A method for evaluating uncertainty associated with the value of a measurand derived from measurements of a device under test is disclosed. A mathematical model is provided wherein the measurand is expressed as a function of (i) at least one physically observable quantity, and (ii) the reference value of the physically observable quantity in a reference device. The reference value of the reference device and the value of the measurand of the device under test are measured. The value of the at least one physically observable quantity is also measured. At least one uncertainty value is determined as a function of the physically observable, wherein the mathematical model takes into account the at least one source of uncertainty and the reference value of the reference device.

This invention relates to the evaluation of uncertainty, in particular, a method for evaluating uncertainty in measurements carried out by measuring equipment. The invention also relates to computer programs for carrying out said method and a computer programmed system containing said computer programs, a system for measuring and evaluating uncertainty associated with said measurement.
Calibration of measurement equipment and testing of products are commonly carried out by calibration and testing laboratories, as well as manufacturing companies to assess conformity to measurement standards, including but not limited to international standards, such as ISO/IEC guides and standards. On the other hand, calibration and testing laboratories are audited by laboratory accreditation systems to assess for conformity to ISO/IEC 17025 standard (ISO/IEC 17025—General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories).
As a requirement to conform to ISO/IEC 17025, accredited testing and calibration laboratories and in-house laboratories of manufacturing companies are required to evaluate uncertainty in their measurement result or calibration result, and to include such uncertainty evaluation in the test results or the calibration certificates that accompanies the products.
In principle, measurement uncertainty is associated with the result of a measurement that defines the range of values that could reasonably be attributed to the measured quantity. When expressed in a specific form, uncertainty is indicated by the level of confidence that the value of the measured quantity lies within a range defined by an uncertainty interval. In real life, any measurement is subject to imperfections and errors (both systematic and random). This means that a measurement is incomplete without an estimation of the uncertainty associated with the measurement. Accordingly, a measurement result should be accompanied by an estimation of its uncertainty so that a user can tell how accurately the measurement result represents the true value of the measured quantity, or the user can assess the reliability of the result in comparison with reference values or results from different sources.
In accordance with the ISO standards, errors can be fundamentally divided into two categories, namely, random errors and systematic errors. Random errors, such as random fluctuations of temperature, humidity and air-pressure, would affect to the measurement result randomly. Systematic errors, such as measurement instrument's circuit insulation, resolution, could be estimated either from physical theory, technical specification of measurement equipment, manufacturer's manual or long time observed data of equipments. In the course of a measurement, errors arise due to factors that influence the outcome of a measurement. For example, resistance measurements carried out in an environment where temperature fluctuates may give rise to large variations in the measured value of resistance.
Effects of random errors can be evaluated by repeated measurement results, while effects of systematic errors can be estimated from extensive experience in metrology, technical specification of measurement equipment, manufacturer's manual or long time observed data of those equipments.
Accordingly, the uncertainty in the value of a measurand is generally arrived at based on several mathematical components. These components may be grouped into two categories according to the way in which their numerical value is estimated. Those which are evaluated by statistical methods are classified as type A, and those which are evaluated by other means are classified as type B. The final report of uncertainty should contain a complete list of all the components and specify for each component the method used to obtain its numerical value.
Over the years, different mathematical procedures have been developed for calculating measurement uncertainty. To provide a basis for the international comparison of measurement results, the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM) was published by ISO in 1993 and has since been widely accepted for a wide range of measurements among many countries. As a technical requirement of ISO/IEC 17025, uncertainty evaluation is recommended to be executed based on ISO-GUM.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,640,607 discloses a method and apparatus for calibrating measuring machines. To manage uncertainty in measurement using measuring machines, this method is capable of achieving automated calibration, in contrast to the previous ones which perform calibration by a skilled worker. To achieve automated calibration, the patent discloses the steps of positioning a reference measuring machine previously calibrated and an object measuring machine to be calibrated in such a manner that a measurement space by the reference measuring machine is superimposed on a measuring space by the object measuring machine; acquiring first measurement values from the object measuring machine and second measurement values from the reference measuring machine; and calibrating the object measuring machine based on the first and second measurement values.
In Japanese patent 2002-267436 A, a method of estimating uncertainty of coordinate measurement of one point is proposed. The method estimates the uncertainty of coordinate measurement of a calibrated coordinate measurement machine (CMM) based on the uncertainty of length measurement of said calibrated CMM. In particular, the method addresses problems associated with modelling the behaviour of uncertainty in a CMM.
The Danish Technological Institute developed a software named "GUM Workbench" for the calculation of measurement uncertainty. This software supports calculation of statistical treatment of uncertainty evaluation based on ISO-GUM. However, the software does not include a function which would enable it to be associated with physical measurement equipments to support measurement. Therefore, GUM Workbench cannot be used for high-end national laboratories research level. However, it is not suitable for practical use in testing and calibration laboratories or manufacturing industries.
Other approaches for uncertainty evaluation exist as well. For example, S. D. Phillips et al. [1] propose a method for calculating measurement uncertainty using prior information. Bayesian inference is used to include prior information about the value of the measurand in the uncertainty calculation. Another approach by V. J. Barwick et al. [2] aims at the estimation of the uncertainty associated with recovery particularly in relation to analytical chemistry. In addition, M. G. Cox and P. M. Harris [3] present software specifications for uncertainty evaluation according to ISO-GUM.
Despite the development of methods for evaluating uncertainty and its implementation by many parties, most methods involve mainly the mathematical or statistical treatment for uncertainty evaluation of measured value. None of above methods, software and equipments explains sources of uncertainty quantity by quantity. Besides, sources of uncertainty vary from one particular measurement system to another, and can only be identified from experience. Existing methods do not adequately take such sources of uncertainty into consideration in the mathematical evaluation.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to propose, clarify and evaluate uncertainties source by source and finally reach the uncertainty evaluation budget table. It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a system which is suitable for practical uncertainty evaluation in testing and calibration laboratories and manufacturing industries.

Method for the evaluation of measurement uncertainty, and a device and system thereof

Calibration & Testing International Pte., Ltd.


Implantable medical device systems and methods configured to use a detection profile selected from among a plurality of detection profiles to define a detection threshold for identifying cardiac events, in which a close call definition is used to determine which of the plurality of detection profiles is to be chosen. Upon identifying a close call, in which an overdetection nearly occurred but did not actually take place, a relatively less sensitive detection profile is chosen.

Implantable cardiac monitoring and/or stimulus systems are often designed to detect individual cardiac cycles or "beats." It is common to design these systems to identify the R-wave or QRS complex of the cardiac signal. The R-wave or QRS complex can often be distinguished by virtue of being the largest amplitude signal. A "detection profile" can be used to detect events. Some illustrative examples of R-wave or QRS complex detection are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,215 to Perttu et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 8,565,878 to Allavatam et al., the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Various difficulties with detection can arise, including variations in amplitude from one beat to the next and poor signal to noise ratio. These issues can cause overdetection of the cardiac signal, as may happen if both the R-wave and T-wave of a single cardiac cycle are incorrectly identified as being both R-waves of two separate cardiac cycles.

Use of detection profiles in an implantable medical device


A user device may identify a received a signal indicating an incoming call; determine that another user device has answered the call; generate call log information that indicates that the other user device has answered the call; and store or output the generated call log information. Additionally, or alternatively, a set of user devices may receive a ring signal indicating an incoming call; a particular user device, in the set of user devices, may answer the call; and another user device, in the set of user devices, may store a unified call log. The unified call log may indicate that the particular user device answered the call, and may further indicate that the other user device did not miss the call.

Users often own multiple devices that are capable of sending and receiving telephone calls (e.g., voice over Internet protocol ("VoIP") calls). For example, a particular user may own a smart phone, a wired phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, and a desktop computer, all of which may be capable of receiving VoIP calls. Some telephony service providers provide a "blast," or "call blast," feature, which may cause multiple devices, associated with a particular user, to ring when a call is placed to the user.


Disclosed is a two-point calibration procedure, that when used with a mathematical algorithm, improves the accuracy of electrolytic conductivity measurements by correcting for non-linear behavior of conductivity cells. Unlike purely mathematical means of correcting for non-linearity which may use second or higher order equations, this algorithm has the following advantages: it is based on an analysis of the physical phenomena which are responsible for non-linearity; it yields one unique solution, i.e., it uses an equation that has only one root; and it yields diagnostic information concerning the behavior of the cell. A conductivity system utilizing the described algorithm was built and tested and led to the development of the following enhancements which are also described: display of a parameter which indicates the degree of non-linearity; a means of automatically recognizing specific standardizing solutions; and a temperature-compensated algorithm for determining when a conductivity measurement signal is stable.

The present invention relates to improvements in systems for the measurement of electrolytic conductivity. Typically, these systems are used for the measurement of the conductivity of water and aqueous or non-aqueous solutions in environmental, industrial, medical, and other applications where an indication of the total ionic content of the sample liquid is desired. A typical system consists of a conductivity cell and meter. The meter applies an electrical input signal (generally a controlled voltage signal) to the cell which contacts the sample. The meter also senses a resultant output signal from the cell (generally a current signal) that is usually a linear function of the solution conductivity and a property of the cell called the cell constant.
There are many types of cells and meters. Typical cells may have two or four electrodes and may contain integral temperature sensors; cells may be dipped into solutions, solutions may be placed into cells, or solutions may flow through cells. Various meters may apply excitation signals differing in voltage, frequency, and waveform; they may display results with a digital or analog display; they may sense and display temperature; and they may perform various calculations in order to compensate automatically for the effect of temperature on the conductivity of various samples.
In order that the ensuing description be clearly understood, the following definitions are provided:
Conductivity is a bulk property of a material and represents quantitatively the capacity of that material to conduct electricity; its reciprocal is resistivity. Conductivity does not depend on the quantity, shape, or size of the conducting material. Earlier literature often uses the terms specific conductance and its reciprocal specific resistance in place of conductivity and resistivity. Common units of conductivity are siemens/cm (S/cm), millisiemens/cm (mS/cm), and microsiemens/cm (.mu.S/cm). PA1 Conductance is a property of a particular piece of material, i.e., a component or device. Its reciprocal is resistance. As an illustration of the difference between conductance and conductivity, consider two different pieces or pure copper wire: they may have different conductance values but will always have the same conductivity of the material, the conductivity of copper. Common units of conductance are siemens (S), millisiemens (mS), and microsiemens (.mu.S). PA1 The Cell Constant of an electrolytic conductivity cell is a conversion factor which converts conductance to conductivity. It has units of cm.sup.-1. The cell constant is a function of cell geometry. In a two-electrode conductivity cell, the cell constant is a predictable function of the area of the electrodes and the distance between them, if the electrodes are non-polarized. It is useful to note that when the cell constant equals 1.0, the solution conductivity is equal to the cell conductance. PA1 Polarization is a condition in which a resistance, not determined by the bulk resistance of the solution under test, exists at the interface between an electrode and the test solution. This is an undesirable phenomenon which causes errors in conductivity measurements. Conductivity cell and meter designers enact measures which eliminate or minimize electrode polarization. For example, on the meter side, AC excitation signals are virtually always used. This minimizes alteration of the ionic concentrations in the solution in the vicinity of the electrode surfaces. On the electrode side, materials such as platinum black are used. The catalytic nature of the platinum black surface facilitates electron transfer between the electrode and the solution. PA1 Built-in display of a parameter that indicates the degree of non-linearity; PA1 A means of automatically recognizing specific standardizing solutions; and PA1 A temperature-compensated algorithm for determining when a conductivity measurement signal is stable.
Generally, a linear range of operation is specified for a conductivity system. This is the range of sample conductivity over which the cell output signal is linearly proportional to solution conductivity. Or, expressed differently, the linear range is the range over which the cell constant is truly a constant.
Conductivity systems must be calibrated. It is typical that the conductivity meter is calibrated at the point of manufacture and is able to convert the cell output signal to conductance without further calibration by the user, though he or she may wish to verify meter calibration using a standard resistor in place of the cell. The user must however carry out a procedure which serves to calibrate the conductivity cell. This is equivalent to determining the cell constant.
In the cell calibration step, the user places the cell in contact with a solution of known conductivity, often called a standard solution or simply a standard. The meter is then adjusted to display the known conductivity of that solution at the temperature of the measurement; alternatively, a cell constant value can be input into the meter such that the correct conductivity reading is displayed. This process is equivalent to defining a calibration curve; in this case, the curve is assumed to be a straight line. A line is defined by two points: here, one point is obtained through the assumption that an output signal of zero equals a conductivity of zero, and the second point is obtained in the calibration step. The calibration line is defined by the equation: EQU C=k*S.sub.raw
Where c is the conductivity in appropriate units such as mS/cm, k is the cell constant and has units of cm.sup.-1, and S.sub.Raw is the raw cell output signal in units of mS. This equation illustrates the role of the cell constant in converting the sample conductance value, S.sub.raw into a conductivity value, c.
Linearity of a conductivity system is an ideal. Typically, there is a range of sample conductivity values over which satisfactory linearity is observed for a given system. At the low end of the range, deviations from linearity can be ascribed to such factors as capacitive impedance, which in an AC measurement, increases at high resistances, i.e., low conductivities. At the high end of the conductivity range, the resistances of wiring and other components in measuring circuit become significant compared to the resistance of the cell. Also, at the high end of the range, the current through the cell is greater: this increases the tendency of the electrodes to become polarized.

Calibration procedure that improves accuracy of electrolytic conductivity measurement systems


The present invention provides a wiper apparatus comprising a blade rubber for wiping windshield glass, a wiper blade on which the blade rubber is mounted, a wiper arm which is pivotally supported on a vehicle body and on which the wiper blade is mounted, and a dispersing device. The wiper arm is provided such that a pressing force is applied to the wiper arm so as to cause the blade rubber to contact the windshield glass with a predetermined press contact force. The dispersing device disperses toward the windshield glass the press contact force applied to the blade rubber due to the pressing force of the wiper arm, by the dispersing device and the blade rubber together press contacting the windshield glass at at least one of two reversing positions at which swinging of the wiper arm reverses, so as to reduce the press contact force of the blade rubber against the windshield glass.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wiper apparatus for wiping raindrops or the like from a glass, and particularly to a wiper apparatus for wiping a windshield glass of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional wiper apparatus, in order to prevent the wiping performance from deteriorating when the vehicle travels at high speeds due to a wiper blade being lifted off of the windshield glass, a pressing force is applied to the wiper blade via a wiper arm so as to increase the force of pressing a blade rubber against the windshield glass, thereby increasing the press contact force between the blade rubber and the windshield glass surface. However, this causes a drawback in that the press contact force becomes greater than the force which is required when the vehicle is traveling at normal speeds, and thus greater noise is generated at the positions where the swinging direction of the wiper is reversed.
A wiper apparatus having a means for reducing noise generated when the swing of the wiper is reversed is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open No. 2-117953. In the disclosed wiper apparatus, the pressing force applied to a wiper arm is reduced via a cam at the positions where the swing of the wiper is reversed. The structure of this wiping apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 14A and FIG. 14B, wherein FIG. 14A shows a cross-section of the wiper along the longitudinal direction thereof and FIG. 14B is a schematic view showing a cam portion and a vicinity thereof.
As shown in FIG. 14A, an arm head 101 which swings over a windshield glass so as to wipe the windshield glass surface is fixed by a nut 104 to a pivot 103, which is fitted to a pivot holder 102 and extends through and projects from the arm head 101. More specifically, the nut 104 is screwed to an end of the pivot 103 so as to fix the arm head 101. A wiper arm 105 is pivotally mounted to the arm head 101 by using a coupling pin 106, and an unillustrated arm piece is attached to the wiper arm 105 so as to support a wiper blade (not shown).
One end of a coil spring 107 for varying a blade pressing force by its elasticity is anchored to an arm piece (not shown) supporting the wiper blade. The other end of the coil spring 107 is engaged with one end of a hook 108. The other end of the hook 108 is engaged with a coupling pin 109.
A lever 112 is supported by the arm head 101 via a coupling pin 113. A roller 111 is disposed at one end of the lever 112 so as to move on end cam surfaces 110a and on an intermediate cam surface 110b, which will be described later, of a cam portion 110. The other end of the lever 112 is engaged with the coupling pin 109.
The portion of the lever 112 between the coupling pin 113 and the roller 111 is bent substantially in an S shape so that the lever 112 is substantially parallel to the arm head 101 while the roller 111 moves on the end cam surfaces 110a.
As shown in FIG. 14B, the cam portion 110 is a structure in which the end cam surfaces 110a and the intermediate cam surface 110b are formed continuously. The roller 111 moves on the end cam surfaces 110a when the wiper blade is at its swing reversing positions. The intermediate cam surface 110b is positioned higher than the end cam surfaces 110a.
The action of the above-described wiper apparatus will now be described. While the roller 111 is moving on the end cam surface 110a, i.e., when the wiper is in a vicinity of one of its swing reversing positions, the lever 112 is in the state represented by the solid line, where the tensile direction of the coil spring 107 coincides with the center axis of the coil spring 107. Since one end of the coil spring 107 is engaged with the arm piece supporting the wiper blade, the elastic force of the coil spring 107 acts so as to pull on the arm piece, thereby reducing the pressing force applied to the wiper arm in a vicinity of the swing reversing position of the wiper. This reduces the noise generated when the swing of the wiper is reversed.
Subsequently, when the lever 112, together with the arm head 101, pivots about the pivot 103, the roller 111 abuts the cam surface of the cam portion 110 and then moves from the end cam surface 110a to the intermediate cam surface 110b. That is, after the wiper reverses its swing, the roller 111 is pushed up. This causes the lever 112 to push the coupling pin 109 down so that the lever 112 assumes the state represented by the two dots-and-dash line, since the lever 112 is supported by the coupling pin 113. As a result, the tensile direction of the coil spring 107 falls to below the axis of the coil spring 107, whereby a component force of the elastic force of the coil spring 107 acts as a tensile force which pulls on the arm piece. Consequently, the reduction in the pressing force is smaller than that in the vicinity of the swing reversing position of the wiper. That is, the wiper wipes the windshield glass without a significant reduction in the pressing force when the wiper is located at positions other than the swing reversing position.
However, in the wiper apparatus described above, since the cam which reduces the pressing force applied to the wiper arm at the swing reversing position of the wiper is distant from the blade rubber which is pressed against the windshield glass and which is a source of noise generated when the swing of the wiper is reversed, a change in the pressing force is transmitted to the blade rubber by varying the tensile force of the coil spring through coupling pins. That is, a varying force is transmitted via component parts from the cam, which is a point of force for varying the pressing force, to the contact position between the blade rubber and the windshield glass, which is a point of application.
Hence, a loss of force occurs at each of the component parts transmitting the varying force, resulting in an inability to efficiently transmit a change in force to the point of application. This presents a drawback in that noise generated when the swing of the wiper is reversed is not sufficiently reduced.

Wiper apparatus with pressure dispersing means


Systems and methods include receiving data from a network that includes a plurality of network elements that operate at a plurality levels that include any of network layers and encapsulations; displaying any of the plurality of network elements as a three-dimensional icon on a network map; illustrating a plinth in the three-dimensional icon for each of the plurality of levels for each network element of the any of the plurality of network elements, wherein a plinth at each level indicates a corresponding network element participates in that level; and illustrating horizontal connectivity as links between any of the network elements via associated plinths.

Networks are deployed with various layers (i.e., Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) stack—e.g., Layer 0— optical, Layer 1— time division multiplexed (TDM), layer 2—packet, etc.), various topologies, as well as various logical encapsulations. Also, there are well-known requirements for network management, namely, to visually display a network. As networks become more complex in terms of layers, topologies, and logical encapsulations, it is difficult to visualize all of this information in a UI. Conventional approaches to visualizing a network include:
1. Directed and undirected cyclic and acyclic graphs which are two-dimensional visualizations that connect nodes (points of contact in the graph) with edges (lines indicating relationships between two nodes). These are often referred to as "schematic views" or "subway maps." These views are limited to two dimensions and are often thought of as being viewed "top-down," as though they were printed on paper and being looked at on a table.
2. Layer-based two-dimensional visualizations that specifically diagram the multiple network layers in a physical network. Often referred to as "logical views" or "layered views." These views show the end-to-end connectivity of a given network context in the horizontal dimension, and the logical layers of network encapsulation in the vertical dimension.
3. Linear, two-dimensional depictions of an end-to-end data path, e.g., "subway lines". These views typically exist for a single end-to-end path context.
4. Other "pseudo-3D" network graphs. These include isometric views of layered two dimensional drawings to give an appearance of three dimensions, but without the interactivity of a full three-dimensional model or display.
Because the approaches described above are rendered in only two dimensions, they are limited as to the amount and nature of data they can display in a single rendering. This forces the user to often choose which data they are most interested using checkboxes, drop-down lists, and other user interface elements, and then to switch back and forth between alternate renderings that are based on their choices. This forces the user to lose context and information between views, making it difficult to use visualization techniques to make complicated constructs fully comprehensible with a single glance at a single rendering.
Similarly, existing solutions that map logical network connectivity contexts into two-dimensional renderings often require a very large visual representation in order to show all the related data. This forces the user to either "zoom" the view out to fit the entire diagram on the screen, thereby making the individual elements of the diagram too small to effectively view, or to "pan" or "scroll" the view around, thereby allowing the user to only see one region of the diagram at a time, again forcing the user to lose context.
The known solutions require either changing views or reducing the detail of the current view in order to "drill-down" into additional contextual scope, sacrificing the contextual information in the first view for that gained in the second. In order to make decisions that require comparison between information present in the disparate views, the user is forced to switch back and forth between them. The known solutions cannot show the same physical entity's participation in a multitude of logical network roles simultaneously, forcing the user to switch between a "layer 2" view of the network, or a "layer 3" view of the network, or a "layer 0 (optical)" view of the network.
The known solutions require the user to choose between either a two-dimensional topological view or a two-dimensional line view in order to see a network path traced through the context in question, this does not allow the user to see in one serialized representation the exact path that a signal takes through the topology as well as through the devices themselves in one coherent representation. The known solutions are not able to preserve context when switching between views as they do not operate within the framework of an animated three-dimensional interactive environment. For example, in known solutions, when the layout of the two-dimensional topological view must change, the user is forced to mentally re-locate all the items on the screen after a new layout is rendered.
No known solution uses three dimensions simultaneously to show both topological or geographical network layout and logical network encapsulation for any arbitrary connectivity context in the network, at any arbitrary level of detail.

3D visualization of multi-layer networks including network topology and encapsulation


A method of forming raised S/D regions by partial EPI growth with a partial EPI liner therebetween and the resulting device are provided. Embodiments include forming groups of fins extending above a STI layer; forming a gate over the groups of fins; forming a gate spacer on each side of the gate; forming a raised S/D region proximate to each spacer on each fin of the groups of fins, each raised S/D region having a top surface, vertical sidewalls, and an undersurface; forming a liner over and between each raised S/D region; removing the liner from the top surface of each raised S/D region and from in between a group of fins; forming an overgrowth region on the top surface of each raised S/D region; forming an ILD over and between the raised S/D regions; and forming a contact through the ILD, down to the raised S/D regions.

A known approach for forming raised S/D regions by EPI growth for FinFet devices is illustrated in FIGS. 1A through 4A and 1B through 4B, with FIGS. 1B through 4B showing cross-sectional views of FIGS. 1A through 4A along cut-lines 1B-1B′ through 4B-4B′, respectively. Adverting to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a plurality of fins 101 are formed on a substrate 103, the fins 101 extending above a shallow trench isolation (STI) layer 105. Next, a dummy polysilicon (poly) gate 201 and a gate hardmask 203, e.g., of silicon nitride (SiN), are formed over the fins 101 and the STI layer 105, as depicted in FIGS. 2A and 2B. Thereafter, gate spacers 301 are formed on each side of the gate 201 and the hard mask 203, as illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B. Adverting to FIGS. 4A and 4B, raised S/D regions 401 are formed by EPI growth in a sharp diamond shape on each of the fins 101. Thereafter, although not shown for illustrative convenience, an interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer is formed, the dummy poly gate 201 is removed, a replacement metal gate (RMG) is formed, the ILD is etched, forming a trench, and then a contact is formed in the trench, down to the raised S/D regions 401.
However, an integrated circuit may include both dense narrow Fin pitch devices, as depicted in FIGS. 1A through 4A, as well as isolated single Fin devices. During formation of raised S/D regions by EPI growth, two neighboring narrow Fin pitch raised S/D regions 401 can become merged. Over the merged S/D regions, EPI growth continues in the vertical direction, whereas EPI overgrowth occurs along the angled S/D surfaces for isolated single Fin devices. The EPI-growth rate occurs much faster in the vertical direction than along the S/D surfaces. Consequently, dense narrow pitch FinFet devices will show higher EPI overgrowth than isolated single Fin devices, which can cause contact issues, e.g., threshold voltage mismatch (VTMM).
A need therefore exists for methodology enabling uniform formation of raised S/D regions by EPI growth among both dense narrow Fin pitches and isolated single Fin pitches, with no merged raised S/D regions, and the resulting device.

Raised source/drain EPI with suppressed lateral EPI overgrowth


According to an embodiment of the invention, in a digital video camera using a non-tape recording medium, the user can select whether to save a moving image file in a divided form or as one file, when recording a moving image, by changing the function of a REC button. When one moving image file has been saved in a divided form, a moving image file to be reproduced is easily searched, and a moving image is quickly played from an object chapter, or from a divided sub-file.

1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to a portable video recording apparatus, and in particular to a digital video camera using a large-capacity non-tape recording medium, and a mode changing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A digital video camera which records a moving image on a non-tape recording medium, such as a memory card (a semiconductor memory) or a hard disc drive having an extended recording capacity, has achieved widespread use.
A major characteristic of a video camera of the type for recording a moving image on a non-tape recording medium is that one file is created each time a recording (REC) button is turned on and off, compared with a digital video camera of the type for recording a moving image on a tape-like recording medium.
This characteristic is advantageous to high-speed immediate access to an object image when accessing a file for reproduction.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) No. 2004-364325 discloses a recording/reproducing apparatus of the type for recording an image on an optical disc or a hard disc, which recognizes a position where recording is halted and restarted as a boundary of chapters.
Since one file is created each time a recording (REC) button is turned on and off in a digital video camera using a non-tape recording medium, even a moving image taken in a certain period is divided into files of the number equivalent to the number of times of turning on/off a recording (REC) button turning.
This is unsuitable for managing a moving image taken within a certain period as one file.

Digital video camera and mode changing method


The present invention discloses a high performance optical architecture for multiplexing and demultiplexing channels for use in high spectral efficiency optical systems. In general, the MUX and DeMUX architectures of the present invention will fall into two key sections or stages: a wavelength group section and a channel section. The group section makes use of characteristic associated with groups of multiplexed channels for separating said groups from an optical signal having a plurality of multiplexed groups. Advantageously, in preferred embodiments, the channel section is colorless (non-wavelength specific between groups) in order to reduce cost and complexity. With respect to the colorless channel section, components with free spectral ranges (FSRs) have been strategically added to provide repetitive optical filtering functions on group of channels (i.e., subsets of channels within each band of wavelengths) so that the colorless channel section can operate in any respective group identically. Hence each of said colorless channel sections are interchangeable. Advantageously Distortion compensation can be performed on a per group basis.

Wavelength division multiplexing is a commonly used technique that allows the transport of multiple optical signals on an optical fiber. The ability to carry multiple signals on a single fiber allows that fiber to carry a tremendous amount of traffic, including data, voice, video, etc. By using wavelength division multiplexing it is possible to use a single fiber for multiple channels, as opposed to the costly process of installing additional fibers.
In wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), multiple channels are carried on different wavelengths within a specified optical band. It is advantageous to carry as much information as possible in this optical band. This is especially true for optical transmission systems which employ optical amplifiers to overcome the losses encountered during transmission. These amplifiers tend to have a fixed optical band in which they can perform amplification. Therefore, increasing the information carrying capacity of this optical band utilizes the amplifiers to their fullest extent.
The information capacity of an optical band can be increased by increasing the line-rate of the individual channels or decreasing the channel spacing in the optical band. The line-rate of the channel refers to the rate at which information is transmitted, e.g., the number of bits per second (B/s). An increased line rate causes the channel to occupy more optical spectrum. In contrast, decreasing the channel spacing decreases the amount of optical spectrum allotted to each channel. These competing effects can be described by the concept of spectral efficiency. Spectral efficiency is defined as the line-rate divided by the channel spacing and is usually expressed in units of bits per second per Hertz (B/s/Hz). For example, a system using a 109 bits per second (1 GB/s) line-rate and a 100 GHz channel spacing would have a spectral efficiency of 0.1 B/s/Hz. It should be obvious that the spectral efficiency is a measure of the information carrying capacity of an optical band in that doubling the line-rate or halving the channel spacing results in twice the spectral efficiency and equivalently a system with twice the information carrying capacity.
The multiplexing and demultiplexing of optical channels is typically accomplished with wavelength selective optical filters. A conventional WDM multiplexer (MUX) and demultiplexer (DeMUX) employs a number of such filters, each filter adapted for passing one specific wavelength. Such conventional schemes are, therefore, disadvantageous in that multiple filters are required, adding to cost and complexity.
For example, in the classical "all-filter" approach the MUX and DeMUX are provided through a cascade of wavelength selective filters. This tends to result in the solution with the least amount of loss. However, there is a penalty in that the filters must have small bandwidths, smaller than the channel spacing because of the requirement to provide isolation and a second transmission path for adjacent channels. This tends to distort both the transmitted and adjacent channels both in amplitude and phase. The channel spacing can be increased to mitigate this optical filtering penalty, but the introduction of such 'dead-bands' decreases the spectral efficiency of the system making it less cost-effective.
Alternatively, using a power splitter and power combiner approach, the MUX and DeMUX are provided with the lowest filtering penalty but the highest loss. The MUX may be entirely wavelength insensitive while the DeMUX must have a stage of wavelength selective filtering. However, the amplitude and phase distortion of these filters is limited to the transmitted channel as adjacent channels are taken care of by the stages of power splitting. This requires many stages of power splitters and combiners which tends to increase the loss. For high channel count systems, therefore, this method becomes undesirable.
Separating and combining wavelengths in high spectral efficiency systems requires optical components which have high peak transmission over a relatively large bandwidth when compared to the channel spacing and which provide good isolation between closely spaced wavelengths. Therefore a method is needed for providing a MUX and DeMUX structure with reasonable loss and low filter penalty.
The issue of modularity has been addressed in the past by grouping wavelengths together to create a smaller number of wavelength dependent modules than the actual number of individual wavelengths. In general, wavelength specific modules tend to increase the number of modules that need to be developed and manufactured (affecting cost and time-to-market), marketed (decreasing the volume of the individual modules thereby increasing cost) and kept in inventory (both the vendor and the customer) for field replacement. Therefore it is advantageous to develop a solution which reduces the number of different modules required.
Furthermore, There is a need in optical transmission systems for optical add-drop multiplexing (OADM) at sites in the systems where traffic already exists on the optical fiber from different points of origin and having-different destinations. At these sites, it is also required to have access to add and drop traffic locally in a flexible manner. It is advantageous to reuse the same MUX and DeMUX architecture for this purpose thereby reducing the total number of different modules which would otherwise need to be developed. In addition, the use of the same modules for MUX, DeMUX, and OADM ensures the compatibility of the channel plan used for each purpose.

High spectral efficiency, high performance optical MUX and DEMUX architecture


A power circuit includes a boost circuit having a boost switching element, a coil provided between a battery and the boost switching element and a rectifier element provided between the coil and a load, a first switch connected to the boost circuit in parallel, a current detection circuit detecting current flowing through the first switch and a control circuit turning on the first switch during a normal state other than a restart of an engine after an idling stop and turning off the first switch and controlling an operation of the boost switching element at a restart of the engine after an idling stop so that voltage of the battery is boosted and supplied to the load. The control circuit determines based on the current detected by the current detection circuit during the normal state whether or not the first switch has an open fault.

The present invention relates to a power circuit that allows a battery to supply voltage stably to a load in a vehicle with an idling stop control.
Recently a vehicle with an idling stop control has been put to practical use for reducing fuel consumption and exhaust gas emission. The idling stop control of the vehicle turns off its engine automatically when it is detected that the vehicle stops e.g. at a traffic light and restarts the engine automatically when it is detected that the vehicle is about to start again.
When the engine of such vehicle is restarted after an idling stop, a large current flows to a starter motor of the vehicle, so that the voltage of a battery of the vehicle is dropped temporarily. Accordingly, the voltage of power to various loads such as electronic devices other than the starter motor which are connected to the battery is also dropped temporarily at a restart of the vehicle. Therefore, there is a fear that the voltage falls below a level that is required for any electronic device to operate properly, thus inviting a temporary malfunction of the device. For example, a car navigation system and an audio system may be reset or a sound may jump in the audio system. Thus, unforeseeable operation of any electronic device may occur.
To solve the above problem, a power circuit may be provided between the battery and the load so as to keep constant the voltage required for the loads even when a voltage drop of the battery occurs temporarily.
Japanese Patent Application Publication 2005-112250 discloses a power circuit to solve the above problem. The power circuit includes a boost circuit and a bypass relay that bypasses the boost circuit when the relay is closed. At a restart of an engine after an idling stop, the boost circuit is activated with the bypass relay kept opened, so that the voltage of a battery is boosted by the boost circuit and the boosted voltage is supplied to various electronic loads of the vehicle. During a normal state other than the restart of the engine, the bypass relay is kept closed thereby to bypass the boost circuit, so that the voltage of the battery is supplied to the loads through the bypass relay.
When the voltage of the battery is dropped temporarily at the restart of the engine after an idling stop, the power circuit ensures that the voltage required for the loads is supplied. Meanwhile, during the normal state other than the restart of the engine, the voltage of the battery is supplied to the loads without being dropped by a switching element in the boost circuit, so that supply of the voltage required for the loads can be maintained.
However, if an open fault occurs in the bypass relay in the power circuit and the voltage of the battery is supplied at all times to the loads through the boost circuit, the voltage of the battery to be supplied to the loads is dropped by the switching element in the boost circuit.
The present invention is directed to providing a power circuit that allows supply of a stable voltage to loads of electronic devices of a vehicle equipped with an idling stop control.


The method disclosed herein comprises initially providing a tool comprised of a process chamber, a lid above the process chamber, an RF coil for assisting in generating a plasma in the chamber, a substrate support, and a power supply coupled to the substrate support. The method continues with the step of positioning a substrate in the tool adjacent the substrate support, introducing a noble gas into the chamber, and forming a layer of material above the substrate by sputtering the lid material by performing at least the following steps: applying approximately 200-300 watts of power to the RF coil at a frequency of approximately 400 KHz and applying approximately 20-60 watts of power to the substrate at a frequency of approximately 13.56 MHz.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to semiconductor devices, and, more particularly, to a method of making very thin dielectric layers for use in such devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
By way of background, an illustrative prior art transistor is depicted in FIG. 1. An illustrative semiconductor device 12 is formed above a surface 11 of a semiconducting substrate 10. The device 12 is formed within an active area 13 in the substrate 10 that is defined by the trench isolation 21. The illustrative semiconductor device 12 depicted in FIG. 1 is an NMOS transistor comprised of a gate insulation layer 16, a gate electrode 14, sidewall spacers 20 and source/drain regions 18. The various components of the illustrative transistor depicted in FIG. 1 may be formed by a variety of techniques, and they may be comprised of a variety of different materials.
In general, there is a constant drive to reduce the size of semiconductor devices and increase the operating speed of integrated circuit devices using such semiconductor devices. As feature sizes, e.g., channel length, decrease, other features of the transistor must also be decreased, or scaled down, e.g., the thickness of the gate insulation layer 16. Additionally, it is known that the drive current of the transistor, a parameter that determines how fast the device will operate, is inversely proportional to the thickness of the gate insulation layer 16. That is, all other things being equal, the thinner the gate insulation layer 16, the faster the device will operate. Thus, there is a desire for producing thinner gate insulation layers 16 of a sufficient quality to provide transistors with faster operating speeds. In many cases, the gate insulation layer 16 is comprised of silicon dioxide, although other insulating materials may also be used, e.g., an oxide, an oxynitride, silicon oxynitride, etc. Such layers have typically been formed by either a thermal oxidation process or a deposition process, such as a sputter deposition process, a chemical vapor deposition process, etc. However, currently available technology is limited in its ability to produce thin, high quality gate insulation layers 16 comprised of silicon dioxide. Additionally, there is a desire for a method and apparatus for forming very thin layers of material, e.g., silicon dioxide, as such layers may be used in several aspects of semiconductor processing, e.g., as gate insulation layers, in forming very thin sidewall spacers, etc.
The present invention is directed to a method that solves, or at least reduces, some or all of the aforementioned problems.
The present invention is directed to a method of forming very thin layers of dielectric materials in semiconductor manufacturing operations. In one illustrative embodiment, the method comprises providing a tool comprised of a process chamber, a lid above the process chamber, an RF coil for assisting in generating a plasma in the chamber, a substrate support, and a power supply coupled to the substrate support. The method continues with the step of positioning a substrate in the tool adjacent the substrate support and introducing a noble gas into the chamber. The method concludes with the step of forming a layer of material above the substrate by sputtering the lid material by performing at least the following steps: applying approximately 200-300 watts of power to the RF coil at a frequency of approximately 400 KHz and applying approximately 20-60 watts of power to the substrate at a frequency of approximately 13.56 MHz. In one particularly illustrative embodiment, the method disclosed herein is used to form a layer of silicon dioxide having a thickness ranging from approximately 7-10 xc3x85 at a rate of approximately 1 xc3x85/second.

Method for forming a thin dielectric layer


A method for free-breathing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using iterative image-based respiratory motion correction is provided. An MRI system is used to acquired k-space data and navigator data from a subject. The k-space data is then sorted into a plurality of data bins using the navigator data. A motion correction parameter is estimated for each data bin and is applied to the respective k-space data in that bin. The corrected k-space data segments are then combined to form a corrected k-space data set, from which an image is reconstructed. The process may be iteratively repeated until an image quality metric is optimized; for example, until an image sharpness measure is sufficiently maximized.

The field of the invention is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems and methods. More particularly, the invention relates to methods for free-breathing cardiac MR imaging using iterative image-based respiratory motion correction.
MRI uses the nuclear magnetic resonance ("NMR") phenomenon to produce images. When a substance such as human tissue is subjected to a uniform magnetic field, such as the so-called main magnetic field, B0, of an MRI system, the individual magnetic moments of the nuclei in the tissue attempt to align with this B0 field, but precess about it in random order at their characteristic Larmor frequency, Ω. If the substance, or tissue, is subjected to a so-called excitation electromagnetic field, B1, that is in the plane transverse to the B0 field and that has a frequency near the Larmor frequency, the net aligned magnetic moment, referred to as longitudinal magnetization, may be rotated, or "tipped," into the transverse plane to produce a net transverse magnetic moment, referred to as transverse magnetization. A signal is emitted by the excited nuclei or "spins," after the excitation field, B1, is terminated, and this signal may be received and processed to form an image.
When utilizing these "MR" signals to produce images, magnetic field gradients (Gx, Gy, and Gz) are employed for spatial encoding. Typically, the region to be imaged is scanned by a sequence of measurement cycles in which these gradients vary according to the particular localization method being used. The resulting set of received MR signals are digitized and processed to reconstruct the image using one of many well known reconstruction techniques.
The measurement cycle used to acquire each MR signal is performed under the direction of a pulse sequence produced by a pulse sequencer. Clinically available MRI systems store a library of such pulse sequences, which can be prescribed to meet the needs of many different clinical applications. Research MRI systems include a library of clinically-proven pulse sequences, and also enable the development of new pulse sequences. The MR signals acquired with an MRI system are signal samples of the subject of the examination in Fourier space, or what is often referred to in the art as "k-space." Each MR measurement cycle, or pulse sequence, typically samples a portion of k-space along a sampling trajectory characteristic of that pulse sequence.
Because it requires time to acquire a complete k-space MR data set, subject motion presents a problem in many clinical applications. Motion due to respiration, cardiac motion, or peristalsis can produce image artifacts such as blurring or ghosting. For example, noninvasive evaluation of coronary artery disease ("CAD") has been a major goal of coronary MRI. Due to the small diameter of the coronary arteries, a high spatial resolution coronary MRI is required for the accurate visualization of the arteries. However, this has been difficult to accomplish because the coronary arteries are in constant motion due to the cardiac and respiratory cycles.
There are many strategies used to suppress such artifacts caused by subject motion. These include cardiac or respiratory gating techniques that acquire MR data only during certain phases of the cardiac or respiratory cycle. For example, to correct for cardiac motion during coronary MRI, segments of k-space lines are acquired during a short diastolic rest period of the right coronary artery in each cardiac cycle. Thus, the subject is scanned while in a particular position, but the overall scan time is increased substantially because MR data is not acquired over substantial portions of each motion cycle.
Another technique for dealing with subject motion is to interleave so-called "navigator" pulse sequences into the scan to measure subject motion. Navigator pulse sequences may be used during a scan to periodically acquire subject motion information with which the acquired k-space MR image data may be retrospectively corrected. The interleaved navigator pulse sequences, however, can add considerable scan time and in some cases they can disrupt the magnetization equilibrium required by imaging pulse sequences.
As an example, a coronary MRI acquisition is typically performed during free-breathing with a respiratory motion compensation algorithm. A diaphragmatic navigator is used to measure the right hemi diaphragm ("RHD") motion during the acquisition and to gate and correct for the respiratory motion of the heart. More specifically, before the acquisition of each k-space segment, the location of the RHD is monitored by the diaphragmatic navigator. If k-space segments are acquired when the RHD position is within a gating window timed around the respiratory end-expiration, the k-space segments are accepted for image reconstruction; otherwise, the k-space segments are rejected and reacquired in the next cardiac cycle. Typically, a five millimeter ("mm") end expiratory gating window is used to gate data because increasing the window greatly reduces the accuracy of the factor used for correcting respiratory-induced heart motion. While this acceptance/rejection approach successfully suppresses the respiratory motion of the heart, it is hindered by low respiratory efficiency (defined as the percentage of k-space segments acquired within the gating window) that results from using such a narrow gating window and variability in the subject's breathing pattern. Low navigator efficacies, often around 30-50%, result in prolonged scan time and incomplete scans, making the acquisition of high-resolution cardiac images impractical.
Several methods have been proposed to increase the size of the gating window and thereby increase gating efficiency. For example, k-space weighting and phase ordering techniques, as well as a diminishing variance algorithm, have been shown to improve image quality over the conventional acceptance/rejection approach discussed above by using a larger gating window. However, the effectiveness of these techniques is based on the subject's breathing pattern; thus, changes in the subject's respiratory pattern can significantly impact the gating efficiency.
Self-gating navigators have also been proposed to estimate the respiratory motion of the heart directly from the acquired k-space lines rather than the RHD motion. However, these techniques only account for respiratory motion of the heart along the superior-inferior ("SI") direction. The motion of the heart along anterior-posterior ("AP") and right-left ("RL") directions cannot be ignored for a gating window greater than seven mm and, therefore, must be accounted for in a motion compensation algorithm. Some three-dimensional navigators have been proposed to correct for the motion of the heart along the SI, AP, and RL directions. Also, rigid and affine transformations and non-rigid motion models have been used to estimate the respiratory motion of the heart before acquisition of k-space segments, and to correct the acquired k-space segments based on the estimated motion model. However, these algorithms involve either acquiring auxiliary pulses before the acquisition of k-space segments to generate a low resolution image and to estimate and correct for the heart respiratory motion, or modifying the k-space sampling scheme from Cartesian to radial to generate the low resolution image from the acquired inner k-space lines and to correct for the respiratory motion of the heart.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a method for acquiring high-resolution cardiac images and accurately compensating for respiratory motion. More specifically, it would be desirable to widen the gating window for acquiring data, thereby increasing navigator efficiency and shortening scan time, without respiratory-induced heart motion artifacts.

Method for free-breathing magnetic resonance imaging using iterative image-based respiratory motion correction

BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER, INC


A method for resolving a collision in a communication system using medium access control based on contention. The method enables management and control of a contention window size of each mini slot and thus all the terminals may have an equal opportunity to access each mini slot. Moreover, when two or more terminals have simultaneously attempted to access any one mini slot and thus collision has occurred in the mini slot, the method restricts the access of the mini slot to the terminal or terminals that had experienced collision, and then permits an access attempt of another terminal after all the terminals which had experienced collision succeed in accessing a mini slot.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for resolving collisions in communication systems using medium access control based on contention, where the media access control is used to reserve or require communication resources in a mobile terminal. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for resolving collisions.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In a mobile communication system, a terminal reserves communication resources or requests the same from a base station or a remote host (also referred to as "base station" hereinafter). To support this function, the base station allocates mini slots and broadcasts the number and the location of the mini slots to all the terminals. In this case, each of the terminals competitively attempts to access the mini slots by using a media access control method. At this time, when the number of terminals that are accessing a certain mini slot is two or more, a collision arises in the mini slot and the access attempt results in failure. Therefore, the base station inspects whether a collision has arisen in the mini slots and broadcasts the inspected information to all the terminals by incorporating the inspected information into a header of a frame.
In such a media access control method, a prior art called a BEB (Binary Exponential Back-off) method is known to resolve a collision. The BEB method is performed in all the terminals. Each terminal receives broadcasting information incorporated in the header of a present frame and confirms through the broadcasting information whether an access attempted in a previous frame into a certain mini slot has been successful. According to the BEB method, when a certain terminal continues to fail in access attempts, the number of access attempts shall be assumed to be an integer 'a'. In these circumstances, when 2a is less than or equal to the number of mini slots (N), any integer value k is selected by using a uniform distribution from 1 to N. Here, the integer value k is less than or equal to the value allowable in the communication system. When 2a is larger than the number of mini slots (N), the integer value k is selected by using a uniform distribution from 1 to 2a. Then, a count operation of mini slots starts at a current frame, and the kth mini slot is accessed.
In the above BEB method, when the re-access number of the terminals increases due to a collision, access of the terminals to the mini slots can be dispersed by delaying a re-access opportunity of the corresponding terminal until the count operation started at any mini slot of a current frame arrives at the kth mini slot. This results in resolution of collisions. However, this method has a problem in that as more attempts at re-access occur, the time to wait for access increases. Therefore, there is an opportunity for access priority to be given to a terminal that has attempted access, but this leads to an inequality problem. Further, in the case that many terminals attempt to access, the possibility of collision increases even though the access attempts of the terminals have been dispersed by using the BEB method.
A method using a contention window has been known as another attempt to resolve the above-described collision in the communication system. In the method using a contention window, a base station incorporates the number of mini slots and a variable contention window size (referred to as 'CW' hereinafter) into a header of a frame, and broadcasts the header to each of the terminals. Each of the terminals selects a certain integer k from the constant distribution between 1 to CW, and when k is less than or equal to N, all terminals can access their kth mini slot. Otherwise, the terminal delays access of the mini slots to the next frame. This method can solve the inequality problem because all the terminals can perform the access operation equally. However, the method still has a problem in that the greater the number of terminal access attempts, the more the possibility of collision increases.
Meanwhile, a relevant prior art of application No. 10-1996-0053728 was filed with the Korean Intellectual Property Office under the title "A multiple access control method in a radio data communication network" on Nov. 13, 1996. In the prior art, a transmission medium is accessed by mixing reservation and contention to access communication resources in accordance with various traffic characteristics, and to thereby increase channel efficiency in radio communication. However, the prior art relates to a method of controlling medium access by mixing reservation and contention techniques, while the present invention relates to a method for reducing collision in a communication system using medium access control based on contention. Therefore, the present invention has a different technical purpose and solution from the prior art.

Method for resolving collisions in communication systems using medium access control based on contention

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A method and apparatus are disclosed for canceling acoustic echo generated during transmission of text information in a communication system supporting a TTY/TDD service. When a mobile-to-land call is established between a mobile subscriber and a PSTN subscriber, a decoder notifies an encoder of detection of TTY/TDD text in a BS vocoder. The encoder then transmits a packet having silence information, which prevents acoustic echo reproduction of the text in the TTY/TDD device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to enhancing communication capabilities in a communication system, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for canceling acoustic echo in a communication system providing a TTY/TDD service.
2. Description of the Related Art
Communication technology, particularly mobile communication technology, has been developed to additionally provide data service as well as voice service. Communication systems provide additional services to satisfy various user demands. One of the additional services is a TTY/TDD service. The term "TTY" derives from "Teletype", which is a registered trademark of the Teletype Corporation. "TDD", is an abbreviation of the phrase "telecommunications device for the deaf". TTY/TDD services enable telephone calls to the deaf or hearing-impaired people.
Implementation of the TTY/TDD service requires a TTY/TDD device. The TTY/TDD device comprises a keyboard, a MODEM (Modulator/DEModulator), and a display connected to a wired telephone via the MODEM. The TTY/TDD device converts PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) signal from the other party to text messages and displays them on the display. It also converts text messages received from the keyboard to PCM signals and provides the PCM signal to the wired telephone. Thus, the deaf can conduct a telephone call.
In connection with the TTY/TDD service, the U.S. has created ground rules to provide services to the deaf and hard of hearing persons since the late 1970's. In 1990, the ADA (the Americans with Disabilities Act) was instituted to enforce the rights of individuals with disabilities. Today, it has been decided that a TTY/TDD functionality shall be provided in the standards of a mobile communication system. As is well known to those skilled in the art of the invention, 13K QCELP (Qualcomm Code Excited Linear Prediction Code) and EVRC (Enhanced Variable Rate Code) vocoders are widespread voice compression techniques in 2nd and 3rd generation wireless communications systems. The TTY/TDD functionality is implemented as IS733-3 and IS127-4 in these vocoders. IS-733-3 defines the TTY/TDD functionality of the 13K QCELP vocoder, and IS-127-4, that of the EVRC vocoder.
The encoder of such a vocoder processes voice samples on a 20-ms frame basis and transmits processed voice information in packets. The decoder of the vocoder reproduces the voice samples by processing received voice packets in an order reverse to the encoder operation. When the TTY/TDD functionality is implemented, the encoder determines whether input PCM (pulse code modulation) samples are voice or TTY/TDD text. In the case of voice, the encoder transmits voice information in packets. In the case of TTY/TDD text, it transmits text information in packets. The decoder determines whether a received packet is voice information or TTY/TDD text information and reproduces voice samples or TTY text tones according to the result of the determination. The TTY/TDD functionality supports voice carryover/hearing carryover (VCO/HCO). VCO allows people who have difficulties in hearing clearly through the telephone to use a TTY without typing. They only use the TTY for reading during the inbound direction of the call. They talk to their party by speaking into a microphone. Similarly, HCO allows a person with a speech disability to hear a response from their party directly. A communication system equipped with vocoders having these options enables communications between a person without any speech or hearing disabilities and a hearing-impaired person or between hearing-impaired persons.
Communication systems equipped with vocoders having the TTY/TDD functionality are illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2A and 2B. FIG. 1 illustrates the network configuration of a communication system that allows a TTY/TDD service between a mobile subscriber and a subscriber to the public switched telephone network (PSTN), and FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate the network configuration of a communication system that allows a TTY/TDD service between mobile subscribers.
The TTY/TDD service in these communication systems has at least the following two problems:
(1) In the case when a mobile-to-land call (an MtoL call) is established between a mobile and PSTN subscriber (voice transmission/reception), as illustrated in FIG. 1, the acoustic echo that can be generated from a land phone 111 will not negatively impact the communication quality of the call as perceived by the mobile phone (TTY/TDD phone) 103. The reason why the call-quality is not negatively impacted is because the signal length and delay of the acoustic echo are inaudibly small. That is, under an environment with voice data only, even if acoustic echo is caused in the land phone 111, the strength of a PCM signal delivered from the speaker to the microphone of the land phone 111 is very small and the microphone is sufficiently apart from the speaker. Thus the communication quality the TTY/TDD phone 103 perceives is good. Therefore, the acoustic echo is not a problem.
However, in the case of transmission/reception of TTY/TDD text information, a TTY/TDD device 101 substantially perceives the signal strength of the acoustic echo generated from the land phone 111. The TTY/TDD device 101 then reproduces the TTY/TDD information due to the acoustic echo involved with transmission of the TTY/TDD information. Specifically, under an environment having coexistent voice and TTY/TDD text, a PCM signal of TTY/TDD text tones output from the speaker of the land phone 111 is delivered to its microphone. However small its signal strength is, an encoder 105b in a vocoder 105 within a base station (BS) 105 perceives the PCM signal substantially and transmits the TTY/TDD text information in a packet to the TTY/TDD phone 103. Therefore, the TTY/TDD device 101 connected to the TTY/TDD phone 103 reproduces the TTY/TDD text. Consequently, the acoustic echo generated from the land phone 111 influences the TTY/TDD device 101.
(2) When a mobile-to-mobile (MtoM) trans-coding call is established between mobile subscribers as illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B, acoustic echo caused in one TTY/TDD phone 311 leads to reproduction of transmitted TTY/TDD text information in a TTY/TDD device 301 connected to the other TTY/TDD phone 303. Under the environment of voice data only, even if acoustic echo is generated from the TTY/TDD phone 311, the strength of a PCM signal delivered from its speaker to its microphone is negligibly small. Therefore, there is no influence on the communication quality of the other TTY/TDD phone 303.
In the environment of voice information coexisting with TTY/TDD text information, however, PCM TTY/TDD text tones delivered from the speaker to the microphone of the TTY/TDD phone 311 are substantially sensed in its encoder 311b. The encoder 311b will sense the PCM TTY/TDD text tones because the encoder 311b is specifically configured to sense the TTY/TTD text tones, however small they are, in accordance with the "3GPP2 C.S0028 Version 1.0 CDMA TTY/TDD Minimum Performance Specification." Therefore, the TTY/TDD device 301 connected to the other TTY/TDD phone 303 reproduces the TTY/TDD text due to the acoustic echo.

Method and apparatus for acoustic echo cancellation in a communication system providing TTY/TDD service


A system and method for charging for vehicle parking is provided. The parking system includes a plurality of mobile parking units, each of the mobile parking units having an unique identification for installation in a vehicle and a parking control center for communicating with each of the mobile parking units. Each of the mobile parking units checks its location whenever the vehicle is not moving and if the location coincides with a known parking area, a charge for parking is activated until the vehicle resumes traveling.

The present invention relates to vehicle parking, and specifically to cash less parking and automatic parking toll collection.
There are numerous systems used today for controlling and charging for parking.
Examples of parking control systems include parking meters adjacent parking bays requiring the insertion of coins as payment for specific parking periods, and centralized parking machines in which money is inserted and a ticket printed out by the parking machine for the period of time paid for. Alternatively, preprinted tickets or parking cards can be bought which the driver uses to indicate the date and time parking commenced or the parking period. These cards are usually displayed in the car window so that it can be seen by a parking inspector. Such tickets are usually limited for a specific number of minutes, such as 60 minutes. In certain locations, it may also be possible to use several tickets to park for a longer period.
Off-street parking generally requires payment to be made on entry or exit of a parking lot, either automatically monitored or manually supervised. Generally, off-street parking in private parking lots is supervised.
One of the main problems associated with paid parking is the abuse of the various systems by avoiding payment either by non-payment of parking for a longer period of time than paid for, thereby depriving the municipal authority responsible for town parking from revenue. One common system for monitoring parking is to use inspectors who are authorized to issue parking tickets or fines for non-compliance with parking regulations and other abuses of the system. The use of inspectors is expensive and though parking fines may be issued, there is no guarantee that they will be paid, thus requiring additional resources for collection of the fines.
The use of meters has a number of disadvantages. They are costly to manufacture and require installation into the pavement next to each parking space. They break down, can be broken into and the money accumulated stolen. Moreover it needs a special expensive and in some locations it is also dangerous to collect cash from each meter and carry it all over the city. From the driver""s point of view, the main disadvantage of the parking meter is that he needs to have small change and if he leaves the parking space before the end of the time paid for, he has overpaid for the actual time used. On the other hand, if he is late returning to his car, he is endanger of being fined.
The centralized parking machine has the advantage of saving multiple meters, by using one parking machine for one parking lot. However, it also suffers from the other disadvantages of the individual parking meter, such as being vulnerable to break in. As in the case of parking meters, there is also the problem of under or over-paying.
The preprinted parking tickets is no doubt the least costly to the proprietor of the parking lots, mostly municipal authorities, as it does not need any expensive construction work. As in the other systems described above, there is also the problem of under or over-paying.
The proprietor of the parking lot, requiring the car owner to voluntarily purchase a ticket, can lose money in cases where drivers park and take the risk of getting a ticket and do not pay the parking toll.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved system for vehicle parking charges which overcomes the limitations and disadvantages of prior art systems.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system which is automatic and accurately records the exact time parked and charges accordingly.
There is therefore provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a mobile parking unit and a parking system which includes a plurality of mobile parking units, each of the mobile parking units having an unique identification for installation in a vehicle and a parking control center for communicating with each of the mobile parking units. Each of the mobile parking units checks its location whenever the vehicle is not moving and if the location coincides with a known parking area, a charge for parking is activated until the vehicle resumes traveling.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each of the mobile parking units includes a vehicle location device for determining the geographic location and speed of each of the mobile parking unit, a transceiver connected to a modem, for communicating with the mobile parking units and a computer unit for coupling to the vehicle location device and the transceiver.
In an alternative embodiment, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each of the mobile parking units includes a vehicle location device for determining the geographic location and speed of each of the mobile parking units, a computer unit for coupling to the vehicle location device and a smart card reader coupled to the central processor.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the computer unit includes a central processor and a smart card reader coupled to the central processor.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each of the mobile parking units includes an electronic map database containing at least the geographic location of parking spaces in at least one specific region of operation, a Geographic Information System (GIS) interpreter for interpreting the data within the electronic map database and means for calculating the cost of parking. The electronic map database contains data associated with each of the parking spaces.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cost of parking is determined by the calculating means in accordance with the geographic location of each of the mobile parking units and the time it is immobile.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each of the mobile parking units further includes input and output channels connected to at least one of a group of control elements including the vehicle ignition switch, the vehicle doors and volume (space) sensor. In addition, each of the mobile parking units further includes an indication unit for displaying an indication that parking is being charged for. The mobile parking unit includes a non-volatile memory unit for storing a prepaid monetary value for parking.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the vehicle location device includes a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver having an antenna coupled thereto.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the computer unit further includes input/output (I/O) channels coupled to the central processor, the input/output (I/O) channels having at least one sensing elements connected thereto. The sensing elements comprise at least one of a group of sensors connected to the vehicle ignition switch, the vehicle doors and the internal volume of the vehicle.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the control center includes a control computer and a transceiver coupled to a modem, which is coupled to the control computer.
In addition, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the control center further includes an electronic map database containing at least the geographic location of parking spaces in at least one specific region of operation, a Geographic Information System (GIS) interpreter for interpreting the data within the electronic map database and a means for calculating the cost of parking.
Additionally, there is provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method for charging for vehicle parking which includes the steps of:
recording the time and location whenever the vehicle is immobile; and
if the location coincides with a known parking area, calculating the parking charges for the total period of time the vehicle remains immobile.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the step of displaying an indication that parking is being charged for. The method also includes the step of identifying the geographic location and speed of the vehicle.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the step of using a vehicle location device installed in the vehicle for determining the geographic location and speed of each of the vehicles.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the step of recording the time of the vehicle""s immobility further includes at least one of the steps of:
recording the time the vehicle""s ignition is switched off;
recording the time the vehicle""s doors are opened and closed; and
recording the time the volume within the vehicle is disturbed.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the step of calculating includes the step of:
comparing the geographic location with an electronic map database containing the location of parking spaces in the region of operation; and
calculating the cost of parking for the geographic location according to the cost of parking per unit of the immobile time for the parking space.
The calculating step is performed by the mobile parking unit. The calculating step further includes the step of the mobile parking unit communicating the calculated charges to a remote control center. Alternatively, the calculating step further includes the step of the mobile parking unit communicating the location of the vehicle to the remote control center.
In another alternative embodiment, the calculating step further includes the steps of:
the mobile parking unit communicating the parking time and the location of the vehicle to the remote control center charges; and
the remote control center calculates the parking charges.
In another alternative embodiment, the calculating step further includes the steps of:
the mobile parking unit communicating the parking time to the control center; and
the control center comparing the geographic location with an electronic map database containing the location of parking spaces in the region of operation; and
the control center calculating the cost of parking for the geographic location according to the cost of parking per unit of the immobile time for the parking space.
The remote control center bills the vehicle owner for the calculated parking charges.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method includes the step of the control center transmitting the prepaid monetary value to the non-volatile memory unit of the mobile parking unit.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the mobile parking unit includes a card reader and a keyboard and includes the step of the vehicle owner using a credit or debit card in the card reader and entering the prepaid monetary value to be entered into the non-volatile memory unit by means of the keyboard.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the step of transferring the electronic map database to the mobile parking unit by any of a group of removable media including floppy disk, a PCMCIA card, CD-ROM and DVD-ROM. Alternatively, the control center transmitting the electronic map database to the mobile parking unit.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the transmission includes the step of the vehicle user requesting the transmission or the mobile parking unit requests the transmission whenever the vehicle is immobile and is located within a region for which a map database is not stored.

System and method for charging for vehicle parking


A vehicle emergency egress system includes a transparent armor assembly disposable in a vehicle window frame, the transparent armor assembly including at least one transparent armor pane, and interiorly accessible release means, the release means being selectively operable by a vehicle occupant for effecting release of at least the one of the transparent armor panes, such release permitting shifting a respective one of the at least one transparent armor panes from the transparent armor assembly to define an egress portal. A method of forming a vehicle emergency egress system is further included.

Insurgent attacks on U.S. troops supporting ongoing operations for the Global War On Terrorism (GWOT) in Iraq and Afghanistan have exposed vulnerabilities of the ground vehicles used by our troops. Consequently, the HMMWV (commonly known as HumVee) and other light tactical military vehicles, including the Light Utility Vehicle testbed by MillenWorks, are being up-armored to counter the insurgent threats and provide an increased level of soldier protection. A new issue results in that the additional weight of the armor and associated upward shift in center of gravity (CG) has caused these vehicles to become increasingly unstable and difficult for the troops to control. Numerous rollover accidents have and continue to occur given the tendency of these vehicles to go out of control and tip during evasive maneuvering, off-road travel and IED/RPG attack. When an up-armored vehicle rolls over, many times the crew cannot egress via the doors due to the weight of the armor on the doors, or jamming of doors from the vehicle frame twisting. The gunner's station is not an option for exit either if the vehicle is up-side-down. The result is that the crew is often killed due to vehicle fires, follow-up insurgent attacks, trauma injuries and drowning. Therefore there is a need for an emergency egress system for the up-armored vehicles.
A number of prior art examples exist with regards to emergency egress systems for vehicles. U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,527, issued Jun. 19, 1973, entitled KNOCKOUT WINDOW FOR VEHICLE, discloses a knockout window for a vehicle, such as a bus or mass transit car, U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,396, issued Jan. 13, 1987, entitled BUS WINDOW RELEASE MECHANISM, discloses a release mechanism for a vehicle, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,715, issued Dec. 26, 2000, entitled EMERGENCY EXIT WINDOW OF A VEHICLE WITH A WINDOW PANEL, discloses an emergency exit window of a vehicle. However, these prior art examples involve mechanisms that are incompatible with the transparent armor assembly required by military vehicles. The egress architecture must provide the crew the required level of blast protection while still meeting the unique interface and support structure requirements for the transparent armor assembly.
A standard (prior art) M1114 window armor assembly 8 is illustrated in prior art FIGS. 1 and 2. Window frame 10 provides the supporting structure for a window armor frame 12 and the two pieces of transparent armor (ballistic glass) 14. Window frame 10 defines an aperture for window spacer/sill 16 and transparent armor 14. The window armor frame 12 is disposed about the periphery of the transparent armor 14. The window armor frame 12 generally includes six separate armor plates: upper window armor plate 18, center armor plate 20, side armor plates 22 and the lower window armor plate 24. The window armor frame 12 overlies portions of both pieces of transparent armor 14 as at overlap 15, thereby capturing the transparent armor 14 in the frame 10. The individual plates, i.e. upper window armor plate 18, center armor plate 20, side armor plates 22, and lower window armor plate 24 of the window armor frame 12 are fastened by screws or similar type fasteners that extend into the windshield frame 10. The window frame 10 is fitted to the vehicle side armor 19. In an emergency situation, removal of transparent armor 14 is not possible by the occupant as the transparent armor 14 is secured by the window armor frame 12 from the exterior of the vehicle. Someone outside the vehicle would have to remove all of the fasteners of the window armor frame 12 before accessing the transparent armor 14, a time consuming operation that needlessly exposes the person performing the operation under combat conditions.
There is therefore a need for an improved alternate or additional egress capability for up-armored vehicles to address the previously described problem, especially the capability for the vehicle occupants to effect the egress without exterior assistance.


A vehicle externally chargeable includes a power storage device, an AC/DC converter, an inlet, a first power line, at least one connector inserted in the first power line, and a second power line. To the inlet, a charging cable can be connected to transfer electric power from an external power source. The first power line is connected to the inlet and the AC/DC converter. The second power line is branched from a path that is located on the first power line and that connects the connector and the AC/DC converter to each other.

In recent years, as an environmentally friendly vehicle, a vehicle has been drawing attention which has a power storage device (for example, a secondary battery, a capacitor, or the like) and travels using driving power resulting from electric power stored in the power storage device. Examples of such a vehicle include an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, a fuel cell vehicle, and the like. There have been proposed techniques of charging the power storage device of each of these vehicles using a commercial power source, which is high in power generation efficiency.
Among hybrid vehicles, there has been also known a vehicle which has a power storage device chargeable from a power source external to the vehicle (hereinafter, also simply referred to as "external power source") as with electric vehicles. For example, a so-called "plug-in hybrid vehicle" has been known which has a power storage device chargeable from a power source of a general house when connecting a power receptacle of the house and a charging port of the vehicle to each other via a charging cable. In this way, improved fuel consumption efficiency can be expected in the hybrid vehicle.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-244832 (PTL 1) discloses a technique for prohibiting charging of a battery of an electric vehicle when a reel type cord, which is provided in the vehicular body to serve as a charging cord to charge the battery, is in a reeled state.
According to the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-244832 (PTL 1), a storage space for the charging cord can be made small while restraining heat generation of the charging cord.

Vehicle configured to be charged using an external power source


A method for actuating active vibration insulators includes the steps of generating an idling control signal in an idling range of a vehicle, generating a running control signal in a running range of the vehicle, and actuating an electromagnetic actuator of an active vibration insulator based on the idling control signal or the running control signal, thereby inhibiting vibrations of a vehicle engine from transmitting by the electromagnetic actuator. The idling control signal is produced by adding a higher order harmonic signal component with respect to a control frequency, based on a cyclic pulsating signal emitted from the vehicle engine, to a fundamental-wave signal component of the control frequency. The running control signal is composed of the fundamental-wave signal component of the control signal. The method can inhibit noises from generating by actuating simple electromagnetic actuators, and can damp vibrations of vehicle engines simply and less expensively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for actuating active vibration insulators which actively inhibit vibrations of vehicle engines from transmitting.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional method for actuating such active vibration insulators, a highly linear actuator, such as a voice coil motor, for example, has been used to actuate an active vibration insulator with a sine-wave control signal, thereby controlling vibrations with great vibrating forces but with less noises. However, since such a high-performance actuator is highly expensive, it is difficult to use it in vehicles for which it is necessary to inhibit the vibrations of engines from transmitting simply and less expensively.
Moreover, as the other active vibration insulator, an electromagnetic vibrator has been known as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 2001-117,644, for instance. The conventional electromagnetic actuator comprises an electromagnetic damper, and actuation controlling means. The electromagnetic damper comprises a fastener fitting, a yoke, a rubber elastic member, and a mass member. The fastener fitting is installed to a vehicle, a vibration generating force. The yoke accommodates an electromagnet therein, and is installed to the fastener fitting. The mass member is supported elastically to the yoke by the rubber elastic member. The actuation controlling means inputs electric control signals into the electromagnet of the electromagnetic damper, and lets the electromagnet generate actuating forces having magnitudes which correspond to the magnitudes of the electric control signals. Thus, the conventional electromagnetic actuator actuates the electromagnet to vibrate the mass member, thereby actively inhibiting the vibrations of the vibration generating source from transmitting by means of vibrating forces resulting from the vibrations of the mass member.
The conventional electromagnetic vibrator generates pulsating control signals with respect to rotary pulsating signals which are output from a rotary pulse sensor, for example, and whose frequencies are correlated to the vibration frequencies of the vibration generating source. Moreover, the pulsating control signals are synchronized with the rotary pulsating signals, but simultaneously have phases which are displaced with respect to the phases of the rotary pulsating signals. In addition, the pulsating control signals have control amplitudes which correspond to the vibration amplitudes of the vibration generating source and whose magnitudes are correlated to the magnitudes of duty ratios. Based on the pulsating control signals, the conventional electromagnetic vibrator gives vibrations to the mass member with the actuation controlling means, thereby inhibiting the vehicle from vibrating by means of vibrating forces resulting from the vibrations of the mass member.
However, when an engine is installed to a sub frame of vehicles, the conventional electromagnetic vibrator is installed to the sub frame as well.
Note herein that, when the conventional electromagnetic vibrator turns on or off the pulsating control signals, a secondary or tertiary harmonic signal component arises with respect to a datum frequency in the actuating signals for actuating the electromagnet. Moreover, when the frequency band of the secondary or tertiary harmonic signal component falls around the resonance frequency band of the sub frame, the secondary or tertiary harmonic signal component resonates to a vibration of the sub frame. Here, the phrase, "when the frequency band of the secondary or tertiary harmonic signal component falls around the resonance frequency band of the sub frame," represents that a fundamental-wave signal component of control frequencies falls in a so-called idling range. That is, there occurs a problem that noises generate because the secondary or tertiary harmonic signal component resonates to a vibration of the sub frame in vehicles under idling. Note, however, that there occurs no such problem in vehicles under running where a fundamental-wave signal component of control frequencies has a high frequency.

Method for actuating active vibration insulators