A resource access system and method for providing interpreters with the ability to provide interpreter applications access to any desired server resource regardless of type of server and current capability of the client node to access such server resources. The invention is an application-level extension of the interpreter, enabling the interpreter to provide server resource access independently of the type of operating system implemented in the client node. In addition, the invention utilizes existing techniques to communicate with the server, such as a distributed object system or an existing client redirector, enabling the invention to provide such access with minimal modifications to the client or server nodes, accommodating the client node""s current capability to access the server resources. Also, the resource access system provides access without having to use a foreign application interface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to accessing network server resources and, more particularly, to a system and method for providing interpreter applications access to server resources in a distributed network.
2. Related Art
Internetworking is the process of establishing and maintaining communications and transferring data among multiple nodes in a distributed network system. The nodes are connected by a common communication medium such as copper or fiber optic cabling and may have a series of intermediate active nodes, such as routers or bridges. The nodes communicate with each other using a common information exchange protocol, such as IPX or TCP/IP.
The purpose of an internetwork is to provide end-to-end service between a client node and a server node to share resources such as information stored in files, databases, etc.; print, facsimile, CD-ROM and other services; and other resources located locally and remotely relative to the server. The client and server nodes are generally computers such as workstations and PCs.
The client node typically includes application programs that request access to resources located on the server node. The server node, which may be, for example, a NetWare(copyright) server available from Novell, Incorporated or a Windows NT(copyright) server available from Microsoft Corporation, is typically a computer dedicated to providing access to the above resources in response to requests generated by the client nodes. (NetWare is a registered trademark of Novell, Inc., and Windows NT is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.)
When the client application makes a request, the request is intercepted by a redirector in the client node and passed either to the local operating system or to network client libraries and a network client process for transmission to the server node. The network client libraries translate the request parameters from the library environment to a format appropriate for the network client process. The network client process places the request parameters into a network packet and invokes a network driver on the client node. The network driver packages the request and forwards it onto the network using an appropriate packet format and media-access method. The request is received by a corresponding network driver on the server node that provides the request to a request handler in the server. The request handler, which is typically part of the server operating system, performs the necessary operations to process the request. The resulting reply is returned to the client node in a similar manner.
It is well known that different versions of an application program are generally required to enable it to operate with different types of operating systems. For example, WordPerfect(copyright) for Windows 95(trademark) will not function on the Windows(trademark) 3.1 operating system. (WordPerfect is a registered trademark of Corel, Inc., Windows 95 is a trademark and Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.) To enable a single version of an application to execute on different types of operating systems, programs providing a standard application program interface (API) have been recently developed. These programs, referred to as interpreter programs or simply interpreters, operate at a functional level above the client or server operating system. The interpreter program, referred to hereinafter as an interpreter system, executes application programs written in the language of the interpreter system. These applications are referred to hereinafter as interpreter applications. The interpreter system isolates the interpreter applications from the particular requirements of each type of operating system.
An interpreter system generally includes an interpreter engine and interpreter libraries. The interpreter engine translates interpreter applications to system-level instructions appropriate for the host (client or server) operating system. Unlike a compiler which converts programs written in a higher level language (source code) to system-level instructions (object code) for subsequent execution by the processor, the interpreter engine executes source code by translating interpreter commands directly into processor instructions and executing these instructions on the processor. The interpreter libraries define the API that performs functions such as input/output, networking and utility functions utilized by the interpreter applications to access client and server resources. Examples of interpreter systems include the Java Virtual Machine(trademark) (Java(trademark)) and the associated Java Development Kit (JDK) available from Sun Microsystems, ActiveX(trademark) available from Microsoft Corporation, and the widely available Smalitalk interpreter, which executes instructions written in the Smalltalk programming language. (Java Virtual Machine and Java are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. and ActiveX is a trademark of Microsoft Corp.)
Generally, the interpreter libraries are implemented in an object-oriented programming language and are generally referred to as object or class libraries. The interpreter libraries include a number of service libraries. Two of these service libraries which are of particular importance to the present invention are the commonly known network service libraries and the input/output (I/O) service libraries. The I/O service libraries provide the interpreter application with the ability to access local resources on the client node. For example, the I/O service libraries include objects for reading and writing to a file. The technique which is used by these objects is based upon the concept of a stream. A stream is a sequence of data, such as strings or arrays of bytes or other objects, transferred over a period of time from/to a desired resource. In particular, these I/O libraries include a generic xe2x80x9cstreamxe2x80x9d object class whose methods could be extended to operate on a structure such as a file. For example, when an interpreter application accesses a local file on a client node, stream objects enable the interpreter application to perform file operations such as reading and writing a stream of data to/from the local file. In Java, generic stream objects are extended by file stream objects which use the same programming interface. Other stream objects are used by an interpreter application to operate on a local file.
Network service libraries provide the interpreter application with the ability to access server resources using an application-level communications protocol. Also, interpreters such as Java often include what is commonly referred to as distributed objects, which allow an interpreter system of a first node to transfer a request directly to an interpreter system on a second node for processing. When implementing distributed objects, the interpreter system transfers a request from the interpreter application to distributed objects on the first node which then transfers the request to distributed objects on the second node. The distributed objects on the server node execute the request as if the request was generated locally and returns a reply to the requesting distributed objects on the client node. The requesting distributed objects provide the interpreter application with the reply as if it was generated locally. Different types of distributed object systems exist, such as CORBA, RMI, and DCOM.
Although interpreter systems provide a standardized API, the I/O service libraries do not include objects that support the file access methods necessary to access a particular class of server nodes that require access to occur through an installable file system (IFS). As is well known, an installable file system is an interface found on client operating systems which allows network vendors to provide access to file systems which would normally be foreign to the client operating system. Servers that support communication with an IFS on a client node include, for example, NetWare, Windows NT and Network File System (NFS) servers.
A conventional approach for providing interpreter applications access to resources on servers is to include a software device referred to as a redirector. As noted, a redirector on the client node receives I/O requests from the interpreter and directs the requests either to the local operating system or to the server node. However, for the redirector to direct the resource requests to the client operating system, it must use the programming interface associated with the client operating system. As a result, a different type of redirector is required to support each type of client operating system. For example, commonly available redirectors include Client-32 available from Novell, Inc. for the Windows 95 operating system, NetWare Requester(trademark), also available from Novell, Inc., for the Windows NT operating system, and the Network File System created by Sun Microsystems for the Unix(copyright) operating system. (NetWare Requester is a trademark of Novell, Inc. Unix is a registered trademark, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company, Ltd.) To include a redirector in each client node requires the system developer to incur significant costs associated with the development and maintenance of the different types of redirectors on the numerous, currently existing client operating systems.
Another approach has been to include the functionality that enables the interpreter applications to communicate with the servers within the interpreter object libraries. However, interpreters currently provide limited network service libraries, thereby limiting the type of servers and features that the interpreter applications can use. For example, the network service libraries generally included in Java interpreters only provide the objects necessary to communicate using a network-level protocol such as the TCP/IP information exchange protocol. Java network service libraries do not provide, for example, the objects necessary to use application level protocols with servers such as NetWare, NT, etc. These application level services are generally assumed to be provided by a client redirector. Thus, on clients without redirectors, access to such services is not possible.
What is needed, therefore, is a means for providing interpreter applications with the ability to access a broad range of server resources, regardless of the type of server, without incurring the expense of developing and installing a redirector on existing client nodes. It is also desirable to implement such functionality with minimal modifications to the client and server nodes so that such resource access may be achieved in an efficient and cost effective manner. In addition, it is desirable to provide such functionality without having to use a foreign application programming interface.
The present invention relates to a resource access system and method for providing interpreter applications access to any desired server resource regardless of type of server and current capability of the client node to access such server resources. The invention is an application-level extension of the interpreter system, that locates and accesses a server resource using existing server methods to provide the interpreter application access to a server resource. Also, the invention provides access independent of the type of operating system implemented in the client node by providing access to the server resource at a functional level above the operating system. In addition, the invention utilizes existing techniques, such as distributed objects or an existing client redirector, to communicate with the server. Thus, the invention provides such access to resources on the server node with minimal modifications to either the client or server nodes.
One embodiment of the present invention is implemented when the client node does not include the proper functionality, such as a redirector, to access server resources. Such a redirector would use existing server resource location and access methods defined on the server node to access a server resource. In this embodiment, commonly available distributed object systems are available on both the client and server node. In addition, a stub and a proxy of the resource access system is installed on the client and server node, respectively. The resource access system on each node is associated with an interpreter system on that node. Resource access requests generated by the interpreter application on the client node are received by the resource access system stub on the client node and directly forwarded to the resource access system proxy on the server node using distributed objects. The resource access request is received by a distributed object on the server and forwarded to the server resource access system proxy which then forwards the request to a request handler in the server""s operating system for processing. A reply is generated, and is transferred by a distributed object on the server to a distributed object on the client. The resource access request is processed by the distributed objects on the client and server nodes as if the request was processed on the client node. For example, the invention may be implemented with a Java Virtual Machine (xe2x80x9cJavaxe2x80x9d) interpreter on both the client and server nodes to enable Java applications located on the client node to access resources on a Novell NetWare(trademark) server node. Also, the invention may be implemented with distributed object systems such as Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI), or Distributed Common Object Model (DCOM).
Advantageously, this arrangement provides server resource access to client interpreter applications without having to install a redirector in the client node. This eliminates the costs associated with creating and maintaining a client redirector for each of the various client operating systems. Importantly, therefore, the client node does not need to be modified in any way other than to install the present invention on the client node for use with the client interpreter.
Another embodiment of the present invention is implemented when the client node includes the proper functionality, such as a redirector, for accessing resources on the server node. In this embodiment, the resource access system is installed only on the client node. Resource access requests from the interpreter application are received by the resource access system and translated into requests for the client redirector. The redirector transfers the request to network client libraries on the client node which then forwards the request to the server. The server node then processes the request in a normal manner. For example, the present invention may be implemented with a Java interpreter on a NetWare client node to enable Java interpreter applications on that node to access NetWare server resources. Advantageously, in this arrangement where the client node includes a redirector, the server node does not have to be modified in any way to enable the interpreter applications to have access to server resources.
Specifically, the resource access system includes a resource locator that obtains location information necessary to access the desired server resource using existing server resource location methods. In response to an interpreter application""s resource request, a resource accessor of the invention accesses the desired server resource as necessary to satisfy the request based on the information provided by the resource locator using existing server resource access methods.
The interpreter system generally includes object libraries to provide a standard application program interface (API) with the interpreter applications. The resource access system is implemented as object-oriented libraries which can be substituted for existing object-oriented libraries. The resource locator includes locator objects which obtain location information for the resource using existing server resource location methods. The resource accessor is comprised of streaming objects that access the server resource using the location information provided by resource locator objects using existing server resource access methods. Preferably, the resource access system objects inherit from the existing interpreter libraries.
Significantly, the resource access system extends the functionality of the existing interpreter libraries, supplementing the standard application programming interface (API) provided by the interpreter. By inheriting from the existing objects, the resource access system objects can be substituted for existing objects for the purpose of accessing server resources. As noted, these server resources may be, for example, a file system or print queue located on the server node.
Significantly, the resource access system provides the interpreter system with the enhanced capability to provide interpreter applications access to server resources. Advantageously, the resource access system enables interpreter applications to use server resources that were not originally designed to access such resources (such as Java applications using NetWare server resources) without custom programming, thereby greatly reducing the cost and effort required to support such applications.
Further features and advantages of the present invention as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals indicate like or functionally similar elements. Additionally, the left-most one or two digits of a reference numeral identifies the drawing in which the reference numeral s first appears.

System and method for providing interpreter applications access to server resources in a distributed network


A semi-automated food processing station, system and method is provided that allows food to be dispensed, stored and packaged in a suitable container, which may be an individual portion-sized container for serving to a customer. In one embodiment, the system includes an automated salting device, and may include a pivotable food receiving tray that automatically transfers the food items to one or more storage bins, where an infrared heater maintains the temperature of the food items by directing infrared radiation thereon. In a preferred embodiment, the infrared radiation passes through a filter that filters out the wavelengths of infrared radiation that may be irritating to an operator.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to food processing of food items and, more particularly, to automated food processing, storing and dispensing of food items, such as at a quick-service type restaurant.
2. Background Art
In restaurants, especially quick-service restaurants, rapid, consistent, efficient and safe food preparation is essential for a successful operation. The quality of the prepared food depends in large part on the consistency of food preparation and storage. The food must be cooked using correct procedures and must be processed after cooking under appropriate conditions for the proper time.
Consistency in food preparation and storage times for cooked food items may vary as a result of many factors. For example, people engaged in food preparation often must perform multiple tasks at frequencies that vary with time because of constantly varying customer demand throughout the day. For example, lunchtime and dinnertime may be extremely busy while other periods may be relatively slow. The product mix can vary from hour to hour and day to day. As a result, the consistency and quality of food may vary. Difficulties in proper scheduling of food production during peak and non-peak periods can cause customer delays and/or stale, wasted or unusable food. Food preparation can be labor intensive, and thus, the labor cost can be a large portion of the total cost of the prepared food. Additionally, food items stored under conditions that maintain temperatures at an appropriate level often utilize infrared heat lamps that emit rays that may affect the comfort level of the employees.
Quick-service restaurants must be able to effectively meet a variable customer demand that is time dependent and not subject to precise prediction. As a result, stores relying totally on human operators performing their function at predetermined times will necessarily occasionally be overstaffed and at other times be under-staffed. Also, potential health and safety concerns can arise with the amount of direct contact of the operator with the food being prepared. By reducing or minimizing human contact with food and food cooking equipment, health and safety concerns can also be reduced or minimized. Any time or work savings that can be implemented will assist in maintaining consistency of food quality and with employer satisfaction with working conditions at higher levels.
Although quick-service restaurants have existed for many years and now number in the tens of thousands, such establishments utilize manual labor to prepare and process food. While there have been various improvements in commercial equipment used for cooking and processing cooked food in quick-service restaurants, such restaurants are believed to be substantially all manually operated and are relatively labor intensive.
Restaurants, and particularly the quick-service type of restaurant, depend upon quickly preparing, packaging and serving food in order to minimize customer waiting and to ensure freshness and quality of the food items when served to the customer. Equipment operators in a quick-service restaurant prepare food items, for example French fries, in bulk, typically tossing them from a fry basket into a holding or storage area. The bulk food items may then be salted by hand or with a handheld salting device that ensures a controlled portion of salt is delivered to the food items in the holding area. The salted food items are sometimes manually tumbled or agitated to distribute the salt amongst the food items, for example French fries. Cost and labor savings devices are desirable in the food preparation process. For example, automated salting, with a predetermined amount of salt, of a batch of bulk food items reduces the amount of manual time needed to prepare and serve the food items. Moreover, while some operator contact with the food is to be expected, certain operations and work stations that are automated so as reduce the need for human contact and attention will greatly alleviate some of these potential problems.
Non-uniform salting may result when done manually. Also, at times there is a delay between when the cooked French fries are delivered to the holding area and when they are salted, perhaps because the attention of the operator is diverted to performance of other tasks. While the French fries are sitting, they begin to cool, and when they are eventually salted, the adhesion of salt is poor. Other times, the holding area may not be emptied before another batch of cooked French fries is transferred into the holding area. When these freshly cooked fries are salted, the fries from the previous batch end up being oversalted.
A need exists for an apparatus and method for automating the preparation of seasoned food items, such as bulk salted French fries, wherein the work station, system and method further enhance the consistency of salting, and improve the overall distribution and adhesion of salt or other seasoning on the cooked food. Automation of other portions of the food processing operation is desirable to reduce the number of operational steps for which the operator is responsible during food processing. While these needs and desires exist for the preparation of salted French fries, it is also recognized that seasoning needs exist for any foods, breaded or non-breaded, which are prepared in-batch or individually and are subsequently seasoned, for example, but not limited to: other fried or cooked vegetables, chicken pieces or nuggets, shrimp, fish fillets and so forth.
Accordingly, a need exists for increased automation for a commercially suitable food dispensing and packaging device, system and method for fried foods that can be operated with a minimum of human intervention, attention and maintenance. More particularly, a need exists for a food packaging station, system and method that is capable of, without excessive human labor, processing food items where various food products in desired quantities, such as bulk French fries, are stored, and also for seasoning the cooked food items and packaging the cooked food items in individual portion-sized containers while simultaneously reducing the amount of manual labor.
Where such systems and work stations may be incorporated in restaurant establishments by retrofitting of existing equipment, this will improve the work environment of the restaurant while simultaneously providing food having more consistent quality while using significantly less manual labor.

Storage and packaging of bulk food items and method


An inflator for a safety restraint system includes a gas storage vessel having a mouth, and a diffuser extending outwardly from the mouth and defining gas outlet ports. A combustion chamber having a flared open end is secured to the gas storage vessel peripherally adjacent the mouth and defines throttle orifices for releasing inflation gas from the gas storage vessel. A breakaway closure member is secured across the mouth of the gas storage vessel and the open end of the combustion chamber housing, the breakaway closure member including a periphery ring, a translating boss having an initiator mounted therethrough and a skirt slidingly received in the open end of the combustion chamber housing, and a frangible web connecting the boss to the periphery ring. The combustion chamber housing further defines exhaust ports opening to the gas storage vessel, and contains combustible material, which may be pyrotechnic gas generator or fluid fuel. The initiator ignites the combustible material and the resultant increased pressure in the combustion chamber housing fractures the frangible web and drives the translating boss into the diffuser to release gas from the gas storage vessel through the throttle orifices and diffuser. Hot products of combustion are delivered through the combustion chamber exhaust ports to heat and augment the pressure of the gas.

Inflatable safety restraint systems are incorporated into automobiles and other vehicles to protect occupants in the event of a crash. An inflatable safety restraint system includes an airbag module incorporating an inflator and an airbag cushion, wherein the inflator provides inflation gas for inflating and deploying the airbag cushion.
Hybrid inflators provide the inflation gasses from a combination of stored pressurized gas and combustible material which is ignited to heat and expand the stored pressurized gas, and which may provide additional inflation gas as a product of combustion. The combustible material is often a pyrotechnic but may also be a liquid fuel. The products of combustion are delivered to the stored gas chamber to heat and expand the stored gas therein. It is further typical that the combustion chamber for the combustible material be located within the stored gas chamber, in order to provide heat transfer to the stored gas and further provide a relatively compact structure. Passenger side inflators often have an elongated tubular housing and a common variant has the combustible material at the closed end thereof with an initiator means mounted through the closed end and inflation gasses delivered from the open end of the elongated housing. Prior to operation of the inflator, the open end is sealed by a rupturable diaphragm, and the rupturable diaphragm is opened by internal pressure created when the combustible material is ignited. Alternatively, a mechanical linkage can be provided to puncture the seal. In inflators which are opened by increased internal pressure within the gas storage chamber, the need to develop high internal pressures necessary to release inflation gasses dictate a substantial housing. This increases the weight and cost of the inflator. The alternative of opening the inflator by mechanical linkage also requires additional cost and weight of the mechanical components.
The same considerations apply to a driver's side inflator, in which the combustible material is generally provided in a center tie surrounded by a toroidal gas storage chamber, with the gas being delivered through a burst disk or frangible portion of the housing on the end of the center tie facing the airbag cushion.
For efficient heating of the stored gas, it is also beneficial to have the combustion chamber and the outlets therefrom in the path of inflation gasses exiting the inflator, i.e., near the outlet burst disk. Such an inflator is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,680, wherein a projectile is fired through the burst disk to initiate a primer for igniting a combustible material contained in a combustion chamber near the outlet end of the inflator. Such prior art hybrid inflators require a substantial number of precision parts to function in their intended manner, thereby increasing the difficulty of manufacture and attendant cost.
All of these structures are somewhat more heavy, more complex and more expensive to manufacture than is desirable and, accordingly, there is a need for an improved hybrid inflator.

Hybrid inflator with diffuser end translating initiator boss


A computer network-based service provides search capabilities and mechanisms for connecting potential patients with emergency, urgent, and convenient care facilities. Patients make informed decisions regarding their treatment options by reviewing search results regarding facility wait times, geographic proximities of facilities, quality ratings of facilities for particular specialties, etc. Upon selecting a facility, patients may electronically transmit a notification to the facility indicating their medical condition(s) and estimated arrival time. The facility may approve or deny the treatment request by sending an electronic response. The facility may also request further information to triage the patient before his/her actual arrival and/or may provide instructions to assist the patient while en route. Navigation satellite systems may identify the patient's location for processing search requests and determining the proximity of facilities. Further, contact mechanisms, e.g., phone numbers, for contacting facilities directly may be accessed from the search service and tracked.

A large percentage of medical conditions require urgent or emergency care. While patients in need of urgent or emergency care may need immediate assistance, it is important to still allow such patients to make informed decisions in selecting their medical care provider, e.g., hospital, emergency room, urgent care facility, physician, etc. Yet, a great deal of information to enable such decision-making is not available, or at least not readily available, to potential patients. While increasing numbers of patients are also opting for convenient care facilities or clinics for treatment of medical conditions requiring non-emergency or non-urgent care, information to enable potential patients to make informed decisions in selecting a particular convenient care facility has also been limited or, at least, not readily available. Such problems are exacerbated in that potential patients often select such facilities, whether emergency/urgent or convenient care, in rushed situations and/or while en route to a facility of a particular type, e.g., emergency room.
Although specific problems have been addressed in this Background, this disclosure is not intended in any way to be limited to solving those specific problems.

Connecting patients with emergency/urgent health care


A cutting body is formed of compacted powder and has a lower side provided with a recess and a spaced protrusion. The body can be used as a cutting insert, or two identical such bodies can be sintered together to form an invertible cutting insert. Voids can be formed within the insert to contain sensors or conduct cooling fluid.

The present invention relates to a cutting member and a method of manufacturing such a cutting member of compacted powder.
It is conventional to form a chipforming cutting insert of a compacted powder body which comprises a binder material and a hard material such as metal carbides, metal nitrides or ceramic material. The body is substantially disc-shaped and comprises an upper face, a lower face and at least one side surface connecting the upper and lower faces. The upper face is oriented at an acute angle with each side surface to form a cutting edge.
Heretofore, it has been practical to employ a powder-compacting technique to form single-sided inserts of the type described above. However, due to the complicated insert geometry of invertible inserts, it has not previously been practically possible to use conventional press tools for pressing such inserts of the invertible type, i.e., inserts having a double-positive geometry. By double-positive geometry is meant an insert whose upper and lower faces intersect the side faces at an acute angle to form cutting edges on both faces. That is, if such double-positive inserts were directly pressed in conventional press tools it would not be possible, without causing damage, to remove the powder body from the pressing tool after completion of the pressing.
In French Patent Application No. 1,522,955 a method of assembling two portions made of sintered metal powder is described. In accordance with that method two pieces are provided with compatible protrusions and recesses and the pieces are pressed and brazed together such that the protrusions and recesses become locked together by plastic deformation. Those two pieces are not identical in shape and therefore two different types for press tools must be used to their manufacture which makes this method time-consuming. Time-consumption is exacerbated due to the fact that braze material is introduced between the pieces before pressing takes place. That method cannot be used for assembling two powder bodies of hard material due to their brittleness prior to sintering. That is, the plastic deformation will create inner stresses in the material which are objectionable in the case of cemented carbide material for example, due to the small resistance to tensile stresses that is a typical characteristic of cemented carbide.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to enable a cutting member to be easily be produced by powder compaction.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a member which is useful as a blank for making a cutting insert.
It is another object to provide a double-sided cutting insert which inherently has necessary clearance angles.
It is another object of the invention to provide a simple method for the manufacture of a cutting insert having a complicated geometry.

Cutting member and method of manufacturing such member of compacted powder


A highly reliable positive type photosensitive resin composition composed of diamine having a carboxyl group as a structural unit, which can be developed with an alkaline aqueous solution, comprising polyamic acid ester having hydrophobic group, o-quinonediazidesulfonyl amide compound, and/or o-quinonediazidesulfonyl amide sulfonic ester compound, and electronic devices using the same. A polyamide film having preferable positive type relief patterns, of which the unexposed portion is not corroded, can be obtained.

The present invention relates to a positive type photosensitive resin composition, which is suitable for using in electric or electronic devices, particularly in semiconductor devices, and which is developable by an alkaline aqueous solution.
Currently, polyimide has been used widely in the field of semiconductor manufacture, which requires strict reliability, because polyimide is superior in heat-resistance, mechanical strength, and electrical insulation to other materials.
The utilization of polyimide as a passivation film, a buffer-coating film an .alpha.-ray shielding film an insulating film between layers, and so on in the semiconductor field is well known. In case of the utilization, a process for manufacturing fine through-holes in the polyimide film is necessary for forming a path through the upper and the lower conductive layers, or for connecting an external lead wire. Therefore, generally, a chemical etching treatment of the polyimide film using a photoresist is performed.
However, pattern formation of the polyimide film requires application and stripping of the photoresist, and the series of process steps is complex. Therefore, a photosensitive polyimide, which is capable of being formed by a short process and of being manufactured finely, has been required. As the results of extensive developing efforts devoted by many manufacturers to respond this requirement, a negative type photosensitive polyimide, which can be developed in an organic solvent, came to be commercialized. However, currently, in view of the high efficiency of the facility and current global environmental problems, a positive type photosensitive polyimide, which can not be developed in an organic solvent, but requires an alkaline aqueous solution, has come to be required.
A positive type photosensitive polyimide can be divided into two categories including, in which a photosensitive group is introduced into the polyimide precursor (JP-B-1-59571 (1989)), and another to which a photosensitive group is added. As for the latter positive type photosensitive polyimide of the photosensitive group addition type, one composed of o-quinonediazidesulfonic acid ester (JP-A-4-168441 (1992), JP-A-4-204738 (1992)), which generates carboxylic acid by light irradiation, and one composed of a polyimide precursor added with dihydroxypyridine derivatives (JP-A-6-43648 (1994)), and others have been disclosed. However, all of the above photosensitive imide have problems in resolution, sensitivity, and so on. The above o-quinonediazidesulfonic acid ester is a photosensitive agent used as a photoresist, and both a dissolution hindrance effect in the unexposed region and a dissolution enhancing effect in the exposed region as the photosensitive agent of the polyimide precursor are insufficient.
Particularly, the positive type photosensitive polyimide had a special problem, which did not exist in the negative type, such that the unexposed region was corroded at its substrate portion in the developing process, because the exposed region was dissolved when the positive type was used. As countermeasures for the problem, a method of mixing a silan group coupling agent such as 3-aminopropylmethoxysilan into the photosensitive resin composition, and a method improving the adhesiveness at the development by using a surface treated substrate are well known. However, in the case of a semiconductor, such a surface treatment is impossible, and the mixing of a coupling agent with the photosensitive resin composition is also not so effective.
As explained above, various attempts to add a photosensitivity of the positive type to the polyimide which can be developed by an alkaline aqueous solution have been performed, but sufficient results could not be obtained.

Positive photosensitive resin composition and electronic apparatus using the same


An accelerated fuel passage of an accelerator pump operatively connected with a throttle shaft having a throttle valve. The accelerated fuel passage is connected to an upstream side of a needle orifice, which orifice is coupled to a main nozzle. Consequently, the fuel is discharged by the accelerator pump into an area before the needle orifice. By the addition of a one-way check valve system in a fuel pick up at a metering chamber for a fuel circuit, the fuel driven by the accelerator pump piston is discharged to a venturi tube of an intake passage through the main nozzle. A self pumping effect caused by an engine pulsation is dampened or eliminated by the needle orifice. Further, a check valve is provided within a fuel pick up at a metering chamber for a fuel circuit, whereby the fuel driven by the accelerator pump piston is discharged to a venturi tube through a main nozzle without returning to the fixed fuel chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to accelerator apparatus provided in diaphragm carburetors supplying fuel to general purpose engines having limited displacement.
2. Description of Related Art
Many carburetors for supplying fuel to general purpose engines, particularly, general purpose engines having limited displacements, employ a diaphragm provided within a fixed fuel chamber regulating and holding the fuel supplied to an intake passage. The diaphragm maintains the fuel at a substantially constant pressure.
In such diaphragm carburetors, it is a known technology to supply an accelerated fuel to the intake passage in correspondence with an amount of intake air. The fuel acceleration is increased at a time when an opening degree of a throttle valve is increased for the purpose of increasing a rotational speed of an engine when a rapid acceleration is performed or when a load is applied. The diaphragm carburetor is provided with an accelerator apparatus using a piston-type or diaphragm-type accelerator pump, which operates mechanically with a throttle shaft having a throttle valve.
Further, in a known accelerator apparatus, as depicted in FIG. 2, an accelerated fuel passage draws the fuel to an accelerator pump activated by a cam 17 on a throttle shaft (not shown) having a throttle valve 2. Thus, an accelerated fuel flow is delivered directly to a main nozzle 9 open to a venturi tube 25 of an intake passage 3 from a fixed fuel chamber. Nevertheless, this accelerator apparatus is structured, such that the fuel is driven to venturi tube 25 through main nozzle 9.
Accordingly, when the engine is running in the full open throttle condition, the pulsation created by the engine affects to main nozzle 9. The pulsation may deliver an additional volume of fuel to the accelerator pump circuit through main nozzle 9. The pulsation effect may cause an unstable emission value, and in an undesirable case, the engine may not run properly because of this known "self pumping effect" when there is air or a fuel vapor in the additional volume. The pumping effect may discharge an excess amount of fuel into the engine, and the emission value may increase. In an undesirable case, the engine power declines as well due to the fuel rich condition.
When the engine starts with a dry carburetor condition, the accelerator pump circuit is filled with air, and the air may remain in the accelerator pump circuit until several throttle actions are executed.
Even after removal of the air from the accelerator pump circuit, there is a risk that the fuel vapor may be generated during the engine operation, due to hot ambient temperatures or a heat transfer from the engine, or both. There also is a risk that the self pumping effect may be generated by the engine vibration. Further, unstable emissions (e.g., unstable air-to-fuel ratio) are a problem for engine manufacturers due to an emission regulations.

Accelerator apparatus for diaphragm carburetors


A die construction for forming integral hinges (60) for a blow molded carrying case. An edge of the main cavity of a lower die (12) of a blow molding die pair is provided at one peripheral wall portion (40) with sloping channels (38). A core pin (32) extends across and spans the sloping channels. The upper die (10) is provided at one peripheral portion with semi-cylindrical recesses (22) coaxial with the core pin and of the same length as the width of the sloping channel. A heated parison (46, 48) is placed (FIG. 1) between the two dies. With die closing and with the introduction of pressurized air (52) into the parison, the parison is deformed. At the same time, the pressurized air also causes one of the plastic parison sheets (46) of the parison to deform into the semi-cylindrical recess, and the other parison sheet (48) to deform into the sloping channel and also around the core pin. The two parison sheets fuse together around the core pin upon complete closing of the two dies (FIG. 3) to form a hinge boss (60) integral with the remainder of the parison sheets which form a carrying case half. The core pin (32) is then removed, to form a hinge pin recess through the hinge boss. Any number of such hinge bosses may be formed, with a single core pin spanning each sloping channel and each semi cylindrical recess. This construction and method obviates the need to subsequently drill hinge pin receiving holes (61) through the hinge bosses (60).

This invention relates to blow molding and more particularly to a mold or die construction, particularly adapted for blow molding, wherein an integral hinge is formed on either or both of two halves of a hinged blow molded carrying case or panel assembly.
Blow molding is a technique for producing molded articles of plastic materials and is usually carried out by placing a parison (a tube of heated plastic) between two dies. Upon aligning the dies, such as a male and female die, pressurized air is introduced into the parison, with the parison expanding so as to conform to the shape of the mold cavity defined by the two mating dies. The resultant product or article is a hollow wall structure, the walls being joined at the periphery of the article.
Usually the two halves of a blow molded carrying case are joined by a hinge or series of hinges along respective edges, with the case edges opposite the hinges carrying one or more latches to secure closure. Typically, the hinges are often formed by molding them integrally with respective carrying case halves, and then drilling holes or bores through them, with the holes of the several hinge bosses being aligned so as to accept a hinge pin. U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,464 issued Oct. 7, 1986 to James E. Byrns, incorporated by reference, illustrates a carrying case having two blow molded halves coupled by hinges. However, the hinges must be drilled after the molding operation to provide bores for the hinge pins. The requirement for subsequent drilling after formation of the hinge bosses adds expense to the manufacturing process.

Method for forming double walled integral hinge members in blowmolded plastic articles


There is disclosed a semiconductor integrated circuit device having first and second load circuits for write. At the time of an all bit-stress test, a high voltage for write is supplied from the first and second load circuits for write to the all bit lines. At the time of an even bit-stress test, the high voltage for write is supplied from the first load circuit for write to the even bit lines and a lower potential than the high voltage for write is supplied from the second load circuit for write to the odd bit lines. At the time of an odd bit-stress test, the lower potential is supplied from the first load circuit for write to the even bit lines and the high voltage for write is supplied from the second load circuit for write to the odd bit lines.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device, and particularly to a semiconductor integrated circuit device improved in a method of applying stress to bit lines at a test time.
2. Description of the Related Art
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory, for example, a NOR-type flash memory is provided with a dedicated circuit for exclusive use in a bit line stress test in order to carry out the same test (all bits, even bits, odd bits) at a die sort test time. The dedicated circuit for the bit line stress test includes a load circuit for stress test, a transistor for applying stress, a decode circuit which selects the transistor for applying stress and a charging wiring.
When the NOR-type flash memory has a plurality of banks, the dedicated circuit for the bit line stress test needs the load circuit in every bank and when the NOR-type flash memory has a plurality of blocks, it needs the transistor for applying stress and the decode circuit which selects the transistor, in every block.
The NOR-type flash memory is improved in downsizing and enlarging capacity. Building the dedicated circuit for the bit line stress test into a memory chip disturbs the downsizing and the enlargement of capacity.


A wireless location system is disclosed. Locations of mobile stations (MS) may be determined using one or more MS locating technologies based on, e.g.: computed offsets from terrestrial base stations; satellite transmissions; indoor antennas; low range base stations; and in particular, signal pattern recognition for associating wireless signal characteristics with distinct geographic locations. The system can: adapt and/or calibrate its performance with environmental and geographical changes; capture location signal data for enhancement of a self-maintaining database of predictive location signal data; evaluate MS locations using heuristics and constraints related to terrain, MS velocity and path extrapolation; and adjust MS locations adaptively and/or statistically for providing more reliable and accurate locations. The system can be configured for environments ranging from dense urban, urban, suburban, rural, mountain to low traffic or isolated roadways. The system is useful for 911 emergencies, tracking, routing (e.g., to desired products/services), people and animal location including applications for confinement to and exclusion from certain areas.

Wireless communications systems are becoming increasingly important worldwide. Wireless cellular telecommunications systems are rapidly replacing conventional wire-based telecommunications systems in many applications. Cellular radio telephone networks ("CRT"), and specialized mobile radio and mobile data radio networks are examples. The general principles of wireless cellular telephony have been described variously, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,180 to Vendetti, et al, which is incorporated herein by reference.
There is great interest in using existing infrastructures for wireless communication systems for locating people and/or objects in a cost effective manner. Such a capability would be invaluable in a variety of situations, especially in emergency or crime situations. Due to the substantial benefits of such a location system, several attempts have been made to design and implement such a system.
Systems have been proposed that rely upon signal strength and trilateralization techniques to permit location include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,818,998 and 4,908,629 to Apsell et al. ("the Apsell patents") and U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,650 to Sheffer ("the Sheffer patent"). However, these systems have drawbacks that include high expense in that special purpose electronics are required. Furthermore, the systems are generally only effective in line-of-sight conditions, such as rural settings. Radio wave surface reflections, refractions and ground clutter cause significant distortion, in determining the location of a signal source in most geographical areas that are more than sparsely populated. Moreover, these drawbacks are particularly exacerbated in dense urban canyon (city) areas, where errors and/or conflicts in location measurements can result in substantial inaccuracies.
Another example of a location system using time of arrival and triangulation for location are satellite-based systems, such as the military and commercial versions of the Global Positioning Satellite system ("GPS"). GPS can provide accurate position determination (i.e., about 100 meters error for the commercial version of GPS) from a time-based signal received simultaneously from at least three satellites. A ground-based GPS receiver at or near the object to be located determines the difference between the time at which each satellite transmits a time signal and the time at which the signal is received and, based on the time differentials, determines the object's location. However, the GPS is impractical in many applications. The signal power levels from the satellites are low and the GPS receiver requires a clear, line-of-sight path to at least three satellites above a horizon of about 60 degrees for effective operation. Accordingly, inclement weather conditions, such as clouds, terrain features, such as hills and trees, and buildings restrict the ability of the GPS receiver to determine its position. Furthermore, the initial GPS signal detection process for a GPS receiver is relatively long (i.e., several minutes) for determining the receiver's position. Such delays are unacceptable in many applications such as, for example, emergency response and vehicle tracking.
Differential GPS, or DGPS systems offer correction schemes to account for time synchronization drift. Such correction schemes include the transmission of correction signals over a two-way radio link or broadcast via FM radio station subcarriers. These systems have been found to be awkward and have met with limited success.
Additionally, GPS-based location systems have been attempted in which the received GPS signals are transmitted to a central data center for performing location calculations. Such systems have also met with limited success. In brief, each of the various GPS embodiments have the same fundamental problems of limited reception of the satellite signals and added expense and complexity of the electronics required for an inexpensive location mobile station or handset for detecting and receiving the GPS signals from the satellites.
Radio Propagation Background
The behavior of a mobile radio signal in the general environment is unique and complicated. Efforts to perform correlations between radio signals and distance between a base station and a mobile station are similarly complex. Repeated attempts to solve this problem in the past have been met with only marginal success. Factors include terrain undulations, fixed and variable clutter, atmospheric conditions, internal radio characteristics of cellular and PCS systems, such as frequencies, antenna configurations, modulation schemes, diversity methods, and the physical geometries of direct, refracted and reflected waves between the base stations and the mobile. Noise, such as man-made externally sources (e.g., auto ignitions) and radio system co-channel and adjacent channel interference also affect radio reception and related performance measurements, such as the analog carrier-to-interference ratio (C/I), or digital energy-per-bit/Noise density ratio (Eb/No) and are particular to various points in time and space domains.
RF Propagation in Free Space
Before discussing real world correlations between signals and distance, it is useful to review the theoretical premise, that of radio energy path loss across a pure isotropic vacuum propagation channel, and its dependencies within and among various communications channel types. FIG. 1 illustrates a definition of channel types arising in communications:
Over the last forty years various mathematical expressions have been developed to assist the radio mobile cell designer in establishing the proper balance between base station capital investment and the quality of the radio link, typically using radio energy field-strength, usually measured in microvolts/meter, or decibels. First consider Hata's single ray model. A simplified radio channel can be described as:Gi=Lp+F+Lf+Lm+Lb−Gt+Gr  (Equation 1)where
Gi=system gain in decibels
Lp=free space path loss in dB,
F=fade margin in dB,
Lf=transmission line loss from coaxials used to connect radio to antenna, in dB,
Lm=miscellaneous losses such as minor antenna misalignment, coaxial corrosion, increase in the receiver noise figure due to aging, in dB,
Lb=branching loss due to filter and circulator used to combine or split transmitter and receiver signals in a single antenna
Gt=gain of transmitting antenna
Gr=gain of receiving antenna
Free space path loss Lp as discussed in Mobile Communications Design Fundamentals, William C. Y. Lee, 2nd, Ed across the propagation channel is a function of distance d, frequency f (for f values<1 GHz, such as the 890-950 mHz cellular band):
                                          P            or                                P            t                          =                  1                                    (                              4                                π                                                                                dfc                            )                        2                                              (                  equation                                                              2                )            where
Por=received power in free space
Pt=transmitting power
c=speed of light,
The difference between two received signal powers in free space,
                                                        Δ              p                                                  (              10              )                                                      log                                      (                                                p                                      or                                                                                2                                                                    P                                      or                                                                                1                                                              )                                      -                              (            20            )                                          log                                      (                                                d                  1                                                  d                  2                                            )                                                      (            dB            )                                              (                  equation                                                              3                )            indicates that the free propagation path loss is 20 dB per decade. Frequencies between 1 GHz and 2 GHz experience increased values in the exponent, ranging from 2 to 4, or 20 to 40 dB/decade, which would be predicted for the new PCS 1.8-1.9 GHz band.
This suggests that the free propagation path loss is 20 dB per decade. However, frequencies between 1 GHz and 2 GHz experience increased values in the exponent, ranging from 2 to 4, or 20 to 40 dB/decade, which would be predicted for the new PCS 1.8-1.9 GHz band. One consequence from a location perspective is that the effective range of values for higher exponents is an increased at higher frequencies, thus providing improved granularity of ranging correlation.
Environmental Clutter and RF Propagation Effects
Actual data collected in real-world environments uncovered huge variations with respect to the free space path loss equation, giving rise to the creation of many empirical formulas for radio signal coverage prediction. Clutter, either fixed or stationary in geometric relation to the propagation of the radio signals, causes a shadow effect of blocking that perturbs the free space loss effect. Perhaps the best known model set that characterizes the average path loss is Hata's, "Empirical Formula for Propagation Loss in Land Mobile Radio", M. Hata, IEEE Transactions VT-29, pp. 317-325, August 1980, three pathloss models, based on Okumura's measurements in and around Tokyo, "Field Strength and its Variability in VHF and UHF Land Mobile Service", Y. Okumura, et al, Review of the Electrical Communications laboratory, Vol 16, pp 825-873, September-October 1968.
The typical urban Hata model for Lp was defined as Lp=Lhu:LHu=69.55+26.16 log(f)−13.82 log(hBS)−a(hMS)+((44.9−6.55 log(HBS)log(d)[dB])  (Equation 4)where                LHu=path loss, Hata urban        hBS=base station antenna height        hMS=mobile station antenna height        d=distance BS-MS in km        a(hMS) is a correction factor for small and medium sized cities, found to be:1 log(f−0.7)hMs−1.56 log(f−0.8)=a(hMS)  (Equation 5)For large cities the correction factor was found to be:a(hMS)=3.2[log 11.75hMS]2−4.97  (Equation 6)assuming f is equal to or greater than 400 mHz.
The typical suburban model correction was found to be:
                              L                      H            suburban                          =                              L            Hu                    -                      2                                      [                                                log                                                        (                                          f                      28                                        )                                                  2                            ]                                -                      5.4                                      [              dB              ]                                                          (                  Equation                                                              7                )
The typical rural model modified the urban formula differently, as seen below:LHrural=LHu−4.78(log f)2+18.33 log f−40.94 [dB]  (Equation 8)
Although the Hata model was found to be useful for generalized RF wave prediction in frequencies under 1 GHz in certain suburban and rural settings, as either the frequency and/or clutter increased, predictability decreased. In current practice, however, field technicians often have to make a guess for dense urban an suburban areas (applying whatever model seems best), then installing a base stations and begin taking manual measurements. Coverage problems can take up to a year to resolve.
Relating Received Signal Strength to Location
Having previously established a relationship between d and Por, reference equation 2 above: d represents the distance between the mobile station (MS) and the base station (BS); Por represents the received power in free space) for a given set of unchanging environmental conditions, it may be possible to dynamically measure Por and then determine d.
In 1991, U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,851 to Sheffer taught that if three or more relationships have been established in a triangular space of three or more base stations (BSs) with a location database constructed having data related to possible mobile station (MS) locations, then arculation calculations may be performed, which use three distinct Por measurements to determine an X,Y, two dimensional location, which can then be projected onto an area map. The triangulation calculation is based on the fact that the approximate distance of the mobile station (MS) from any base station (BS) cell can be calculated based on the received signal strength. Sheffer acknowledges that terrain variations affect accuracy, although as noted above, Sheffer's disclosure does not account for a sufficient number of variables, such as fixed and variable location shadow fading, which are typical in dense urban areas with moving traffic.
Most field research before about 1988 has focused on characterizing (with the objective of RF coverage prediction) the RF propagation channel (i.e., electromagnetic radio waves) using a single-ray model, although standard fit errors in regressions proved dismal (e.g., 40-80 dB). Later, multi-ray models were proposed, and much later, certain behaviors were studied with radio and digital channels. In 1981, Vogler proposed that radio waves at higher frequencies could be modeled using optics principles. In 1988 Walfisch and Bertoni applied optical methods to develop a two-ray model, which when compared to certain highly specific, controlled field data, provided extremely good regression fit standard errors of within 1.2 dB.
In the Bertoni two ray model it was assumed that most cities would consist of a core of high-rise buildings surrounded by a much larger area having buildings of uniform height spread over regions comprising many square blocks, with street grids organizing buildings into rows that are nearly parallel. Rays penetrating buildings then emanating outside a building were neglected. FIG. 2 provides a basis for the variables.
After a lengthy analysis it was concluded that path loss was a function of three factors: (1) the path loss between antennas in free space; (2) the reduction of rooftop wave fields due to settling; and (3) the effect of diffraction of the rooftop fields down to ground level. The last two factors were summarily termed Lex, given by:
                              L          ex                =                  57.1          +          A          +                      log                                      (              f              )                                +          R          -                      (                                          (                                  18                                                        log                                                              (                      H                      )                                                                      )                            -                              18                                                  log                                                        [                                          1                      -                                                                        R                          2                                                                          17                                                    H                                                                                ]                                                                                (                  Equation                                                              9                )            The influence of building geometry is contained in A:
                    A        =                              5                                      log                                            [                                                      (                                          d                      2                                        )                                    2                                ]                                              -                      9                        log                                                                          d                                                              +                      20                        log                                                                                {                                                tan                                                        [                                          2                                                                    (                                                  h                          -                                                      H                            MS                                                                          )                                                              ]                                                  1                            }                                                          (                  Equation                                                              10                )
However, a substantial difficulty with the two-ray model in practice is that it requires a substantial amount of data regarding building dimensions, geometries, street widths, antenna gain characteristics for every possible ray path, etc. Additionally, it requires an inordinate amount of computational resources and such a model is not easily updated or maintained.
Unfortunately, in practice clutter geometries and building heights are random. Moreover, data of sufficient detail has been extremely difficult to acquire, and regression standard fit errors are poor; i.e., in the general case, these errors were found to be 40-60 dB. Thus the two-ray model approach, although sometimes providing an improvement over single ray techniques, still did not predict RF signal characteristics in the general case to level of accuracy desired (<10 dB).
Work by Greenstein has since developed from the perspective of measurement-based regression models, as opposed to the previous approach of predicting-first, then performing measurement comparisons. Apparently yielding to the fact that low-power, low antenna (e.g., 12-25 feet above ground) height PCS microcell coverage was insufficient in urban buildings, Greenstein, et al, authored "Performance Evaluations for Urban Line-of-sight Microcells Using a Multi-ray Propagation Model", in IEEE Globecom Proceedings, December 1991. This paper proposed the idea of formulating regressions based on field measurements using small PCS microcells in a lineal microcell geometry (i.e., geometries in which there is always a line-of-sight (LOS) path between a subscriber's mobile and its current microsite).
Additionally, Greenstein studied the communication channels variable Bit-Error-Rate (BER) in a spatial domain, which was a departure from previous research that limited field measurements to the RF propagation channel signal strength alone. However, Greenstein based his finding on two suspicious assumptions: 1) he assumed that distance correlation estimates were identical for uplink and downlink transmission paths; and 2) modulation techniques would be transparent in terms of improved distance correlation conclusions. Although some data held very correlations, other data and environments produced poor results. Accordingly, his results appear unreliable for use in general location context.
In 1993 Greenstein, et al, authored "A Measurement-Based Model for Predicting Coverage Areas of Urban Microcells", in the IEEE Journal On Selected Areas in Communications, Vol. 11, No. 7, 9/93. Greenstein reported a generic measurement-based model of RF attenuation in terms of constant-value contours surrounding a given low-power, low antenna microcell environment in a dense, rectilinear neighborhood, such as New York City. However, these contours were for the cellular frequency band. In this case, LOS and non-LOS clutter were considered for a given microcell site. A result of this analysis was that RF propagation losses (or attenuations), when cell antenna heights were relatively low, provided attenuation contours resembling a spline plane curve depicted as an asteroid, aligned with major street grid patterns. Further, Greenstein found that convex diamond-shaped RF propagation loss contours were a common occurrence in field measurements in a rectilinear urban area. The special plane curve asteroid is represented by the formula x2/3+y2/3=r2/3. However, these results alone have not been sufficiently robust and general to accurately locate an MS, due to the variable nature of urban clutter spatial arrangements.
At Telesis Technology in 1994 Howard Xia, et al, authored "Microcellular Propagation Characteristics for Personal Communications in Urban and Suburban Environments", in IEEE Transactions of Vehicular Technology, Vol. 43, No. 3, 8/94, which performed measurements specifically in the PCS 1.8 to 1.9 GHz frequency band. Xia found corresponding but more variable outcome results in San Francisco, Oakland (urban) and the Sunset and Mission Districts (suburban).
Summary of Factors Affecting RF Propagation
The physical radio propagation channel perturbs signal strength, frequency (causing rate changes, phase delay, signal to noise ratios (e.g., C/I for the analog case, or Eb/No, RF energy per bit, over average noise density ratio for the digital case) and Doppler-shift. Signal strength is usually characterized by:                Free Space Path Loss (LP)        Slow fading loss or margin (Lslow)        Fast fading loss or margin (Lfast)
Loss due to slow fading includes shadowing due to clutter blockage (sometimes included in Lp). Fast fading is composed of multipath reflections which cause: 1) delay spread; 2) random phase shift or Rayleigh fading; and 3) random frequency modulation due to different Doppler shifts on different paths.
Summing the path loss and the two fading margin loss components from the above yields a total path loss of:Ltotal=Lp+Lslow+Lfast Referring to FIG. 3, the figure illustrates key components of a typical cellular and PCS power budget design process. The cell designer increases the transmitted power PTX by the shadow fading margin Lslow which is usually chosen to be within the 1-2 percentile of the slow fading probability density function (PDF) to minimize the probability of unsatisfactorily low received power level PRX at the receiver. The PRX level must have enough signal to noise energy level (e.g., 10 dB) to overcome the receiver's internal noise level (e.g., −118 dBm in the case of cellular 0.9 GHz), for a minimum voice quality standard. Thus in the example PRX must never be below −108 dBm, in order to maintain the quality standard.
Additionally the short term fast signal fading due to multipath propagation is taken into account by deploying fast fading margin Lfast, which is typically also chosen to be a few percentiles of the fast fading distribution. The 1 to 2 percentiles compliment other network blockage guidelines. For example the cell base station traffic loading capacity and network transport facilities are usually designed for a 1-2 percentile blockage factor as well. However, in the worst-case scenario both fading margins are simultaneously exceeded, thus causing a fading margin overload.
In Roy, Steele's, text, Mobile Radio Communications, IEEE Press, 1992, estimates for a GSM system operating in the 1.8 GHz band with a transmitter antenna height of 6.4 m and an MS receiver antenna height of 2 m, and assumptions regarding total path loss, transmitter power would be calculated as follows:
TABLE 1GSM Power Budget ExampleParameterdBm valueWill requireLslow14Lfast7Llpath110Min. RX pwr required−104TXpwr = 27 dBmSteele's sample size in a specific urban London area of 80,000 LOS measurements and data reduction found a slow fading variance ofσ=7 dBassuming lognormal slow fading PDF and allowing for a 1.4% slow fading margin overload, thusLslow=2σ=14 dBThe fast fading margin was determined to be:Lfast=7 dB
In contrast, Xia's measurements in urban and suburban California at 1.8 GHz uncovered flat-land shadow fades on the order of 25-30 dB when the mobile station (MS) receiver was traveling from LOS to non-LOS geometries. In hilly terrain fades of +5 to −50 dB were experienced. Thus it is evident that attempts to correlate signal strength with MS ranging distance suggest that error ranges could not be expected to improve below 14 dB, with a high side of 25 to 50 dB. Based on 20 to 40 dB per decade, Corresponding error ranges for the distance variable would then be on the order of 900 feet to several thousand feet, depending upon the particular environmental topology and the transmitter and receiver geometries.

Wireless location using signal fingerprinting and other location estimators


The method generally comprises removing cholesterol from egg yolk by combining both/or either a food grade acid and salt with water and oil to form a blend. This blend is combined with egg yolk to form a mixture, wherein the ratio of oil to yolk is in the range of between about 2.4:1 to about 1:1, and the ratio between water:salt:food grade acid is in the range of between about 0.30:0.14:0.003 to about 0.70:0.45:0.056, based upon the weight of the unsalted egg yolk. The mixture is sheared and centrifuged to separate the mixture into a first and a second stream, wherein the first stream contains the egg yolk and water and the second stream contains the cholesterol and oil.

Eggs are nutritious, but are also very high in cholesterol. The cholesterol content is approximately 1.4 percent of the egg yolk weight. Furthermore, about one-third of the yolk weight is fat. Fatty acid analysis shows that the fat content of an average yolk is 35.4 percent saturated fat (principally palmitic and stearic acids), 49.1 percent monounsaturated fat (oleic acid), and 15.5 percent polyunsaturated fat (linoleic acid). Thus, the ratio of polyunsaturated fat to saturated fat is less than 1 to 2, which is an undesirable balance.
Substantial research efforts have been directed to the removal of cholesterol from egg yolks as well as food products containing egg yolks. A variety of approaches to remove cholesterol from egg yolks have been tried. One approach utilizes microorganisms to enzymatically oxidize and degrade cholesterol [Japanese Patent 60-18375], but this method produces cholesterol oxidation products which may be undesirable. Organic solvents have also been used to extract cholesterol [JP 48/44458, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,104,286, 3,881,034, 3,563,765, 4,234,619 and Tokarska, et al., Can. Inst. Food Sci. Tech. J. 18:256-258 (1985)], but such methods remove a substantial portion of the triglyceride oils, and may involve significant processing steps to remove solvents. Even with supercritical carbon dioxide as the solvent, selectivity of cholesterol over triglycerides may be limited [Prepared Foods, 157:186 (1988); JP 59/135847].
U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,555 discloses a process for the simultaneous deodorization and cholesterol level reduction of fish oils. The fish oil is deaerated, mixed with steam, heated, flash vaporized, thin film-stripped with a countercurrent stream and cooled. U.S. Pat. No. 2,234,619 discloses a method for cholesterol removal from eggs by dehydrating the eggs, extracting the cholesterol with liquid dimethyl ether under anhydrous conditions and removing the dimethyl ether by treatment under reduced pressure at low temperatures. U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,286 describes the isolation of cholesterol from eggs through extraction with ethanol, saponification in an aqueous ethanolic alkali metal hydroxide and concentration and purification with a hydrocarbon solvent and methanol. U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,044 describes the formation of a steroid ester to be used as an oil phase material or base material for cosmetics or ointments.
Edible vegetable oils have also been used to extract cholesterol from egg yolks, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,717,414 and 4,103,040. However, such extraction using a vegetable oil to remove the cholesterol from yolk produces a waste stream of spent oil. In order to make this an economical process, further development is necessary to form a process for regenerating, rather than disposing this spent oil.
Another method of extracting cholesterol from eggs is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,959. The cholesterol is removed from the egg yolk by adding to the egg yolk an acid to reduce the pH of the egg yolk and then treating the egg yolk with an edible oil at a ratio of 3:5 oil to yolk to form a dispersion. The dispersion is centrifuged to form an egg-yolk phase and an oil phase. This method does not alleviate the problem of reducing the amount of oil necessary to extract the cholesterol; therefore, a considerable amount of oil is still necessary to extract the cholesterol, which thereby creates a problem of having to regenerate the oil containing the cholesterol.
Prior to this invention herein, a limiting factor in reducing the amount of oil was that emulsions were formed. For instance, even when the ratio of oil to egg yolk was 2:1, upon shearing the extraction mixture, oil-in-water emulsions were observed. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to limit the formation of an oil-in-water emulsion, while decreasing the amount of oil necessary for the extraction. It would also be desirable to provide egg products having desirable functional characteristics of egg yolk products (e.g., protein and phospholipids), while reducing the cholesterol level, increasing the polyunsaturated fat to saturated fat ratio, while reducing the amount of oil necessary to remove a substantial amount of the cholesterol. It would further be desirable to do this while retaining the functionality, appearance and taste of natural eggs which would yield good texture upon being cooked and the like.

Reduction of cholesterol in egg yolk by the addition of either acid or both salt and acid


A converter operable to convert an input voltage at an input node to an output voltage at an output node coupled to a load by switching on and off a transistor at a switching frequency, the converter comprising: an error amplifier circuit having a first input coupled to a reference voltage, a second input coupled to the output node through a resistive divider, a first output operable to output a control current and a second output operable to output a current equivalent to the control current; a peak current comparator circuit having a first input coupled to the second output of the error amplifier circuit, a second input and an output, the second input is coupled to the input node through an inductor; an off-time timer circuit having an input coupled to the first output of the error amplifier circuit and an output, the off-time timer circuit operable to set the switching frequency based on the control current; and a control circuit having a first input coupled to the output of the peak current comparator circuit, a second input coupled to the output of the off-time timer circuit and an output coupled to a control terminal of the transistor.

Battery operated devices, such as personal electronic devices, robots, electric cars, industrial equipment, medical equipment and wearable devices, require a stable and consistent power source. In addition, longer battery life is desirable so high efficiency (especially during light loads) is important. Highly efficient voltage regulators may be used in these applications to provide a regulated voltage from the battery to the device while requiring less battery power to operate. In addition, display devices (such as organic light-emitting diode displays) also incorporate voltage regulators. A stable output voltage with minimal ripple is important for the proper operation of these display devices.
Switching regulators, also referred to as DC-DC converters, are used to convert or regulate an input voltage to an output voltage. The input voltage can be greater than, less than or equal to the output voltage. If the input voltage is greater than the output voltage, the converter/regulator may be referred to as a "step-down" converter/regulator or a "buck converter". FIG. 1A illustrates a basic buck converter. If the input voltage is less than the output voltage, the converter/regulator may be referred to as a "step-up" converter/regulator or a "boost converter". FIG. 1B illustrates a basic boost converter. If the converter/regulator can perform both step-up and step-down functions, then it may be referred to as a "buck-boost converter". FIG. 1C illustrates an inverting buck-boost converter.
Generally, switching regulators include at least one power switch and one or more energy storage devices, such as an inductor and a capacitor. The power switch can be implemented using a metal-oxide-silicon field-effect transistor (MOSFET), bipolar junction transistor (BJT) or other type of power transistor. The switching regulator may include a high-side switch and a low-side switch or a single power switch and a diode. FIGS. 1a, 1b and 1c illustrate converters using a single power switch and a diode. To implement the high-side/low-side configuration, the diode can be replaces with a transistor. Operation of the switching regulator basically includes turning on the power switch to supply energy to the inductor followed by turning off the power switch resulting in the transfer of the stored energy in the inductor to a load (and an output capacitor). The switching on and off of the power switch is controlled based on the load characteristics and the energy required by the load.
The switching of the power switch can be accomplished using different modes of operation, and the switching converter may switch from one mode to the next. Continuous-conduction mode (CCM) of operation occurs where the increase in energy stored in the inductor during the on-time of the power switch is equal to the energy discharged to the output during the off-time of the power switch. Any residual energy remains stored in the inductor. During the next on-time of the power switch, energy builds from the residual energy to a point required by the load in the next switching cycle.
Another mode of operation is the discontinuous-conduction mode (DCM). In this mode of operation, energy stored in the inductor during the on-time of the power switch is equal to the energy required by the load during a single switching cycle plus energy lost due to converter losses. Basically, the energy in the inductor depletes to zero before the end of the switching cycle in DCM but some residual energy remains in the inductor at the end of a switching cycle in CCM. DCM can be used with mid-range loads, and CCM may be used with higher-range loads. Both DCM and CCM utilize constant switching cycles (for example, the frequency for switching the transistor on and off remains constant).
Other modes of operation utilize feedback to vary the frequency or duty cycle of the switching cycles. Pulse width modulation (PWM) uses a fixed switching cycle but varies the on-time versus the off-time (duty cycle) based on feedback. Due to the fixed switching cycle, any switching noise is predictable but it also is less efficient during light-load conditions compared to PFM/PSM and DCM. Pulse frequency modulation (PFM) varies the switching frequency (with fixed on-time or fixed off-time) proportional to the load. In other words, as the load increases the number of on-times for a certain time period will increase. Since the switching frequency increases as the load increases, switching noise increases in a manner that may not be easily filtered. In light of this, PFM provides high efficiency and less switching noise during lighter load conditions. Pulse skip mode (PSM) is used in converters having a clock input. Instead of dynamically adjusting the pause between switching cycles (PFM), switching cycles are skipped, such as by masking the clock signal internally. Pulse-grouping (also referred to as burst behavior) resulting in an increased output voltage ripple can occur during PFM and PSM.
Transitions from one mode to another may cause output voltage ripple, additional switching noise, loss of efficiency and/or audible noise.

Seamless DCM-PFM transition for single pulse operation in DC-DC converters


A personal video service manager can store one or more personal video assets on a server. A personal video asset can include a recording of a broadcast stream of a broadcast asset or an asset that has been pre-authored in a personal video asset format. Upon receiving a request from a subscriber to receive the personal video asset, the personal video service manager can facilitate a connection between the server and the subscriber for distributing the personal video asset from the server to the subscriber.

Recent developments in the cable television industry have allowed content providers (or "asset providers"), such as Home Box Office, NBC, and Warner Bros., to provide a variety of cable television services to cable subscribers. For example, a Movie-on-Demand service allows a cable subscriber to view a movie over the cable network with the same type of control that a person typically has over a video cassette recorder ("VCR") or digital versatile disk ("DVD") player. More specifically, the Movie-on-Demand service allows a cable subscriber to view a movie over the cable network at any time and to control the delivery of the movie using fast-forward, stop, pause, or rewind functions. However, one limitation of conventional Movie-on-Demand services is that content providers must pre-package Movie-on-Demand assets in a Movie-on-Demand format and distribute the asset to each cable headend that will make the asset available to cable subscribers. In other words, cable subscribers can only request to view those assets that have been specifically formatted by the content providers for Movie-on-Demand viewing and distributed to one or more cable headends.
In addition, the television industry has recently witnessed the introduction of Personal Video Recorder ("PVR") devices, which allow subscribers to record television content and to view the recorded content at a later time. In the conventional art, a PVR device installed in a subscriber's home can record and store television content in digital format on the hard disk of the PVR device. In this way, a subscriber can control the delivery of recorded television content using stop, pause, rewind, and fast forward commands similar to those used on a VCR or DVD player.
PVR devices, however, have several limitations. First, a PVR device is limited in the amount of digital television content it can store on its hard disk. Additionally, a cable subscriber must first manually pre-select the television content it wants to record (or the PVR device must record the television content according to a pre-defined profile for the cable subscriber) before the cable subscriber can actually view the recorded television content at a later time. In other words, a cable subscriber cannot view at a later time any television content that has not been previously recorded by the PVR device. Moreover, a PVR device is limited to the number of television programs it can record at one time by the number of tuners it has available.
Additionally, once a PVR device records television content, content providers no longer have any control over the delivery of the content. For example, when viewing television content recorded on the PVR device, cable subscribers can avoid viewing television commercials by fast-forwarding past them. Similarly, once the television content is recorded, the content providers and the cable headends can no longer supplement old television commercials with newer television commercials based upon when the cable subscriber chooses to view the recorded television content. Finally, the cost of installing and maintaining PVR devices in the customers' homes is very expensive compared to the current class of digital set top boxes used to provide television services.
Consequently, there is a need in the art for a system and method that allows a cable subscriber to select and view television content on-demand at any time without first requiring the cable subscriber to have recorded the television content on an in-home recording device. Additionally, there is a need in the art for a system and method that does not limit the amount of television content that a cable subscriber can view on-demand. Similarly, there is a need in the art for a system and method that does not limit when a cable subscriber can view television content. Finally, there is a need in the art for a system and method that allows a content provider or cable headend to maintain control over television content that is made available for on-demand viewing by cable subscribers.

System and method for distributing network-based personal video


A system derives and associates tag information with an image supporting image feature search. The system receives arrangement search information used for searching for one or more images including a target object associated with a specific arrangement of tag information. The system analyzes the tag information of the images, and searches for an image having the arrangement information which satisfies the arrangement search information.

Multimedia devices such as smart phones and tablet PCs often include a camera for photographing an image, or various programs for managing an acquired image and stored in the multimedia device. A user of a known multimedia device may use tag information combined with an image in order to search for a desired image. The known tag information is combined with the image, and includes a generation time and a generation place of the image, and information on various objects or people included in the image.
When searching for an image by using the tag information in known systems, a user may input a search word to search for a desired image. For example, the user may input a name for a specific person as a search word, thereby searching for an image of the specific person. However known search systems offer limited capability of searching for people and objects in images and often produce undesired results frustrating a user and wasting valuable time and resources. Also in known search systems a search for a desired image involves separately identifying search results for a specific search word leading to a cumbersome, multi-step, error prone search process. A system according to invention principles addresses these deficiencies and related problems.

System for associating tag information with images supporting image feature search