from a license server to decrypt and play the content.
In the past, administration and management of the DRM license keys has taken place in a centralized manner, primarily to address security issues. It would highly desirable to be able to leverage the distributed nature of a content delivery network to facilitate a distributed (non-centralized) license delivery infrastructure. This present invention addresses this need.

Digital rights management in a distributed network


The present invention is a process for recovering hydrogen from dilute refinery off gases using a vacuum swing adsorption process having a simultaneous cocurrent depressurization to provide purge gas for another bed under the influence of a vacuum and countercurrent depressurization to vent void space gas and/or adsorbed gas to ambient.

It is currently not economical to remove hydrogen from low pressure (<125 psig), low concentration streams present in oil refinery applications. The currently practiced process for using such streams is to blend them with natural gas to burn and recover the heating value from the hydrogen present. There are several current alternative methods for hydrogen generation in such a situation. Steam methane reformer generation of hydrogen has high capital and energy costs relative to the proposed process based on economic evaluation at 25 MMSCFD hydrogen production. Thus, steam methane reformer hydrogen generation applicability is limited to very large systems. Adsorption based purification of these lower pressure hydrogen streams with current technology is not effective since the resulting recoveries and product purities are extremely low. Recent adsorption process patents report only 76% recovery of only a 75% pure hydrogen product, starting with a 52% hydrogen feed.
Semipermeable membrane based purification of comparable purity low pressure feed streams would have prohibitively high compression costs, since so much of the feed is waste gas. Also, membrane based systems have very high capital costs associated with medium-to-large scale operation so they would not be suitable for the applications addressed by the current adsorption based process. Thus, there is a need for a low cost process for hydrogen recovery from low grade waste streams to meet the medium-to-large hydrogen demands in oil refineries and other similar environments.
Recent changes in environmental regulations in association with the Clean Air Act have forced liquid fuel producers to acquire more hydrogen to process crude oil into more clean burning fuel formulations. This increased hydrogen demand must be met by new sources in oil refinery and similar environments so a greater need for new methods of hydrogen purification of production now exists.
U.K. Patent 2,154,465 discloses a vacuum swing adsorption process for recovering hydrogen in waste gas obtained in petrochemical plants. The vacuum swing adsorption process described is conducted through a series of stages, including adsorption, simultaneous cocurrent depressurization to provide pressure equalization gas while countercurrently venting, providing purge to an evacuated bed, evacuation, purge under vacuum, product repressurization, and pressure equalization. The patented process has discontinuous feed, while the dual end step provides equalization gas and rejects waste. The patent also uses product repressurization before a final bed-to-bed equalization. The result of this process is that with a feed of 52% hydrogen, 42% nitrogen, 5% carbon monoxide and 1% carbon dioxide, the resulting hydrogen product is only 75% pure at a recovery of only 76%.
U.K. Patent 2,155,805 discloses a vacuum swing adsorption process for recovering hydrogen from flue gases from petrochemical plants, reduction furnaces and annealing furnaces. This patent uses a similar cycle sequence to the above U.K. patent, but includes a feed gas and product gas repressurization step. The patent describes a cocurrent depressurization to provide pressure equalization gas while simultaneously countercurrently venting the appropriate adsorption bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,499 describes a hydrogen pressure swing adsorption process in which cocurrent depressurization of the bed is made to a separate reservoir which supplies purge gas for other beds. The cocurrent depressurization is conducted while performing a countercurrent vent of the former bed. However, purging of a bed supplied with gas from the separate reservoir is not conducted at the same time as the cocurrent depressurization and countercurrent vent.
Additional references of interest in the field of pressure swing adsorption include U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,712; U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,935; U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,888; U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,501; U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,377; U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,710 and U.K. 2,237,220.
The shortcomings of the prior art are overcome by the present invention which provides a unique solution to the problem of high recovery and high purity hydrogen from low pressure, low purity hydrogen-containing gas streams, such as refinery off gases, as will be set forth in greater detail below.

Adsorption process to recover hydrogen from low pressure feeds


A positive photoresist composition comprising an alkali-soluble novolak resin (A) containing a structural unit (a1) represented by a general formula (I) shown below, and a structural unit (a2) represented by a general formula (II) shown below, and a photosensitizer (B)

In recent years, as the size of electronic equipment has reduced, increases in the level of LSI integration and the shift to ASICs has progressed rapidly, and multiple pin thin film mounting is now demanded for installing LSIs in electronic equipment, and as a result, bare chip mounting using TAB methods and flip chip methods is attracting considerable attention. In such multiple pin mounting methods, connection terminals known as bumps, which are actually projection electrodes with a height of at least 20 μm, must be arranged on the substrate with a high level of precision, and as LSIs are further miniaturized in the future, even greater levels of precision will be needed in positioning these bumps.
Furthermore, in order to aid the formation of these connection terminals, a second wiring step may be conducted for forming the wiring between the chip and the connection terminals.
Photoresists are used for forming the above connection terminals and wiring. In order to be usable within this type of application, a photoresist must be capable of forming a thick film with a thickness of at least 5 μm, for example from 5 to 20 μm, on top of the substrate. Furthermore, the photoresist must also display good adhesion to the substrate, good plating solution resistance and favorable wetting characteristics relative to the plating solution during the plating process used for forming the connection terminals and wiring, and easy removal by a stripping solution following completion of the plating process.
Furthermore, as LSIs reach even higher levels of integration, meaning the connection terminals and wiring that must be formed become even smaller, and the pitch between terminals must become even narrower, photoresists that are capable of forming space patterns with high resolution and good perpendicularity of the resist pattern side walls are becoming increasingly necessary.
As such photoresists, positive photoresist compositions comprising mainly an alkali-soluble novolak resin, and a quinonediazide group containing compound as a photosensitizer, are currently the most widely used.
However, when these types of positive photoresist compositions are used for forming a resist pattern, and a plating treatment such as gold plating is then performed to form the connection terminals and wiring pattern (the plating pattern), a problem arises in that the resist pattern develops cracks.
Because the generation of these types of cracks can cause shape abnormalities within the formed plating pattern, methods have been proposed for suppressing the generation of cracks by adding a plasticizer such as an acrylic resin to the positive photoresist composition. For example, patent reference 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-258479) discloses a positive photoresist composition for forming thick films, comprising an alkali-soluble novolak resin, a quinonediazide group containing compound, and an alkali-soluble acrylic resin as a plasticizer.
However, when a positive photoresist composition containing an added plasticizer is used, a variety of problems arise, including a reduction in resolution, and pattern broadening wherein the dimensions of the resist pattern following the plating process, that is, the dimensions of the plating pattern produced, are larger than the dimensions of the resist pattern immediately following developing.
An object of the present invention is to provide a positive photoresist composition capable of improving pattern broadening, and capable of forming a resist pattern with excellent resolution and good suppression of crack generation during plating, as well as a method of forming a resist pattern using such a positive photoresist composition.

Positive photoresist composition and method of forming resist pattern


An encoding circuit for a semiconductor apparatus and a redundancy control circuit using the same, in which a multiplicity of external signals are coupled to a precharge node in common to output a predetermined encoding signal. According to the encoding circuit, it is possible to reduce an area occupied by the encoding circuit and advantageously to prevent a time delay effect from the supply of the external signals to the generation of the encoding signal. Further, it is possible to lessen the generation of glitch signals due to delays in generating global redundancy signals of a redundancy circuit, so that the performance of the semiconductor apparatus can be improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an encoding circuit and a redundancy control circuit using the same, and specifically, to an encoding circuit for generating a global signal from encoding a local repair signal provided by a redundancy block.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In general, a semiconductor device includes a multiplicity of redundancy blocks in order to improve a yield thereof. A specific redundancy block becomes active in accordance with an address and input/output (I/O) signal to be repaired. During this, it needs a global repair signal to represent an activation of a repair mode in a chip operation. Such a global repair signal is generated by encoding local repair signals, supplied by each repair block.
FIG. 1 illustrates an encoding circuit within a conventional redundancy circuit.
Referring to FIG. 1, the encoding circuit includes first through sixteenth NOR gates NO1 to NO16 for outputting first through sixteenth logic signals respectively in response to two local repair signals among first through thirty-second local repair signals REP<0:31>, first through eighth NAND gates NA1 to NA8 receiving the first through sixteenth logic signals outputted from the NOR gates NO1 to NO16, wherein each NAND gate receives two logic signals among the first through sixteenth logic signals, seventeenth through twentieth NOR gates NO17 to NO20 receiving output signals of the first to eighth NAND gates NA1 to NA8, wherein each NOR gate receives two logic signals among the output signals of the NAND gates NA1 to NA8, ninth and tenth NAND gates NA9 and NA10 receiving output signals of the NOR gates NO17 to NO20, wherein each NAND gate receives two logic signals among the output signals of the NOR gates NO17 to NO20, and a twenty-first NOR gate NO21 and an inverter I1 that generates a global repair signal REDGEN by receiving an output signals of the NAND gates NA9 and NA10.
In the encoding circuit shown in FIG. 1, when one of the first through thirty-second local repair signals REP<0:31> is logically high at least, the global repair signal is set to high to inform that a redundancy operation is being carried out in a chip.
However, as a size of the encoding circuit block conventionally used is very large, the encoding circuit block occupies a large portion in a chip. Especially, when the number of local repair signals is increased as the number of redundancy blocks is increased, an area for the encoding circuit may be non-linearly and sharply expanded. Moreover, since it is required that the local repair signals have to be passed to logic gates for five time of logic combination in order to generate the global repair signal, a time delay about 3 ns is consumed until the generation of the global repair signal from the supply of the local repair signals in the conventional encoding circuit, which is disadvantageous to enhancing the processing speed of the redundancy operation. As a result, there is a problem of inducing glitch signals in generating I/O signals.

Encoding circuit for semiconductor device and redundancy control circuit using the same