An electro-optic modulator includes a substrate made of a material which has an electro-optic effect and a pyroelectric effect. In the substrate, an optical waveguide is formed to have at least a pair of optical paths. On the substrate and on the optical waveguide, a transparent buffer layer is formed to cover the optical waveguide. On the buffer layer, first and second electrodes are formed so that the first and the second electrodes are arranged to cause refractive index changes in the pair of optical paths in response to electrical fields surrounding the electro-optic modulator. The buffer layer is a mutual diffusion layer. The mutual diffusion layer is made from laminated films having at least one transparent insulator film and at least one transparent conductor film but has no clear boundary between the transparent insulator film and the transparent conductor film.

This invention relates to an electro-optic modulator. For example, the electro-optic modulator can be used as a sensor head in an electrical-field sensor for detecting the electrical field surrounding the sensor head.
A known electro-optic modulator is disclosed in JP-A H08-313577, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The electro-optic modulator is fabricated in an electro-optic substrate made of LiNbO3. An optical waveguide comprises a pair of optical paths and is formed in the substrate. On or above the optical waveguides, electrodes are arranged to cause refractive index changes in the pair of optical paths in response to electrical fields surrounding the electro-optic modulator. By using the refractive index changes, the electro-optic modulator can detect and convert the electrical fields into light intensity changes.
The substrate material of LiNbO3 also has a pyroelectric effect. The pyroelectric effect of the substrate induces undesirable distribution of electrical charges depending upon the ambient temperature. The undesirable distribution of electrical charges. provides undesirable electrical fields and causes significant errors. The detail of the problem caused by the undesirable distribution of electrical charges is described in JP-A H09-197357, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
To solve the undesirable distribution of electrical charges, JP-A H08-313577 has proposed applying a conductive resin material onto the electrodes so that a low conductive film or an inferior-conductive film is formed over the electrodes. However, it is difficult to form the low conductive film of uniform thickness to provide the same conductivity over the film.
JP-A H09-197357 has proposed another approach, in which a buffer layer is a mixture layer of transparent insulator material and transparent conductive material. However, it is also difficult for the mixture layer to have a uniform resistance in a plane.


An equipment test program, stored and processed in a computer system, defines device termination procedures used for terminating devices used in a plurality of sets for performing a plurality of tests. The termination procedure for each device is associated with an ensemble, or group data structure. Each ensemble contains a set of termination task data structures for implementing the device terminations. Each task represents a device that operates with other devices in a test program module. Each task is linked to zero or more predecessor tasks in the ensemble. This linking represents the need to turn off the predecessor tasks' devices first before turning off any task's device. Within each test module, and before any device in the group is instructed to operate, the ensemble optimization procedure is invoked to pass a pointer to the module's ensemble data structure. The ensemble optimization procedure is used to optimally decide which device termination procedures should be invoked. Specifically, the ensemble procedure is used to determine which devices in the current ensemble must be turned off because they are not in the new ensemble. Those devices are turned off by recursively turning off their predecessor devices, then turning off those devices. Next, the procedure is used to determine which devices in the current ensemble must be turned off to allow installation of devices in the new ensemble. Again, those devices are turned off by recursively turning off their predecessor devices, then turning off those devices.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention is particularly directed to a method and system for optimizing the termination of programmable or directly or indirectly computer-controlled test equipment, for performing a variety of tests on a device under test. Equipment may be controlled indirectly by screen or other prompts to a human operator to change equipment states. In such systems, a piece of equipment, such as a power supply, as well as the linkage between the equipment and the device under test, are referred to as "devices" as contemplated herein. Depending upon the tests to be performed, various sets of devices are coupled to each other and the device under test in order to perform various tests on it.
The present invention, however, may be practiced in any general system that uses a plurality of devices in a combination or set to perform a test or operation. Thus, the concept may be used to control fluid flow systems where different combinations of fluid paths exist or other such system control applications.
Systems of programmable devices, such as test instruments, signal routing devices, and devices-under-test, including devices controlled directly by signals from a computer or by human operators according to directions displayed or otherwise presented by a computer according to a software program (test program) running on a computer, are often written as a compromised attempt to address several issues: total test time, test system wear, test module positional flexibility within a test program and portability among test programs and test systems, and operator, test system, and device-under-test safety.
In most test situations, total test time is to be minimized: the shorter the time required to examine a device-under-test, the more devices that can be tested. At the same time, it is desirable that an activity that tends to wear out mechanical parts of the test system be eliminated. The phenomenon known as cycling is typically the major cause of longer test times and mechanical wear.
Test instruments and signal paths experience cycling as different groups of these devices are called into or released from use. Cycling is the repeated turning on and turning off of a signal source or destination device, or the making and breaking of a signal path between two devices, for example, through a switch matrix. Cycling is the major cause of wear and failure when devices implement their on/off control with mechanical parts. Cycling also takes time to initiate and complete and thus reduces the rate at which measurements can be made and devices-under-test can be tested.
Test programs are often written to consist of modular test or measurement procedures (test modules). Modular, here, means independence from both a test program's history and its future. That is, a test module is written in such a way that it does not depend on the execution of a previous or a next test module.
Modularity confers several benefits. When truly modular, the sequence in which test modules are executed in a test program can be altered without changing the internal structure of any module. This positional modularity allows test modules to be re-ordered, for example, to run tests that detect frequent device-under-test failures early and thus reduce total test time. Modularity can also permit test modules to be used not only in different test programs written in a compatible style but also in test programs run on different but compatible test systems. This portable modularity allows tests to be run in isolation, for example, to analyze the behavior of a device-under-test in the specific circumstance created by the test module. Portable modularity can also reduce test programming costs by eliminating the need to re-create existing test modules when new test programs must be written.
Test programmers must address problems of safety. To address ordering safety, they must arrange for their test modules to turn devices on and off in sequences that will avoid damage to other devices. For example, a signal path should be broken after a source device turns off to prevent the signal path switches from arcing. Power to the SHUNT winding of an electric motor should be turned off before power to the ARMATURE winding to prevent the motor from turning faster than its design limits. To address hazard safety, programmers must provide ways to protect system devices, devices under test, and test system operators from suddenly occurring hazardous conditions by quickly shutting down all instruments that are on. "Shutting down" is equivalent to returning to what may be considered a safe, benign or quiescent state.
Test programmers can use various techniques to address these issues, but the common approaches compromise in one or more areas to achieve gains in another.
In the simplest solution, test modules are written to achieve perfect positional and portable modularity and order safety by sacrificing test time and equipment wear to cycling and ignoring hazard safety. Here, each test module is written to turn on the devices it requires in a safe order (order safety), perform the test, and turn off the devices in a safe order. A problem--in this case hazard safety--is said to be ignored by a technique when the technique plays no role in its solution, even though it may be addressed by other means.
Two solutions allow test programmers to optimize their programs with respect to cycling by sacrificing modularity and ignoring hazard safety.
Using command-pair removal, a programmer can selectively remove pairs of off and on commands that control a device from the interiors of a fixed sequence of test modules leaving a minimal number of safely ordered on and off commands. The remaining code thus reflects the assumption that once the device has been turned on it will stay on. This approach severely restricts a test module's positional modularity and destroys its portable modularity. For example, if a first test module is moved to run after a second test module, and the test modules have been modified to reduce the amount of cycling, the program would not work properly unless deleted code was reinstated to both modules. The test modules, thus, depend on a specific execution history and anticipate a specific execution future.
Using special-case checking, test modules can reduce cycling to a minimum, provide limited positional modularity, and insure order safety. Special-case checking destroys portable modularity and ignores hazard safety. When a test module can be executed with a plurality of possible execution histories - different sets of devices left on - special-case checks can determine which test module was executed previously and control devices accordingly. These checks allow a limited number of specific execution histories and, thus, make a module insensitive to small positional changes of its predecessors. Conversely, it allows predecessor modules to change their position as long as the move has no effect on the future module. Most changes in modular order or addition or removal of modules force at least re-analysis of each special-case check. Test modules with special case checks depend on a specific set of execution histories and typically anticipate a specific execution future.
Two techniques are available that require no specific execution history but rather deal with all possible execution histories. In the off-list technique, cycling is reduced to minimum and positional modularity is achieved. Portable modularity and order safety are compromised, and hazard safety is ignored. Each test module provides a list of all test system devices that must be off before the module can begin its work - the off-list. The test module itself or a test system utility procedure tells each device represented in the list to turn off. By leaving selected devices out of the list, those devices can be left on if they were already on. The test module then proceeds to turn on the devices it needs, redundantly turning on those that were left on, and performs the test. If the off-list is structured to safely turn off devices based on a specific history, the module loses its positional modularity. If the list is not ordered for a specific history, it cannot guarantee that devices left on by a previous module will be turned off in a safe order. Test modules with off-lists are not directly portable to test systems that include different devices since those devices are not represented in the module's off-list but may have been left on by a previous test module. The off-list technique allows test modules to deal with all possible execution histories, ignore impact on the execution of future modules, and requires that they know all devices in the test system on which they execute.
In the on-list technique, cycling is reduced to a minimum, positional and portable modularity and hazard safety are achieved, but complete order safety is not possible. Each test module provides a list of all test system devices it will turn on and leave on. Then, a test system utility procedure can turn off every device known to the test system that is not in the on-list. By placing the responsibility of knowing all devices in the test system on the test system utility, the test module becomes portable. By providing a list of devices that are on or will be turned on, a hazard safety procedure can quickly turn off these devices if the need arises. This list can be safely ordered to turn off devices in a correct order even in a hazardous situation. The technique does not completely address order safety, however. When the test system utility compares its list of devices with those in a module's on-list, it has no way of knowing the order in which it should turn off devices that are not in the test module's on-list. The on-list technique allows test modules to deal with all possible execution histories, ignore impact on the execution of future modules, and ignore the presence of test system devices they do not use.
There remains, therefore, a need for a method and system that will allow test modules to be written in a way that reduces test execution time and test system wear by reducing cycling, is modular with respect to position in a test program and portable to other compatibly written test programs and test systems, that provides order safety with respect to other devices in the test system, and that assists a hazard safety test program subsystem by providing a safely ordered list of devices in a test system that are currently turned on.

Method and system for optimizing termination in systems of programmable devices


A system and method for enabling access to premium content, obtained via a smartphone, to be controlled by using a vehicle as a “key” to unlock the premium content. In one implementation the user of the vehicle uses her/his smartphone to establish a wireless link with the vehicle's radio system. The vehicle's radio system supplies a unique radio identifier to the smartphone, which the smartphone forwards to a remote authorization server. The authorization server determines from an internal database if the radio identifier is permitted access to any premium content. If so the authorization server forwards a code or command to the smartphone that the smartphone uses when accessing a web-based or cloud-based content provider, which enables the user to receive premium content form the content provider.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Present day smartphones are being used with particular applications running thereon to download content for playback while a user is travelling in a motor vehicle. For example, one specific application popular at the present time is PANDORA® Internet Radio (hereinafter simply "Pandora Internet Radio"). Pandora Internet Radio is capable of supplying predetermined music content to the smartphones of users which is tailored to take into account the likes and dislikes of the user. Potentially two types of content may be supplied to the user: 1) content which includes commercials interspersed throughout the delivered content; and 2) commercial free content.
In an application where the user is using her/his smartphone to access the content provider and playback the content on a vehicle radio system, there has been no way to use the vehicle in a manner that enables different types of content delivery (e.g., "premium content" or "standard content) to be delivered by a remote content provider to the user's smartphone. Presently some vehicle manufacturers provide a free period for some type of service (e.g., satellite radio subscription), when a user purchases a vehicle of the manufacturer. But this scenario does not provide any way for the vehicle to be used to selectively "unlock" a premium feature that a given application on the user's smartphone is capable of providing. With this example, the subscription service to the satellite radio content provider will be available to anyone using the vehicle. And there is no easy and convenient way for the vehicle manufacturer to control the delivery of the subscription service after delivering the vehicle to the user.
It is anticipated that it would be highly desirable if different levels of functionality of a service that a smartphone is able to make use of, through an application running on it, could be controllably delivered to the user while the user is travelling in a motor vehicle. This would enable the user to potentially obtain different levels of service (such as a premium service for a given application), depending on what levels of premium service have been designated/authorized by the vehicle manufacturer. It would also enable the vehicle manufacturer to better promote loyalty among its customers by providing a means to more easily provide the vehicle owner with complimentary access to premium content as part of promotions, or for visiting a dealership associated with the vehicle manufacturer. Thus, by using the vehicle as a means to "unlock" one or more different levels of premium content of a service that the vehicle's radio is being used to help provide, this may provide even greater flexibility to the manufacturer in promoting its vehicles.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for using vehicle radio to control delivery of premium content to a smartphone


Some implementations provide techniques and arrangements for causing an interrupt in a processor in response to an occurrence of a number of events. A first event counter counts the occurrences of a type of event within the processor and outputs a signal to activate a second event counter in response to reaching a first predefined count. The second event counter counts the occurrences of the type of event within the processor and causes an interrupt of the processor in response to reaching a second predefined count.

Optimizing an application's overall performance on a given processor micro-architecture can be difficult. Challenges include ever-growing processor micro-architecture complexity, workload diversity, and a large volume of data produced by performance tools. Typical processors may include functionality to provide performance data, such as by counting the occurrence of micro-architectural events to characterize and profile the performance of application code. However, the functionality provided by some processors may be inadequate to provide accurate event data for some types of events that occur relatively frequently such that information relating to the events has a relatively short life span in the processor. For instance, with respect to instruction retired events and branch retired events as several nonlimiting examples, a delay between the occurrence of the event and recording of the state of the processor may result in the event being attributed to a section of application code occurring multiple cycles after the section of code that actually corresponded to the event.

Causing an interrupt based on event count


A method and circuit for self-latching data read lines that are used to transfer data that is read from a memory array of a memory device to a data output register of the memory device, wherein a self-latching latch circuit is connected to each data read line. The latch circuits are located physically near the output of the memory array, for latching data that is read from the memory array as soon as the data is applied to the data read lines, and prior to the data being latched in the data output register, thereby minimizing the effects of propagation delay so that the memory cycle time can be decreased. In one embodiment wherein the memory is organized in a "x4" configuration, different groups of the data read lines are selected in alternate read cycles, and the data read lines of the non-selected data read group are equilibrated automatically during the read cycle using the conventional test circuits of the memory device.

In read operations for conventional semiconductor memory devices, such as synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) devices or asynchronous dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices, a row address is specified for use with a column address. Column address changes are detected by a circuit that provides a timing pulse that enables the data output register after a fixed predetermined delay. The length of the delay must provide for precharging, address decoding, sensing and driving for the longest read operation so that the data that is latched in the data output register represents the data that has been read from the memory array and not spurious signals.
The data output path includes sense amplifier circuits which are located at the output of the memory array for amplifying data read out of the memory array. Data amplified by the sense amplifiers is transferred through data read lines to the data output register which latches the data read from the memory array. The data output register is located physically adjacent to data input/output pins of the chip on which the memory array is fabricated. The physical separation between the sense amplifiers and the data output data register introduces a propagation delay between the time that valid data is available at the output of the memory array and the time that the data is latched in the data output register. The read out of new data must be delayed until the data read out of the memory array has been latched in the data output register. Sufficient time must be provided to allow the data signals to propagate down to the end of the chip before the data output register is clocked to latch the data signals into the data output register.
The delay provided may be too short for some memory cells and sense amplifiers that respond relatively slowly due to their physical location on the chip. In such a case, the data output register could be enabled at a time which spurious signals exist on the data output path. If the delay is long enough to avoid all spurious signals, data from faster cells accessed will wait at the data output register before the data output register is clocked. A faster access time would have been possible had the delay been shorter.
A further consideration is that in known memory systems, the data read lines are precharged between every data read cycle. Time must be provided to complete the precharging before applying the data read from the memory array to the data read lines for transfer to the data output register. This further limits the ability to provide faster cycle times for the memory system.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art to minimize the time required for transferring data read out of a semiconductor memory system to the data output register of the memory system to allow faster cycle times for the memory system.

Method and circuit for self-latching data read lines in the data output path of a semiconductor memory device


A project team identification tool utilizes media components and sensors installed throughout a smart building, to detect individual persons and groups of people gathered together within the smart building. After detecting the people that are present within the smart building, the PTI tool references employee profile information to identify the detected people. The PTI tool is further configured to predict a project team the identified people belong to, as well as one or more projects associated with the predicted project teams. The PTI tool utilizes the advanced technology offered by the smart building to provide a unique solution for seamlessly identifying a project team of people meeting within the smart building.

Smart buildings include an installed network of sensors, information capturing devices (e.g., video cameras), and computing resources for operating building systems in a more efficient manner by automating certain tasks based on information obtained by the sensors. Smart buildings are also able to provide personalized interactions with users within the smart building based on recognizing individual users. It follows that the computing resources may provide advanced features such as facial recognition, smart learning controls of building systems to promote efficient utilization of the building systems, as well as predictive analysis to promote various automation features within the smart building.
As in any other building utilized for enterprise purposes, project teams of resources may gather in a smart building. Strategies for taking advantage of the installed layout of sensors and other connected devices within a smart building are disclosed for advancing efficiency and productivity of project teams running to accomplish enterprise projects within a smart building.

Smart building visual and contextual team identification system and method


A circulating toy assembly has a toy piece that circulates through an elevator and an inclining track member. A swing lever is mounted between a platform provided at the top of the elevator and an entrance end of the track member for conveying the toy piece from the platform to the entrance end. The swing lever swings in a plane which is inclined downward from the platform to the entrance end. The swing lever has a toy piece receiving bucket at one end and a counterweight at another end. When the bucket receives the toy piece from the platform the bucket turns downward and toward the entrance end by gravity to deliver the toy piece to the entrance end. When the bucket is empty, the counterweight causes the swing lever to turn so that the bucket turns to the platform. The toy piece preferably has an elongated hollow body which receives a ball to roll freely therein, thereby causing the toy piece to somersault along the track member. A gate is provided adjacent to the platform to control the forward movement of the toy piece from the platform.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a toy assembly, particularly to a circulating toy assembly which includes toy pieces that circulate via alternating upward and downward movement through an elevating mechanism and an inclined track.
2. Brief Description of the Related Prior Art
The prior art has suggested various toy assemblies which have circulating figured toy pieces that can circulate by alternatingly moving upward through elevating mechanisms and downward through downward inclined tracks. Some toy pieces are provided with slide rolls at their bottom sides to ease sliding movement along the tracks. Some elevating mechanisms have upward sliding plates to move the toy pieces from a lower place to a higher place. Some elevating mechanisms employ parallel toothed rocking plates to move the toy pieces upward step by step. Other elevating mechanisms use magnets to move the toy pieces by magnetic attraction. Although a variety of toy moving mechanisms are available in the art, further development is still desirable therefor in order to update their configurations and designs so as to present more appeal and amusement to children.


The present invention relates to an imaging powder for dental restoration using a CAD/CAM device, wherein the powder has improved properties as compared to existing contrast media. The present invention also relates to a method of making and using the imaging powder for use with the CAD/CAM dental imaging device.

CAD/CAM (Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing) is used to obtain digital images of a target object. In the dental field, CAD/CAM technology is of particular importance. CAD/CAM systems, such as the CEREC (Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics) System manufactured by Siemens Dental Products Division and the PROCERA A11-Ceram system of Nobel Biocare AD, are used to obtain optical impressions of cavity preparations for restorative work. These impressions can then be used for the manufacture of inlays, onlays, partial crowns, posterior crowns, anterior crowns and veneers.
The CAD/CAM camera takes a three dimensional image of the target area using infrared waves that are sent down to the area and back to the camera. An optical image is recorded with the 3D camera by projecting an invisible grid onto the field of view to record surface dimensions. As the grid is reflected off the surface, the camera interprets distortions in the grid as differences in height (Z values). The camera's field of view must have a uniform reflective surface to accurately record the height values. With respect to dental applications, computational analysis of the data captured by the optical image of a tooth allows for precise measurement of the heights of the structure, adjacent teeth and surrounding tissue. Accurate recording of the preparation is essential to effective application of the device.


An improved gas distribution scheme for a multi-wafer radially injected convergent horizontal epitaxial reactor which includes two outer distribution rings, an outer injection ring, an annular susceptor, and a central exhaust tube. The converging path of the gas stream from the outer injection ring into the central exhaust tube compensates for depletion of the reactant gases along the substrate. The injector ring has a large number of evenly spaced diffuser orifices that allow the gas to expand into the growth chamber in a laminar flow pattern. The design is compact, includes the possibility of water cooling of the quartz during deposition, and allows for a resistive bakeout furnace which can be used to etch and clean the reaction chamber between runs.

This invention relates to the epitaxial growth of semiconductor materials. Epitaxy is the process of forming a highly controlled crystalline layer on top of a crystalline substrate or wafer. The crystal structure for the epitaxial layer is usually identical or similar to that of the substrate, however it may contain different intentionally introduced impurities or be of a different material composition. Epitaxy is used in the creation of many types of electronic devices, including laser diodes, high mobility transistors, and optoelectronic integrated circuits.
There are presently several techniques used to grow epitaxial films. The most common approaches are by physical deposition (such as molecular beam epitaxy), chemical vapor deposition, or liquid phase epitaxy. This invention pertains to chemical vapor deposition (CVD), whereby the epitaxial layers are formed by the thermal decomposition (pyrolysis) of reactant gases above a heated substrate. The system is usually a cold-wall reactor, whereby only the substrate is heated and the reaction chamber walls are unheated. Heating of the substrate is usually accomplished by thermal contact with a graphite susceptor, which is heated using an infrared or ultraviolet light source, a proximity resistive heater, or an inductive radio frequency (RF) system.
The pyrolysis process takes place within a reaction chamber. A carrier gas, usually ultrapure hydrogen, containing carefully controlled amounts of the reactant gases, flows through this chamber and over the heated substrate. The transport of the reactants over the substrate and their resulting thermochemical reactions makes CVD a very complex process where small changes can have large effects. Hence, the design of the reaction chamber is critical for successful, controlled, uniform deposition.
Once the reactant gases start to thermally decompose over the substrate, the amount of unreacted gas is reduced. The carrier gas downstream of the susceptor will have less constituent reactants than that near the upstream edge of the heated substrate. This effect is known as reactant depletion. In order to provide uniform gas composition across the substrate, the gas flow must be laminar and some method to compensate for reactant depletion must be used. Again, the design of the reaction chamber is critical to assure a uniform, laminar gas flow.
The design of the gas handling section is another critical aspect of the reactor system. In order to achieve thin epitaxial layers such as quantum wells, it is necessary to have a short, but controlled, transit time of the reactants over the substrate. It is thus necessary to have both abrupt switching of the reactants into the growth chamber and also high gas velocities within the reaction chamber. The abrupt switching is accomplished by a run-vent manifold system that switches the reactants between the reaction chamber and a vent line that bypasses the reactor chamber. The vent line is reconnected to the exhaust system downstream. Both the reaction chamber and vent line must be pressure-balanced to prevent unnecessary transients to the gas stream. Higher gas velocities are accomplished by maintaining the reaction chamber and exhaust system at sub-atmospheric pressures, typically between 50 and 100 Torr.
There are three general types of reaction chamber geometries used for chemical vapor deposition, which are delineated by the direction of gas flow relative to the substrate surface. In horizontal systems, the wafer is placed on top of a boat or a susceptor with its face is parallel to the gas stream or slightly angled to prevent reactant depletion. Conventional horizontal reactors are linear. The gas is injected from the manifold at one end, passed over the substrate in the middle and removed by the exhaust system at the other end. In vertical systems, the gas flow is perpendicular to the surface of the substrate. Again, the gas flow is linear. It is injected at the top of the chamber and collected at the bottom. The third type of system is the barrel which is a hybrid of the first two. It is generally used for large scale wafer growth. The substrates are placed on a cylindrical or conical shaped barrel, and the reactant gases are injected vertically from the top and collected at the bottom. The reaction chamber shape is very much like a vertical reactor, but the gas flow over the substrates is similar to the flow in a horizontal reactor. For all three systems, the susceptor area is usually rotated to provide more uniform gas and temperature distributions.
However, traditional multiple substrate reactors have uniformity problems if their reaction chamber design prevents the use of a viable rotation system. Even in systems that have substrate rotation, substrate-to-substrate nonuniformity exists and the growth characteristics will change with the number of substrates in the reactor.
Another traditional problem with CVD systems is that even though these systems are usually cold-wall reactors, some of the reactants are still deposited on the interior walls of the reaction chamber. Typical reaction chamber geometries do not allow for water-cooling the quartz reactor walls during deposition and prevent the use of an in-situ bakeout method to clean the inside of the reaction chamber between growth runs.

Radial epitaxial reactor for multiple wafer growth


A multiple exposure method for enhancing the image resolution in a lithographic system is disclosed. The method comprises, for example, decomposing a desired pattern to be printed on the substrate into at least two constituent sub-patterns that are capable of being optically resolved by the lithographic system, coating the substrate with a positive tone resist layer and a relatively thin positive tone developable material layer on top of a target layer which is to be patterned with the desired dense feature pattern. The positive tone developable material absorbs exposure radiation during a first patterning exposure and, after development, during a second patterning exposure to prevent exposure of at least a portion of the positive tone resist layer, underneath exposed portions of the positive tone developable material layer, to an exposure dose above a fraction of an energy-to-clear exposure dose associated with the positive tone resist layer.

Lithographic exposure apparatuses can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In such a case, a patterning device may generate a circuit pattern corresponding to an individual layer of the IC. In photolithography, a beam of radiation is patterned by having that beam traverse the patterning device, and is projected by a projection system of the lithographic apparatus onto a target portion (e.g., comprising one or more dies) on a substrate (e.g., silicon wafer) that has been coated with a layer of photo-activated resist (i.e., photoresist) material, such as to image the desired pattern in the resist. In general, a single substrate will contain a whole network of adjacent target portions that are successively irradiated via the projection system, one at a time.
In the semiconductor industry, the continual demand for smaller semiconductor devices, having smaller patterns and features on the substrate, is pushing the limits on the optical resolution that can be achieved by lithographic exposure apparatus. Generally, the smallest size of a repeatable feature (e.g., "half-pitch") of a pattern exposed on the substrate that can be optically resolved by lithographic exposure apparatus, depends on attributes of the projection system and the (patterned) projection beam of radiation. In particular, the optical resolution for half-pitch feature size may be derived by using the simplified form of the Rayleigh resolution equation:p0.5=k1·λ/NA, with k1≧0.25   (1)where p0.5 represents the repeatable feature size (e.g., "half-pitch") in nm, NA represents the numerical aperture of the projection system, λ represents the wavelength of the projection beam, in nm, and k1 is a factor representative for the achievable optical resolution limit for the half-pitch feature size.
As indicated above, the theoretical optical resolution half-pitch lower limit for k1 is 0.25. In an attempt to approach the k1=0.25 barrier, considerable efforts have been directed to develop expensive technologies that are capable of employing shorter wavelengths and/or higher numerical apertures, thus allowing production of smaller features while not violating the k1≧0.25 constraint. However, these technologies do not enable a circumvention of the k1=0.25 barrier to arrive at effective values of the k1 such that k1<0.25.
For printing a pattern of dense lines and spaces (i.e., providing lines of hard mask material that serve as etch stop and which protrude from a surface of a target layer to be etched, with spaces in between) where the lines occur at a pitch p, it is known that circumvention of the k1=0.25 barrier is possible by applying a multiple exposure lithographic process, wherein a desired pattern of dense lines and spaces to be printed is decomposed into two constituent sub-patterns of trenches (arranged at a pitch 2p) that are capable of being optically resolved by the lithographic system. A Si substrate is coated with a SiO2 film serving as a hard mask, and the SiO2 film is coated with a negative tone photoresist layer. By exposure to an image where trenches appear as dark lines arranged at a pitch 2p on a bright background, and a subsequent development of the resist material, a first resist mask comprising trenches at a pitch 2p is provided on the SiO2 film. By a subsequent etching of the SiO2 film and a stripping of the resist, the first sub pattern of trenches is transferred to the SiO2 film. Next, the process of applying negative tone resist material, exposing, developing and etching is repeated with a second sub-pattern of trenches, which may correspond to the first sub-pattern of trenches off-set by a half-pitch distance thereby interlacing new trenches between the previously defined trenches. As a result, the first and second sub-pattern images are combined to produce the desired pattern in the SiO2 film on the target layer, wherein the trenches are the spaces between the lines. However, the use of two etching steps to transfer the final desired pattern to a hard mask reduces the throughput of the lithographic process with respect to a single exposure process unless additional etch capacity at additional cost is provided.

Substrate, method of exposing a substrate, machine readable medium


Gases are smoothly and automatically switched when using two gas supply sources, that is, an air pump and a carbon dioxide gas cylinder. By using a gas supply flow rate adjusting unit, a carbon dioxide gas is supplied to an endoscope, and a gas using a carbon dioxide gas and water are delivered. When the remaining amount of the carbon dioxide gas of the cylinder is detected and the detected pressure of the carbon dioxide gas becomes less than a predetermined value, the air pump is rotated to supply pressurized air. The rotation number of the air pump is controlled, and the same amount of pressurized air is supplied as that of the supplied carbon dioxide gas. The switching to the pressurized air is automatically performed. The supply amounts before and after the switching become equal to each other, and a surgical operator does not feel any discomfort.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope gas delivery system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A medical endoscope includes an illumination window, an observation window, and a clamp outlet provided at a front end of an insertion section. At the time of using the endoscope, the insertion section is inserted into a body cavity of a subject. Then, the inside of the body cavity is irradiated with illumination light from the illumination window, and is observed from the observation window. When a diseased area or the like is found, a high frequency treatment tool, a clamp, or the like is inserted through a clamp channel, and the diseased area is treated by the clamp or the like exiting the clamp outlet.
For this reason, the endoscope system includes a light source device, a processor, and a monitor as well as the endoscope. Furthermore, if necessary, a high frequency power supply device, a VTR, a printer, or the like is attached to the endoscope system. The various devices are installed in a cart together with the endoscope. The cart includes a plurality of stages of shelves on which various devices are installed, and is configured to be movable. The endoscope system is carried to a clinical site by the cart, and an examination or a treatment using the endoscope is performed.
The inside of the body cavity is irradiated with the illumination light, output from the light source of the light source device, through a light guide from the illumination window. An imaging unit is disposed inside a front end of the insertion section at a position facing the observation window. The imaging unit images the inside of the body cavity from the observation window. Image signals output from the imaging unit are output to the processor through a universal cord. The processor processes the image signals and displays the result on the monitor.
When an examination or a treatment is performed by the endoscope, a surgical operator (an operator) controls various devices connected to the endoscope. For example, the light source device adjusts the light amount of the light source so as to sharpen the image inside the body cavity displayed on the monitor. Furthermore, when the high frequency treatment tool is used, the voltage or the current of the high frequency power supply is appropriately controlled, and a safe and efficient treatment is performed.
The endoscope includes supply paths for a pressurized liquid and a pressurized gas. The pressurized liquid is used for various purposes. For example, the pressurized liquid is used to clean the observation window, to clean the inner wall of the body cavity, to spray a chemical liquid, and to perfuse a liquid through an organ or a tissue. The pressurized gas is used to expand the inside of the body cavity and remove liquid droplets of the cleaned observation window. As a pressurization source for a liquid and a gas, for example, an air pump is used. When the pressurized gas is supplied, the air pump is driven. Furthermore, in order to pressurize a liquid during liquid delivery, the pressurized air is supplied from the air pump to the liquid delivery tank. The air pump is generally built in the light source device. Furthermore, the liquid delivery tank is separably attached to the light source device. In addition to the on/off state of the air pump, the rotation number thereof is also controlled, so that the pressure and the flow rate of the pressurized air are changed.
In recent years, a pressurized gas source of a carbon dioxide gas (CO2) has been commercialized instead of the pressurization of air using the air pump. The carbon dioxide gas is desirable from the viewpoint that the carbon dioxide gas is more easily absorbed to the body than air, safety improves, and the burden on the patient is reduced. When the carbon dioxide gas is used as the pressurized gas source, a carbon dioxide gas supply device using a carbon dioxide gas cylinder is used. The carbon dioxide gas supply device is separably connected to a gas delivery passage of the endoscope, and supplies the carbon dioxide gas from the carbon dioxide gas cylinder in a depressurized state.
For example, JP2006-14961A proposes a gas delivery system in which a carbon dioxide gas cylinder is used as a pressurized gas source in addition to an air pump. In the gas delivery system, pressurized air may be supplied from the air pump in addition to the carbon dioxide gas from the carbon dioxide gas cylinder.


Iterate-aggregate shape queries are executable in an efficient parallel manner. Techniques are utilized that leverage properties of aggregations to implement such a query in a highly parallelized manner utilizing one or both of vertical and horizontal parallelism. More specifically, queries can be recursively evaluated in parallel utilizing partitioning and repartitioning mechanisms. Distributed query execution results over a subset of input data are repartitioned and aggregated to produce a final result.

Technology advancements and cost reductions over time have enabled computers to become commonplace in society. Enterprises employ computers to collect and analyze data. For instance, computers can be employed to capture data about business customers that can be utilized to track sales and/or customer demographics. Further yet, individuals also interact with a plurality of non-enterprise computing devices including home computers, laptops and mobile devices. As a consequence of computer ubiquity, an enormous quantity of digital data is generated daily by both enterprises and individuals.
Large quantities of such data are housed in one or more databases and/or data warehouses. A database is a collection of data or facts organized in a systematic manner and persisted to a storage device. Similarly, a data warehouse is a much larger repository composed of a plurality of databases. In one instance, businesses can store customer information (e.g., name, address, product(s) purchased, date, location . . . ) to one or more data databases. For example, a transactional database can capture current data and aged data can be pushed to a warehouse. In another instance, entity and/or individual web pages can be housed in one or more databases.
Various components and/or systems are associated with respective stores to facilitate interaction with database data. For example, database management systems (DBMS) and warehouse management systems (WMS) provide functionality to manage requests or queries from users and/or programs, amongst other things. Upon receipt of a query, results that satisfy the query are returned. In this manner, users need not be knowledgeable as to how and where data is physical stored. Rather, programmers implement and expose an interface to users, which hides or abstracts details.
While such functionality is convenient for users, back-end query processing is difficult to implement efficiently especially over large data sets. Processing large quantities of data for data mining or analysis, for example, is problematic at least because the data set size is not conducive to simple sequential processing, as this results in unacceptable latency with respect to response time. Consequently, techniques need to be developed and employed to facilitate parallel and/or distributed processing. While problematic in its own right, this task is complicated by the fact that programmers conventionally need to understand much about the low-level details necessary for parallel and distributed execution.


A fiber optic modulation and demodulation system is disclosed. The system is configured as telemetry system for relaying signals from sensors in remote, harsh environments. Light is modulated using one or more optical reflective grating and piezoelectric crystal combinations, and demodulated using an interferometer system. The one or more modulators are driven by the responses of one or more sensors thereby modulating one or more carrier wavelengths of a carrier light source. The modulated light signal is transmitted from the sensor or sensors, over an optical fiber, to an interferometer which is used to demodulate the reflected signals and thereby determine the responses of one or more sensors. One embodiment of the invention set forth is that of a telemetry system linking sensors within a borehole to detection and processing equipment at the surface of the earth.

Telemetry is a key element in any communication, sensor, or data transmission system. Simply stated, the design criteria of most telemetry systems are (a) the maximization of the amount of information or "data" that can be transmitted per unit time and (b) the minimization of attenuation of the transmitted data thereby minimizing power requirements for the transmitter element of the system. Additional design criteria include reliability, physical size, and costs to manufacture, maintain and operate.
Almost any type of communication, control, and sensor system uses some form of telemetry. Amplitude and frequency modulation of electromagnetic carrier radiation are the backbone of the communications industry. Numerous wireless and "hard wired" systems are used as telemetry links between devices such as remote control devices for door or gate openers and the control station from which control commands are initiated. Likewise, numerous wireless and hard wired telemetry systems are used to couple remote sensors such as electromagnetic, acoustic and nuclear sensing devices to equipment which controls the operation of these sensors, and which also converts the basic responses of these sensors into parameters of interest. Although almost endless in design and application, most telemetry systems share three basic elements: a modulator element, a demodulator element, and a telemetry link connecting the modulator and demodulator elements. The modulator converts the response of a sensor, or the output of a microphone, or the output of a television camera to some type of signal or data that can be transmitted over the telemetry communication link. The demodulator element receives the transmitted data and converts these data to the desired output which might be spoken words, or a video image, or a set of measurements in engineering units. The telemetry link can be an electromagnetic "wireless" link, or a "hard wired" link such as one or more electrical conductors, or one or more optical fibers.

Optical fiber modulation and demodulation system


A pillow for side-sleeping providing support of the shoulder and lumbar regions and thereby increasing comfort, where the pillow is constructed of tiers of foam, with each foam layer laminated to an adjacent foam layer and where the foam layers vary in thickness and density producing compression zones. The pillow has a raised area that is placed under the axilla, while the remaining portion of the pillow is placed under the upper ribcage. The pillow may be used as a therapeutic adjunct to a conventional fiber-filled pillow placed under the head and neck, or as a therapeutic adjunct to a specialty pillow, such as a cervical pillow.

Restful sleep being important for the maintenance of good health is facilitated by proper sleeping posture. Most individuals sleep on their side ("side sleepers") rather than their back or stomach. Frequently side sleepers experience discomfort in the neck, shoulder, arm, back and hips, any of which can lead to tossing and turning and misalignment of the spine which in turn interferes with proper sleep posture and prevents restful sleep. It is well known that overly tired individuals may fall asleep and assume a misaligned spinal position for extended periods aggravating musculoskeletal pain and producing an undesirable cycle of pain and insomnia.
Many pillow-type support devices have been devised to address musculoskeletal pain. Some of these are designed to assist the user in maintaining a healthful posture; some are designed for the waking hours, as for example when sitting or standing, while others are designed to cradle or restrict the movement of a sleeper while in a supine or side laying position.
Currently, specialty pillows (e.g. cervical support pillows and orthopedic pillows) designed as sleep aids fall into three basic categories: wedge pillows, body pillows and multi-part pillows. The most prevalent of the wedge pillows are the so called cervical pillows comprising a contoured body constructed of foam which is placed under the user's head and neck. While stabilization of the cervical spine has obvious advantages, and may help with neck and shoulder pain, claims that these devices may assist with lower lumbar pain are questionable because they do not inhibit the user from twisting the lumbar-thoracic region during sleep. Additionally, many of these cervical pillows are constructed solely of so-called memory foam (MF), which while suitable for neck support, does not provide the resistance necessary to support the shoulder or thoracic region. Because cervical pillows result in no load changes in the shoulder and back region, the spine may still be misaligned.
Body pillows are designed to reside under more than one region, such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,310,840 to Rubio that supports the head, neck, thorax and lumbar regions.
Multi-part pillows are more complex in design and frequently involve detachable sub-units. Although the aforementioned classes of pillow may work well for their intended purpose, none adequately address the needs of the side sleeper: proper spinal alignment and comfort.
Because a side sleeping position is considered helpful for persons desiring to take pressure off the spine, it follows that what is needed is a device that will assist a person in maintaining a side sleeping position by mediating between the lumbar and cervical regions by stabilizing the thoracic region. Such a device would habituate the user to maintaining a healthful sleeping posture by providing optimal support for the lumbar-thoracic region, and over time relieving some of the pain associated with musculoskeletal strain.
An ideal therapeutic support to promote comfortable sleep and posture would have a number of characteristics: It would provide comfort and promote proper alignment of the spinal column, help the sleeper to reduce the frequency of positional changes during sleep due to discomfort, would be useable with a conventional fiber filled head pillow, specialty pillow or any cervical pillow favored by the user without negating the therapeutic effect, and would resist morphological changes due to compression over time.


Radiofrequency device (30; 30′; 30″; 30′″) controlling means for supplying at least one electrical load (14, 14′) and comprising a radiofrequency unit (11) of radiofrequency signals transmitter and/or receiver type and connected by a first conductor (9b) to the AC mains (9), wherein the radiofrequency unit comprises a radiofrequency signal output and/or input (20) connected by an HF link (19) to a first terminal (21) of a tuning circuit (17; 17′) of the radiofrequency device, this tuning circuit being:                connected by a second terminal (22) to the first conductor,        connected by a third terminal (23) to an electrical ground (GND) of the radiofrequency unit,        furnished with means (L1, C1; L2, C3, C4) for blocking the conduction of radiofrequency signals on the first conductor between the second terminal and the third terminal, and        traversed between the second terminal and the third terminal by the AC current (I-ACT) flowing in the first conductor and supplying said electrical load.

The invention relates to the field of remote control using radiofrequencies, that is to say via radioelectric signals, of the actuators controlling an electrical load in a building, this electrical load being intended for thermal, visual or luminous comfort, for solar protection, for closing or securing the building or its environs.
Such actuators comprise a radiofrequency receiver equipped with a receiving antenna, making it possible to increase the sensitivity thereof and therefore the transmission range between the radiofrequency receiver and a nomad or fixed radiofrequency transmitter.
The receiving antenna is a sensitive and fragile element. Moreover, the actuator is often arranged in a metal casing which makes it necessary to locate the antenna outside the casing in order to preserve sensitivity.
The use of the electrical power supply cable of the actuator to accommodate a part of the antenna, or to use a phase conductor and/or a neutral conductor as antenna, either by a direct coupling, or by a partial coupling has long been contemplated.

Device of radioelectric signals transmitter and/or receiver type


The battery apparatus introduced here provides a tool for reliably measuring the run time to empty of a battery used in a network storage server for protection of data during a failure mode. The battery run time to empty can be determined by a management controller based on battery information generated by a controller and received at the management controller. The information received at the management controller includes run time to empty, voltage, current and current battery capacity.

During the operation of a network storage system, data is typically stored on one or more disks of the storage system. A simple example of a network storage system configuration is illustrated in FIG. 1. A storage server 2 Å is coupled to a set of mass storage devices 4 and to a set of clients 1 through a network 3, such as a local area network (LAN). Each of the clients 1 may be, for example, a conventional personal computer (PC), workstation, or the like. The mass storage devices 4 may be, for example, conventional magnetic disks, optical disks such as CD-ROM or DVD based storage, magneto-optical (MO) storage, or any other type of non-volatile storage devices suitable for storing large quantities of data.
One method by which data is sometimes stored by a storage server, such as a file server, is to temporarily store (buffer) the data in main memory within the storage server before storing the data on a disk. The temporary storage of data in main memory, which is normally some form of random access memory (RAM), permits high speed access to the data. Periodically, during the operation of the storage system, the data buffered in main memory is stored to the disks of the storage system. Typically, the disks have a slower access rate than the main memory in the storage server. Thus, by providing fast access to data, the response time from data request to data delivery is short.
However, any storage system may experience various types of failure, such as a loss of power. Such failures can result in the inability to store or retrieve data. Depending on the cause, downtime can last for a few seconds or may last for longer periods of time, such as hours or days. When a failure such as loss of power occurs, data that was buffered in the main memory may not yet have been stored to the disks. Consequently, the data may be lost. This situation may cause data inconsistencies, because when the disks are accessed after the storage system recovers from the downtime, the data stored in the disks is not up to date.
In some storage systems, protection against such data loss is achieved by providing a non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) in the storage server in addition to its main memory. This NVRAM is used to store data only until the data can be stored on disk. To build an NVRAM, a battery can be attached to a conventional RAM to enable the RAM to continue to operate when the storage system experiences a loss of main power. However, the downtime can last for long periods of time. During these periods of time, the battery used to provide power for the NVRAM will discharge, possibly to a point where the battery fails to provide enough power, causing the data stored in the NVRAM to be lost. It is therefore desirable to reduce the risk of an NVRAM failing during a main power outage due to total battery discharge.
One solution is to calculate voltage curves of the battery, which are used during design time to predict the expected battery run time during discharge, e.g., in the event of a failure such as main power loss. The battery run time is the time remaining until the battery is fully discharged. This prediction is generally accurate when a battery is new, but as the battery ages this method is less accurate due to capacity loss from aging. One way to solve the capacity loss problem is to calculate during design time how much capacity is needed and make the battery large enough to survive a predetermined length of time (e.g. in years) even after capacity loss. However, this solution does not provide an accurate prediction of the "health" of the battery to determine remaining capacity of the battery. The "health" of the battery can be determined as a combination of the voltage, resistance, impedance and/or temperature of the battery.
Thus, what is needed is a solution that provides accurate prediction of the health of a battery to determine remaining capacity of the battery, particularly in the context of a battery used to power an NVRAM in a storage server.

Apparatus and implementation of a battery in a non volatile memory subsystem


An InterWorking Unit (IWU) for interfacing a plurality of client devices to a MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) network is provided. The IWU includes a plurality of IWU edge nodes and an IWU switch node communicating with the plurality of IWU edge nodes. The IWU switch node is configured to receive a MPLS frame from the MPLS network, with the MPLS frame including an inner label and an outer MPLS label, process the outer MPLS label in order to determine one designated IWU edge node of the plurality of IWU edge nodes, with the one designated IWU edge node being designated by the outer MPLS label, and transfer the MPLS frame to the one designated IWU edge node. The one designated IWU edge node is configured to transfer the data transported in the MPLS frame to a designated client device that is designated by the inner label of the MPLS frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to communication networks, and more specifically to an InterWorking Unit (IWU) for interfacing a plurality of client devices to a MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) network.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Communication networks are widely used for communicating and transferring a wide range of digital information. One aspect in common between communication networks is that improvements are constantly being sought. New communications networks are constantly being developed. In addition, refinements to existing networks are constantly being pursued.
One new development in communication networks is a MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) network, wherein a MPLS network is employed to pass data between elements or devices of an existing network. For example, a MPLS network can be an intermediate component of an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network. It should be understood that the MPLS network can be an intermediate component of any type of packet based network. In addition, the MPLS network can be used as a converged network infrastructure that aggregates and transports packet and circuit protocol traffic (e.g., Frame Relay, ATM, IP, SONET, etc.) in a collective manner over a single, cohesively managed network. This application is sometimes called "Layer 2 MPLS" or "Layer 2 Transport over MPLS." A converged network advantageously eliminates the need for multiple overlay networks.
InterWorking Units (IWUs) are used at the edge of the MPLS network to interwork between MPLS and the other communication network protocols. The MPLS network provides Label Switch Paths (LSPs) between these IWUs by generating an outer MPLS label and incorporating the outer MPLS label and the incoming data cells or packets in an MPLS frame. These LSPs are unidirectional and are sometimes called transport LSPs. In addition, the IWUs can use the MPLS label stacking capability to multiplex LSPs within the transport LSPs by generating inner labels for a MPLS frame. These inner labels are assigned by the IWUs and are sometimes called interworking labels.
Because a LSP is unidirectional, two LSPs are needed for bi-directional communication between LSPs. The following description deals with one direction of a particular MPLS connection. In a unidirectional LSP, one IWU performs a transmit function and another IWU performs a receive function. For example, for an ATM connection, the transmit IWU would map an ATM Virtual Path Identifier/Virtual Channel Identifier (VPI/VCI) to an interworking LSP, and the receive IWU would map the interworking LSP to an ATM VPI/VCI. This usage of MPLS to transport other protocols is sometimes referred to as pseudowire emulation. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has defined pseudowire emulation in draft documents, including how to perform pseudowire emulation for a number of protocols, including ATM, Frame Relay, SONET, IP, etc.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art MPLS network 100. The prior art MPLS network 100 includes at least one edge node 110, at least one switch node 112, and a prior art InterWorking Unit (IWU) 120. Multiple edge and switch nodes will usually be included in the MPLS network 100, but a limited number are shown for clarity. The prior art IWU 120 includes a plurality of edge nodes. The prior art IWU 120 interfaces between the MPLS network 100 and a plurality of client devices, such as client devices X and Y, shown in the figure. The prior art IWU 120 translates MPLS frames between the MPLS network 100 and the client devices, including performing any necessary protocol translations. The client devices can comprise a destination network 102 or components of the destination network 102. A source network 101 can be in communication with the MPLS network 100 and can communicate with the destination network 102 through the MPLS network 100. In this prior art MPLS network configuration, each client device, such as clients X and Y, communicates through a designated edge node, such as through edge nodes A and B. The edge nodes A and B are components of the prior art IWU 120.
The basic concept of the MPLS network 100 is to switch data at the core of the MPLS network 100 and to route data at the edge. The edge nodes 110 perform the interworking between the MPLS network core and the other communication networks and protocols. This includes performing the appropriate pseudowire emulation procedure, establishing the transport LSPs to other edge nodes, establishing interworking LSPs within these transport LSPs, and selecting/routing the correct interworking LSP and transport LSP for the data unit to be transported. Therefore, edge nodes 110 are used at the ingress and egress edges of the MPLS network 100, where their high level of intelligence is used for routing and where their relative slowness can be tolerated. The switch nodes 112 are used in the core of the MPLS network 100. The switch nodes 112 perform routing on the transport LSPs and do not act on the interworking LSPs. The inherent speed of the switch nodes 112 offers a great advantage in transferring the MPLS frames from edge to edge of the MPLS network 100 at a very high speed.
In operation, a data stream enters the edge of the MPLS network 100 and the ingress edge node 110 performs the appropriate pseudowire emulation, which includes the addition of the interworking LSP and transport LSP headers. The outer MPLS label of the transport LSP operates to route the MPLS frame through the MPLS network. The ingress edge node 110 transfers the MPLS frame to a first switch node 112 of the determined route. All switch nodes 112 encountered by the MPLS frame examine the outer MPLS label and the transfer is performed by the switch nodes 112 based on the outer MPLS label. When the data leaves the MPLS network, routing and transfer is resumed using the inner label.
The LSP can be determined according to the nature of the MPLS frames to be transferred. In addition, the LSP can be determined according to a requested Quality of Service (QoS). Furthermore, the MPLS network 100 can improve the data exchange through path selection metrics including the destination, available bandwidth, congestion, and error performance.
A problem exists with authentication in the prior art MPLS network 100. In the prior art MPLS network 100 shown in FIG. 1, if source B spoofs a MPLS frame 107a, including a client device address (X), the MPLS frame 107a is not authenticated by the MPLS network 100 before the MPLS frame 107 is transferred out of the MPLS network 100. As a result, due to the lack of authentication of incoming data streams, source B can address a data stream to a destination client device even though source B is not permitted to send to the destination client device.
The MPLS frame address information can be erroneous, such as if the source network 101 (or source computer) has a configuration error. Alternatively, the MPLS frame address information can be a malicious entry, such as when a person is trying to use an existing but improper address. For example, the person could be attempting to send a virus (V). The end result is that when MPLS frames are accepted from untrustworthy sources, the MPLS frames are not authenticated and can be routed in an illegitimate manner.
The authentication problem exists at least partially because of the configuration of the prior art IWU 120. In the prior art IWU 120, the outer MPLS label of a MPLS frame may be stripped off outside the prior art IWU 120, by the immediately previous switch node. Even if the outer MPLS label were delivered to the prior art IWU 120, the prior art IWU 120 would strip off and ignore the outer MPLS label. Consequently, the MPLS frame must be routed to an edge node of the prior art IWU 120 based solely on the inner label. This scheme relies on all of the incoming MPLS frames to be properly labeled, and therefore relies on a properly labeled MPLS frame to be delivered by a proper edge node. However, for an improper inner label, the MPLS frame will nonetheless be delivered to an inner label destination by one of the plurality of edge nodes, even though the inner label is improper. By routing solely on the inner label to an edge node of the prior art IWU, the prior art enables a MPLS frame to be improperly delivered.

Interworking unit (IWU) for interfacing a plurality of client devices to a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS)


A device and method are provided for processing multimedia broadcast-related events in a portable terminal, and include a memory for storing character UI images according to multimedia broadcast-related events, an event collection section for collecting the multimedia broadcast-related events generated in the portable terminal and for generating event messages for discriminating the generated multimedia broadcast-related events, an agent control section including a plurality of specialists for processing the multimedia broadcast-related events, the agent control section determining specialists corresponding to the event messages, selecting and outputting character UI IDs corresponding to the multimedia broadcast-related events of the determined specialist, and processing feedback information on the corresponding events according to the feedback information of a user, and an agent expression section for outputting character images and texts which correspond to the multimedia broadcast-related events and the feedback information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and method for processing multimedia broadcast-related events in a portable terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device and method for informing a user of a start of a frequently watched multimedia broadcast program using a character agent function.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a portable terminal refers to a device which can be carried by a user, and its representative device is a mobile phone. Recently, the mobile phone has been developed so as to provide various additional functions as well as the original phone function. The mobile phone having the additional functions generally includes an LCD unit, and various display methods using character (avatar) image data have been developed in order to effectively display the additional functions and the state of the mobile phone.
A DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) phone, through which satellite/terrestrial broadcasting can be viewed, is an example of a mobile phone having such various additional functions. The DMB is a broadcasting service by which broadcasting contents are transmitted so that various multimedia broadcasting such as video, audio, and data can be heard or viewed through multi-channels using a portable or vehicular receiver, to which a reception antenna is mounted, outside a house or while moving. When watching the DMB through a mobile phone, a user can select a desired broadcasting channel while watching various broadcasting channel guides displayed on the screen of the mobile phone, and can watch a program selected by the user by displaying a program of the selected channel on a display unit.
A portable terminal including the multimedia receiving function receives CDM channel information related to the DMB service from a satellite. The received information includes EPG (Electronic Program Guide) information. Since the EPG information is the information related to broadcasting, and the table information of the EPG is continuously retransmitted by a predetermined interval, a user can receive the EPG information whenever the user uses the DMB service.
FIG. 1 is an exemplary view for illustrating a construction of an EPG. Referring to FIG. 1, the EPG comprises a BIT (Broadcaster Information Table) 101, an SDT (Service Description Table) 103, an EIT (Event Information Table) 105, and a TOT (Time Offset Table) 107. Here, the BIT 101 is used to transmit broadcasting information. Here, notices, the names of broadcasting companies, and the current channel lists are transmitted. Broadcast IDs are used to discriminate between different BITs 101. Further, the SDT 103 is used to transmit information of the channels. The information on channels comprises the names of the channels, URL information on the channels, whether the channels are free or require a fee, and the types of the channels (whether the channels are video channels or audio channels, or whether the channels can be recorded). The SDT 103 is discriminated from another SDT using service IDs. Further, the EIT 105 represents genre information of the programs. Here, the name of the program, URL information of the program, a period of time from the start of the program to the completion of the program, and the viewer rating transmitted and the genre information of the corresponding program is transmitted. The EIT 105 uses event IDs to discriminate different events. The TOT 107 represents information on the present time. The TOT 107 is necessary to compare the time of the currently performed program with the present time or to display the present time. As noted above, a user can be informed of various DMB channel information through the EPG information.
An exemplary portable terminal including the multimedia reception function comprises a broadcast reservation function as well as a multimedia broadcast program watching function. The broadcast reservation function comprises a broadcast start alarm reservation function and a broadcast record reservation function. The broadcast start alarm reservation function is a function for informing a user of the start of a broadcast when a broadcast program starts, provided by registering the broadcast start alarm reservation of the broadcast program in a broadcast reservation menu, while the user is watching the EPG information through the screen of the terminal.
However, according to the broadcast function, a user is required to set the reservation each time, and therefore, there are occasions in which the user does not reserve a favorite program either due to mistake, oversight or delay, and misses the start time of the program and can not watch the program. Further, the complexities involved with a user interface (UI) can make it inconvenient for a user to reserve a favorite program.
Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method for easily and effectively registering a favorite multimedia broadcast program.

Device and method for processing multimedia broadcast-related events in portable terminal


The present invention relates to a method of producing a FinFET sensor device comprising the steps of:                providing a silicon substrate;        etching the silicon substrate to produce at least one upwardly extending Fin structure externally protruding from a surface of the silicon substrate;        depositing a spacer layer on the at least one Fin structure;        anisotropically etching a section of the spacer layer to expose the underlying silicon;        isotropic etching of the exposed silicon surrounding the at least one Fin structure; and        carrying out oxidation of the silicon surrounding the at least one Fin structure to produce a Fin structure of silicon inside the at least one Fin structure.

FET Silicon Nanowires (SiNW) have emerged as promising candidates for a new generation of label-free real-time sensors [1] for the detection of chemical and biological species. Even though SiNWs' potential for sensing has been largely proven and the knowledge of sensing mechanisms widely extended, mass-production and integration of such sensors has still to face many challenges. This patent proposes an alternative sensor, able to provide better performance, especially in terms of stability and reliability. It also guarantees a direct integration with CMOS read-out electronics, preserving its performances upon scaling.
FinFET as State-of-the-Art Transistor:
The first fabricated non-planar FET was proposed in 1989 as "fully DEpleted Lean-channel TrAnsistor (DELTA)" by Hisamoto et al. [2], as illustrated in FIG. 1.A. The term FinFET was actually referring to the same DELTA structure but with an additional top hard-mask [3] used to avoid parasitic inversion at the corners, as shown in FIG. 1.B. Commonly today and in this document, the term FinFET is used for both architectures. The DELTA and the FinFET are part of a group of transistors which can generally be referred to as multi-gate FETs (MG-FET) including double-gate (DG), triple and surrounding gate transistors [4]. These architectures have been developed to overcome the adverse effects that come along with CMOS scaling for higher switching speed and more densely integrated circuits according to Moore's law [5].
Some of the mentioned non-ideal effects have been identified as: (i) short-channel effects including voltage roll-off, (ii) drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL), (iii) subthreshold slope degradation and (iv) non-negligible parasitic components [6]. Using a multi-gate architecture, a better control of the channel depletion is obtained with respect to a standard MOSFET and the influence of the drain electric field on the channel is reduced. Looking towards sensor CMOS integration, the scaling compatibility is an indispensable feature. Moreover, the advanced channel control provided by the FinFET architecture results in excellent sensor properties, as reported hereafter.
ISFET Principle:
Ion Sensitive Field Effect Transistors (ISFET) were first developed in the 1970s, as an alternative to the glass electrodes for pH and ion measurements. In comparison with a MOSFET (FIG. 2.A), the gate electrode is replaced by a reference electrode immersed in an aqueous solution in contact with the gate oxide, as illustrated in FIG. 2.B.
The voltage at the silicon surface is then function of the reference electrode and the amount of charges present in the solution as long as their contribution is not negligible at the ISFET surface. With respect to the voltage gate Vg of standard MOSFET, additional contributions should then be considered [7]:
                              V          g                =                              E            ref                    -          Ψ          +                      χ            sol                    -                                    Φ              Si                        q                    -                                    Q              D                                      C              ox                                +                      ϕ            S                                              Eq        .                                          1
Where Eref is the potential of the reference electrode, Ψ is the chemical potential at the solution-oxide interface, χsol is the surface dipole potential of the solvent (usually constant), ΦSi is the work function of the silicon which has been separated from the usual ΦM of the metal gate now included in Eref and φS is the surface potential at the Si-Oxide interface which determines the Id(Vg) transfer characteristics.
Ψ and φS are both surface potentials but they refer to two different interfaces in series. Any chemical variation of the solution modifies Ψ, which in case of pH can be expressed as Ψ(pH), but it can depend on any other electrical charges related to other ions or biological entities (DNA, proteins). The contribution of Ψ is then linearly added to φS, meaning that the electronic properties of the FET expressed by the Id (Vref)) are not modulated by Ψ but only shifted by a ΔΨ. A change in Ψ will result in a change in the ISFET threshold voltage Vth, which can be measured by sweeping the reference electrode or by monitoring the Id value at fixed Vref value.
Previous Works Related to SiNWs for Sensing Applications
A list of references related to SiNWs for sensing applications is here reported. Information on the technology implemented in each work is mentioned as follows:
Technology Approach:                Top-Down (TD): it consists in removing material from an initial substrate (e.g. silicon wafer) until structures are created;        Bottom-Up (BU): small items (e.g. atoms or molecules) are assembled to create a larger device.
Silicon Substrate:                Bulk: single-crystal piece cut and polished from larger single-crystal ingots;        SOI: it consists of two silicon pieces separated by an insulator layer (usually SiO2).
Architecture:                FinFET: HFin/TFin at least >1;        Ribbon FET: WRibbon/TRibbon>1, including trapezoidal and triangular shape where Wbottom>TRibbon;        ISFET: standard bulk MOSFET;        Trigate FET with: WFin/TFin≈1;        GAA: Gate-All-Around, circular wire.
References Related to SiNWs for Sensing Applications:                This invention: TD, Bulk, FinFET        Microsens SA [8] TD, Bulk, ISFET                    Based on a standard MOSFET structure                        Abe et al. [9] TD, Bulk, ISFET                    Based on a standard MOSFET structure                        Lee et al. [10] TD, SOI, Ribbon FET        Park et al. [11] TD, SOI, Ribbon FET        Yoo et al. [12] TD, SOI, Ribbon FET        Kim et al. [13] TD, SOI, Trigate FET        Ahn et el. [14] TD, SOI, Trigate FET        Ahn et el. [15] TD, Bulk, top side of a vertical FET                    see comment below                        Vu et al. [16] TD, SOI, Ribbon FET        Cui et al. [17] TD, SOL GAA        Tarasov et al. [18] TD, SOI, Ribbon FET        Chen et al. [19] TD, SOI, Ribbon FET        Zhang et al. [20] TD, SOI, Trigate FET        Li et al. [21] TD, SOI, Trigate FET        Hahm et al. [22] BU, SOI, GAA        Stern et al. [23] TD, SOI, Ribbon FET        Zheng et al. [24] TD, SOI,        Kim et al. [25] TD, SOI, Ribbon FET        Li et al. [26] BU, SOI, GAA        Wang et al. [27] BU, SOI, GAA        Zhang et al. [28] TD, SOI, Ribbon FET        Chiang et al. [29] TD, SOI, Ribbon FET        Patolsky et al. [30] BU, SOI, GAA
Most of the available references are based on Ribbon-like structures. Some are based on GAA SiNWs fabricated by a bottom-up approach, which are not CMOS compatible. In [15] the exploited sensing surface is only the top side of the vertical FET while the body is embedded and controlled by lateral gates which are used for amplification purposes. Only one planar side of the device is involved in the detection mechanism limiting the potential advantages of a multi-gate vertical architecture. Contrarily in this invention, as presented in the following sections, the double-gate structure is fully immersed in the solution and the channel potential is controlled exclusively by the surrounding environment.

Method to fabricate FinFET sensors, in particular, FinFET sensors for ionic, chemical and biological applications on Si-Bulk

Abstract: The present invention also relates to FinFET sensor devices produced by the above method.

ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE (EPFL)