A method of estimating the operating characteristics of a communication unit in a radio network in which a plurality of such communication units can communicate with a plurality of terminals by means of wireless signals and in which the terminals and the communication units are capable of macro-diversity communication whereby a terminal may simultaneously communicate with a plurality of the communication units, the method comprising: estimating for the communication unit and neighboring communication units the propagation characteristics of signals to and/or from each such communication unit, in a manner specific to that respective communication unit; determining based on at least the estimated propagation characteristics and the relative locations of the communication unit and the neighboring communication units a representation of at least one of the macro-diversity gain for the communication unit and the fading margin for the communication unit.

FIG. 1 shows schematically the architecture of a cellular telephone network. The network comprises a number of base stations 1, each of which is capable of bidirectional radio communication with mobile stations 2 that are within its range. Each base station is connected to a core network function 3, which controls the handling and routing of calls to and from the mobile stations 2, and between terminals in the network and terminals in other networks 4, to which it is connected.
The range of operation of a base station forms a cell 5. The geographical size of the cell is dependent on a number of factors. The cell cannot extend beyond the range within which the base station can successfully communicate with the mobile station. This is dependent on the landscape of the region around the base station, and thus the objects there that may disrupt radio signals, on the sensitivity of reception of the mobile stations and the base station and on the maximum transmit and receive power available to the mobile stations and the base station.
Some cellular telephone networks can use macrodiversity. In macrodiversity a mobile station can communicate traffic data with two or more base stations simultaneously ("soft hand-off"). This can provide a number of advantages, including reducing the risk of signal degradation due to interference and facilitating the hand over of the mobile station from one cell to another.
Radio network planning is a complicated process that mainly consists of network dimensioning, detailed capacity and coverage planning, and network optimisation.
When a cellular telephone network is to be deployed the network planners must decide on the locations where the base stations are to be installed, and the configuration of those base stations. In doing so they will wish to minimise the number of base stations that are required, so as to keep costs low, whilst ensuring that the network can provide a desired level of service. These decisions are complex. For example, as the cell size is increased the number of base stations that are required is reduced, but the battery life of the mobile stations will shorten (since they will need to use greater transmit power) and the level of interference will increase, especially in CDMA (code division multiple access) systems where more than one nearby base station or mobile station may transmit on the same frequency simultaneously. One example of such as system is the 3G (third generation)/WCDMA (wideband CDMA) system which is currently being implemented. The complexity increases in systems that implement macrodiversity since the power required is also dependent on the incidence of soft hand-off. In spite of these difficulties, the cost of network equipment makes it is highly desirable to optimise the planning as much as possible.
The planning decision is based on an assessment of the power required by each base station. This is dependent on a number of factors, notably:                1. the requirements of any standards with which the network must comply;        2. attenuation and other forms of signal degradation due to the landscape around the base station; and        3. for base stations operating in systems that allow macrodiversity, the degree to which the operations of nearby base stations are likely to affect the required power.
Factor 1is well-defined. However, factors 2 and 3 are extremely difficult to determine in practice. With sufficiently detailed modelling it might be possible to make an accurate estimate of factors 2 and 3 on a small scale using prior art techniques, but in practice such modelling would require far too much calculation and measurement to be useful for planning a network. Therefore, network planning must be based on an approximation of the effects of factors 2 and 3. That estimate is often taken as being common to all base stations in a system, or to all base stations in a certain environment (e.g. urban or suburban). Yet factors such as MDC gain and fast-fading margin differ in practice from cell to cell. As a result each sector/cell may not be optimally planned with a proper set of parameters, which in return degrades the capacity/coverage in the network.
In practice, network planning is conventionally performed by choosing network parameter values that are either statistically obtained from measurements or verified by link-level simulations. For example, it is common to use MDC (macrodiversity combining) gain and fast-fading margin derived from link-level simulations for the link budget calculation in CDMA networks (see Jaana Laiho, Achim Wacker, Tomas Novosad, "Radio Network Planning and Optimisation for UMTS", John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.). The values of MDC gain and fast-fading margin used in network planning are typically taken to be the same for each cell/sector. In other words, those parameter values are not site-specific or location-dependent.
WO 02/35872 discloses a method for planning a CDMA network. Domains of base stations are calculated using geographical information. Then the service areas of the base stations are determined, taking macrodiversity into account on a block-by-block (pixel-by-pixel) basis. Neither macrodiversity gain nor fading margin is calculated, or identified as a tool for network planning.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,294 discloses a method of determining the effect of radio wave multipath fading in different sub-areas of a desired area in a radio system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,477,376 discloses a method of optimising the designing of cell sites for mobile communications systems using uplink parameters. The method selects a propagation model to be used in calculating the predicted signal loss.
As outlined above, any improvement in the accuracy of the data that is available for network planning, and that can be obtained with a reasonable level of computation, would be highly valuable. It could increase the utilisation of radio resources in the network, and reduce the need for adjustments to optimise the network after deployment.


A structure including a first semiconductor material portion and a second semiconductor material portion is provided. An oxygen impermeable hard mask is then formed directly on a surface of the first semiconductor material portion. Next, a silicon germanium layer is epitaxially formed on the second semiconductor material portion, but not the first semiconductor material portion. An oxygen permeable hard mask is then formed over the first and second semiconductor material portions. A thermal condensation process is then performed which converts the second semiconductor material portion into a germanium-containing semiconductor material portion. The oxygen permeable hard mask and the oxygen impermeable hard mask are then removed. A functional gate structure can be formed atop the remaining first semiconductor material portion and the thus formed germanium-containing semiconductor material portion.

The present application relates to semiconductor device manufacturing, and more particularly, to a method of forming a semiconductor structure containing different channel materials within different device regions of a semiconductor structure.
For more than three decades, the continued miniaturization of metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) has driven the worldwide semiconductor industry. Various showstoppers to continued scaling have been predicated for decades, but a history of innovation has sustained Moore's Law in spite of many challenges. However, there are growing signs today that metal oxide semiconductor transistors are beginning to reach their traditional scaling limits. Since it has become increasingly difficult to improve MOSFETs and therefore complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) performance through continued scaling, further methods for improving performance in addition to scaling have become critical.
One challenge facing continued size reduction is developing high performance MOSFET devices with smaller gate lengths. One approach to increase performance with smaller gate lengths is to increase the carrier mobility, i.e., electron and/or hole, in the channel. Although it is possible to obtain higher carrier mobilities with strained silicon, much higher mobilities can be achieved by using a different semiconductor material in the channel other than silicon. For example, hole mobility in silicon germanium (SiGe) is known to be much higher than in silicon.
In certain technology node device requirements, it may be necessary to provide a substrate that contains different channel materials in which n-field effect transistor (nFET) and p-field effect transistor (FET) devices can be formed. For example, enhanced device performance can be obtained by forming an nFET device on a silicon channel material, while forming a pFET device on a SiGe channel material.

Formation of germanium-containing channel region by thermal condensation utilizing an oxygen permeable material

International Business Machines Corporation


An intermediate representation of sequences of instructions for a stacked based computer is a code graph using a numbering method on the nodes of the graph, along with a set of relations among the nodes, to determine, in a single pass, the independence of each node or sub-graph represented by the node. The numbering is a post-order that directly, by numerical comparison defines the relevant hierarchical relationships among sub-graphs. The sub-graph of a particular node may have one or more alias nodes that refers to target nodes, a target node being a node representing an argument which is the result of a previous program instruction. For a subgraph to be considered independent, any aliases generated by nodes within the subgraph must themselves be contained in it, and conversely, any aliases in the subgraph must have been generated by nodes also within it.

In certain circumstances, it is useful to translate compiled machine code from a first state corresponding to a first instruction set to a second state corresponding to a second instruction set. As is known, such translating is preferable to the alternative: locating the source code from which the machine code in the first code state was derived; and writing and debugging a compiler to compile such located source code directly into the machine code in the second code state.
As is also known, such translating from the first code state to the second code state is performed by way of an appropriate re-compiler or translator on an appropriate processor with attached memory. In such translating from the first code state to the second code state, a control flow graph and an intermediate representation of the sequences of instructions is often helpful in the code optimization process and translating it from the first state to the second optimized state.
A directed graph provides a useful intermediate representation of sequences of instructions for a stack based computer. The representation is somewhat complicated by the fact that some instructions leave multiple results on the stack, which may then later be consumed by different successor instructions. The location on the expression stack and relationships between these results and the instructions that generated them are indicated by special graph nodes called "aliases."
When considering certain possible code rearrangements (i.e., optimizations), it is crucial to know that certain sub-graphs of the whole are effectively independent of the rest, that is, self-contained, allowing for reordering without altering the integrity of the whole. With respect to aliases, this means that any aliases generated by nodes within the sub-graph must themselves be contained in it, and conversely, that any aliases in the sub-graph must have been generated by nodes also within it.
In this regard, there is a need for an efficient method for analyzing a graph that is an intermediate representation of sequences of instructions for a stack based computer and identifying its self-contained sub-graphs.

System and methods for determination of independence of sub-graphs in a graph-based intermediate representation of program instructions


A buckle comprises a plug member and a socket member relasably engageable therewith, the plug member including a retainer means in the form of a disc-like collet and a stopper means adapted to hold the retainer means stationery after the latter is rotated into position in the body of the plug member. The retainer means is normally urged upwardly by a coil spring and serves as a fulcrum about which the plug member and the socket member can be moved rotatably relative to each other.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a buckle and more particularly a buckle of the type comprising a male member and a female member which are rotatable relative to each other.
2. Prior Art
A typical prior art buckle of the type mentioned is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-20334 in which the buckle is made up from a plug member having a resilient engaging tongue integral therewith and a socket member having a circular window dimensioned to receive the tongue. When coupling the two members, the tongue is urged to flex downwardly about an axis defined by a portion thereof connected to the body of the plug member and returns resiliently to its original position upon entry into the window. When separating the two members, the tongue is depressed to sink below the level of the window so that the plug member can be pulled apart from the socket member. Repeated flexing action of the tongue during engaging and disengaging of the plug and socket members over extended periods of time would lead to reduced resiliency or even breakage of the connecting portion between the tongue and the plug body. This problem may be solved by literally increasing the thickness of the connecting portion of the tongue or otherwise reinforcing the same, which would however in turn render the tongue less resilient or pliable, resulting in difficult, if not impossible, manipulation of the plug member relative to the socket member.


The invention relates to a roof luggage carrier for motor vehicles with roof railing having transverse girders (2) and a removable clamping assembly (3). The clamping assembly (3) includes supporting jaws (5) that can be inserted in a lower longitudinal slot (11) on the transverse girder (2), and of clamping jaws (6). The clamping assembly (3) is actuated by means of a clamping screw bolt (8) which extends inside the transverse girder (2) in its longitudinal direction. This makes it possible to achieve simple assembly and easy handling. In another preferred embodiment the longitudinal edges of longitudinal slot (11) are provided with longitudinal edges (12, 13) which are surrounded by longitudinal grooves in the supporting jaws (5) and clamping jaws 6, so that widening of the longitudinal slot (11) when tilting stresses occur is prevented.

The invention relates to a roof luggage carrier for motor vehicles with roof railings.
Known roof railings consist of two railing pipes extending longitudinally on either side of the vehicle roof on motor vehicles, in particular on utility vehicles and off-the-road vehicles. These railing pipes are connected fixedly to the roof at the time of manufacture of the vehicle and remain permanently on the vehicle.
The roof railing or the railing pipes serve as a holding device for detachable roof superstructures, in particular for the attachment of transverse girders of a roof luggage carrier. Such a transverse girder extends in a known manner from one railing pipe to the other and is attached by means of detachable clamping devices on the railing pipes and held in place thereon.
A number of clamping and retaining devices are already known. For example, a known clamping and retaining device (De PS 35 10 805) is made in the form of a claw which reaches around the appertaining railing rod in a swivelling motion and can be clamped in place thereon. To make this clamping device an additional, swivelling claw element and elastic deformation of the claw body is required, so that the arrangement becomes expensive.
Another known clamping and retaining device on a transverse roof luggage carrier (De PS 35 16 483) consists of a plurality of clamping elements and retaining screws so that manufacture as well as cost is expensive.
In a simple and known clamping and retaining device (DE PS 31 04 163) only one clamping clip is used which surrounds the railing pipe from below and which can be clamped with a retaining screw capable of being tightened from above through the transverse girder. The retaining screw extends at a right angle in the direction of the transverse girder. In order to prevent theft it can only be covered with a long extension at a front cover at high cost. In addition, the installation on, and the removal of the roof luggage carrier from the roof railing is slow and awkward since the entire clamping clip arrangement must be removed.
In a known attachment arrangement of a roof luggage carrier on a roof railing (DE OS 32 23 216) the transverse carrier is provided with a supporting leg at each end on which a clamping and retaining device is installed. Each supporting leg is in the form of a clamping jaw arrangement which surrounds the railing pipe and can be attached to the railing pipe by means of a retaining screw. The supporting leg is attached from the underside with screws or rivets (FIG. 6). The retaining screw can be covered by a forward cover which can be displaced in the transverse girder by a rather complicated spring arrangement. This roof luggage carrier attachment is also relatively costly in design, manufacture and handling. An adaptation to different railing pipes is not provided.
Based on this state of the art, it is an object of the invention to further develop a roof luggage carrier of this type for motor vehicles with roof railings so that the attachment means can be assembled easily, is of low cost in the manufacture, and is easily handled.

Roof luggage carrier for motor vehicles with roof railing


Methods, formulations, and devices for providing transdermal or transmucosal delivery of active agents to subjects in need thereof. The formulations and methods treat symptoms of hormonal disorders including hypogonadism, female sexual desire disorder, female menopausal disorder, and adrenal insufficiency.

Reduced levels of endogenous steroid hormones in humans often lead to a variety of undesirable clinical symptoms. For example, low testosterone levels in men (hypogonadism) may result in clinical symptoms including impotence, lack of sex drive, muscle weakness, and osteoporosis. Similarly, in women, reduced levels of testosterone and/or estrogen may result in female sexual disorder, which include clinical symptoms such as lack of sex drive, lack of arousal or pleasure, decreased energy levels or fatigue with blunted motivation, flat mood or depression, reduced sense of well-being, insomnia, irritability, partial decreases in vaginal lubrication, and osteoporosis. Moreover, reduced levels of estrogen and/or progesterone in women, such as that caused by menopause, often result in clinical symptoms including hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal atrophy, decreased libido, and osteoporosis.
The hormone testosterone (T) has historically been thought of as a male hormone, but it is also synthesized in women in small amounts, primarily by the ovaries and adrenal glands. The physiological functions ascribed to testosterone in women include: development of pubic and axillary hair as well as emerging sexual libido; anabolic effect on bone density and muscle tone; sexual libido; and overall vitality and sense of psychological well-being. Testosterone plasma concentrations in pre-menopausal women fluctuate during the menstrual cycle, with the total T plasma concentrations generally ranging between 15-65 ng/dL, but in the years leading to postmenopausal transition, levels of circulating androgens begin to decline as a result of age-related reductions of both ovarian and adrenal secretion. Generally, women with androgen deficiency have total T levels of less than 20-25 ng/dL, while oophorectomized women can have total T levels of less than 10 ng/dL. Thus, the goals of testosterone therapy are to restore plasma T levels so they approximate the premenopausal state and to alleviate the symptoms of Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD) associated with T deficiency.
Currently, there are no testosterone products approved in the U.S. for treatment of HSDD in women. One transdermal testosterone matrix patch has been submitted for NDA approval for the treatment of HSDD, and Estratest™, an oral preparation containing methyltestosterone in combination with esterified estrogen, is approved for treatment of moderate-to-severe vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause, but not for HSDD.
Further, although steroid hormone concentrations may be restored to normal or near-normal levels by hormone replacement therapy, the current forms of treatment (i.e., oral, intramuscular, subcutaneous, transdermal patches and topical formulations) have several disadvantages.
For example, orally administered testosterone is largely degraded in the liver, and is therefore not a viable option for hormone replacement since it does not allow testosterone to reach systemic circulation. Further, analogues of testosterone modified to reduce degradation (e.g., methyltestosterone and methandrostenolone) have been associated with abnormalities in liver function, such as elevation of liver enzymes and conjugated bilirubin. Injected testosterone produces wide peak-to-trough variations in testosterone concentrations that do not mimic the normal fluctuations of testosterone, and makes maintenance of physiological levels in the plasma difficult. Testosterone injections are also associated with mood swings and increased serum lipid levels. Injections require large needles for intramuscular delivery, which leads to diminished patient compliance due to discomfort.
To overcome these problems, transdermal delivery approaches have been developed to achieve therapeutic effects in a more patient friendly manner. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,820 discloses a testosterone-delivering patch for delivering 50 to 500 μg/day of testosterone to a woman. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,997 discloses a device comprising a reservoir of testosterone with a skin permeation enhancer and a means for maintaining the reservoir in diffusional communication with the skin, such as an adhesive carrier device or a basal adhesive layer. A transdermal patch or such other adhesive device, however, still presents disadvantages such as user discomfort, skin irritation due to the adhesive required to secure the patch to a pat of the user's body, and also the discomfort due to removal of the patch, during which both the user's skin and hair can be pulled.
The present invention addresses the problems associated with the known hormone replacement therapy by providing testosterone in a gel form for transdermal and/or transmucosal delivery. In this regard, an adhesive patch is not needed to administer the drug. Rather, the medicament is simply dispensed from a container and applied to an area of the skin. Accordingly, the present invention eliminates the discomforts caused by the conventional patch device.
Another significant advantage of the present invention is that since the user can simply apply the gel onto their skin, there is no application of an unsightly patch. Accordingly, the user can apply the gel to an area of skin that is visible to others. As the gel is absorbed into the skin, its "invisibility" provides a significant improvement over the conventional obstructive transdermal products which require external, non-discreet means of securing the product to the user. Thus, the present transdermal and/or transmucosal delivery of testosterone advantageously provides a convenient, pain-free, and non-invasive method of administering testosterone to a subject in need thereof.
Although administration of drugs in a gel form is favorable to users due to its pain-free and discreet administration, it has a drawback of difficulty in dispensing the proper dosage for administration. For example, it is known to provide medicaments in the form of gels, ointments, or lotions, in a tube, similar to the type of tube used to store toothpaste. Typically, the user is directed to squeeze the tube to dispense the ointment or gel containing the drug in a specific amount, such as an inch on a finger tip, or some other type of length. This is problematic especially because it requires careful dispensing of the medicament, and precise measuring on the part of the user to ensure administration of the proper dosage. Oftentimes users over- or under-dose themselves due to carelessness or simply because it is difficult to measure the amount of medicament dispensed from the particular tube. Accordingly, administering an accurate dosage amount of a gel-type medicament from such containers is difficult, and usually only a ballpark measure can be dispensed.
Thus, a method and system for administering gel-type medicaments in a precise, metered amount is desired. The present invention meets this need by providing a gel-like medicament in combination with a metered dosage device. The metered dosage device dispenses an amount of medicament that corresponds to a particular dosage. Accordingly, active agents in a gel-like form can be applied in the desired dosage for effective treatment.

Method and apparatus for transdermal or transmucosal application of testosterone


A test system for testing a portable electronic apparatus having a digital image capture module and a test interface is described. The test system has at least a sender, a holder, and a controller. The holder is used to hold the portable electronic apparatus. The controller is used to control the sender to send at least a test slide, according to a predetermined procedure, to a position. When the slide is moved to the position, the controller commands the portable electronic apparatus, via the test interface, to capture the image on the test slide and then performs a test on the image data. The test system uses an automatic control and a shop floor system to achieve an automatic test.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a test system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a test system for testing a portable electronic apparatus. The portable electronic apparatus has a digital image capture module.
2. Description of Related Art
Because of the fast development of communication technology, cell phones have become important and popular communication tools. Additionally, owing to the development of image technology, digital cameras have become the main-stream of image-capturing products. Therefore, a cell phone having a digital camera will be an important consumer electronic product in the future.
In the manufacturing process of a cell phone having a digital camera, the test of the product is a very important part. To determine quickly and efficiently whether the product meets a predetermined standard is very important. It also helps reduce the cost of manufacturing.
Traditionally, the test of the cell phone having a digital camera is accomplished by multiple test station for only one type of cell phone. Only one test slide is used in one station to test a specific function of the cell phone. The test result is viewed and judged by human eyes. Human reading of the serial number of the cell phone and changing of the test slide are time-consuming processes and easy incur mistakes. Therefore, the traditional test method has the disadvantages of manpower consumption, low speed, and low accuracy of judging the test result.
Moreover, if an efficient shop floor system is not included in the test, repeated or unnecessary tests may happen. Because there are many different types of cell phones, test equipment may be wasted if one test station is only suitable for a specific type of cell phone.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Test system and method for portable electronic apparatus


The present invention relates to heat shield panels or liners to be used in combustors for gas turbine engines. The heat shield panels each comprise a hot side and a cold side and at least one isolated cooling chamber on the cold side. Each cooling chamber has a plurality of cooling film holes for allowing a coolant, such as air, to flow from the cold side to the hot side. A combustor having an arrangement of heat shield panels or liners is also described.

The present invention relates to combustors for gas turbine engines in general, and to heat shield panels for use in double wall gas turbine combustors in particular.
Gas turbine engine combustors are generally subject to high thermal loads for prolonged periods of time. To alleviate the accompanying thermal stresses, it is known to cool the walls of the combustor. Cooling helps to increase the usable life of the combustor components and therefore increase the reliability of the overall engine.
In one cooling embodiment, a combustor may include a plurality of overlapping wall segments successively arranged where the forward edge of each wall segment is positioned to catch cooling air passing by the outside of the combustor. The forward edge diverts cooling air over the internal side, or hot side, of the wall segment and thereby provides film cooling for the internal side of the segment. A disadvantage of this cooling arrangement is that the necessary hardware includes a multiplicity of parts. There is considerable value in minimizing the number of parts within a gas turbine engine, not only from a cost perspective, but also for safety and reliability reasons. Specifically, internal components such as turbines and compressors can be susceptible to damage from foreign objects carried within the air flow through the engine.
A further disadvantage of the above described cooling arrangement is the overall weight which accompanies the multiplicity of parts. Weight is a critical design parameter of every component in a gas turbine engine, and that there is considerable advantage to minimizing weight wherever possible.
In other cooling arrangements, a twin wall configuration has been adopted where an inner wall and an outer wall are separated by a specific distance. Cooling air passes through holes in the outer wall and then again through holes in the inner wall, and finally into the combustion chamber. An advantage of a twin wall arrangement compared to an overlapping wall segment arrangement is that an assembled twin wall arrangement is structurally stronger. A disadvantage to the twin wall arrangement, however, is that thermal growth must be accounted for closely. Specifically, the thermal load in a combustor tends to be non-uniform. As a result, different parts of the combustor will experience different amounts of thermal growth, stress and strain. If the thermal combustor design does not account for non-uniform thermal growth, stress, and strain, then the usable life of the combustor may be negatively affected.
In many combustors, there is also a problem with damage to the combustor caused by vane bow waves. Failure to counteract got these vane bow waves also shortens the life of the combustor.

Heat shield panels for use in a combustor for a gas turbine engine


A method for rapidly bonding a small electronic component to a mating surface of a high surface energy substrate using an adhesive pad made from a substantially amorphous, solvent-free thermoplastic polymer.

In the mass production of integrated chip assemblies, a particularly critical step to productivity of the process is the step of bonding the integrated circuit (IC) chip to its substrate. Such substrates include lead frames, MLC chips, diodes, quartz crystals and the like. Heretofore, this has been done either by bonding the IC chip by means of a eutectic process, inorganic binder or by means of a filled epoxy adhesive. In the latter two cases, the assembly must be removed from the assembly line and processed further in some way. For example, in the case of inorganic binders, the assembly must be fired off-line to effect sintering of the inorganic binder and bonding of the IC chip to the substrate, thus removing the part from the assembly sequence for up to two hours typically and frequently longer. Similarly, in the case of filled epoxy binders, the assembly must be removed from the assembly sequence to allow curing (crosslinking) of the epoxy resin, which may require from several minutes to as much as an hour for completion.
From the foregoing description of the current state of the art, it is evident that there is a very substantial unmet need for a method of bonding IC chips to substrates by which appropriate adhesion of the IC chip to the substrate can be achieved so quickly that "in-line" assembly is possible. The primary objectives of such a process would be to have a bonding system that would result in higher throughput, higher yields, improved device reliability and effectively lower cost.
To achieve these primary objectives, it is necessary that the bonding system meet the secondary objectives of being adaptable to a highly automated in-line process (eliminating off-line processing altogether) by which the mounted IC chip can be conveyed directly and immediately to wire bonding.

Method for bonding small electronic components


A method and apparatus for the casting of metal onto a moving horizontal surface in which the solidification of the casting occurs from the top to the bottom. The surface on which the metal is cast comprises a material having a low thermal conductivity of 10 or less watts/meter.degree. Kelvin. If desired, the casting may be cooled by cooling the top of the casting at a point downstream of the feeding system.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the casting of metal, and more particularly, this invention relates to the casting of molten metal onto a planar area of a continuous moving casting surface such as a continuous moving substrate.
2. Background Information
The metals industry has been developing a process and apparatus for producing an as-cast product that needs little or no additional processing such as hot rolling to reduce it to strip form. One such process that has arisen as a result of this development is the single belt casting process. In such a process molten metal is caused to flow onto a moving horizontal surface such as a continuous belt whereupon it solidifies as it moves horizontally along with the belt. The solid strip of metal is removed from the continuous belt for further processing as desired.
In conventional casting utilizing a horizontal moving mold such as a belt, cooling has typically been provided to the molten metal on the belt from the bottom side. That is, the cooling has been provided through the belt against the bottom side of the metal against the belt. In so doing, it has been noticed that with such type of cooling, porosity may occur in the middle of the cross-section of the strip. This is thought to be due to the fact that even though cooling is directed at the bottom side of the strip, the atmosphere serves to cool the top of the molten metal. Thus, there is directional solidification from both the top and the bottom of the strip of metal as it solidifies. This porosity in the middle of the cross-sectional area of the strip is undesirable in that it cannot be machined or easily removed. In addition, attempts to provide unidirectional cooling from the bottom by rapidly cooling the molten strip from underneath is complicated by the fact that air gaps form between the strip and the substrate which acts as an insulator.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,022 discloses a process for casting metal ribbon having unidirectional solidification. However, in that patent, it is required to preheat the substrate to a temperature above the melting point of the molten metal. Additionally, the process disclosed therein is directed to the casting of molten ribbon, not strip as contemplated by the present invention.

Method and apparatus for the casting of molten metal


A method for controlling a controlled system by a controller such that a controlled variable can be brought into conformity with a desired value. With respect to at least one of input/output variables for a combined controlling-controlled system, which includes in combination the controller and the controlled system, and input/output variables for the controlled system, information containing its characteristics is taken out from the combined controlling-controlled system. The information with the characteristics contained therein is inputted to a neural network which has been caused beforehand to learn a correlation between the information containing the characteristics and control parameters. From the neural network, one or more of the control parameters, said one or more control parameters corresponding to a corresponding number of inputs to the neural network, are outputted to the controller.

Upon control of a controlled system by a controller, it is necessary to tune one or more control parameters of the controller in the light of the characteristics of the controlled system. As one method therefor, there is the tuning method described in "Fuzzy Suiron o Oyoshita PID Controller yo Autotuning Hoshiki (Autotuning Method for PID Controller, Using Fuzzy Inference)", the Thirteenth Symposium of the Measurement and Automatic Control Society, November 1987. The outline of this conventional tuning method will hereinafter be described.
FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing the construction of an autotuner for realizing the conventional tuning method.
The combined controlling-controlled system shown in FIG. 16 comprises a controlled system 101, a PID controller 102 for sending a manipulated variable to the controlled system, an adder 103 for calculating the difference between a controlled variable y of the controlled system 101 and a desired value r, and an autotuner 104 for performing tuning of a control parameter of the PID controller 102.
The autotuner 104 in turn comprises a characteristic quantity extraction unit 105 for extracting a characteristic quantity with respect to each of the desired value r and the controlled variable y, a tuning rule storage unit 106 for storing, as a qualitative tuning rule, empirical knowledge and know-how of skilled operators on the tuning of the control parameter, and a fuzzy inference unit 107 for determining the control parameter for the thus-extracted characteristic quantity by using fuzzy inference on the basis of the tuning rule.
Such conventional tuning of a parameter by an autotuner is carried out by extracting characteristic quantities such as overshoot E, damping ratio D and oscillation period ratio R, which are shown in FIG. 17, from a response waveform of the controlled variable when the desired value is changed stepwise and then determining a control parameter by fuzzy inference on the basis of these characteristic quantities.
According to fuzzy inference, a tuning rule which is qualitatively expressed, for example, as will be shown next is defined by a fuzzy rule and a control parameter is then determined from characteristic quantities by fuzzy computation while using the fuzzy rule.
If the overshoot E and the damping ratio D are large, proportional gain K.sub.p and derivative time T.sub.d are set smaller.
The control parameter which has been obtained as described above is fed to the PID controller 102, whereby the controller 102 performs control on the basis of the parameter so supplied.
In the above-described conventional autotuner, as an element or requirement for appropriately performing the tuning of the parameter, development of a tuning rule is mentioned. This tuning rule prepares IF-THEN type rules for various variations of a process. Several tens or more of fuzzy rules have heretofore been required, with a further requirement that they should not involve contradiction as a whole. Moreover, a major portion of the preparation of such fuzzy rules has to be performed by man power.
Accordingly, the above-described conventional technique involves the problem that a lot of time is required for the development of fuzzy rules for tuning, in other words, of tuning rules.
The above-described conventional technique uses, as characteristic quantities of the process, characteristic quantities of a response waveform of the controlled variable y for stepwise changes of the desired value r. The characteristic quantities of the process are prerequisite for fuzzy inference. An operation in which a desired value is not changed stepwise is however accompanied by the problem that tuning of a controller is difficult, because extraction of such characteristic quantities are infeasible.
Reference may also be had, as a related prior art publication, to U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,326 entitled "Pattern-Recognition Self-Tuning Controller", although no fuzzy inference is used therein.
As another method for tuning a control parameter of a controller in accordance with characteristics of a controlled system, there is the tuning method described in "Tekio Seigyo System no Riron to Jissai (Theory and Practice of Adaptive Control Systems)" coauthored by I. D. Landau and Masayoshi Tomizuka, The Ohmsha Co., Ltd. (published Dec. 10, 1982). The outline of this conventional tuning method will hereinafter be described.
FIG. 30 is a block diagram showing the details of the conventional tuning method. According to this method, a controller 108 is tuned such that characteristics of a combined controlling-controlled system, namely, of a system composed in combination of the controller 108 and the controlled system 101 can be brought into conformity with characteristics of a reference model 109 with desired response characteristics. This tuning method is therefore called the "model-reference-type adaptive control method". In this method, a tuning algorithm for the controller can be given by a formula when a controlled system is a linear system, in other words, has linear characteristics. Formation of such a formula has however been difficult when a controlled system has non-linear characteristics.
To control a plant, it is necessary to understand characteristics of the plant and then to determine an optimal manipulated variable on the basis of the characteristics. As a method for this purpose, there has been the prediction adaptive control method for plants, which is described in (1) "Steam Temperature Prediction Control for Thermal Power Plant", IEEE, Trans. on Power Apparatus and Systems, PAS-103 (9), 2382-2387, September 1984 or (2) "Adaptive Optimal Control of Steam Temperatures for Thermal Power Plants", IEEE, Trans. on Energy Conversion, 4(1), 25-33, March 1989. The prediction adaptive control method for plants is applied to a thermal power plant in these publications. Namely, a model of a thermal power plant is built in a control system, parameters of the model are identified based on operation data of the plant, operation of the plant in the near future is predicted using the thus-identified model, and a manipulated variable is then determined based on the results of the prediction.
Incidentally, characteristics of a thermal power plant are expressed by a non-linear differential equation as shown by the following equation: ##EQU1## where x.sub.i : state variable representing temperature, pressure or the like,
u.sub.i : manipulated variable indicating fuel quantity, feedwater quantity or the like, and PA1 f.sub.i : non-linear function.
As a model for a thermal power plant defined by equation (80), (i) a physical model and (ii) a linear regression model have conventionally be used. The physical model (i) makes use of a mathematical formula representing physical phenomena such as mass balance, energy balance and momentum balance and simulates a part of the characteristics of the thermal power plant represented by the equation (80). A feature of such a physical model resides in that it permits simulation of non-linear characteristics which vary depending on the load level. It is however difficult to realize a large and complex physical model because of the difficulties in tuning model parameters.
The linear regression model (ii) has simulated a part of characteristics of a thermal power plant, which is represented by equation (80), by using a mathematical formula which estimates an output variable of the thermal power plant by linear connection of time-series signals of an input/output variable of the thermal power plant. A feature of the linear regression model resides in that a relatively large and complex model can be realized. It is however difficult for the linear regression model to simulate a non-linear characteristic which varies depending on the load level.
Regarding the conventional techniques described above, it is difficult to realize, with the physical model (i), a model capable of simulating the entirety thermal power plant. There is hence no choice other than using a model which can simulate only a part of a thermal power plant, such as a secondary superheater. This inherently poses a limitation on the prediction of the behavior or state of a thermal power plant, which is a multi-input/multi-output system, in the near future, thereby also posing a limitation on the improvement of controllability. The linear regression model (ii) permits simulation of most of a thermal power plant. It is however necessary to identify a model parameter responsive to each change in load because the thermal power plant has non-linear characteristics that varies depending on the load level. The speed of the identification cannot follow changes in load when the changes in load take place at high speed, resulting in the problem that a limitation is imposed on the improvement of controllability.

Process control method and system for performing control of a controlled system by use of a neural network


Certain example embodiments relate to techniques for creating/updating a computerized model usable with an enterprise modeling platform. The computerized model is defined with a first modeling language. An image of a hand-drawn model existing on a physical substrate and following rules of a second modeling language is acquired. Multi-level image processing is performed on the image, the different levels corresponding to recognitions of (a) structures in the image corresponding to objects in the hand-drawn model, (b) object types for the identified structures, (c) text associated with the identified structures, and (d) connections between at least some of the identified structures. A digitized, iteratively-reviewed version of the hand-drawn model is generated and transformed into the computerized model using rules defining relationships between elements in the different modeling languages. Generation includes presenting, on a level-by-level basis, results of the recognitions; and accepting user modification(s) to the results on that basis.

Enterprise modeling typically involves the building of a graphical diagram that describes and defines structures, processes, information, and/or resources of an organization. Such diagrams, also known as models, are graphical representations that generally are composed from a set of predefined symbols and connection types. Process models and data models are some of the most prominent types of enterprise models, although organizational charts, entity relationship diagrams, value added chain diagrams, function trees, value stream maps, and the like also are well-known and widely-used enterprise model types.
There are some commercially available software tools that support enterprise modeling. Some of these tools focus on business process modeling, while others have specialized on data modeling, IT planning, and/or the like. Currently, the most prevalent group of commercially available software tools may be classified as being Business Process Analysis (BPA)/Enterprise Architecture (EA) software tools. These tools typically offer a broad spectrum of functionalities, not only for modeling, but also for analyzing and publishing enterprise models. ARIS, MEGA, and Adonis are examples of BPA/EA tools.
Modeling activity usually starts with a group of people discussing the content and structure of the enterprise model. Despite some attempts to support such discussions with software, most of these discussion occur in face-to-face meetings and workshops. The results of these face-to-face meetings and workshops typically are documented during the meeting via whiteboards, flipcharts, and/or the like. This manual process allows models to be developed quickly and interactively, without requiring users to struggle with technology.
At some point (e.g., once the group is satisfied with the result), the content created on the whiteboard or flipchart needs to be transferred into a modeling tool. This transference unfortunately is a tedious task that typically is performed in a fully manual fashion. There accordingly is a substantial "media break" as between the creation of content on the whiteboard or flipchart, and the creation of a corresponding model via a software tool. This media break unfortunately carries costs in that the manual transference process is error-prone, typically requires redundant review exercises, sometimes produces low-quality results (e.g., if there is a lack of understanding in what was created in the real world, how what was created in the real world relates to the computer modeling tool's capabilities, etc.). Thus, there unfortunately is a resource drain associated with this burdensome manual process.
Mobile computing in general allows computer technology to be brought into meeting situations, and modeling software to be used during discussions to capture results directly digitally. With a mobile computing approach, a model can be created in the software in a direct, digital manner, and can be refined and distributed therefrom after the meeting. Mobile computing therefore removes the media break discussed above. Unfortunately, It typically is difficult for groups to focus on the discussion and the results while dealing with modeling program software and associated hardware (e.g., laptop, projector, power line, etc.). Mobile computing solutions also typically allow only one person to provide input at a time (e.g., through a keyboard and/or mouse, etc.). Thus, the ability to accommodate multiple idea contributions in parallel may not be feasible or even possible in many cases. There also is a risk of becoming lost in technical details, as opposed to focusing on the actual subject. Directly using modeling software with a mobile computing may also require technical people familiar with the "ins-and-outs" of software to be present and engaged.
Digital cameras allow for whiteboard results to be captured as a digital picture that can be taken to a desktop computer, loaded onto the computer, and put alongside the modeling software for manual transfer. This approach promotes easy digitization of the whiteboard content, e.g., as a digital picture is a copy of the whiteboard content that can be taken to one's computer workplace with little logistical overhead. Unfortunately, however, the digital picture remains a picture, and a digital model still needs to be created in the modeling software, from scratch, with the picture being only a visual input for the human creator.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a technology that analyzes a digital picture for textual information and retrieves text from it. Digital pictures of a whiteboard model can be analyzed for text components that can be automatically retrieved via OCR. Classical OCR technology unfortunately has difficulty recognizing handwriting and does not recognize symbols and structures of a model. As a result, the resulting text output can miss important structure and connection detail.
Interactive whiteboards provide specific physical boards that recognize manual handwriting and generate digital pictures from it. They may also allow for interactions with software programs projected to the board. Ideally, a group can draw a model on the interactive whiteboard as would be done with a normal whiteboard, with the advantage of having the final model sketch stored as a digital picture. Unfortunately, however, interactive whiteboards come with high hardware costs, and an interactive whiteboard is yet another device to maintain and master in the meeting room. Interactive whiteboards effectively remove the ability to use sticky notes or static shapes, per se. They also have the same or similar disadvantages as digital cameras.
The Symbio Workshop Scanner by Ploetz+Zeller GmbH is a piece of desktop software that takes a digital picture of a process model as an input, analyzes symbols and text, and creates an adequate process model in the Symbio modeling software. Process models created by static shapes on a whiteboard can be digitized automatically. Unfortunately, however, semantics of the modeling objects are determined solely by static shapes to be retrieved from the vendor. The technology is limited to the process flows that are sequences of activities, and there are no complementary model object types (e.g., roles, input, output, IT systems, etc.) possible. Text recognition tends to work well, but there is no machine learning included. On the whole, a classical top-to-bottom flow is very rigid and difficult to handle on classical whiteboards. Configuration possibilities are extremely limited.
The 3M Post-It Plus App allows users to take pictures of arrangements of sticky notes, with smartphones or the like. Those notes are recognized and provided as single images (without text recognition) to the user. The user may then re-arrange them digitally in the app and add additional digital notes. Thus, sticky notes from a whiteboard advantageously can be digitized automatically and are ready for digital post-processing in dedicated software. Unfortunately, however, there is no recognition of different semantics of notes as desirable in an enterprise modeling software tool. There also is no text recognition functionality when it comes to the notes themselves, and they remain digital but "dumb" images. It thus will be appreciated that the way the sticky notes are arranged on the whiteboard is not translated into any semantic, as there are no predefined, configurable rules.
Certain example embodiments address the above and/or other concerns. For instance, certain example embodiments relate to techniques that help address the media break between whiteboards, flipcharts, and the like, and modeling software and computerized modeling systems. Certain example embodiments provide a solution that helps to solve the problems associated with this technical gap, reduce the manual burden involved in recognizing and transforming a manually-sketched model on a whiteboard platform to a digitized model that fits within an enterprise modeling computer system.
One aspect of certain example embodiments relates to bridging the media discontinuity when models (e.g., business models) are designed on a whiteboard or other physical medium and later need to be stored electronically on a computer in a computerized and standardized modeling language format. Certain example embodiments use a camera and a specialized software application to identify certain graphical elements and text, and then transform the picture into the computerized model. A different modeling "language" may be used on the whiteboard, as compared to what is available on or via the computer. This transformation takes into account that an identical process can be described, advantageously, using a different grammar on a whiteboard than is applicable on a computer. For example, the complex connections between processing steps and also between roles of responsible people, as well as the input and output definitions, might be too complex to draw in the same way on the board as is shown on a computer screen.
Another aspect of certain example embodiments relates to a model type introduced for a whiteboard, which offers certain advantages over the standard computer modeling, while allowing for a clearer processing by the photo-imaging software, e.g., to help uniquely identify each token as being grammatically and semantically correct.
Another aspect of certain example embodiments relates to a multi-stepped or multi-phase transformation where the objects, object types, connection, identified text, etc., can be manually corrected. This multi-pass approach advantageously aids in providing for smoother conversions from one model to the other.
Still another aspect of certain example embodiments relates to an approach for using different modeling languages and a transformation process between two different media (e.g., whiteboard and computer), in order to compensate for the media break between the two.
Advantageously, the suggested language and the transformation may be flexible and adjustable for different requirements of the whiteboard modeling, as well as for the computer model engine. For example, using a multi-step transformation advantageously allows for a transparent way of adjusting the (sometimes very coarse) output from automatic scanning and interpretation hardware and/or software, e.g., for symbol and text recognition.
In certain example embodiments, a system for creating and/or updating a computerized model usable in connection with an enterprise modeling platform is provided. The computerized model is defined in connection with a first modeling language. The system comprises a display device; and processing resources including at least one processor and a memory operably coupled thereto. The processing resources are configured to control the system to at least: receive an image of a hand-drawn model, the hand-drawn model existing on a physical substrate and following rules associated with a second modeling language, the first and second modeling languages being different from one another; perform image processing on the image of the hand-drawn model, the image processing including a plurality of different identification levels, the different identification levels respectively corresponding to recognitions of (a) structures in the image that correspond to objects in the hand-drawn model, (b) object types for the identified structures that correspond to the objects, (c) text associated with the identified structures that correspond to the objects, and (d) connections between at least some of the identified structures that correspond to the objects; and generate a digitized iteratively-reviewed version of the hand-drawn model; and transform the digitized iteratively-reviewed version of the hand-drawn model into the computerized model in accordance with a set of rules defining relationships between elements in the first and second modeling languages. The generation is accomplished by presenting, on the display device and on an identification level by identification level basis, results of the recognitions corresponding to the respective identification levels; and accepting user modification(s) to the results on the identification level by identification level basis.
In certain example embodiments, a system for creating and/or updating a computerized model usable in connection with an enterprise modeling platform is provided. The computerized model is defined in connection with a first modeling language. The system comprises a display device; and processing resources including at least one processor and a memory operably coupled thereto. The processing resources are configured to control the system to at least: receive an image of a hand-drawn model, the hand-drawn model existing on a physical substrate and following rules associated with a second modeling language, the first and second modeling languages being different from one another; perform image processing on the image of the hand-drawn model, the image processing including a plurality of different identification levels, the different identification levels respectively corresponding to recognitions of (a) structures in the image that correspond to objects in the hand-drawn model, (b) object types for the identified structures that correspond to the objects, (c) text associated with the identified structures that correspond to the objects, and (d) connections between at least some of the identified structures that correspond to the objects; and generate a digitized iteratively-reviewed version of the hand-drawn model; and transform the digitized iteratively-reviewed version of the hand-drawn model into the computerized model in accordance with a set of rules defining relationships between elements in the first and second modeling languages. The generation is accomplished by presenting, on the display device and on an identification level by identification level basis, results of the recognitions corresponding to the respective identification levels; and accepting user modification(s) to the results on the identification level by identification level basis.
According to certain example embodiments, the first modeling language may be user-adaptable. It additionally or alternatively may be defined so as to specify semantics of model objects based on coloring and shape; semantics of a model as a function of shapes, colors, positioning, and interconnectedness of its model objects; and implicit information about model objects based on grid location. For example, model objects located in a first column of a grid logically imposed on the physical substrate may be defined as role type model objects, provided that such model objects are in a lane with one or more model objects corresponding to process steps, with roles and process step type model objects being defined to be represented by, e.g., different colors; model objects located in lanes with additional semantic objects may be defined to specify features of model objects corresponding to process steps that are located in the same column, e.g., with model objects located in lanes with additional semantic objects representing input, output, system, and/or timing related semantics; etc.
According to certain example embodiments, the transformation may generate a structured file type understandable by, and communicated to, the enterprise modeling platform.
According to certain example embodiments, the processing resources may be configured to control the system to at least transmit to a repository of the enterprise modeling platform data representative of the transformed digitized iteratively-reviewed version of the hand-drawn model.
According to certain example embodiments, the processing resources may be configured to control the system to at least generate and display in separate layers representations of the recognized objects and the image of the hand-drawn model.
According to certain example embodiments, a camera configured to take a picture corresponding to the image of the hand-drawn model may be provided.
According to certain example embodiments, the processing resources may be incorporated into a mobile electronic device.
According to certain example embodiments, the processing resources may be configured to control the system to at least provide output related to the generation of the digitized iteratively-reviewed version of the hand-drawn model to a machine learning module to improve accuracy of the recognitions.
Corresponding methods and non-transitory computer readable storage mediums tangibly storing instructions for performing such methods also are provided by certain example embodiments, as are corresponding computer programs.
These features, aspects, advantages, and example embodiments may be used separately and/or applied in various combinations to achieve yet further embodiments of this invention.

Systems and/or methods for grid-based multi-level digitization of enterprise models


The present invention discloses a binary stream hash modulus encryption and decryption method, including: creating a clear-text set M according to a clear-text file; taking the clear-text set M as an initial set and performing several times of byte order iterative encryption on a reference string to obtain a cipher-text set C; wherein a key set P and an algorithm set A are combined during the iterative encryption; and calling the key set P for the cipher-text set C to perform several times of byte decryption on the reference string, wherein the key set P and the algorithm set A are jointly used during the encryption and shared during the encryption and decryption. By using the present invention, the file cannot be decoded even if intercepted by another person, an existing Internet platform is still used in a transmission environment, but transmitted information is encrypted information.

Network communication information encryption, digital aerospace remote control command and data encryption, digital unmanned aerial vehicle remote communication data encryption, digital airborne early warning aircraft communication and command system information encryption, GPS digital satellite communication data encryption, mobile phone communication encryption, electronic mail encryption, electronic financial data transmission encryption, etc. can encrypt images of various formats in an aspect of image coding to protect intellectual property of the images. Military, political, diplomatic files after encrypted may be transmitted by utilizing a civil communication network, thereby saving file transmission cost.
Research. and development efforts for own information security are increased by each country after Mr Snowden's revelations. The reason that America can acquire information content of other countries is mainly manifested in aspects as follows:
Firstly, America has technical advantages of communication technologies and super user management rights of Internet;
Secondly, mail servers (American relevant departments compel mail server providers to provide mail information), information passing through routers (American relevant departments compel communication service departments and communication equipment providers to provide an information interception function), mobile phone communication information and the like may be intercepted by other people;
Thirdly, much information transmitted in Internet is unencrypted plain code information, which brings convenience for other people to acquire; the information (e.g. a love .letter mail leakage case of American commander-in-chief in Afghanistan);
Fourthly, America inputs huge material, human and financial resources and organizes a great team of network information collection, processing, analysis, screening and processing for collecting information of the countries (e.g. a mobile communication information eavesdropping event of Angela Merket, the chancellor of Germany).
Stream cipher is also called a sequential cipher. In the current research state of the stream cipher, since analysis and design of the stream cipher are often applied to military and diplomatic communications of a country; research and development and design of the stream cipher are basically performed in a privacy status, and scholars and experts who research and develop the stream cipher in each country have fewer public books in this respect for the purpose of privacy. Stream cipher techniques and products are used as military products by each country and are limited in export. Due to incomparable advantages to many other ciphers, the stream cipher is one of the most common cipher systems nowadays.
The current research direction of stream cryptography is based on a mathematical model. Complicated algebraic operation, Boolean calculation, pseudo-random numbers, shifting registers, linear feedback and the like are used for completing encryption and decryption of the stream cipher. Relatively successful methods in this respect include an A5 method, an S-box method, an RC4 method, a K2 method and the like. These methods are secrets that are not open. By virtue of many years of research, a certain mature approach is formed for the encryption and decryption. At present, many scholars have researched to attack and decode cipher texts encrypted by the above methods, which brings a great challenge to security of the cipher texts encrypted by the above methods.
A systemic method is mainly adopted by a current designing solution of the stream cipher. A pseudorandom sequence is generated by utilizing a linear feedback shift register so as to generate a key stream sequence. Methods for generating pseudorandom sequences include: a feedback shift register sequence, feedforward sequences generated by a linear shift register and a nonlinear feedforward function, a clock controlled sequence, a combined network sequence, a feedback-with-carry-shift-register, cellular automaton, a chaos theory and the like.

Binary stream hash modulus encryption and decryption method


A connector includes a housing having a first female-side connecting port, a liquid circulation space, and a male-side connecting section communicating with the liquid circulation space, a first valve disk made of elastic material and having a hollow section and a top slit formed in the top and received in the housing, a pin movably installed in the housing, and an urging section for urging the pin axially. In this connector, the top slit spreads and communication is established between a tube interior and the hollow section, and at the same time the top of the pin is pressed to cause the pin to move axially, enlarging the clearance between the hollow section and the pin, thereby establishing communication between the tube interior and the male-side connecting section interior successively through the top slit, the hollow section and the liquid circulation space.

In a medical circuit used for infusion, transfusion, nutritive dose or the like, connection and detachment of circuit parts may be carried out for sustained or temporary flows of a plurality of fluids such as medicines, blood, fluid diet, etc. It is well known that the circuit is fitted with a connector or connectors for this purpose.
A representative example of such connectors is a three-way cock. The three-way cock is composed of one male-type lure connector and two female-type lure connectors, and connection of circuit parts is carried out by fitting of the lure connectors. In this case, when a circuit part is detached, a portion serving as a fluid passage is exposed to the outside air, leading to poor resistance to contamination with bacteria. Particularly, the female-side connecting sections tend to be subjected repeatedly to connection and detachment, so that they are frequently exposed to the outside air.
In view of this problem, there has been a connector in which the female-side connecting port is equipped with a valve disk (valve element) for restraining the exposure to the outside air of the portion, serving as a fluid passage, of the female-side connecting port. In such a connector, the fluid passage is opened by piercing a vale body disk a needle or by inserting a male-type connector into a slitted valve disk; therefore, after the detachment of the needle or the male-type connector, the valve disk is again closed, whereby the fluid passage can be prevented from exposure to the outside air.
In these connectors, however, the valve disk is provided for the female-side connecting port on one side only. Therefore, when the male-type connector is detached from the female-side connecting port on the other side, the female-side connecting port would be exposed to the atmospheric air.
Besides, these connectors have drawbacks in that it is difficult to achieve good flow of the whole amount of a liquid medicine due to the presence of stagnation areas in the female-side connecting ports or that the presence of the stagnation areas would lead to an environment where propagation of bacteria is liable to occur. In addition, there has been the problem that while the interior of the connector is filled up with a fluid such as a liquid medicine prior to use thereof, it is difficult to deaerate the connector interior.
Furthermore, there has been the problem that the capacity of the connector is liable to change at the time of attaching or detaching a needle or a male-type connector to or from the female-side connecting port. For example, when the capacity of the connector is increased upon detachment of the male-type connector, blood is caused to flow backward from a blood vessel catheter connected to the connector into a catheter, which would cause closure of the blood vessel catheter.


In an apparatus for measuring shapes of both sides of a plate, a measuring apparatus body includes a reference plane of a longitudinal surface plate disposed in an almost vertical state at one end on a metallic bed, a holding mechanism for holding a plate to be measured in almost parallel therewith, and a displacement gauge scanning column. The displacement gauge scanning column includes a first air slide for mounting a first (second) displacement gauge and a second air slide for mounting a third displacement gauge, and is moved in a horizontal axis direction along a pair of V grooves. Moreover, the first (second) air slide is moved in a vertical axis direction. A shape of one of plate surfaces of the plate to be measured is measured by the scan of the first (second) displacement gauge, and at the same time, a shape of the other surface of the plate surface is measured by the scan of the third displacement gauge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and methods for measuring the shape of both sides of a plate, and more particularly, for measuring a surface and a back surface of a plate when the shape of each of the surfaces of the plate is important such as for photomasks made of quartz glass for use in manufacturing of high-precision, large-sized liquid crystal displays.
2. Related Art
For example, in the manufacturing of a TFT (thin film transistor) array of a liquid crystal display plate, a mask pattern formed by a shielding film on a surface of a photomask is exposed and projected by a photolithographic technique such that the pattern is transferred onto a mother glass. Then, the TFT array is formed on the mother glass by the photolithographic technique and a so-called process technique. Similarly, a color filter of a liquid crystal display plate is else manufactured by a lithographic method referred to as a dye impregnating method. The manufacturing of both the TFT array side and the color filter side typically requires the use of a large-sized photomask. In order to transfer the mask pattern with high precision, the large-sized photomask is generally made of a synthetic quartz glass having a small coefficient of linear expansion.
The demand for larger-sized mother glass used for manufacturing the liquid crystal display plates has been increasing. Currently, large-sized photomasks having dimensions of 1500 mm×1500 mm are being used. The plate thickness for such large-sized photomasks is 10 mm to 20 mm.
In these large-sized photomasks, the degree of flatness over the surface of the photomask on which the mask pattern is formed is important. For each photomask, the degree of flatness of a surface is measured, and a strict quality management is used for selecting photomasks within a standard range. Therefore, various apparatuses for measuring the degree of flatness of the surface of large-sized photomasks have been proposed so far (for example, Japanese Patent Application, Publication No. H03-90805 and 2000-55641). Some of these apparatuses have already been used practically for managing the degree of flatness of large-size plates such as large-sized photomask plates.
For liquid crystal display plates, resolution has also been increasing from, for example, VGA to SVGA, XGA, SXGA, UXGA and QXGA. Furthermore, a method has been used for making TFTs that uses low-temperature polysilicon and forming an IC for a driver in an outer peripheral portion of the mother glass separately from a pixel of the display. As a result, demand has increased for improvements in precision in pattern transfer on the TFT array side, particularly in the precision of the exposure and projection alignment of the pattern.
To improve the pattern transfer precision in photolithography has required the use of strict quality management controls on the degree of flatness over the entire surface of the photomask and the degree of flatness of of a back surface of the photomask which is opposed thereto. This will be described with reference to FIG. 8. In this configuration, FIG. 8A shows the case in which a surface 102 of a photomask 101 takes a convex shape and a back surface 103 takes a relatively flat surface. FIG. 8B shows the case in which the surface 102 of the photomask 101 takes a relatively flat shape and the back surface 103 takes a concave shape.
As shown in FIG. 5A, when the surface of the photomask 101 takes the convex shape, an exposed light 104 shown in a solid line which is incident from the back surface 103 side of the photomask 101 causes winding due to the convex shape of the surface 102, thereby exposing a photosensitive film (not shown) provided on a surface of a mother glass 105. Due to the winding of the exposed light 104, a shift is generated on a transfer position in the pattern transfer. A dotted line in the drawing shows an ideal optical path in which the surface 102 does not have a convex shape and through which the light advances in a straight direction. By increasing the degree of flatness of the surface of the photomask to approximate that of a surface that would produce an ideal optical path, the precision in the pattern transfer on the TFT array side would be enhanced.
Also in FIG. 5B, the same situation as that in FIG. 8A is generated though the extent of the effect on the incident light is smaller. As shown in FIG. 5B, when the exposed light 104 is incident from the back surface 103 side having a concave shape, the optical path reaches the surface 102 with winding thereon. The degree of the winding is reduced by the surface 102. Accordingly, the photosensitive film (not shown) provided on the surface of the mother glass 105 is exposed. In this case, a shift in transfer position is also produced during the pattern transfer, even if it is smaller than that of FIG. 8A.
If improvements in the resolution of the liquid crystal display or in the precision of the pattern transfer to embed an IC for a driver are desirable, the positional shift of the pattern transfer caused by the concavo-convex shape of the back surface of the photomask is a drawback. For this reason, there exists a need to increase the degree of flatness of the back surface of the photomask to approximate that of a surface that would produce an ideal optical path and to use strict quality management to control the degree of flatness.
However, there has not been developed an apparatus for measuring shapes of both sides which can measure the shapes of a surface and a back surface of the photomask for a large-sized liquid crystal with high precision at the same time or a method of easily measuring the shapes of both sides or the degree of flatness of both sides with high precision.

Apparatus and methods for measuring shape of both sides of a plate


Data generated at a telecommunications network switching node is selectively delivered to one or more data receiving device (e.g., data “collection box”) connected to the network, and command and control signaling is transmitted from the data receiving device to the switching node. This bi-directional communication is carried out in a manner compatible with voice grade lines. In an exemplary application, call identifying information, referred to in the TIA/EIA Standard as CDC (Call Data Channel) Messages, is delivered from an Intercept Access Point (IAP) switch that provides telephone service to a subject of an authorized surveillance order, to a law enforcement data collection box, utilizing Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) signals. Control signals are sent from the data collection box to the IAP switch utilizing Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) signaling. The state of the art is advanced, and a contribution is made to law enforcement and other fields, as the invention allows replacement of costly and lengthily provisioned data delivery circuits, such as ISDN lines or private digital data circuits, with widely available and less expensive voice-band data delivery equipment.

Law enforcement agencies have a need to execute electronic surveillance on certain phone numbers, subject to a lawful surveillance order. A lawful surveillance includes the sending of call identifying information (data) and if authorized, content of a subject's communication. In order to clarify the responsibility of telephony service providers, the United States Congress passed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA).
CALEA further defines the existing statutory obligation of telecommunications carriers to assist law enforcement in executing electronic surveillance pursuant to court order or other lawful authorization.
Section 103 of CALEA sets forth the assistance capability requirements that telecommunications carriers need to maintain to support law enforcement in the conduct of lawfully-authorized electronic surveillance. Specifically, CALEA directs the telecommunications industry to design, develop, and deploy solutions that meet certain assistance capability requirements.
Pursuant to a court order or other lawful authorization, carriers must be able to: (1) expeditiously isolate all wire and electronic communications of a target transmitted by the carrier within its service area; (2) expeditiously isolate call-identifying information of a target; (3) provide intercepted communications and call-identifying information to law enforcement; and (4) carry out intercepts unobtrusively, so targets are not made aware of the electronic surveillance, and in a manner that does not compromise the privacy and security of other communications.
A standard for intercepting the subject's communication call identifying information and content has been defined in the TIA/EIA J-STD-025 and J-STD-025A standards, herein incorporated by reference. Two levels of intercept apply, Level 1 and Level 2. Level 1 intercepts provide call details (a.k.a. call identifying information), such as the calling party number, the called party number, the date and time of the call, and other details related to the subject's communication. Level 2 intercepts provide Level 1 details, as well as call content, such as a copy of the voice or data transmitted.
J-STD-025/025A defines the surveillance information to be delivered to law enforcement and some common data encoding methods for subject call identifying information to be used. The method of access to call identifying information and/or content within the subject's serving switch varies by switch vendor and switch architecture. The term "Intercept Access Point" (IAP) is used to refer to the particular switch or switches in the telecommunications network wherein access to subject communications details and content occurs. The interface between Access and Delivery, commonly referred to as the 'd' interface, is also specific to the platform implementation.
The delivery interface, from the IAP switch to the law enforcement agency data collection box, is not defined in the standards and therefore each switch vendor has developed transport methods to assure information delivery to law enforcement.
The current method for delivering call identifying information from an IAP switch to law enforcement has not been defined as standard and generally relies on ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) or digital data circuits transporting X.25 data packets over high speed links. Although this method is able to deliver the required data, in most cases it is both costly and too complex for law enforcement to use, especially for the smaller agencies. It requires expensive circuits, data routing equipment, and dedicated switch hardware, as well as complex provisioning procedures by the service provider and the law enforcement agency. These circuits provide delivery capacity far in excess of the typical user requirements. Furthermore, the method requires provisioning lead times that do not, in many cases, meet the emergency surveillance requirement of law enforcement for criminal or national security purposes.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and data collection apparatus that allows call identifying information to be sent from an IAP switch to a data collection box simply and inexpensively. A need also exists for a method and apparatus that allows the call detail content to be sent in a more timely manner utilizing the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), thus avoiding the need for private law enforcement networks for delivery of the data. Delivery of a subject's call identifying information (data) is a subject of this invention.

Controllable telecommunications switch reporting compatible with voice grade lines

Federal Bureau of Investigation, The United States of America as represented by the Office of the General Counsel


A fabric washing machine includes a container to receive fabrics and washing fluid. An SRM is operatively connected to oscillate and rotate the container. Ribs formed on the center post of the container agitate the fabrics and fluid as the container is oscillated. Just prior to a spin extraction operation the container is oscillated with an asymmetric pattern that travels further in one direction than in the other. To minimize wrapping of the fabrics about the center post the asymmetric pattern is periodically reversed. Also, just prior to the spin operation the motor is operated at a constant torque and the time to accelerate the container from one speed to a higher speed is measured one or more times. The inertia of the load, and thus the size of the fabric load, is calculated from the time measurements. The motor then is operated at a constant torque to accelerate the container from a threshold speed for a predetermined period of time and the final speed of the container is measured. This speed measurement is compared to the predetermined terminal speed of a comparable balanced load to determine the degree of unbalance in the load of fabrics. The terminal speed of the spin operation is then set based upon the determined load size and degree of unbalance.

Clothes washing machines commonly extract water from the clothes (fabrics) by revolving a perforated container or basket containing the fabrics at a high rotational velocity. Centrifugal forces pull the majority of the water out of the cloth fibers and through the holes in the rotating basket. The water is removed from the machine by means of a pump and/or drain arrangement. The rotating basket is supported by a suspension system designed to dampen translational motion induced by any imbalance within the rotating basket. High stresses are encountered within the basket, drive system, and suspension system during the high speed spin action used for water extraction during normal wash cycles. With an imbalance within the load, the normal force is generated which is proportional to the product of the mass, the distance between the imbalance and the center of rotation, and the square of the velocity. Small imbalances can very easily generate large forces as a result of the high rotational velocities. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the size of the imbalance, and thereby the forces acting upon the rotational system, are minimized.
It is well known for a washing machine to employ a sensor to determine if the machine is operating with an unbalanced load. If an unbalanced load is detected during an extraction spin cycle, the machine is stopped and a signal is generated to alert the user to the unbalanced load. Another common method of dealing with an unbalanced load is to design the drive system of the washer so that an unbalanced load will require greater torque to reach terminal spin velocity than what is available. Since the torque output of the motor is fixed, the load never reaches terminal spin velocity. The spin velocity is thus adjusted, via a slip mechanism in the drive system, to a lower value.
The sensor approach has the advantage of being able to alert the consumer to an unbalanced condition. If the consumer rebalances each load that is detected as being unbalanced, every load will spin at full speed. However, the disadvantages to the sensor scheme far outnumber the benefits. If the user is not aware of the unbalanced condition, the load in the basket will remain saturated. Imbalance sensors have also been shown to produce unnecessary service (repair) calls. A user finding the machine stopped with a load of saturated clothes, may call for service when all that is needed is for the fabrics to be redistributed and the machine restarted. A further drawback of an imbalance sensor is the cost of the sensor itself. With increasing material consciousness, the addition of a sensor for a function that can be implemented without a sensor is difficult to justify. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention an imbalance present in the wash load of fabrics is detected and the terminal spin speed is adjusted to an appropriate level without the need for an imbalance sensor or a slip mechanism in the washing machine.
Spin control is accomplished using a set of algorithms. An additional algorithm is employed for controlled braking of the rotating clothes basket. It is advantageous that the rotating mechanisms of a washing machine be stopped quickly when the lid is opened. For example, Underwriter's Laboratory requires, that the rotating mechanisms within a washing machine reach a full stop within seven seconds of opening the lid. Current production washers typically meet this requirement with a friction type brake contained within the transmission housing. When the lid is raised, the power supply to the motor is interrupted and the brake engaged. The result is an abrupt halt in the rotational action. The mechanical brake has proven itself effective; however, new washer designs have eliminated the transmission and, indirectly, the mechanical brake. Since these designs must conform to the same stopping requirements as prior mechanically braked washers, the brake function must be implemented other than by us of the transmission. The motor may be constructed to contain a mechanical brake or an external brake could be placed around the motor drive shaft. Each of these approaches adds cost and complexity to the machine. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention rotating components are braked by electronically controlling the motor, without the addition of mechanical hardware.
A direct drive oscillating basket washing machine and associated of the type of the exemplification machine and control are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,076, issued to Thomas R. Payne on Dec. 31, 1991, and assigned to General Electric Company, assignee of the present invention; which patent is included herein by reference

Electronic washer control including automatic balance, spin and brake operations


A specimen removal apparatus includes a pouch assembly fabricated from a flexible membrane, a pouch support, a drawstring having a knot and forming a noose disposed circumferentially around a mouth of the pouch assembly, an endoscopic tubular portion, and a drive rod. The pouch assembly includes a plurality of circumferentially disposed guide members advantageously circumferentially spaced apart to define gaps therebetween. The guide members are disposed in a circumferential pathway proximal to the mouth of the pouch assembly. When the drawstring is pulled, the knot is stopped at an end of a guide member and the noose is closed, thereby closing the mouth of the pouch assembly. The pouch assembly is detachable from the apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a surgical containment apparatus. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a specimen retrieval pouch for use in minimally invasive surgical procedures.
2. Background of the Art
Laparoscopic and endoscopic surgical procedures are minimally invasive procedures in which operations are carried out within the body by using elongated instruments inserted through small entrance openings in the body. The initial opening in the body tissue to allow passage of the endoscopic or laparoscopic instruments to the interior of the body may be a natural passageway of the body, or it can be created by a tissue piercing instrument such as a trocar. Laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures generally require that any instrumentation inserted in the body be sealed, i.e. provisions must be made to ensure that gases do not enter or exit the body through the instrument or the entrance incision so that the surgical region of the body, e.g. the peritoneum, may be insufflated. Mechanical actuation of such instruments is for the most part constrained to the movement of the various components along a longitudinal axis with structure provided to convert longitudinal movement to lateral movement where necessary.
Because the endoscopic or laparoscopic tubes, instrumentation, and any required punctures or incisions are relatively narrow, endoscopic or laparoscopic surgery is less invasive as compared to conventional surgical procedures in which the surgeon is required to cut open large areas of body tissue. Therefore, laparoscopic or endoscopic surgery minimizes trauma to the patient and reduces patient recovery time.
Minimally invasive procedures may be used for partial or total removal of body tissue or organs from the interior of the body, e.g. nephrectomy, cholecystectomy, and other such procedures. During such procedures, it is common that a cyst, tumor, or other affected tissue or organ must be removed via the access opening in the skin, or through a cannula. Various types of entrapment devices have been disclosed to facilitate this procedure.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,379 to Clayman et al. discloses a surgical tissue bag for percutaneously debulking tissue by morcellation. The bag includes a layer of puncture-resistant material, a layer of moisture-resistant material and a drawstring. In a disclosed method of use, the bag is placed within the body cavity, the body tissue or organ is placed within the bag, the opening of the bag is pulled through the incision in the skin leaving the distal end of the bag containing the tissue or organ within the body cavity, a morcellator is then inserted into the bag, and then the tissue or organ is debulked and suctioned out of the bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,867 to Wilk discloses a planar membrane having filaments attached to its corners. The membrane is placed within a body cavity with the filaments extending through the trocar cannula to the outside of the body. The organ or tissue to be removed is placed on the membrane and the filaments are pulled to close the membrane around the organ and draw it through the cannula, if the organ is sufficiently deformable. If the organ is not sufficiently deformable, e.g. because of the presence of gallstones, a forceps or other instrument is used to crush the stones or tissue.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,733 to Conlon et al. Conlon et al. disclose a surgical retrieval bag having a row of alternating flexible and rigid sections proximal to the mouth of the bag. When a drawstring is tightened, the flexible sections buckle before the rigid sections allowing the bag to close in a predetermined manner.
In retrieval bags having a single, contiguous pathway for a drawstring or suture, the overall resistance to moving the drawstring through the pathway increases as the length of the pathway increases (i.e. the diameter of retrieval bag increases) since the outer surface of the drawstring and the inner surface of the pathway are in substantially constant contact with one another. As a result, additional forces may be required to move the drawstring through the pathway or the drawstring may stop moving through the pathway in response to the applied force.