A CVD method is to form a silicon nitride film on a target substrate (W). The method includes heating the substrate (W) accommodated in a process container (8), at a process temperature, and supplying a process gas including hexaethylamino-disilane gas and ammonia gas onto the substrate (W) heated at the process temperature, thereby depositing a silicon nitride film on the substrate (W).

Semiconductor devices include insulating films made of a material, such as SiO2, PSG (Phospho Silicate Glass), P(plasma)-SiO, P(plasma)-SiN, SOG (Spin On Glass), Si3N4 (silicon nitride), etc.
For example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 11-172439 discloses a method of forming a silicon oxide film or silicon nitride film on the surface of a semiconductor wafer by thermal CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition). In such thermal CVD, a silane family gas, such as monosilane (SiH4), dichlorosilane (SiH2Cl2), hexachlorodisilane (Si2Cl6), or bistertialbutylamino-silane (BTBAS), is used as a silicon-containing gas.
Specifically, for example, where a silicon oxide film is deposited, such a gas combination is used, as SiH4+N2O, SiH2Cl2+N2O, or TEOS (tetraethyl-orthosilicate)+O2. Where a silicon nitride film is deposited, such a gas combination is used, as SiH2Cl2+NH3, or Si2Cl6+NH3.
As described later, however, the present inventors have found that an insulating film formed by conventional film-formation methods of this kind causes a problem in a cleaning process subsequently performed. Specifically, where a lower process temperature of film-formation is used in conventional film-formation methods, the etching rate of an insulating film becomes higher, thereby bringing about lower controllability in the film thickness in the cleaning process subsequently performed.

Method of CVD for forming silicon nitride film on substrate


A method (of operating an end node) includes: wirelessly receiving an instance of a non-hopping beacon signal, B, periodically-transmitted from a central node; interpreting a frequency-block hopping guide (FBHG) according to FN(i) and IDCN thereby to determine a corresponding set, CSET(i), of at least two channels available to the end node for transmission, respectively, during frame FN(i); selecting, at least pseudo-randomly, at least one channel amongst the set CSET(i); and wirelessly transmitting at least one message from the end node using the at least one selected channel, respectively. Each instance B(i) includes: a corresponding frame number, FN(i); and an identification, IDCN, of the central node. The FBHG establishes: a total of L frames; a set of channels CSET for each frame, respectively; and that, for any two consecutive ones of the L frames, FN(j) and FN(j+1), the corresponding sets CSET(j) and CSET(j+1) will be different, CSET(j)≠CSET(j+1).

Circa 2009, the Internet was in a stage of its evolution in which the backbone (routers and servers) was connected to fringe nodes formed primarily by personal computers. At that time, Kevin Ashton (among others) looked ahead to the next stage in the Internet's evolution, which he described as the Internet of Things ("IoT"). In his article, "That 'Internet of Things' Thing," RFID Journal, Jul. 22, 2009, he describes the circa-2009-Internet as almost wholly dependent upon human interaction, i.e., he asserts that nearly all of the data then available on the internet was generated by data-capture/data-creation chains of events each of which included human interaction, e.g., typing, pressing a record button, taking a digital picture, or scanning a bar code. In the evolution of the Internet, such dependence upon human interaction as a link in each chain of data-capture and/or data-generation is a bottleneck. To deal with the bottleneck, Ashton suggested adapting internet-connected computers by providing them with data-capture and/or data-generation capability, thereby eliminating human interaction from a substantial portion of the data-capture/data-creation chains of events.
In the context of the IoT, a thing can be a natural or man-made object to which is assigned a unique ID/address and which is configured with the ability to capture and/or create data and transfer that data over a network. Relative to the IoT, a thing can be, e.g., a person with a heart monitor implant, a farm animal with a biochip transponder, an automobile that has built-in sensors to alert the driver when tire pressure is low, field operation devices that assist fire-fighters in search and rescue, personal biometric monitors woven into clothing that interact with thermostat systems and lighting systems to control HVAC and illumination conditions in a room continuously and imperceptibly, a refrigerator that is "aware" of its suitably tagged contents that can both plan a variety of menus from the food actually present therein and warn users of stale or spoiled food, etc.
In the post-2009 evolution of the Internet towards the IoT, a segment that has experienced major growth is that of small, inexpensive, networked processing devices, distributed at all scales throughout everyday life. Of those, many are configured for everyday/commonplace purposes. For the IoT, the fringe nodes will be comprised substantially of such small devices.
Within the small-device segment, the sub-segment that has the greatest growth potential is embedded, low-power, wireless devices. Examples of low-power, low-bandwidth wireless networks include those compliant with the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, the "Zigbee protocol," the 6LoWPAN standard, the LoRaWAN standard (as standardized by the LoRa™ Alliance), etc. Such networks are described as comprising the Wireless Embedded Internet ("WET"), which is a subset of IoT.
Most of the WET operates in portions of the RF spectrum that are unlicensed by a government's regulatory authority. Examples of unlicensed spectrums include the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands reserved internationally for the use of radio frequency (RF) energy for industrial, scientific and medical purposes other than telecommunications, e.g., as regulated in the U.S.A. by FCC Part 15, with such regulations including requirements/constraints on frequency hopping, etc. An example of a telecommunications technique used in the 915 MHz ISM band is the LoRa™ modulation format that is included in the LoRaWAN standard. The LoRa™ modulation format can be described as a frequency modulated ("FM") chirp that is based on the generation of a stable chirp using a fractional-N ("fracN") phase-locked loop ("PLL"). Core LoRa™ technology is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,791,415, which is assigned to Semtech™ Corporation. It is noted that the LoRa™ modulation format does not itself describe system functionality above the physical layer, i.e., above the RF medium.
It was assumed that Moore's law would advance computing and communication capabilities so rapidly that soon any embedded device could implement IP protocols, even the embedded, low-power, wireless devices of the WET. Alas, this has not proven true for cheap, low-power microcontrollers and low-power wireless radio technologies. The vast majority of simple embedded devices still make use of 8-bit and 16-bit microcontrollers with very limited memory because they are low-power, small and cheap.
For operation in the unlicensed spectrum, there are two conventional hopping schemes. It is assumed that a maximum of Q channels can be used for uplink (transmission from an end node to a central node).
In the first conventional hopping scheme, there is no hopping synchronization between the central node and the end nodes. Accordingly, the first conventional hopping scheme can be described as a zero hopping-synchronization scheme. For the first conventional hopping scheme, because the central node does not know over which of the Q uplink channels the end nodes will transmit uplink messages, the central node must listen for a transmission on each of the Q uplink channels during each frame. Arrangements in which 'all-channel listening' has been implemented include: an all-physical arrangement in which the central node is provided with Q physical receivers so that the central node can listen concurrently on all Q uplink channels; and a partly-physical/partly-virtual arrangement in which the central node is provided with X physical receivers, where X is an integer and 1≦X≦Q. Under either arrangement, there is zero hopping synchronization,
Under the partly-physical/partly-virtual arrangement, the central node is provided with a buffer to record all transmissions (if any) with a given frame. Each of the X physical receivers is allotted a fraction Q/X of the Q uplink channels. For a given frame and for each of the X physical receivers, the following process is iterated over d where d is an integer and 0≦d≦(Q/X−1): a given physical receiver is tuned to one of the channels CH(d) in its allotment of Q/N uplink channels and then listens the corresponding recording for a transmission on CH(d). Under the case where where X=1, the allotment is Q/X=Q such that the iterative process is iterated Q times.
In the second conventional hopping scheme: it is further assumed that there are V end nodes, where V is an integer and 2≦V. Accordingly, for the second conventional hopping scheme, the central node is provided with V receivers because there are V end nodes such that there is one receiver for each end node. To ensure synchronization for the second hopping scheme, each of the V pairings of the central node with one of the V end nodes is provided with its own hopping plan, respectively, such that there are V distinct hopping plans. The second conventional hopping scheme can be described as a complete hopping-synchronization scheme.


A half-duplex radio communication method, a program and a system enabling multicasting, for example, in an emergency for radio communication terminals belonging to different carrier systems if they meet designated condition while saving an operator the bother of inputting destinations. After accepting an application for emergency multicasting, a CUG server requests a presence server to search for data of radio communication terminals meeting the positional condition designated by a sender and receives the data. In this operation, the CUG server searches a present state table in the presence server, picks up user information of the radio communication terminals as the destinations of the emergency multicasts, based on the positional information. Then, a CUG is formed based on the picked up user information and registered as the CUG for the emergency multicasting.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a half-duplex radio communication method, a program and a system for establishing half-duplex radio communication between radio communication terminals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional half-duplex radio communication system is comprised of carrier systems (communication control systems) managed by carriers, connected with each other. Each carrier system is provided with a CUG (Closed User Group) server.
For the establishment of half-duplex radio communication, a user needs a previous member entry from a PC (Personal Computer) or the like, and a CUG of radio communication terminals belonging to a carrier system is registered with the CUG server. After the registration of the CUG, half-duplex radio communication becomes possible within the CUG.
As the prior art of the carrier system, the Japanese Patent Application laid open No. 2000-244508 discloses a system in which an operator inputs information to a user interface part, and a node information database maintains the information on connected nodes with a CUG number as a key. Then, the entries in a routing table of all nodes corresponding to the CUG and the nodes to which the additional members are connected are set based on the CUG number, member information and node information.
However, in the conventional half-duplex radio communication system described above, the user interfaces and the operating procedures to perform the functions differ depending on the respective carrier systems. Further, an access to a CUG between different carrier systems is not generally allowed from a point of view of privacy protection, and therefore, it is not possible to establish radio communication between different carrier systems.
As a result, there has been a problem in that even if, for example, the police station or the fire station tries to perform emergency multicasting, it is not possible to send emergency multicasts to the systems of different carriers.
Besides, although the system disclosed in the patent application described above spares an operator the trouble of correcting and setting routing information, the operator needs to input, from the user interface part, information on members to be added to the CUG and the like. Further, the system still has the problem described above.

Half-duplex radio communication method, program and system thereof


A method and computer readable product for managing data, the method includes: providing a first data structure representative of insert or update operations to entries identified by keys and providing a second data structure representative of branch creation operations wherein the second data structure stores branch identifiers and branch timing information; receiving a request to lookup a version of data at a read timestamp; scanning the first and the second data structures to locate that version of data; and receiving a request to create a branch that starts by a version of data at a requested timestamp and updating the second data structure accordingly.

Data can evolve over time. In many applications there is a need to retrieve a previous version of data. One solution is continuous data protection (CDP). U.S. patent application publication serial number 2005/0066118 of Perry et al., and U.S. patent application publication serial number 2005/0193272, all being incorporated herein by reference, describe prior art devices and method for continuous data protection.
Various data structures were suggested for tracking the evolution of data over time. The following articles, both being incorporated herein by reference, illustrates two data structures known as the BT-tree and the BTR-Tree: "The BT-Tree: A Branched and Temporal Access Method", Jiang, Salzberg, Lomet, Barrena, Proceedings of the 26th VLDB Conference, 2000; "The BTR-Tree: Path-Defined Version-Range Splitting in a Branched and Temporal Structure", Jiang, Salzberg, Lomet, Barrena, Symposium for Advances in Spatial and Temporal Databases, 2003.
These branched temporal indexes can be maintained if certain assumptions are fulfilled. According to a first assumption entries of the branch temporal indexes are inserted in order of increasing timestamp.
In addition, these data structures are non-standard and the update of these structures can be relatively complex and involve duplicating data and even metadata. In addition the maintenance of these data structures may require reference counters.
The following U.S patent applications and U.S. patents, all being incorporated herein by reference, also describe various methods for managing data: U.S. patent application publication serial number 2005/0066222 of Rowan et al., U.S. patent application publication serial number 2005/0076262 of Rowan et al., U.S. patent application publication serial number 2005/0065962 of Rowan et al.; U.S. patent application publication serial number 2005/0063374 of Rowan et al.; U.S. patent application publication serial number 2005/0076264 of Rowan et al.; U.S. patent application publication serial number 2005/0066225 of Rowan et al.; U.S. patent application publication serial number 2005/0076261 of Rowan et al.; U.S. patent application publication serial number 2005/0066118 of Perry el at., and U.S. patent application publication serial number 2005/0071379 of Kekre et al.
There is a growing need to provide devices, computer program products and methods that will enable one to manage data.

System, method and computer program product for managing data

International Business Machines Corporation


Apparatus and method are disclosed for monitoring catalytic converter efficiency in treating exhaust gas, for example from an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle. In a dual closed loop fuel control system having switch-type exhaust gas oxygen (EGO) sensors located upstream and downstream of the catalytic converter, the number of times the downstream EGO sensor switches from rich to lean and/or visa versa is compared to the number of times the upstream EGO sensor switches during normal system operation over the course of a test period. A catalytic converter efficiency value is determined by calculating the ratio of the switching frequencies. The impact of the speed and load dependence of the downstream EGO sensor switching frequency can be reduced by a normalizing effect of the frequency ratio calculation. The efficiency value is compared to a stored value predetermined to correspond to a minimum acceptable efficiency of the catalytic converter. A failure signal can be generated when the efficiency value indicates catalytic converter efficiency below the minimum acceptable level.

It is known that the efficiency or efficacy of a catalytic converter treating the exhaust gas of an engine is significantly effected by the ratio of air to fuel supplied to the engine. At stoichiometric ratio, catalytic conversion efficiency is high for both oxidation and reduction conversions. The air/fuel stoichiometric ratio is defined as the ratio of air to fuel which in perfect combustion would yield complete consumption of the fuel. The air/fuel ratio LAMBDA of an air/fuel mixture is the ratio of (a) the amount by weight of air divided by the amount by weight of fuel actually being fed to the engine at a point in time, to (b) the air/fuel stoichiometric ratio. Closed loop fuel control systems are known for use in keeping the air/fuel ratio in a narrow range about the stoichiometric ratio, known as a conversion window. Closed loop fuel control systems are known utilizing one EGO sensor located before and one after the catalytic converter to maintain the air/fuel ratio inside the conversion window.
It is also known that the efficiency or efficacy of catalytic conversion is affected by the oxygen storage capability of the catalytic converter. A properly operating catalytic converter dampens oxygen concentration fluctuations in the exhaust stream. A system for testing catalytic converter efficiency proposed in SAE paper No. 900062, Detection of Catalyst Performance Using On-Board Diagnostics, employs two exhaust gas oxygen ("EGO") sensors, one upstream and one downstream of the catalytic converter, to detect oxygen content in the exhaust gas. The system employs test signals in the form of an air/fuel ratio swing on both sides of stoichiometry at predetermined rates or frequencies caused by fuel control system perturbations. By comparing the change in response patterns between the upstream and downstream EGO sensors, a determination can be made about catalytic converter efficacy.
A method is needed for accurately and reliably determining catalytic converter efficiency, especially in an on-board system, preferably a method which is suitable for incorporation into an overall fuel control system for the engine.

Apparatus and method of on-board catalytic converter efficiency monitoring


Provided is an optical pickup device and a method of aligning a twin-light source in an optical disc drive. The method operates two light emitting chips in the light source simultaneously to cause two laser beams to be transmitted through a grating element at the same time. Location errors and rotation errors of the two light emitting chips with respect to the grating element may be corrected while monitoring the laser beams transmitted through the grating element.

1. Field
The following description relates to an optical pickup device and a method of aligning light sources in an optical disc drive, and more particularly, to a grating element in an optical pickup device having a light source for multiple types of media discs.
2. Description of Related Art
In an optical pickup device, a path of a light beam from a light source and a path of a light beam reflected from a disc often overlap with each other in some section. As well known in the art, the paths overlap with each other within a section from a disc to a beam splitter, and the beam splitter splits the paths into the beam from the light source and the beam from the disc. The beam splitter causes the beam from the light source to proceed toward the disc, and causes the beam reflected from the disc to proceed toward a photodetector.
In a typical optical pickup device, a grating element is used to convert a light beam from the light source into multiple beams such as three beams. The grating element refracts a source beam from the light source to form the three beams. From among the three beams, refracted beams at opposite sides of a center beam are arranged with constant intervals. Here, the center beam is not refracted. In order to read and write to the disc, the three beams should be aligned with respect to a running track on which a laser beam is directed towards.
To align the beams, the light source and the grating element need to be arranged accurately in the optical pickup device. This arrangement is typically performed during a manufacturing processes of the optical pickup device. The arrangement is critical in an optical pickup device corresponding to multi-media, for example, an optical pickup device generating laser beams for multi-media using a single light source. An example of a multi-media light source is a twin light source that generates a laser beam for a compact disc (CD) and generates a laser beam for a digital versatile disc (DVD). The two laser beams are typically generated by separate laser chips provided in one light source.
In an optical pickup device using the twin light source, a grating element and the light source are arranged such that an intermediate location between the DVD chip and the CD chip is matched to an optical path that passes through the optical center of the grating element. When performing the alignment, relative locations and postures of the grating element and the light source are adjusted while monitoring a laser beam emitted toward an objective lens via an imaging device such as a charge-coupled device (CCD). Conventionally, only one light emitting chip, for example, the DVD chip, is aligned. This often results in a misalignment of the CD chip that is offset from the DVD chip. The misalignment denotes that an extension line between the CD chip and the DVD chip is not correctly aligned in a direction of a polarization axis of a grating element. Such a misalignment is an alignment error (hereinafter, a rotation error or a radial error) in a radial direction surrounding an optical center axis of the grating element. The rotation error needs to be corrected during manufacturing the optical pickup device.
However, because the alignment process is performed in a state where an electric current is applied to only one light emitting chip, for example, the DVD chip, only the laser beam for DVD is aligned. Accordingly, the rotation error of the extension line between the DVD chip and the CD chip may not be accurately corrected.

Method of aligning light sources in an optical pickup device, and optical pickup and optical disc drive employing the method

Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Korea Corporation


An internal combustion engine purging system cleans out deposits of carbon and other substances that accumulate over time in the fuel system by delivering a mixture of fuel and cleaning solution into the fuel intake ports while the engine is running, so that the engine pulls the mixture through the carburetor jets or injectors. This purging system is characterized by its virtual universal application with substantially any commercially produced gasoline or diesel engine. It is in part comprised of two separate but overlapping systems, one for gasoline and one for diesel, which are selectable by the operator. Engines as small as a lawnmower and as large as a locomotive diesel can be purged by the system due to a combination of a high-capacity diesel pump motor which can deliver two gallons of fuel per minute at a pressure of 50 pounds per square inch, and a flow control system which can meet the needs of substantially any engine in terms of the flow rate and pressure of the fuel that it requires for its fuel intake, and a separate gasoline pump.

The purging or scrubbing of the fuel intake passageways of internal combustion engines by means of introducing fuel mixed with solvent into the fuel intake is not new. It has been appreciated for years that this technique avoids the expensive proposition of dismantling the engine to clean carburetor jets or injectors. Due to the nature of the internal combustion engine, it is inevitable that after a period of time the engine will build up deposits that impede its performance.
Prior art devices have been developed, and until recently have been used by the instant inventor in his own business until he developed the improved purging system that is the subject of this disclosure. It is a principle improvement of the invention that it incorporates both gasoline purging and diesel purging in the same machine, with common portions of the gasoline and diesel systems overlapping. However, there are other features that distinguish the invention from the prior art, and make it possible to provide purging service of such a wide variety of commercially produced internal combustion engines.
Systems that function in the same general manner are disclosed in a number of U.S. patents which will be described below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,773 issued on Jun. 4, 1985 discloses an injection cleaning and testing system which introduces a fuel-cleaning solvent mixture into the engine fuel intake. However, this system is for a single fuel only. It has no fuel mixture return line and utilizes a fuel relief line that does not communicate with the fuel tank, but rather is connected to the pump vacuum line. This is considered a handicap for use with high-volume diesel engines. Although the same system could be used with gasoline or diesel mixtures, because diesel engines, especially large diesels, are substantially different in their fuel intake requirements from gasoline engines, aside from the inconvenience of switching fuels, there is also the problem of not providing cleaning capabilities for the wide range of engines that is possible with the two-in-one system of the instant inventor.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,348, issued Nov. 29, 1988 is designed exclusively for the use of diesel engines. Although it uses a mixture tank and a storage tank, both tanks hold the same mixture. This system has no regulator at all, relying on a pre-set relief valve to control fuel delivery pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,043, issued Oct. 31, 1989 is stated as being useful for gasoline, small diesel, or methane burning internal combustion engines. It is a single system rather than a dual system, and for this reason is believed to be considerably more limited in its application than the disclosure would lead one to believe. The small size of the pump's fuel ports, hoses, regulators and the overall system design would make it unlikely that this machine could be used on large diesels.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,561, issued Feb. 5, 1991 is designed for carbureted and EFI engines and injects the fuel-solvent mixture into the air intake only, rather than the fuel supply line. It is not designed to work with diesel engines or high-pressure injected gasoline systems. It does not clean the fuel passageways and fuel sprayers inside a carburetor, or the fuel rail, fuel regulator or injectors of an injected system, which is the main thrust of the other devices described. It will not work with continuous injection systems (C.I.S.)
U.S Pat. No. 5,063,896, issued Nov. 12, 1991 is actually made to clean the transmission or the oil system of an engine rather than its fuel system.
The number of recent patents falling within this general subject matter area indicates the interest in internal combustion engine purging that has developed in recent years. This is likely because of the relatively recent surging of fuel injected gasoline engines into mainstream car manufacturing.
Despite this display of interest however, there is still a need for a universally applicable purging system effective not only for both gasoline and diesel engines, but also having the true capability of meeting the requirements of very large high-fuel-flow/-volume diesels, but small gasoline engines as well.


A data writing method, and a memory control circuit unit and a memory storage apparatus using the method are provided. The method including: programming data to several memory cells on a first word line of the rewritable non-volatile memory module of the memory storage apparatus, and a first predetermined reading voltage is initially configured for the first word line. The data storing method further includes: adjusting the first predetermined reading voltage to obtain a first available reading voltage for the first word line, and applying the first available reading voltage to the first word line to read first page data. The storing method further includes: if the difference value between the first available reading voltage and the first predetermined reading voltage is larger than a predetermined threshold value, performing a protection operation for the first page data.

1. Technology Field
The present invention relates to a data storing method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a data storing method for a rewritable non-volatile memory module, a memory control circuit unit, and a memory storage apparatus using the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Along with the widespread of digital cameras, cell phones, and MP3 in recently years, the consumers' demand for storage media has increased drastically. Since a rewritable non-volatile memory has the characteristics of non-volatility of data, low power consumption, small volume, non-mechanical structure, and fast reading and writing speed, the rewritable non-volatile memory is the most adaptable memory to be applied in a portable electronic product, e.g., a notebook computer. A solid state drive (SSD) is a storage apparatus which utilizes a flash memory as its storage medium. Therefore, the flash memory industry has become a very popular part of the electronic industry in recent years.
Additionally, a NAND flash memory may be classified into a Single Level Cell (SLC) NAND flash memory, a Multi Level Cell (MLC) NAND flash memory or a Trinary Level Cell (TLC) NAND flash memory.
However, no matter what flash memory module, when multiple reading operations are performed on the flash memory module, for example, with a hundred thousand to a million reading times, there would be a possibility that error bits occur at the read data, and more even, the data stored in a physical erasing unit, which is already read for several times, would be lost or have an abnormal states. This phenomenon is referred as the read-disturb by the person skilled in the art. Especially, the flash memory module stores the system data of the flash memory storage system (e.g., The Firmware Code, The File Allocation Table (FAT)), and the system data will be read very frequently during the operation period of the flash memory storage system.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of the flash memory unit according to the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, a flash memory unit 1 includes a charge-trapping layer 2 for storing electrons, a control gate 3 for applying a voltage, a tunnel oxide layer 4, and an interpoly dielectric layer 5. When it is intended to write data into the flash memory unit 1, a threshold voltage of the flash memory unit 1 may be changed by injecting electrons into the charge-trapping layer 2. Accordingly, a digital-level state of the flash memory unit 1 is defined to implement a function of storing data. Here, the process of injecting the electrons to the charge-trapping layer 2 is referred to as a programming process. By contrast, when it is intended to remove the stored data, the injected electrons are removed from the charge-trapping layer 2, and thereby the flash memory unit 1 is restored back to the default state before programming.
However, during the manufacture of the flash memory unit 1, a critical voltage distribution of the flash memory unit 1 may shift due to the variation of the manufacturing process such that the storage state of the flash memory unit 1 cannot be determined correctly, and the foregoing read-disturb phenomenon will happened. In the present flash memory, because the electric field for crossing the tunnel oxide is raised with the microminiaturization of the process of the flash memory, the read-disturb of the flash memory becomes more serious. So that, it drives every manufacturer to develop a mechanism which may ensure that data will be stored correctly.
And, the present mechanism for read-disturb protection is to set an error bit number threshold value during the reading operation, and rewrite the data having the error bits, which is more than the error bit number threshold value, into the other physical erasing unit to ensure the accuracy of the data. However, there are many reasons for occurring error bits. When taking the error bits number as the criterion, it would cause that the rewriting of the flash memory is too often to decrease the life of the rewritable non-volatile memory storage apparatus.
Nothing herein should be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art of any portion of the present invention. Furthermore, citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention, or that any reference forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art.

Data storing method, memory control circuit unit and memory storage apparatus


A method of configuring a smart booklet to encourage adherence to a treatment and/or educational program is disclosed, wherein the smart booklet is “off the grid” (e.g., not connected to an electrical or networking grid) and includes an integrated behavior incentivization feature. Based on an activation of a detection feature of the smart booklet, it is detected whether a state of one or more pages of the smart booklet has changed. Based on the determination that the state of the one or more pages has changed, a set of data items pertaining to the adherence to the treatment and/or educational program is created or updated. Based on an identification that the set of data items is indicative of a failure or a success with respect to the adherence to the treatment program, a message pertaining to the failure or the success is communicated via an output component of the smart booklet (e.g., to encourage the adherence to the treatment and/or educational program).

International aid organizations, governments, corporations and individuals worldwide have an urgent need to communicate vital health and life skills information to the billions of people who need it most, despite their vastly different levels of literacy, wealth, or racial and/or ethnic diversity. For example, these entities have an urgent need to not only distribute medicines and track their usage across diverse populations, but also to efficiently provide education to improve the chances of success (e.g., reduction or eradication of illnesses and diseases) of clinical trials or large-scale treatment programs, including those targeting diverse populations.
Other entities operating across a range of industries lack a cheap and configurable option for tracking, educating, or incentivizing behaviors of one or more agents, employees, clients, users, and so on (e.g., with respect to consumption or use of one or more products produced or distributed by the entities).

Smart booklet with integrated behavior incentivization and tracking features


A compound of the formula ##STR1## wherein R is a) phenyl; phenyl(C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkoxy); phenoxy; or benzyl; the phenyl ring of each substituent being optionally substituted with one or more of halogen, nitro, C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 alkyl, C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 alkoxy, C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 haloalkyl, C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 haloalkoxy, di(C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 alkyl)amino, phenyl or phenoxy; or b) a 5- or 6-membered heterocyclic group comprising 1-3 heteroatoms selected from the group consisting of N, O or S, optionally substituted with one or more of halogen, nitro, C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 alkyl, C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 alkoxy, C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 haloalkyl, C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 haloalkoxy, or di-(C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 alkyl)amino. These compounds and pesticidal compositions prepared therefrom, are useful as plant protecting agents for the control of insects, nematodes, and mites.

Destruction of field crops such as soybeans, corn, peanuts, cotton alfalfa, rice, and tobacco, by insects, acarids and nematodes presents a serious problem to agriculture. In addition, vegetables, such as tomatoes, potatoes, sugarbeet, carrots, peas, and the like, as well as fruits, nuts, ornamentals and seed bed crops such as apples, peaches, almonds, citrus fruit and grapes, are also vulnerable to such pests. Consequently, the development of new, more effective pesticides represents an ongoing scientific activity. More particularly, the development of pesticides which are effective as both ovicides and larvicides are of interest.
Chemical Abstracts 79:38541 and Chemical Abstracts 75:61807 describe certain N,N'-bis(2-chloroethyl)-hydrazides useful as antiblastic and antineoplastic agents.


A sensor system for defending armored vehicles against projectiles through the use of active armor. A thermal sensor detects a projectile's presence, and a laser proximity sensor determines its location. A doppler sensor distinguishes between threatening and nonthreatening projectiles by measuring the projectile's velocity. The sensors are positioned in a housing with a segmented spherical window, wherein each sensor can detect the projectile through a window segment having a filtering characteristic which is matched to its associated sensor. An eyelid shutter, which can open and close, protects the window from small arms fire and shrapnel. A conical deflector protects the sensor system from objects such as tree branches. Heater elements are used to clear ice and snow from the window, and the eyelid shutter removes other material through the use of a cleaning liquid delivery system and rubber wipers.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to defending armoured vehicles against projectiles, such as missiles or bombs, through the use of active armour. More particularly, the invention relates to a sensor system which is used to detect the attacking projectile. When an attacking projectile is detected, the active armour thwarts the attack by detonating a shaped charge which either destroys or diverts the projectile.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Active armour is comprised of an array of elements where each element is a shaped charge. To defend against an approaching projectile, the proper element must be chosen and detonated before the projectile can strike the object being defended. A sensor is used to determine the projectile's position, and then the element with the highest probability of destroying the projectile is detonated.
The effectiveness of active armour depends upon accurately determining the position of the approaching projectile. Two techniques which are used for determining the projectile's position are contact sensing, and remote sensing. The aforementioned techniques are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,592,148 and British Patent 1,421,379. The contents of said patents are hereby incorporated by reference.
In a contact sensing system, the projectile's position is not determined until it makes contact with the active armour array. The elements contacted by the projectile are detonated, and thereby destroy the projectile before the surface being defended can be damaged. This type of system suffers from a shortcoming resulting from the projectile's close proximity to the active armour array. This close proximity can result in unintentional detonation or damage to elements that are near the point of contact with the projectile. This can result in several elements of the array being detonated or damaged by a single projectile. This type of system fails to minimize the number of elements depleted per projectile, and therefore, will have a reduced capability for defending against subsequent projectiles.
In an active armour system that uses remote sensing, an array of light beams is used to determine the position of an attacking projectile. The array of light beams is positioned so that the projectile will penetrate the array of light before it contacts the array of shaped charges.
The light array is composed of light beams arranged in rows and columns. The rows and columns are perpenducular to each other, and thereby form a grid of light beams. The projectile's position is determined by sensing which row and column of light is disrupted as the projectile penetrates the array. Based on this information, the coordinates of the projectile are known, and the proper shaped charge can be detonated prior to the projectile making contact with the active armour array.
This type of sensor system avoids the unintentional detonating and damaging of charges that occurs in contact sensor systems, but it suffers from several drawbacks. The structures used to support the elements of the light beam array are easily damaged, and the system is sensitive to accumulations of ice, snow, or mud.
The structural elements used to position the light array away from the active armour array are vulnerable to things such as tree branches, shrapnel, and stones. For example, as an armoured personnel carrier travels through a wooded area, it is quite likely that a tree branch would damage the supports used for positioning the light array.
The many light emitters and detectors, which are used by this type of system, are sensitive to accumulations of ice, snow, or mud. This problem will result in the light array becoming inoperative, and will require continuing a mission without the benefit of the active armour, or it will require exposing personnel to danger while the light emitters and detectors are cleaned.

Active armor protection system for armored vehicles


The electrical and mechanical connection between a component chip and a carrier substrate having electrical wiring is realized by means of bumps. A support frame that is adapted in its height to the height of the bumps is arranged between the carrier substrate and the component chip and has a planar or planarized surface, so that it contacts closely to the bottom side of the component chip. Different covers are proposed for the additional encapsulation.

For such components, a component encapsulation is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,982,380 B1 in which a component chip carrying the component structures is mounted using flip-chip technology with the help of bump connections on a carrier substrate in which the component chip is arranged above the carrier substrate at a distance to this substrate. Here, a frame is arranged between the component chip and carrier substrate, wherein this frame lies on the surfaces of the component chip and carrier substrate or leaves a narrow gap and thus forms a hollow space holding the component structures. The hollow space is sealed from the outside by a sealing material, in particular, a combination of metal layers.


A processing system includes a processor configured to execute a plurality of instructions corresponding to a task, wherein the plurality of instructions comprises a resource transfer instruction to indicate a transfer of processing operations of the task from the processor to a different resource and a hint instruction which precedes the resource transfer instruction by a set of instructions within the plurality of instructions. A processor task scheduler is configured to schedule tasks to the processor, wherein, in response to execution of the hint instruction of the task, the processor task scheduler finalizes selection of a next task and loads a context of the selected next task into a background register file. The loading occurs concurrently with execution of the set of instructions between the hint instruction and resource transfer instruction, and, after loading is completed, the processor switches to the selected task in response to the resource transfer instruction.

Field
This disclosure relates generally to computer processing systems, and more specifically, to computer processing systems with resource transfer instructions.
Related Art
A computer processing system can include one or more processing cores and a hardware task scheduler. Programs to be run in the system are divided into a set of tasks and multiple tasks may share the processing cores as the tasks are performed. A new task is scheduled to run when a currently executing task issues a voluntary resource transfer instruction to the task scheduler. The task manager finalizes the next task to run, and the core switches to the next task by performing a context switch. Context switching is done in hardware through an alternate register file in the core, which can be read/written by the task scheduler hardware. In previously known systems, the task scheduler finalizes the next task to run in a core and loads the context after the task scheduler receives the resource transfer instruction. The core must wait to load the context information for the next task until the task scheduler indicates to the core which task is to run next.

Computer systems and methods with resource transfer hint instruction


A variable area fan nozzle comprising an array of hinged rigid petals and a petal actuation system in which the principle of actuation is realized by changes in shape (i.e., deformation) of the actuators rather than by movement of cooperating mechanical parts. Because these actuators have no rotating or sliding mechanical components, wear and associated maintenance are reduced. Each deformable actuator has a portion made of shape memory alloy that has been trained to change shape in a specific manner when heated to a temperature above a transition temperature. In addition, each shape memory alloy actuator is shaped to act as a fairing to reduce aerodynamic drag.

This disclosure relates generally to turbofan engines and, more particularly, to turbofan engines having a variable area fan nozzle. In particular, this disclosure relates to variable area fan nozzles that comprise a plurality of circumferentially arranged petals which are movable for varying the exit or throat area of the nozzle.
Aircraft noise pollution is a significant environmental problem for communities near airports. Jet engine exhaust accounts for a majority of the noise produced by engine-powered aircraft during takeoff. Because it occurs at a relatively low frequency, jet engine exhaust noise is not effectively damped by the atmosphere alone.
Bypass turbofan engines typically produce two exhaust stream components: the engine core flow and the fan flow. The engine core flow is discharged from a core flow nozzle after passing through a core engine. The fan flow passes through an annular passageway formed by a core engine nacelle which surrounds the core engine and a fan duct which surrounds at least a portion of the core engine nacelle. An outlet for the fan duct is defined intermediate the core nacelle and a variable area fan nozzle. In some implementations, the variable area fan nozzle is secured to the downstream end of an axially translatable thrust reverser sleeve, which forms a part of the fan duct. The fan flow exits this outlet. The engine and fan flows collectively produce thrust that propels the aircraft forward.
In bypass turbofan engines, the engine core flow throat area at the core flow nozzle and the fan flow throat area at the fan nozzle are preferably optimized for specific engine operating conditions. For example, during takeoff, a relatively high level of thrust is required from the engines as compared to lower levels of thrust that are required during cruise flight. Increasing the quantity or mass of airflow through the fan duct having a fixed throat area at the fan nozzle results in an increase in the velocity of the airflow. An increase in the nozzle exit velocity results in an increase in the amount of noise that is generated by the nozzle.
One approach to increasing the fan nozzle throat area as a means to reduce noise generated during high-thrust events such as during takeoff is through the use of movable flaps or petals which form the fan nozzle exit external boundary. The flaps or petals may be deflected outwardly to enlarge the throat area of the fan nozzle and thereby reduce the exhaust velocity or, conversely, they may be deflected inwardly to reduce the throat area of the fan nozzle and thereby increase the exhaust velocity.
It is known to vary the area of the fan nozzle (thereby modulating the fan flow) by deflecting flaps or panels (hereinafter "petals") attached to the trailing lip area of an axially translatable thrust reverser sleeve. As used herein (including in the claims), the term "sleeve" includes at least the following configurations: (1) a one-piece axially translatable sleeve that extends around a major portion of the circumference of the fan duct, from one side of the engine pylon to the other; and (2) two axially translatable half-cowls mounted on rails fixed to upper and lower beams and extending from the upper beam to the lower beam. In accordance with the latter configuration, the upper beam is the main hinge beam that allows the reverser to open for engine access and removal. The lower beam (referred to hereinafter as "latch beam") provides a means for locking together the two half-cowls. Thus the second configuration typically has two upper hinge beams and two latch beams.
Many systems for actuating petal deflection have been proposed which apply actuation to the leading edge area of the petal and require large force to move the petal. These solutions also employee mechanical components that create mechanical friction and wear.
It would be desirable to provide a petal actuation system in which the actuators weigh less than mechanical actuators of comparable power, and which are subject to less wear and therefore require less maintenance.

Shape memory alloy actuation system for variable area fan nozzle


In the case of forming a distribution diagram based upon measured data consisting of measured values of two or more characteristics of particles and counted values thereof which are obtained by analyzing a specimen intermixedly including plural kinds of particles with a particle analyzing device, by plotting the particles in a co-ordinate system of two or more dimensions having said characteristics as its parameters, a method of collecting the measured data over a specific length of measuring time and seeking a time-related change of the distribution diagram to visually display the same, in which a space defined by the co-ordinate system is partitioned into plural domains, in the measuring time is divided into plural time intervals and the number of the particles belonging to each domain is counted for each time interval, thereby displaying the particle distribution diagram partitioned into domains on a display screen and also displaying a time-related change of the number of particles with a folded-line diagram superposedly in each domain.

This invention relates to a method of visually displaying a multi-dimensional spatial distribution of particles obtained by a measuring device such as a particle analyzing device on a plane and, especially, to such method of displaying a time-related change of a three-dimensional spatial distribution.
For example, when a specimen prepared by extracting only leukocytes from blood is passed through a flow cytometer to measure forward and sideward scattered light intensities of each blood-corpuscle and the measured values are plotted on a two-dimensional rectangular co-ordinate plane having the forward and sideward scattered light intensities as its abscissa X.sub.1 and ordinate X.sub.2, respectively, such a distribution diagram as shown in FIG. 1 is obtained. Since a number of dots in this diagram correspond respectively to the measured corpuscles, the frequency distribution thereof is presumable from the density of the dots. However, if a third axis is established for the frequency, a three-dimensional distribution is obtained and it can be displayed on a plane as a set of sectional views along some planes normal to any axis or a solid diagram such as a topograph. An example of this method is disclosed in Japanese opened patent gazette No. S63(88)-222239 as a method of displaying a time-related change of a frequency distribution of particle volume.
However, a multi-dimensional distribution higher than three-dimension is theoretically possible also since there are more measurable characteristics of the particles. Although such multi-dimensional distributions, especially, those including time as a parameter, are important, it has been a very difficult practice to display them on a two-dimensional display screen or recording paper and no method has been proposed heretofore for this purpose.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a method of visually displaying a time-related change of a spatial distribution of three or more dimensions in simple and plain fashion through simplified data processing.

Method of displaying multi-dimensional distribution of particles


A digital filter circuit has two decimation filters, a first and a second, for performing two decimations with respect to a digital data of a predetermined sampling rate. The first decimation filter has a function of producing processing signals for a filter coefficient of the second decimation filter and providing such operational signal to the second decimation filter. Since the output of the first decimation filter is not a coded numeral value but is an output in the form of a processing signal for the filter coefficient of the second decimation filter, the first decimation filter can take the form of a decoder circuit and not an operational circuit and the second decimation filter can be simpler than that having a multiplier circuit of a conventional circuit. The scale of the overall circuit can be reduced and this contributes in the enhancement of high integration of large scale integrated circuits (LSIs), in the scaling down of chip areas and in reducing the manufacturing cost.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital filter circuit for use in an analog to digital converter (hereinafter referred to as an "A/D converter") of an oversampling type and, more particularly, to a decimation filter for converting a digital data of a high sampling rate to that of a low sampling rate.
2. Description of the Related Art
An A/D converter of an oversampling type performs A/D conversion at such a high sampling rate as several tens or several hundreds of times of a normal sampling rate. By performing the conversion at such a high rate, it is possible to spread quantization noise to a wide frequency band. By spreading the quantization noise to a wide frequency band, it is possible to make the quantization noise small at a desired frequency band. This means that the signal to noise ratio (i.e., S/N ratio) can be improved by making a rate of sampling faster if the quantization bit number at the A/D conversion is the same. Thus, the advantage is that, by performing the sampling at a high sampling rate for the realization of the same S/N ratio, it is possible to reduce the quantization bit number at the A/D conversion.
When an analog signal is sampled, the signal whose frequency is higher than 1/2 of the sampling frequency (Nyquist frequency) is turned back as an unnecessary signal (turn-back noise) within the Nyquist frequency. It is not possible to eliminate the turn-back noise after the sampling process. Therefore, it is necessary to eliminate the signal whose frequency is higher than the Nyquist frequency before the sampling is conducted. The A/D converter which performs A/D conversion at an ordinary sampling rate has required a very high precision analog filter because the signal frequency band and the Nyquist frequency therefor are substantially the same with each other. However, the A/D conversion circuit of an oversampling type has the advantage that the analog filter to be used can be a comparatively simple one because the signal band and the Nyquist frequency therefor are largely different from each other.
Each of the two advantages mentioned above makes it possible to form the analog circuits simpler so that the A/D conversion circuit of an oversampling type is widely used as a circuit suited to the realization of the semiconductor integrated circuit (the realization of LSIs).
The output data converted by the A/D converter of an oversampling type is a data of a low word (e.g., 1 bit) and of a high sampling rate. This data is excised to a data of a desired sampling rate which is ordinarily used. At this time, if the data of a high sampling rate as it stands is excised and the resultant data is made a data of the desired sampling rate, all of the quantization noise spreading in a wide region turns back into the Nyquist frequency (within the signal band) of the desired sampling rate because the data is processed by a high sampling rate, which causes the input signal to be deteriorated. In order to prevent this, it is necessary that, before the data is excised, the quantization noise distributed outside the signal region be attenuated. A digital filter is used as a means to perform the attenuation but, in doing so, if an attempt is made to obtain the data of the desired sampling rate at one decimation, the digital filter required must have a very high precision. The characteristics required by such filter must unavoidably be that a passing band is narrow, a block band is very wide and a transfer band is very narrow. The realization of filter having such characteristics is technically difficult. Thus, generally, in order to make the characteristics of the digital filter simple, the decimation is performed not only one time but several times. When the decimation is performed several times, the characteristics of the filter for effecting the decimation to an intermediate frequency can be simple because not all the quantization noise is turned back into the signal region so that, generally, a simple filter called a moving average filter is used. It is comparatively easy to realize also a filter for effecting the decimation from the intermediate frequency to a desired frequency as such filter is not extreme in the ratio of the passing band, the blocking band and the transfer band as compared with the filter used when the data of a desired sampling rate is obtained by the one time decimation. In this connection, there is shown in FIG. 1 an example of the related circuit configuration composed of an analog front-end stage (.DELTA..SIGMA.-modulator) F0, a first decimation filter F1 and a second decimation filter F2. An example of the filtering characteristics of the first decimation filter F1 is as shown in FIG. 2(a) and that of the second decimation filter F2 is as shown in FIG. 2(b). FIG. 3 shows a detailed block diagram of the first and second decimation filters F1, F2 shown in FIG. 1. The first decimation filter F1 is formed by a shift register 1, a latch circuit 2 and a decoder 3, and the second decimation filter F2 is formed by a coefficient memory 4, a multiplier 5, an adder 8 and an accumulator 9. A further detailed circuit diagram of the multiplier 5 which is formed by a plurality of gates. full adders represented by a symbol FA and half adders represented by a symbol HA is shown in FIG. 4. Each of the full adders FA has input terminals A, B for receiving an adding value and a value to be added thereto, input and output terminals CI, C0 for a carry signal, and output terminal S for outputting the resultant added value as shown in FIG. 5(a), and each of the half adder HA has input terminals A, B for receiving an adding value and a value to be added thereto, an output terminal C0 for the carry signal, and an output terminal S for outputting the resultant added value as shown in FIG. 5(b).
As above, the object of the circuit of an oversampling type is to convert a digital data of a high sampling rate to a digital data of a desired sampling rate by conducting the decimation several times. In such a conventional circuit, the several decimations are performed independently from one another such that, upon completion of the operation by a first decimation, its output data is merely processed as an input to the next decimation filter so that a problem herein is that the operation circuit concerned inevitably becomes large and complicated.

Digital filter circuit for use in oversampling type analog/digital converter


A transmitter having a structure causing no complicated manufacturing process and no damage of a sealing rubber and capable of certainly preventing an electronic substrate from coming off in exchanging a battery is provided. An inner plate is a component, which has a bending type of unseparated segmentation structure and which is molded into one body, and the inner plate is molded with protruded portions engaging with grooves formed in an inner surface of an upper case and elastic pieces engaging with a periphery of the electronic substrate. The bent inner plate is placed on the electronic substrate and a force for canceling the bending state is added so that the protruded portions would engage with the grooves of the upper case and the elastic pieces would engage with the periphery of the electronic substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmitter, particularly, a transmitter for a remote keyless entry system, for example, which is required to have a certain waterproof function for exclusive outdoor use and to be easy to carry out an operation of exchanging a built-in battery, the operation being necessary even though it is not frequently required.
2. Description of Related Art
A remote keyless entry system is a convenient system in which operating only a push button of a transmitter housed in a case as small as a matchbox allows a door to be locked or unlocked without using any mechanical key. There is also a developed type of system in which no operation of pushing a push button of a transmitter is necessary. In the developed type of system, a door of a vehicle can be locked or unlocked by pushing an entry button of the door of a vehicle with a transmitter putted on. Accordingly, it is not necessary to take out the transmitter from a pocket every time.
Such transmitters are all used outdoors, and thus, a waterproof countermeasure against rain and such is essential. Moreover, they are operated by means of a disposable battery, and therefore, it should be considered whether an operation of exchanging the battery is easy to perform or not.
FIG. 4 shows a first conventional example. FIG. 4 shows a structure similar to the one introduced in Paragraphs [0038] to [0039] in JP-A-11-81762. In FIG. 4, a transmitter 1 includes a main body portion 2, which comprises cases 2a and 2b divided into upper and lower two parts and which is as small as a matchbox, a battery 3, which is housed in a battery housing portion 2d in the main body portion 2 through a battery housing hole 2c formed in a bottom of the case 2a, an O-ring 4 for waterproofing mounted on the periphery of the battery housing hole 2c and a circular rid 5 for closing the battery housing hole 2c with the O-ring 4 inserted therebetween. On a surface of the case 2b (a surface on the back side, which is not shown), provided are various kinds of push button such as a locking button and an unlocking button, for example.
An advantage of the first conventional example is that an operation of exchanging the battery 3 is easy. That is to say, fitting a familiar coin or such in a groove 5a of the circular rid 5 and turning the coin allow the circular rid 5 to be easily taken off. The battery 3 can be thus exchanged without using any special tool.
On the other hand, the first conventional example has following disadvantages. First, the surface of the main body portion 2 has little free space, so that there is only a small space available for sticking an emblem of a manufacturer or a radio frequency identification sticker, for example. This causes little freedom in designing. Namely, on the surface of the case 2a, provided are the battery housing hole 2c and the circular rid 5 while various kinds of push button are provided on the surface of the case 2b, so that an emblem of a manufacturer, a radio frequency identification sticker or such can be stuck only in an extremely small range excluding the above components. This is one of disadvantages. Further, one of waterproofed parts of the transmitter 1 is a part located between the battery housing hole 2c of the case 2a and the circular rid 5. In the case that the O-ring 4 is improperly mounted or fails to be mounted in an operation of exchanging the battery 3, rain water or such would enter from the part, so that a trouble would be caused for an electronic substrate in the main body portion 2. This is another disadvantage.
FIG. 5 shows a second conventional example. FIG. 5 shows a structure similar to the one introduced in Paragraph [0042] in JP-A-2003-201781. In the second conventional example, a transmitter 6 also includes a main body portion 7, which comprises cases 7a and 7b divided into upper and lower two parts and which is as small as a matchbox, similar to the first conventional example described above. There is, however, no "circular rid for exchanging a battery" like the case of the first conventional example described above. The cases 7a and 7b divided into upper and lower two parts are arranged to be able to be disassembled whenever exchange of a battery 8 is necessary. Such a way of exchanging a battery is called a "case disassembling type".
In an inner surface of the case 7a, provided are a spring characteristic terminal 7c in contact with one electrode of a battery 8, a conductive sheet 7d electrically connected to the spring characteristic terminal 7c and a waterproof seal 7e on the periphery of an opening of the case 7a. On the other hand, in an inner surface of the case 7b, provided are a spring characteristic terminal 7f in contact with the other electrode of the battery 8, an electronic substrate 9 on which a predetermined electronic circuit is mounted, the electronic circuit using as a power source a terminal voltage of the battery 8 supplied through the above two spring characteristic terminals 7c and 7f to operate, and a holding body 10 for holding the periphery of the battery 8 to perform positioning.
In the second conventional embodiment, there is no circular rid for exchanging a battery, so that enough free space is secured on the surface of the main body portion 7. This leads to an advantage that the freedom for sticking an emblem of a manufacturer, a radio frequency identification sticker or such is large. Moreover, there is another advantage that elastic fitting (snap connection) between the cases 7a and 7b divided into upper and lower two parts allows the main body portion 7 to be easily disassembled by means of a coin or a nail in some cases, for example, without any special tool, so as to easily exchange the battery 8. Further, there is only one waterproof part between the cases 7a and 7b divided into upper and lower two parts (a waterproof seal 7e). Accordingly, fixed adhesion of the waterproof seal 7e prevents the waterproof seal 7e from coming off in an operation of exchanging the battery 8. This is also an advantage of the second conventional example. Many recent transmitters for a remote keyless entry system are, thus, of the case disassembling type because of the above advantages.
The above second conventional example (a case disassembling type of transmitter) has superior advantages that the freedom for sticking an emblem of a manufacturer, a radio frequency identification sticker or such is large, that battery exchange is easy and that a waterproof performance can be maintained. In the second conventional example, however, the cases 7a and 7b divided into upper and lower two parts are disassembled for exchanging the battery 8, so that the electronic substrate 9 sometimes comes off in an exchanging operation. In order to avoid the above, it is possible in some cases to take measures so that the electronic substrate 9 would be fixed to the case 7b by means of a screw 11, as shown in FIG. 5, for example. Such a measure by means of a screw, however, is not preferable since it causes a complicated manufacturing process.
FIG. 6 shows a third conventional example in which a structure is improved with respect to the above disadvantages. FIG. 6 is a sectional view of an integral part of a structure in assembling a transmitter, the structure being similar to the one introduced in Paragraphs [0012] to [0015] in JP-A-2001-339176. In FIG. 6, an elastic piece 12a of an inner case 12 is first engaged with a periphery of the electronic substrate 9 to fit the electronic substrate 9 and the inner case 12 into a sealing rubber 13 with the engagement maintained. The assembled body (the electronic substrate 9+the inner case 12+the sealing rubber 13) is then pushed into the case 7b so that a protrusion 13a of the sealing rubber 13 (a pressure deformation part formed by a convex portion 12b of the inner case 12) would engage with a hollow 7g on an inner circumferential side surface of the case 7b. Such assembling finally allows the case 7b, the sealing rubber 13, the inner case 12 and the electronic substrate 9 to be formed into one body, so that the electronic substrate 9 does not come off in exchanging a battery.
In the above third conventional example, however, the electronic substrate can be prevented from coming off in exchanging a battery while the following disadvantage may be caused. That is to say, large friction occurs between the protruded portion 13a of the sealing rubber 13 and a protruded portion 7f of the case 7b in fitting the electronic substrate 9 and the inner case 12 into the sealing rubber 13, and thereby, damage such as breakage of a friction part of the sealing rubber 13 may be caused in some cases.
In view of the above, the invention relates to a structure capable of certainly preventing an electronic substrate from coming off in exchanging a battery by disassembling a case and is to provide a transmitter, which allows the structure to be put into practice without causing a complicated manufacturing process and any damage of a sealing rubber.

Transmitter having an inner plate for preventing an electronic substrate from coming off


Described are computer implemented augmented reality techniques for public and private seminars that includes receive an indication of a start of a segment of a live presentation, the live presentation comprising at least one segment, with the at least one segment having at least one presentation component; receive information related to a plurality of users, receive rules to analyze the information and select from the information, private information pertaining to a particular user, with the selected information being relevant to the at least one presentation component of the at least one segment of the live presentation, generate an image that when rendered on a display device renders the private information pertaining to the particular user for that presentation component, and send the image of the private information to a device associated with the particular user.

This invention relates to tools to conduct seminars and other group activities.
Seminars are used by organizations to present to users information for various purposes such as to sell goods/services, answer questions, and/or provide information about a service. Examples include financial seminars. One particular example is a public seminar conducted by financial services firms for individuals. A public seminar generally uses generic, non-private information that is displayed to all of the users attending the seminar, such that the attendees view slides or other information, presented during the seminar, populated with the generic non-private information, so that the information can be displayed to all of the users attending the seminar. In order for a user to view the user's private information, the user engages in an off-line or side conversation in a one-to-one consultation with a financial services firm's representative to review the user's private information that the firm may have with the user.

Augmented reality system for public and private seminars


The invention describes a method for executing an application (A) which comprises executable native or interpretable code and calls functions of an operating system (BS), whereby the operating system (BS) transmits a result of the respective function call (f1) to the application (A). The method according to the invention is characterized by the fact that the application (A) checks the result of a respective function call for a falsification, so as to detect an attack.

A. Field of the invention
The invention relates to a method for executing an application which comprises executable native or interpretable code and calls functions of an operating system, whereby the operating system transmits a result of a respective function call to the application. The invention further relates to a portable data carrier, in particular a chip card or a security module.
B. Related Art
In the area of chip cards so-called error-inducing attacks are known, which manipulate the program sequence or the memory content of a memory of the chip card. For example upon an attack it can be attempted with the aid of the differential fault analysis (DFA) to spy out secret keys by selectively interspersing erroneous computations. With the aid of a light attack it is attempted to change a security status of the chip card in a targeted fashion, to read out secret data which otherwise would be readable only upon the presence of an authentication. Against such attacks various defense mechanisms were developed, which are based on both software measures and hardware measures. Here the attack detection is regularly effected by an operating system of the chip card or by the functions of the operating system which can be called by applications on the chip card.
In a portable data carrier with an application calling functions of an operating system and containing executable native or interpretable code, the result of the function call can be falsified by an attack, for example a light attack, without it being possible for the application to detect the falsification.


In a molded composite article formed by directly bonding a resin member comprising a polyamide-series resin to a resin member comprising a thermoplastic polyurethane-series resin, the polyamide-series resin comprises a polyamide block copolymer containing (A) a polyether segment having at least one terminal imino group. The polyamide-series resin may comprise a polyamide-series resin having a free amino group in a concentration of not less than about 10 mmol/kg. The molded composite article is producible, for example, by heating at least one of the polyamide-series resin and the thermoplastic polyurethane-series resin to bond the former to the latter. Thus obtained molded composite article is suitable for a member of a shoe and an industrial roll. In such a process, the polyamide-series resin member and the thermoplastic polyurethane-series resin member both of which are different in nature from each other can be directly and firmly bonded together.

In order to improve design or decorative property or to impart excellent touch or texture (e.g., soft texture), there have been proposed that composites (molded composite articles) formed from a combination of a plurality of resins each having a different hardness, for example, a molded composite article in which at least part of a resin molded article is coated with a thermoplastic elastomer. Such a molded composite article is usually produced by adhesion of a plurality of molded members through an adhesive. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 267585/1996 (JP-8-267585A) (Patent Document 1) discloses a resin molded article in which a plurality of resin molded articles formed from a polyamide resin or others are adhered to each other through a finishing agent such as a urethane polymer or a urethane adhesive. However, such a process using an adhesive is not only uneconomical due to complicated steps, but also has problems such as environmental pollution by an organic solvent or others.
On the other hand, from the viewpoint of rationalization of production processes or environmental protection, a process for thermal welding of a plurality of molded members has been adopted. The molded composite article obtained by thermal welding is usually manufactured by a molding process such as a two-color (or double) molding or an insert molding in many cases. However, combination of different materials subjecting to thermal welding is significantly limited. Moreover, it is not easy to establish molding conditions to ensure enough bonded strength.
Therefore, in addition to thermal welding, the fused part is reinforced by a combination use of a process for creating a concavo-convex site (or part) in the composite area of the molded member to bond mechanically, or a process for coating a primer or others on the bonding (or fusing) part, or other methods. In such a method, however, the molded composite article is deteriorated in flexuous property. For example, the hardened primer layer easily forms a crack by bending. Moreover, the production process needs to complicate the structure of the molded member, resulting in increase of the number of the production steps.
In order to solve these problems, it has been investigated to use a thermoplastic polyurethane as a material for a resin member constituting a molded composite article. The thermoplastic polyurethane itself is relatively excellent in adhesiveness. For example, in an application for shoe(s), a molded composite plastic article comprising a polyamide resin and a thermoplastic polyurethane is practically used as a shoe sole. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 505333/1996 (JP-8-505333A) (Patent Document 2) discloses that a lightened shoe sole is obtained by inserting or putting a molded article made of a thermoplastic resin such as a polyether amide, a polyether ester or a polyurethane in a mold, injection-molding a polyamide elastomer containing a foaming agent into the mold, and adhering the thermoplastic resin molded article (un-lightweight (un-lightened) plastic) to the elastomer (lightweight thermoplastic elastomer).
In such an application for shoe sole, it is preferred to use a member composed of a thermoplastic polyurethane resin excellent in flexibility in terms of securing flexibility of the whole shoe sole. Moreover, as the counterpart member of the polyurethane resin, a member composed of a polyamide elastomer excellent in flexibility is frequently selected. In the compounding process, both members are generally subjected to thermal welding in the molding process. In these cases, the polyamide elastomer composed of a polyamide block copolymer having a polyether segment in a molecule thereof is combined with the thermoplastic polyurethane having a polyether segment in a molecule thereof. Thereby, affinity between polyether segments in common with both resins is attributed to relatively easy thermal welding therebetween.
However, in this method, water management of the materials in the molding process (usually an injection molding) is difficult, and moisture absorption of the material significantly decreases the bonded strength therebetween. Further, the bonded strength is also influenced great deal by the temperature of the resin in the molding process. In the case of insert-molding either of the members, it is possible that the member composed of the polyurethane resin is inserted followed by injecting the polyamide elastomer thereon (overmolding the polyamide elastomer). However, in the reciprocal case, enough bonded strength is unobtainable. The polyamide elastomer is high in heat resistance and can be heated up to a sufficiently high temperature (e.g., 250° C.) in the injection molding, but the polyurethane can be heated only up to about 200° C. because of poor heat resistance thereof. The reason is that the melting point of the polyamide elastomer is generally higher than that of the polyurethane elastomer. Accordingly, the above combination had the problem that economically disadvantageous multi-color molding machine was forced to be employed.
Further, as mentioned above, since the bonding of this combination depends on affinity between polyether segments in common with both resins, it is drastically difficult to combine a polyurethane having a small content of the polyether segment, particularly a costly advantageous polyester-series polyurethane, with a polyamide elastomer, and therefore commercially disadvantageous factors have been severely left.                Patent Document 1: JP-8-267585A        Patent Document 2: JP-8-505333A

Molded composite article and process for producing the same


A retaining cylinder is threadedly engaged with a fixed cylinder of a flow rate control valve, by means of a screw section formed on an outer circumferential surface. A fence cover, which is capable of expanding and contracting in the axial direction, is installed between the fixed cylinder and a float rod supported by the retaining cylinder. An upper seal member is provided on the float rod, on the upper side thereof with respect to a valve plug. A lower seal member is provided on the lower side thereof with respect to the valve plug. The upper seal member and the lower seal member have substantially identical diameters. The float rod is displaced under an energizing action of a stepping motor. The flow rate of a fluid is controlled depending on a distance of the valve plug with respect to a valve seat.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flow rate control valve, which is capable of controlling the flow rate of a fluid that flows through a flow passage by displacing a valve plug in an axial direction under the driving action of a driving source.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following structure has hitherto been adopted for a flow rate control valve. Specifically, an inner cylinder, having a screw section formed on the inner circumferential surface thereof, is rotatably provided within a valve housing. A valve shaft, having a valve plug fixed at one end thereof and a screw section disposed on its outer circumferential surface, is inserted into the inner cylinder. Screw sections of the inner cylinder and the valve shaft are threadedly engaged with each other.
In this arrangement, the inner cylinder is rotated by means of a stepping motor, while inhibiting rotation of the valve shaft, in a state in which the screw sections of the inner cylinder and the valve shaft are threadedly engaged with each other. The valve shaft is moved in the axial direction, thereby controlling opening and closing of the valve plug, so as to control the flow rate of the fluid. An example of the above-described conventional technique is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 57-54636.
In the case of the flow rate control valve described above, a lubricant such as grease is applied beforehand to the screw sections of the inner cylinder and the valve shaft, in order to avoid abrasion of the screw sections. However, for example, when pure water flows as the fluid through the valve, since the screw section exists inside the inner cylinder, there is a disadvantage in that such pure water may become polluted by the lubricant.
When the liquid, such as pure water, flows into the valve chamber of the flow rate control valve, high water pressure is exerted in one direction of the valve plug. As a result, the water pressure is applied in one direction of the screw section of the valve shaft, and frictional force is increased between the screw section of the valve shaft and the screw section of the inner cylinder. Consequently, a high rotational torque is required to rotate the inner cylinder, and abrasion is likely to occur at the screw sections of the valve shaft and the inner cylinder. Therefore, the service life of the flow rate control valve may be shortened.


A system and a method are disclosed for monitoring a condition of a conveyor belt arranged to rotate about at least a motor drive pulley and an idler pulley. A sensor unit can determine at least one sensor signal representing at least one operating variable of the electrical motor. A data processing unit can derive from the sensor signal at least one corresponding time dependent data signal, to detect irregularities in the data signal which indicate that a splice region of the conveyor belt passes the drive pulley and/or the idler pulley, to determine from a change in shape or in frequency of the irregularities, whether the condition of the conveyor belt has changed, and to send a signal which reflects a change in the condition of the conveyor belt to at least one of a display unit, a storage unit and/or a decision making unit.

Belt conveyor systems are used for bulk material or goods transportation in different industries, such as mining. A conveyor system includes a conveyor belt which carries the bulk material, such as coal or lignite, or the goods, and transports them continuously over a long distance from one point to another. In the mining industries, the belt conveyor systems are subject to harsh environmental conditions which can cause wearing of the conveyor belt material and result in damage of the belt, such as cracks and rips. Such damage does not only reduce the lifetime of the conveyor belt but may also lead to an unexpected stop of production if not recognized in time to organize for the maintenance of the belt. Because the conveyor belt is continuously moving under normal operating conditions, it can be difficult to monitor the condition of the belt and to measure the state of wear and tear or to detect any damage.
In the art, it is known to integrate embedded measuring parts like stress sensors, induction loops or antennas in the conveyor belt material. These embedded measuring parts interact with corresponding contactless receivers for example through wireless communication or via ultrasonic or inductive signals, where the receivers are attached to the mechanical structure of the belt conveyor system.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,047,814 discloses a method for monitoring a continuous moving belt, where two transponders are disposed in or on the belt in the connecting region of the belt, where the connecting region is the region in which the ends of the conveyor belt are connected to each other. The transponders each transmit a signal to an external transmitter/receiver unit when passing through an operating region of the external transmitter/receiver unit. The transponders are integrated circuits which are conductively connected to a coil. The transponders are positioned within the connecting region due to the fact that it was recognized that the connecting region is a weak location in the conveyor belt which should be monitored for signs of loosening.
In DE 10 2008 018 238 A1, a device for the non-destructive detection of an operating state of elastic components, such as conveyor belts made of rubber, is disclosed. In the conveyor belt, elastomer encoders are embedded in two so called measuring regions, where the first measuring region has a different timely behavior of its tensile strength compared to the second measuring region. The device further has a sensor station by which magnetic fields originating from the elastomer encoders can be detected when passing the sensor station, where the magnetic fields are then processed into information about the expansion or elongation of the corresponding measuring region.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,198 describes a conveyor belt rip detection system, where a plurality of antennas is embedded in the belt generally transversely to the travel direction of the belt and where the respective antennas pass in capacitive coupling relation with a transmitter/receiver at a rip detector station and send an electrical signal to the transmitter/receiver. A rip or crack in the conveyor belt material will be recognized through the corresponding antenna being broken and not sending any signal to the transmitter/receiver.
An alternative solution for identifying the condition of a conveyor belt is known for example from U.S. Pat. No. 7,427,767 B2, where a device captures two-dimensional images of successive belt sections. The captured images are transmitted to an evaluation device where the images are compared with reference images and at least one statement about the condition of the belt is determined. The images are captured using either electromagnetic radiation (e.g., visible, infrared or ultraviolet light), or penetrating radiation, such as X-ray radiation.

System and method for monitoring the condition of a conveyor belt


Method of comparing a test fingerprint with a stored reference fingerprint. The stored reference fingerprint and an image strip sequence of the test fingerprint are produced, wherein image strips of the image strip sequence represent different areas of the test fingerprint. Individual distance values between each image strip of the test fingerprint and at least one section of the reference fingerprint using a distance function are determined. An overall distance value from the individual distance values are determined, the overall distance value being a measure of similarity between the test fingerprint and the reference fingerprint.

In the case of fingerprint sensors, it is known for a sensorally sensitive surface to be provided, which is approximately the same size as a fingerprint. During use, the finger is placed on the sensor surface, and the fingerprint is then read by the appliance. Most fingerprint sensors in use a capacitive semiconductor sensor which identifies a specific capacitance value depending on the local profile of a finger, and uses this to create image information. Owing to the size of the sensorally sensitive surface, semiconductor sensors such as these are very expensive. There is therefore an aim of producing fingerprint sensors which have a smaller sensorally sensitive surface.
EP 0 813 164 A1 discloses the provision of a strip sensor over which a finger is moved. Image strips of the finger are recorded while the finger is being moved over the sensorally sensitive surface. The image strips are produced in a rapid sequence, so that successive image strips overlap, provided that the speed at which the finger is moved does not exceed a specific limit value. A complete area image of the fingerprint is then produced on the basis of these overlaps. In a subsequent identification stage, the reconstructed fingerprint is compared with a reference fingerprint in an analogous manner to the procedure for images recorded by means of an area sensor. This is therefore a two-stage method, in which an area image is first of all reconstructed from image strips, and conventional image comparison methods are then applied.
An undistorted image of the finger is created using the scanned in image strips and, for example, the speed at which the finger is drawn over the sensor surface. In order to make it possible to implicitly determine the speed at which the finger is drawn over the surface from the image strip sequence, successive image strips must overlap. Individual image strips are in turn obtained row-by-row in a sequential process, with the speed at which the rows are read being referred to as the scanning rate. It can be shown that successive image strips will overlap only when the speed at which the finger is drawn over the surface is less than half the scanning rate. This limit value on the speed at which the finger is drawn over the surface greatly restricts the intuitive nature of the usefulness of the sensor. If the speed is exceeded, then the speed at which the finger is drawn over the surface can no longer be reconstructed, or parts of the area image information may even be missing, so that severe distortion can occur in the image reconstruction, making identification impossible.
A further disadvantage of the known method is that, in principle, the reconstruction is not very robust since successive image strips in a strip sequence are only ever reconstructed in pairs. If there is an error in the overlap between two strips, then this error is propagated over the rest of the entire image. Further errors at later times are also additive. In summary, this means that an error may occur which extends over the entire reconstructed image and endangers the subsequent identification if the image information relating to just one single strip is disturbed or its image quality is poor.
A third disadvantage is that the image reconstruction is computation-intensive. Since the subsequent area image identification stage remains unchanged, the reconstruction time in a system such as this is added to the identification time, resulting from the use of an area sensor.

Method for comparison of a test fingerprint, which is in the form of an image strip sequence, with a stored reference fingerprint, and a suitable apparatus for carrying out the method


Disclosed are methods and systems for providing improved reliability via redundant voting systems. The voting systems are operable to vote on a signal received by a plurality of base stations in a communication system. A first voting processor transmits a message to the plurality of base stations indicating a return base station to voting processor (BS-VP) multicast address. A plurality of multicast messages addressed to the return multicast address are then received from the plurality of base stations and associated with a particular signal received from a signal source by each of the plurality of base stations. The first voting processor determines a recovered signal, and responsive to the first voting processor determining that the second voting processor is no longer operational, transmits the recovered signal to a voting processor to infrastructure (VP-IN) multicast address associated with an infrastructure device and the first and second voting processors.

In some communication systems, a voting processor is provided to support processing of data from multiple input sources. Such voting processors receive data from multiple input sources and determine a best quality data for use in further processing of the received data. Conventional systems use a centralized approach for determining best quality data. One such centralized approach employs a prime site incorporating the voting processor and multiple sub sites for providing data captured at the various sub sites to the prime site. In such systems, each sub site may receive a signal transmitted from a same particular source. However, the data received by each sub site may vary in quality, and the quality at each sub site may vary in time, and therefore the sub sites further forward the received data to the prime site. Upon receipt at the prime site, the voting processor at the prime site processes the incoming data from each of the sub sites to determine best quality data, and perhaps combines data from a plurality of sub sites to create an improved overall data signal better than any single best quality data from a single sub site.
In the centralized approach, a prime site typically employs a single voting processor to process the incoming data from multiple sub sites for determining best quality data. However, in case of failure of (i) the prime site, (ii) network connection(s) between the prime site and the sub sites, and/or (iii) the voting processor itself, the voting system would not be able to determine best quality data and further communications and/or processing may be dropped and/or prevented. Therefore, conventional systems employing a centralized approach of using a single voting processor typically have a single point of failure. Accordingly, there is a need for a solution that would eliminate the single point of failure in communication systems supporting determination of best quality data, and a network structure and communication method to support that solution.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

High reliability redundant voting system for a signal received by voting processors in a communication system