Each of a plurality of encoders calculates a first time by adding an encoding delay time commonly determined between the encoders to a value of an STC counter, and transmits a system stream generated by including the calculated first time to a decoder associated with the encoder in one-to-one correspondence, of a plurality of decoders constituting a decoding system. Each of the decoders calculates a second time by adding the first time to an estimated maximum value commonly determined between the decoders by adding a decoding delay time to a value of stream fluctuation of an output time occurring between the encoders, and outputs the divided image data decoded from the system stream to a synthesizer that synthesizes the image data at the calculated second time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an encoding/decoding system, an encoding system, and a decoding system, an encoding/decoding method, an encoding method, and a decoding method, and a computer product.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the beginning of terrestrial digital broadcasting, a moving-picture encoding system that encodes a high-resolution moving-picture signal of a high definition television (HDTV) class (hereinafter, "encoding system") and a motion-picture decoding system that decodes encoded data to reproduce the original moving-picture signal (hereinafter, "decoding system") have been needed to be popularized. In the future, an encoding system and a decoding system that can handle high-resolution moving-picture signals of an ultra definition television (UDTV) class will be demanded.
Because the encoding system and the decoding system that handle high-resolution moving-picture signals need high-performance and large-scale resources (such as hardware and software), realization thereof is not easy. Furthermore, even if these systems can be realized, these systems will have to be expensive. Therefore, a handling method of high-resolution moving-picture signals has been proposed, which divides a high-resolution moving-picture signal into a plurality of low-resolution moving-picture signals, and encodes the divided low-resolution moving-picture signals by a low-performance encoding system, or decodes the encoded moving-picture signals by a low-performance decoding system.
For example, in the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-346201, in an "encoding system", a high-resolution moving-picture signal is divided into a plurality of low-resolution moving-picture signals, the divided low-resolution moving-picture signals are respectively encoded by a plurality of encoders, and the encoded data is integrated in one system stream and transmitted to a "decoding system". In the "decoding system", a plurality of pieces of encoded data are separated from the transmitted one system stream, the separated data is respectively decoded by a plurality of decoders to reproduce a plurality of low-resolution moving-picture signals, and the reproduced low-resolution moving-picture signals are integrated to display the high-resolution moving-picture signal.
In the conventional technique, as explained below, synchronization of a display time cannot be achieved, and therefore the high-resolution moving-picture signal cannot be correctly displayed. That is, in encoding and decoding of the moving-picture signals, the time when the moving-picture signal has been captured by the encoder is generally reproduced as a "display time" by the decoder, and the moving-picture signal is output to an output unit at the "display time". However, with the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-346201, for example, when a plurality of encoders are used, the time generally deviates from each other between clocks built in the respective encoders. As a result, on the decoder side, synchronization of the "display time" cannot be achieved between the encoded data, and therefore the high-resolution moving-picture signal cannot be displayed correctly.

Encoding/decoding system, encoding system, and decoding system


A device configured to cut hair using laser light includes a handle portion and a shaving portion. The handle portion includes a battery and a laser light source. The laser light source is coupled to and configured to receive power from the battery. The laser light source is also configured to generate laser light having a wavelength selected to target a predetermined chromophore to effectively cut a hair shaft. The shaving portion includes a support and a single fiber optic supported by the support. The fiber optic has a proximal end, a distal end, an outer wall, and a cutting region positioned towards the distal end and extending along a portion of the side wall. The fiber optic is positioned to receive the laser light from the laser light source at the proximal end, conduct the laser light from the proximal end toward the distal end, and emit the light out of the cutting region and toward hair when the cutting region is brought in contact with the hair.

Field
The present disclosure generally relates to devices and methods for cutting or processing matter using light, including but not limited to shaving using laser light.
Description of the Related Art
Shaving is most commonly performed using razors having one or more metal blades. However, razors can irritate and damage the user's skin. Razors are also limited to removing hair at the surface of the skin, which results in the hair becoming visible again in a relatively short time period. Various laser devices are also available for hair removal. However, laser hair removal devices and methods typically involve using laser light to destroy the hair follicle below the skin surface for permanent or semi-permanent hair removal. Such devices and methods are typically more dangerous, expensive, not suitable for home use, and often do not provide effective cutting of lighter colored hair.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A web-based or computer-implemented system for planning and managing events such as weddings, bar mitzvahs, parties, and any other events involving multiple service providers or vendors including, but not limited to, caterers, entertainers, limousine drivers, and so forth, by means of a single website or portal and forms or contracts that can be customized to meet the service offerings, policy requirements, and pricing structures of individual providers or vendors.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a web-based or computer-implemented system for planning and managing events such as weddings, bar mitzvahs, parties, and any other events involving multiple service providers or vendors including, but not limited to, caterers, entertainers, limousine drivers, and so forth, by means of a single website or portal and forms or contracts that can be customized to meet the service offerings, policy requirements, and pricing structures of individual providers or vendors.
The system and method of the invention enables an event planner or organizer (also known as a "client") who wishes to organize an event to contact, get quotes from, and contract with multiple vendors in a coordinated fashion. The multiple vendors may be from entirely different industries having different contracting practices, such as the above-mentioned caterers, musicians, and limousine drivers. The system and method of the invention accommodates different types of contracts and contract terms, while presenting the organizer a unified interface and method of payment, through the use of a unique "dynamic contract" protocol, payment distribution arrangement, and provision for participation or intervention by human "intermediaries" who recruit and negotiate with service providers or vendors, resolve disputes with clients, and perform management functions that in practice cannot be automated. Furthermore, the system and method of the invention provides vendors with increased flexibility in creating event packages by offering the customer lists of specific options that may be selected through the website. The customer is not limited to a fixed package selection with limited options but rather may, by way of example, build catering menus on an item-by-item basis while tracking costs for inclusion in a good faith estimate provided to the customer before booking.
In addition to providing an integrated event planning and managing system and method, the invention provides a hierarchical structure of locally-managed sites responsible to a central office that provides maximum flexibility and response to the needs of a particular community or area.
2. Description of Related Art
The method and system of the invention is intended to replace the traditional way of planning an event, in which the event planner or organizer must physically travel to individual contractors and/or phone, fax, and e-mail them to check availability and get quotes for the services required. These quotes must be manually reviewed and compared by event organizers in order to determine which vendors to select. After selecting one or more vendors, negotiations are carried out, contracts signed, and payment made to each individual vendor.
The process of planning an event thus requires the following steps carried out by the organizer of the event and individual vendors:
1. Organizer creates a plan
2. Organizer searches for vendors
3. Organizer contacts vendors
4. Vendors ask for organizer's requirements
5. Organizer provides information about event and his or her requirements
6. Vendors prepares and submits a proposal
7. Organizers repeats all the above again if he needs proposals from more vendors to compare
8. Organizer compares proposals received
9. Organizer negotiates with chosen Vendor
10. Vendors prepares contract/agreement
11. Organizer and vendor enter into contract
12. Organizer pays booking/signing amount to vendor for the event
To date, it has not been possible to provide a single portal through which all of these functions can be carried out, enabling recruitment of different vendors and giving the vendors the flexibility to set terms and price in accordance with different industry contracting standards, provide estimates and engage in offline negotiations, and/or take into account local rules and taxes, and so forth, while at the same time maximizing convenience for the event planner or organizer by enabling all search, selection, and contracting to be carried out through a single integrated portal. The invention provides a combination of vendor-side flexibility and customer-side integration that previous proposals for web-based event planning have not even considered.
It is of course well-known to automate planning of events such as vacations, or to arrange for shipments of goods, through the use of websites that provide prices for different vendors. However, the sites are only required to provide a few standard options common to all vendors, such as hotel room bed options or rental car classes, and a fixed pricing structure common to all vendors of a particular type. The standard travel portals such as Expedia™ or Orbitz™ do not enable customization on the vendor's part with respect to service options or contract terms, and therefore offer only limited choices to the consumer. This might be appropriate in the context of travel planning, but is not adequate to meet the more complex requirements of event planning.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0128934, on the other hand, purports to offer a more "integrated" event planning website that can be used to coordinate and plan a variety of "events," such as weddings, parties, home improvement projects, and other "events" listed in paragraph [0170] on page 12. According to the description, the consumer submits a list of preferences to the "cybermediary," which returns to the consumer a list of service templates that match the submitted criteria. The exemplary service template illustrated in FIG. 1F lists wedding packages by style, price, distance, food, and other criteria. According to one embodiment, summarized in paragraph [0228] on page 13, the vendor may modify the price of services based on demand.
However, the system disclosed in the '934 publication still lacks sufficient flexibility to provide useful event planning assistance. On the vendor side, no provision is made for recruiting different vendors, or for enabling the vendors to set terms other than price, to provide estimates and offline negotiations, or to adapt to different industry contracting standards, local taxes, and so forth. Perhaps more critically, there is no recognition that vendor recruiting and contracting is best done locally, requiring a hierarchical structure of locally-managed sites (by an intermediary or intermediary) responsible to a central office.
On the consumer side, a disadvantage of the system disclosed in the '934 publication is that preferences must be predetermined, rather than being presented as browsable options. The consumer can select vendors that meet pre-determined criteria, for example, but the consumer cannot select a vendor and then choose different options offered by the vendor, and the vendor cannot present the consumer with more than a fixed and limited set of options. There is no provision for food tasting, no limo pricing based on location, and so forth.
One of the ways that the present invention addresses this problem is through the use of the "dynamic contract," which allows vendors to fill in contact terms within a form or template that also includes standard contract language designed to protect the interests of the portal or website operator as well as of specific industry standards for the vendor's industry. While the broad concept of an online template into which vendors fill in contract terms appears to be disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,064,981 (the '981 patent) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,463,419 (the '419 patent), these patents are limited to the context of cargo shipping/charters, and the forms are not adaptable for use in event planning.
Other patents and publications that may be of interest as background for the present invention include U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2006/0041446, which discloses an "electronic arranger" for events including weddings, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0204966, which discloses funeral planning website as part of an overall "method of providing life insurance and funeral services." Background on systems that provide interfaces between consumers and vendors is provided by U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2002/0010685, 2002/0010685, and 2001/0037251. In addition, the Washington Post business section for Sunday, Jun. 11, 2006, includes an extensive description of existing web-based planning services. Although perhaps simplifying certain event planning tasks, however, none of these systems provides a comprehensive event planning service that provides all of the flexibility of conventional event planning methods listed above and enables vendors to customize the offerings presented and both pricing and contract terms presented to their clients, as well as efficient automation-assisted human management of all of these functions.

Web-based integrated event planning and management system and method


The invention provides an automatic swimming pool cleaner which is self propelled over underwater surfaces by a pivoting oscillator. The pool cleaner includes a row of bristles extending from the housing from scrubbing the surfaces to be cleaned. Surrounding the row of bristles is a skirt extending from the housing. The skirt is tapered along its length, relative to the bristles, to control the flow of water through the pool cleaner and thus provide effective movement of the cleaner.

This invention elates to self-propelled submersible suction cleaners, particularly swimming pool suction cleaners. The term "self-propelled" herein means that the suction cleaner is not manually propelled but incorporates means, such as an oscillator, operated by the flow of water through the suction head, to cause propulsion of the device.
Suction cleaners of the above kind usually incorporate a polymer skirt or base on which a housing for the propulsion mechanism rests. The skirt plays a part in the sweeping action of the device and also in its forward movement under the action of the propulsion mechanism. As an alternative to the use of a skirt, the housing or suction head may rest on bristles mounted on the head and projecting downwardly therefrom around the periphery of a mouth of the head. The bristles operate as a spring cushion to enhance the propulsion motion of the device but it is necessary to provide a skirt around the bristles in order to regulate the flow of water therethrough. Without the control of flow through the bristles the flow is spaced too far upwardly from the swept surface and the sweeping action is rendered inefficient.

Rigid skirt for bristles of submersible suction cleaner

45 Highcliff Way, Northcliff Extension 12


A portable stamp assembly includes a cover composed of an upper cover and a lower cover pivotally connected to the upper cover. An ink receptacle is securely received in the lower cover and a plate having a pattern formed on a side thereof is pivotally connected to the upper cover. When the plate is at the first position, the plate is received in the first receiving space of the upper cover to have the pattern in constant engagement with ink inside the ink receptacle. When the plate is at the second position, the plate is connected to the lower cover so as to allow the upper cover, the lower cover and the plate to form a triangle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable stamp assembly, and more particularly to a portable stamp assembly having a plate a side of which is pivotally connected to an upper cover and an ink receptacle securely received in a lower cover such that the pattern on the plate is in engagement with the ink when the upper cover and the lower cover are connected to each other and when the upper cover and the lower cover are detached with one another, the plate is ready to ink the pattern on a surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional stamp is made of wood or a kind of rare stone. When this conventional stamp is in use, the user will have to prepare an ink receptacle first such that the pattern on the stamp end is able to be printed on a surface. Because the stamp and the ink receptacle are two separated objects, preparation of these two different objects may cause unnecessary troubles, such as when either one is misplaced, the user cannot use the stamp to print the required pattern. In order to obviate the shortcoming, a different stamp assembly is introduced to the market and has a receptacle defined therein a first receiving space for receiving a stamp and a second receiving space for receiving ink so that the stamp assembly is quite handy for use.
However, when placing the stamp end in the ink, the user's fingers may easily get stained by the ink. Removing the stain may also take a lot of time. Therefore, it is required to provide an improved stamp assembly to prevent the user's fingers from being stained.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide an improved portable stamp to mitigate the aforementioned problems.


Provided is a cash transaction machine including a temporary stack portion. The cash transaction machine includes: a carriage receiving a paper medium stacked in the temporary stack portion; a driving belt transferring the carriage to a medium outlet; a pressing belt pressing the paper medium being transferred by the carriage in interoperation with the driving belt; a plurality of guide rollers being provided along a travel path of the carriage to define a travel path of the driving belt and a travel path of the pressing belt; and a one-way clutch adjusting an interoperating state between the driving belt and the pressing belt to prevent a friction from occurring between the pressing belt and the paper medium while the paper medium is being loaded to the carriage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cash transaction machine, and more particularly, to a cash transaction machine that may temporarily store, in a temporary stack portion, a paper medium that is supplied in a sheet unit and then may collectively discharge the stored paper media.
2. Description of the Related Art
A cash transaction machine denotes an automated device that may provide basic financial services such as deposit and withdrawal in association with financial services, without a need of a banking teller and without a restriction on a time and an occasion.
The cash transaction machine may be generally classified into a cash withdrawing device and a cash depositing device according to deposit and withdrawal. Currently, the cash transaction machine is being used for various purposes such as depositing/withdrawing of a check, a bankbook arrangement, depositing of a gyro, ticketing, and the like.
Generally, the cash transaction machine may pick up and transfer a paper medium in a sheet unit from a paper medium storage portion. The transferred paper medium may be directly moved to a dispensing portion, or may be temporarily stored in a temporary stack portion and then be moved to the dispensing portion. When using the temporary stack portion, the paper medium may be provided to a customer in a stack unit.
However, in this case, paper media stored in the temporary stack portion may need to be arranged to be transferable to a transfer module. The transfer module for transferring the paper media in a stack unit may need to transfer a single sheet of paper medium or a stack of paper media. Therefore, the transfer module may need to transfer the stack of paper media with appropriately pressing the stack of paper media.
Also, due to a friction between a pressing member and media stored in the temporary stack portion that may occur in pressing the media, the media may be transferred in a state where the media is not well arranged.


A decoding device has a decoding section that has a plurality of decoding cores which decode a received packet (e.g., likelihoods generated as a result of demodulation), which will become data to be decoded, in parallel on a per-likelihood basis and in which a first decoding core and a second decoding core of a plurality of decoding cores can perform decoding in parallel and a control section that controls decoding, wherein the decoding section lets the second decoding core decode a second likelihood when the second likelihood is input in the middle of the first decoding core decoding the first likelihood of the data to be decoded, whereby another likelihood can be decoded by use of another decoding core in the middle of decoding of a certain likelihood. Thus, entire decoding speed is increased.

Speeding up data transfer rate is requested in the field of information communication. To this end, decoding operation conforming to high speed transmission is required.
For instance, a method for partially practicing decoding operation in a parallel manner (a partial parallel decoding method) is described in Patent Document 1 as an example of the related art for practicing decoding operation conforming to high speed transmission.


A probing system includes a chuck configured to support a device under test (DUT); and a manipulator disposed above the chuck and including a first probe protruding from the manipulator toward the chuck, wherein the first probe includes a temperature-sensing device for sensing a temperature adjacent to a front surface of the DUT. A probing device includes a chuck; a DUT disposed over the chuck; a manipulator disposed above the DUT, wherein the manipulator includes a first probe protruding from the manipulator toward the DUT and including a temperature-sensing device for sensing a temperature, the DUT is moved toward the manipulator for sensing a temperature of the DUT by the first probe.

After fabrication, a semiconductor device under test (DUT), such as a wafer that includes dies, is tested by a probing system. A probe card is used to test electrical properties of the DUT in order to select and discard any defective DUTs. The probe card generally includes several probes protruding from the probe card. Each probe is aligned and then brought into contact with the corresponding contact pad over the DUT during testing.
However, the miniature scale of current DUTs makes for increasingly complicated testing of the DUT. It is difficult to perform such steps and operations on such the small and thin DUT. Further, to reduce cost, the probe card is generally equipped with increasing numbers of probes to contact multiple contact pads of the DUTs, so that testing can be performed on several dies at the same time. An increase in complexity of testing and power management may result in reduced accuracy of the testing.
As such, there is a continuous need to improve configuration of the probe device and the probing method.
This Discussion of the Background section is provided for background information only. The statements in this Discussion of the Background are not an admission that the subject matter disclosed in this Discussion of the Background section constitutes prior art to the present disclosure, and no part of this Discussion of the Background section may be used as an admission that any part of this application, including this Discussion of the Background section, constitutes prior art to the present disclosure.


The present invention advantageously provides a microprocessor controlled power delivery circuit with short circuit protection. The microprocessor controls the load current flow at the circuit's load connection terminal by connecting this terminal to the positive or negative side of a power supply or opening the circuit to prevent current flow. The short circuit protection uses a passive electrical component feedback circuit to communicate the voltage level at the circuit's load connection terminal back to the microprocessor. The microprocessor routinely monitors this voltage and compares this voltage against the expected voltage at this terminal. When the actual voltage does not match the expected voltage, the circuit will provide protection by interrupting current flow through the load connection terminal.

The advent of solid state power drivers, specifically half-bridge drivers, and their use in power delivery circuits has created the need to monitor and to protect these drivers against prolonged high current conditions due to short circuits. The protection schemes employed heretofore in these power delivery circuits have been complicated, not completely effective and relatively expensive. The conventional circuits utilized hardware protection schemes that included various types of active electrical component circuits such as transistors and other types of switches including current sensing switches. Most often the conventional short circuit protection schemes only provided protection against one type of short, typically, shorts to the power supply's ground.
These power delivery circuits are commonly provided with multiple microprocessor controlled current flow paths. The automobile industry has made use of these multi-current path circuits for controlling motorized automobile devices, such as motorized mirrors. The current flow paths are typically paired to provide current flow control to opposite sides of each motor and therefore control the action of these motors. The motors in these motorized mirror applications are some times additionally equipped with a second control device such as a manual override controller connected in parallel with the microprocessor controlled power delivery circuit. In these applications, the potential exists for the two controllers to compete with each other exposing the power delivery circuit to contention currents resulting from shorts to source power or ground through the second control device.
The ever increasing use of microprocessors to control the current flow in these power deliver circuits provides a ready source of intelligence for use in short circuit protection. The present invention provides short circuit protection in power delivery circuits using a simple passive component electric circuit and a microprocessor.
It is an object of this present invention to provide a power delivery circuit with short circuit protection using a simple passive electrical component circuit and a microprocessor.
It is another object of this present invention to provide a power delivery circuit having short circuit protection against both shorts to source power and to ground.
It is still another object of this present invention to provide a power delivery circuit with short circuit protection responsive to the voltage at the circuit's load connection terminal.
It is yet another object of this present invention to provide a power delivery circuit with short circuit monitoring and protection at each of the circuit's load connection terminals.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a microprocessor controlled power delivery circuit having short circuit protection that uses simple passive electrical components and the microprocessor.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a power delivery circuit having intelligent short circuit protection.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a power delivery circuit having fast-acting hardware short circuit protection coupled with intelligent software short circuit protection.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent after studying and understanding the present invention, as hereinafter described.

Power delivery circuit with short circuit protection


A system and method for tracing calls, such as those terminating in a wireless telephone system, is disclosed. The system is part of a communication network that uses a switch connected to a caller. The switch extracts information about the caller such as a calling party number and other information useful for tracing the call. Once the information has been extracted, the switch sends the information to a storage device associated with the called party, such as a home location register. The storage device creates a log of the call, storing all the extracted information. When the call is to be traced, a device capable of accessing the storage device can easily retrieve the stored information and thereby identify and locate the caller.

The expanse of communications networks has grown from the public switched telephone network ("PSTN") to include many different types of networks. For instance, wireless communications networks have grown in popularity such that it is not uncommon for mobile switching centers (MSCs) to have service requests numbering in excess of 100,000 call attempts per hour in a single metropolitan area. In these metropolitan areas, each MSC may serve a network of 100 or more cell sites, or base stations, each of which defining a particular cell.
On occasion, it is important to trace an in-coming call to a land-line telephone or a wireless telephone. The PSTN has systems in place today perform traces for calls terminating to a land-line telephone. However, the systems used for tracing calls terminating to land-line telephones does not work for those terminating to wireless telephones. This is true regardless of whether the caller is using a mobile unit or a land-line device.
The difficulty in tracing calls that terminate to a wireless telephone are inherent with the very nature of wireless communication networks, e.g., the absence of hard, physical links between the MSC and a mobile unit, such as a cellular telephone. In wireless communication networks, the mobile unit subscribes to a particular network of MSCs and the subscribed network maintains a record for the wireless unit in a home location register ("HLR") database. The record includes information such as a home location for the mobile unit, subscribed capabilities such as call waiting or call forwarding, and current status (e.g., active or inactive). The mobile unit may roam, or visit, in many different MSCs that have a signaling link to the HLR. Therefore, each MSC also keeps track of visiting mobile units currently operating in its service area via a database commonly referred to as a visitor location register (VLR). The VLR contains information regarding the services available to each visitor, his subscribed network, his HLR, and his current status.
When an in-coming call attempts to connect to a mobile unit, it first contacts an originating MSC of the mobile units subscribed network. The originating MSC queries the HLR for the mobile unit's location. If the mobile unit is in the area served by the originating MSC, the originating MSC establishes communication with the mobile unit and services the call. If the mobile unit is not in the area, additional MSCs and their associated VLRs must be contacted in order to locate the mobile unit and establish connection.
Presently, the only method for tracing a call terminating in a wireless telephone network is through a service like caller-ID. If the caller allows, caller-ID receives the calling party number ("CPN") for use by the called party. However, caller-ID can be avoided or inhibited by some callers and is not available from other callers, thereby reducing or eliminating its usefulness for tracing. Furthermore, the information from caller-ID is limited in that only the CPN is provided, and is therefore only partially useful.
Therefore, what is needed is a system that can trace all calls, providing as much information as possible.


There are disclosed a system, a test head and a method for testing a device under test. Two or more test heads may be mated directly with respective connectors on the device under test. Each test head may include a traffic generator including a stateless packet builder to generate stateless traffic for transmission to the device under test, and a traffic receiver including a stateless packet analyzer to accumulate traffic statistics on stateless traffic received from the device under test. A server coupled to the two or more test heads via respective communications links, may generate stateful traffic for transmission to the device under test by the two or more test heads, and may process stateful traffic received from the device under test by the two or more test heads.

1. Field
This disclosure relates to generating and receiving traffic for testing a network or network device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In many types of communications networks, each message to be sent is divided into portions of fixed or variable length. Each portion may be referred to as a packet, a frame, a cell, a datagram, a data unit, or other unit of information, all of which are referred to herein as packets.
Each packet contains a portion of an original message, commonly called the payload of the packet. The payload of a packet may contain data, or may contain voice or video information. The payload of a packet may also contain network management and control information. In addition, each packet contains identification and routing information, commonly called a packet header. The packets are sent individually over the network through multiple switches or nodes. The packets are reassembled into the message at a final destination using the information contained in the packet headers, before the message is delivered to a target device or end user. At the receiving end, the reassembled message is passed to the end user in a format compatible with the user's equipment.
Communications networks that transmit messages as packets are called packet switched networks. Packet switched networks commonly contain a mesh of transmission paths which intersect at hubs or nodes. At least some of the nodes may include a switching device or router that receives packets arriving at the node and retransmits the packets along appropriate outgoing paths. Packet switched networks are governed by a layered structure of industry-standard protocols. Each layer of this structure, commonly called a protocol stack, processes traffic received from and destined for adjacent layers of the protocol stack. The Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) model defines seven possible layers in a protocol stack. The TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) suite used for the Internet has five layers that are commonly referred to as layers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7, where the numbers refer to the most nearly corresponding layers of the OSI model. Layers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 of the TCP/IP protocol suite are the physical layer, the link layer, the internetworking layer, the transport layer, and the application layer, respectively.
Layer 1 protocols define the physical (electrical, optical, or wireless) interface between nodes of the network. Layer 1 protocols include various Ethernet physical configurations, the Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) and other optical connection protocols, and various wireless protocols such as Wi-Fi.
Layer 2 protocols govern how data is logically transferred between nodes of the network. Layer 2 protocols include the Ethernet, Asynchronous Transfer Mode, Frame Relay, Point to Point Protocol, Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol, Fiber Distributed Data Interface, Synchronous Data Link Control, High-Level Data Link Control, Integrated Services Digital Network, Token Ring, various wireless protocols, various Ethernet and Fibre Channel protocols, and other protocols.
Layer 3 protocols govern how packets are routed from a source to a destination along paths connecting multiple nodes of the network. The dominant layer 3 protocols are the well-known Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and version 6 (IPv6). A packet switched network may need to route IP packets using a mixture of layer 2 protocols and layer 1 protocols. At least some of the nodes of the network may include a router that extracts a destination address from a network layer header contained within each packet. The router then uses the destination address to determine the route or path along which the packet should be retransmitted. A typical packet may pass through a plurality of routers, each of which repeats the actions of extracting the destination address and determining the route or path along which the packet should be retransmitted.
Layer 4 protocols govern end-to-end message delivery in a network. In particular, the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) provides for reliable delivery of packets streams using a system of sequential acknowledgement and retransmission when necessary. TCP is a connection-oriented protocol in which two devices exchange messages to open a virtual connection via the network. Once a connection is opened, bidirectional communications may occur between the connected devices. The connection may exist until closed unilaterally by one of the devices. Opening and closing a connection both require several steps at which specific messages are exchanged between the two devices. A connection may also be closed when an anticipated response is not received by one device for a predetermined period of time, commonly called a "time-out". A TCP connection is considered to be "stateful" since each device must maintain information describing the state of the connection (i.e. being opened, established, being closed), what data has been sent, and what sent data has been acknowledged.
The User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is an alternative layer 4 protocol that provides for delivery of packet streams. UDP connections are "stateless" in that received UPD messages are not acknowledged by the receiving device and neither the sending nor receiving devices maintain information describing the state of the connection. UDP does not provide for reliable delivery.
Layer 7 protocols include the Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) used to convey HTML documents such as Web pages, and the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and Post Office Protocol (POP3) used to convey electronic mail messages. Other layer 7 protocols include Simple Message System (SMS), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Real Time Protocol (RTP), Real-time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP), Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Media Gateway Control Protocol (MEGACO), Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), and other protocols used to transfer data, voice, video, and network control information over a network.
In this patent, the term "device under test" (DUT) means any system or apparatus being tested by a network test system. A DUT may be a device such as a switch, router, server, or load balancer; an interconnected plurality of devices such as a server cluster; or all or a portion of a packet switched communications network. In order to test a DUT, test traffic comprising a large number of packets may be generated and transmitted to and/or through the DUT at one or more ports. Return test traffic transmitted through and/or from the DUT may be received at different ports. The received test traffic may be analyzed to measure the performance of the DUT. In this context, the term "port" refers to a communications connection between the DUT and the equipment used to test the network.
Typically, test traffic is a mix of stateless and stateful traffic. Since a test port must establish its presence to the DUT, test traffic almost always includes some stateful network control traffic using one or more routing protocols, such as Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS), Interior Gateway Routing protocol (IGRP), Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing protocol (EIGRP), Routing Information Protocol (RIP), and/or Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). When a DUT is a switch or router operating at layer 2 or layer 3 of the network structure, the test traffic may be predominantly stateless IP packets apparently originating from a plurality of source IP addresses external to the DUT and destined for a plurality of destination IP addresses that are also external to the DUT. When a DUT operates at a higher layer of the network structure (for example, when the DUT is or includes a server, a server load balancer, a firewall, a network security device that performs packet inspection, or similar network devices), the test traffic may include stateful TCP connections that terminate within the DUT.
Throughout this description, elements appearing in schematic and block diagrams are assigned three-digit reference designators, where the most significant digit is the figure number where the element is introduced and the two least significant digits are specific to the element. An element that is not described in conjunction with a block diagram may be presumed to have the same characteristics and function as a previously-described element having the same reference designator.


The present invention provides an animation creation program whereby the posture of a structure comprising a plurality of links can be determined by means of a simpler and easer operation. In accordance with the movement of one link in the structure comprising a plurality of links, the animation creation program of the present invention automatically determines the spatial positions of the other links of the structure so that the structure retains a posture that is as natural as possible. The animation creation program of the present invention uses, for example, inverse kinematics computation that is a computation method for controlling a human-type robot (humanoid) and is based on a matrix known as a Jacobian and the inverse matrix thereof which is known as the Singularity-Robust Inverse (SR-Inverse). By using this computation method in an animation creation program, in the creation of an animation of a structure comprising a plurality of links, it is possible, when moving one link of a structure displayed on a screen, to automatically determine the positions of the other links of the structure so that the posture of the structure as a whole does not become unnatural, and to create an animation of the structure comprising a plurality of links by means of a simpler and easer operation.

Generally, in the field of the creation of two-dimensional cell animations, the creation of the motion of a character is divided into "original images" and "moving images". An "original image" is a picture in which a pose that determines the motion as a whole is drawn, and a "moving image" is a picture produced by interpolation between one "original image" and another.
Meanwhile, three-dimensional computer graphics are now widely used as another method for modeling. In three-dimensional computer graphics images, after the creation of data known as "key frames", data between key frames is created automatically by means of spline interpolation and the like. When a "key frame" is regarded as an "original image" in the cell animation, it is said that working methods which are adopted in both cases are highly analogous.
However, as matters now stand, three-dimensional computer graphics modeling has not yet reached the expressive capacity of two-dimensional cell animation. The primary reason is said to be found in the work operation which is presented by way of example hereinbelow.
For example, in the creation of the motion of a human-type model, in three-dimensional computer graphics, progress is being made in the shape creation of human-type models in three dimensions, but as to the method for bringing movement to each of the parts of the human-type model, such as the hands and feet and head thereof, as matters now stand, in a broad classification, only motion capture and methods for the computational processing of 3-D rotational data are employed. Motion capture only provides the motion of a real person, and therefore sometimes limits the free expression of the animator. Further, the human-type model is a structure comprising a multiplicity of links and therefore possesses complexity and a large degree of freedom. The links are structural units having a joint section constituting a center of rotation, and a long section that extends from the joint section. The links can also be constituted by the joint section alone.
FIG. 19 shows an example of a simple human-type model that is constituted by a plurality of links. In FIG. 19, the joint section 11 of each link 10 is shown as a circular section, and the long section 12 extending from the joint section 11 is shown as a linear section. There have been problems in controlling the motion of such a human-type model by means of conventional computational processing methods (the simple inverse kinematics method, for example). For example, with an animation creation program that uses the conventional inverse kinematics method, it is not possible, when one link is moved, to automatically determine the positions of the other links so that the human-type model retains a posture that is as natural as possible. More precisely, a conventional animation creation program presets the joint sections for all the links to be either movable or fixed. Then, there has been the inconvenience that, when any one link is selected and the position of this link is moved (or rotated), the positions of the other movable links move upon exceeding the rotational range of the joint sections thereof, whereas the positions of the joint sections which are fixed do not move, which makes the posture of the human-type model unnatural, and that a selected link cannot move to the desired position because the other links are fixed. In this case, the animator was required to perform an operation to cancel the fixation of every one of the joint sections, and, in order to create a posture for the human-type model, to create the desired posture by moving each of the links. Consequently, the operation of a conventional animation creation program was complicated and inefficient, and the program was difficult for the animator to use.


A driving mechanism drives a phase difference sensor including a pair of photodetectors arranged in line in a direction (sensor arrangement direction) perpendicular to the direction of arrangement of the photodetectors. The distance to a target object is measured in the sensor arrangement direction while the phase difference sensor is set in a given position. The distance to the target object is measured in a direction perpendicular to the sensor arrangement direction by moving the phase difference sensor through the driving mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a distance-measuring apparatus for measuring the distance to a target object using a phase difference sensor, a projecting apparatus using the distance-measuring apparatus, an imaging apparatus using the distance-measuring apparatus, and a distance-measuring method.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a projecting apparatus (projector) projects an image on a screen, the image might be distorted like a trapezoid depending on how the projector is disposed with respect to the screen.
As a method of correcting the distortion of a projected image automatically, the following is performed. The distance from a projection optical system to a screen is measured at three or more points. On the basis of a phase difference among the distances to the three points, the inclination angle of the projection plane of the screen is detected, and the distortion of an image projected on the plane is corrected (see Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2005-006228, for example).
Measuring the distance to a target object is called "distance measurement." Correcting the distortion of a projected image on the basis of the result of the distance measurement is called "trapezoid correction" because the image is distorted like a trapezoid.
A projector usually includes two phase difference sensors 1 and 2 as illustrated in FIG. 19. The phase difference sensor 1 detects the inclination of a projected image in the horizontal direction, while the phase difference sensor 2 detects the inclination of a projected image in the vertical direction. The phase difference sensor 1 is so provided that its sensor components are arranged in the horizontal direction and the phase difference sensor 2 is so provided that its sensor components are arranged in the vertical direction. In FIG. 19, reference numeral 3 denotes a projector lens of the projector and reference numeral 4 denotes a display element.
With the two phase difference sensors 1 and 2, the distance in the horizontal direction can be measured at a plurality of points, as can be the distance in the vertical direction. The distortion of a projected image can thus be corrected exactly on the basis of distance data of these points.
However, the use of two phase difference sensors causes a problem of a decrease in measurement precision due to a change in the shape of the sensors as well as a problem of an increase in cost. The phase difference sensors are sometimes influenced by ambient temperature, heat of a light source, etc. and changed in shape with time. Though the change in shape is very small, the sensors have a great influence on measurement precision because the size of the sensors themselves is small.
In particular, both ends of each phase difference sensor are changed in shape and thus the precision of so-called "multi-point distance measurement" using both the ends remarkably lowers. Due to a difference in the change in shape between the two phase difference sensors, the measurement precision in the horizontal and vertical directions becomes uneven and thus the distortion of an image cannot be corrected precisely.
A technique of reducing an error in measurement using a phase difference sensor in a prior art projector is disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2005-061925. The Publication discloses that a chart image (pattern image for distance measurement) is shifted a plurality of times and projected to measure the distance to a target object and the results of a plurality of measurements are averaged. However, the technique is a method of reducing an error by a plurality of measurements, and cannot cancel an error in measurement due to a change in the shape of the phase difference sensors and a difference between the sensors.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2005-307934 discloses a camera using phase difference sensors. The camera has a function of detecting an external factor in inhibiting measurement and a function of promoting the necessity of remeasurement. If an image is picked up with the phase difference sensors covered with an operator's finger, a warning is given to the operator. However, this warning shows only the incapability of measurement. As in the case of Publication No. 2005-061925, Publication No. 2005-307934 cannot cancel an error in measurement due to a change in the shape of the phase difference sensors and a difference between the sensors.
As described above, conventionally, the multi-point distance measurement has been achieved using two phase difference sensors. However, the use of two phase difference sensors causes the problems that the cost of the components of the sensors is increased and the measurement precision due to a difference in shape between the sensors is decreased.


A system that validates an application programming interface (API) call is provided. A key and a value associated with the key are read from a test script containing a script. The key and the value are separated by a colon. The key is included in first double quotes, and the value is included in second double quotes. Whether the key matches a plurality of keys defined for an API call is determined. Based on the key matching the plurality of keys defined for the API call, the API call is configured using the key and the value without any of the colon, the first double quotes, or the second double quotes. The configured API call is executed.

An application programming interface (API) connects a computer program to a programming library. Representational state transfer (REST) is a software architecture style consisting of guidelines and best practices for creating scalable Web services. REST is a coordinated set of constraints applied to the design of components of the Web services. REST is recognized as a simpler alternative to the simple object access protocol and to Web services description language based Web services. RESTful systems communicate using the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) with the same HTTP verbs (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.) used by web browsers to retrieve web pages and send data to remote servers.


A comparator circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a comparator configured to compare an input signal voltage with a reference voltage obtained by smoothing the input signal by use of a resistor and a capacitor, and output a result of the comparison, a discharge circuit configured to compare a first addition signal which is obtained by adding a positive first voltage to the input signal voltage, with the reference voltage, and discharge the capacitor when the first addition signal is lower than the reference voltage, and a charge circuit configured to compare a second addition signal which is obtained by adding a negative second voltage to the input signal voltage, with the reference voltage, and charge the capacitor when the second addition signal is higher than the reference voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a comparator circuit, for example, a comparator circuit for an FSK (frequency shift keying) demodulation circuit, and a comparator circuit suited to binarizing an ASK (amplitude shift keying) signal demodulated using an RSSI (received signal strength indicator).
2. Background Art
In demodulating an FSK signal, it is common practice to remove a signal component included in the FSK signal to extract a DC component, deal with the extracted component as an average voltage of the FSK signal, and compare this voltage as a threshold voltage with the FSK signal, to generate binarized data.
In general, the average voltage is obtained using a primary low-pass filter including a resistor and a capacitor. The cut-off frequency of the low-pass filter is required to be sufficiently lower than the frequency of the signal component included in the FSK signal. For this reason, the capacitance of the capacitor becomes large, time for charging and discharging becomes long, the rise of the average voltage becomes slow, and hence it takes a long time to obtain the binarized data. Therefore, when the input signal voltage Vin varies, the average voltage Vref cannot adapt to it rapidly, due to the time constant of the primary low-pass filter including the resistor and the capacitor.
Particularly in a system which operates on battery, shortening the rise time is important for extending battery life, and therefore a charge/discharge circuit that rapidly charges and discharges the capacitor is required. To realize this, there has been used a technique that involves charging and discharging the capacitor by use of a diode.
However, with this arrangement, the signal voltage applied during charging or discharging the capacitor is constrained to the forward voltage VF of the diode. That is, in a case where Vin−Vref, which is obtained by subtracting the average voltage Vref from the input signal voltage Vin, is a positive value, the capacitor is charged when this value becomes larger than the forward voltage VF, whereas in a case where Vin−Vref is a negative value, the capacitor is discharged when this value becomes smaller than the forward voltage −VF. However, it is impossible to set arbitrarily a voltage at which charging/discharging is started, and therefore this voltage is fixed at ±VF.
Further, the forward voltage VF of a diode is about as large as 0.6 V, and it has been difficult to adapt to the reduction of the signal amplitude resulting from the recent trend toward low power-supply voltages. In addition, the forward voltage VF depends on temperature (−2 mV/° C.), and it has been difficult to obtain high reliability.
JP-A H5-252009 (KOKAI) describes an example of a slice level generating circuit including first and second operational amplifiers and first and second diodes.
Further, in demodulating an FSK signal or an AKS signal, it is common practice to generate an average voltage of the FSK signal or the AKS signal as a threshold, and compare the FSK signal or the AKS signal with the threshold, to binarize the FSK signal or the AKS signal.
In generating the average voltage, there is available a method that involves using a primary low-pass filter including a resistor and a capacitor. In this method that involves using the primary low-pass filter, if the cut-off frequency is set at a value sufficiently lower than the signal frequency to prevent the attenuation of the FSK signal or the ASK signal, the rise of the average voltage becomes slow and it takes a long time before the binarization is completed.
For this reason, when the method is applied to a system that operates on battery, the consumption of the battery becomes severe, the battery needs to be replaced frequently, and hence the usability of the system becomes poor.

Comparator circuit for generating binarized data


A method and apparatus for ensuring a minimum bypass flow installed in a stream wherein a diversion chamber is defined by front, rear and side panels, a screen, a bypass chamber and a second outlet chamber that allows water to flow into the second chamber only when the flow of water is sufficient.

Standard diversion boxes are widely used to divert water from watercourses for water supply systems and hydroelectric power generation. Hydroelectric diversion boxes can divert a significant portion of the watercourse flow into a penstock (pipe) through which the water is conveyed to energize a turbine/generator to create electric power. The remaining, and often smaller, portion of the watercourse flow passes over the diversion box and downstream in the watercourse and is referred to as the "bypass flow." Maintaining an adequate bypass flow is important because when the bypass flow falls below a specified volume, negative environmental impacts result to the riverine ecosystem and its aquatic life.
During periods of reduced natural water flow in a watercourse, such as that which occurs in summer drought periods, in a standard diversion box the bypass flow is reduced because the natural water flow has diminished but the water flow diverted to the penstock by the diversion box remains static. As a result, reduced natural water flow in the stream may reduce the health of the riverine ecosystem.
The present apparatus enhances the functionality of the standard diversion box by ensuring that the bypass flow will meet or exceed a specified volume and thus provide minimum bypass flow levels required to maintain healthy riverine ecosystems. As described herein, the present method and apparatus is designed such that the bypass flow takes precedence over flow diverted for hydropower generation and therefore ensures that minimum bypass flows are maintained to support the health of riverine ecosystems.
There is described herein an apparatus for ensuring a minimum bypass flow installed in a stream, having a diversion chamber having dual parallel side panels extending upwardly from outer edges of a floor panel and front and rear panels of varying height, a tilted wire wedge wire screen inclining downwardly and mounted between the side panels and the front and rear panels, a bypass chamber mounted within the diversion chamber having a bypass inlet and a bypass outlet, and a secondary chamber mounted within the diversion chamber and including an outlet port. The bypass chamber being defined by isolation walls, and the second outlet chamber mounted within the diversion box having second isolation walls with an open upper end and a penstock port, the second isolation walls being higher than the bypass inlet so that water flows into the second chamber only when the water level is above the second isolation walls. There is also provided a method of ensuring minimum bypass flow levels in a stream.

Method and apparatus for ensuring a minimum bypass flow from a hydropower diversion box


To provide a method of manufacturing semiconductor devices, the method being capable of efficiently obtaining a singulated semiconductor chip upon which an adhesive is adhered and also capable of excellently bonding a semiconductor chip to a wiring substrate, and provide an adhesive film. A layered product 60 in which a dicing tape 9, an adhesive layer 3, and a semiconductor wafer 6 are stacked in this order so that a circuit surface 6a of the semiconductor wafer 6 may face the dicing tape 9 side. A cutting position is recognized by recognizing a circuit pattern P in the circuit surface 6a from a rear surface 6b of the semiconductor wafer 6. At least the semiconductor wafer 6 and the adhesive layer 3 are cut in the thickness direction of the layered product 60. The dicing tape 9 is cured to peel off the dicing tape 9 and the adhesive layer 3. A projection electrode 4 of a semiconductor chip 26 is aligned with a wiring 12 of a wiring substrate 40. The wiring substrate 40 and the semiconductor chip 26 are bonded via an adhesive layer 23 so that the wiring 12 and the projection electrode 4 may be electrically connected to each other.

As the method of bonding a semiconductor chip to a substrate, a flip chip bonding method is known. In this bonding method, a semiconductor chip is arranged with the circuit surface thereof facing the substrate side. The electrical connection is made by bonding a projection electrode called a bump formed in the circuit surface of the semiconductor chip to a terminal formed in the substrate. The flip chip bonding method is advantageous in miniaturizing and thinning the structure of a surface-mounted component. Furthermore, the flip chip bonding method is perceived to be advantageous in achieving high speed because the bonding distance is short. In particular, in electronic apparatuses, such as a mobile phone or a Personal Digital Assistant, and a memory card, an IC card, and the like, the number of surface-mounted components manufactured using the flip chip bonding method has been increasing.
In the flip chip bonding method, depending on the types of bumps, how to make electrical connection differs and also the steps in packaging and the materials to be used differ. The types of bumps include a solder bump, a gold bump, a nickel bump, a conductive resin bump, and the like. Hereinafter, (1) a method of bonding via the solder bump and (2) a method of bonding via the bump, such as the gold bump, the nickel bump, or the conductive resin bump are described, respectively.
(1) Method of Bonding Via the Solder Bump
The method of bonding via the solder bump is called C4. C4 is applied in bonding a large-scale logic semiconductor chip having a large number of terminals. The solder bumps are arranged across the circuit surface of a semiconductor chip (area arrangement).
C4 is performed as follows. The oxide film of a solder formed on the surface of a terminal formed in the circuit surface of a semiconductor chip is removed. A flux material that improves the wettability between the solder and a metal constituting a terminal formed in a substrate is applied onto the substrate. The semiconductor chip is pressed against the substrate after aligning the semiconductor chip with the substrate. Due to the adhesion of the flux, the semiconductor chip is temporarily placed on the substrate. Then, the substrate is provided in a reflow furnace and heated up to or beyond a temperature at which the solder melts. The terminal formed in the substrate and the solder are bonded by melting the solder bump. Next, in order to reinforce the bonding between the terminal and the solder, a liquid sealing resin called the underfill material is filled in the gap between the semiconductor chip and the substrate utilizing capillarity. Thereafter, the liquid sealing resin is cured to reinforce the bonding between the terminal and the solder. A method of filling the liquid sealing resin by utilizing capillarity is called a capillary flow method.
In recent years, with an increase in the number of terminals of a semiconductor chip, the pitch between terminals is getting narrower. Hence, the diameter of the solder bump is getting smaller and the distance between the semiconductor chip and the substrate is also getting narrower. Moreover, for the purpose of achieving high reliability of surface-mounted components, the filler content in the underfill material and the viscosity of the underfill material tend to increase. It takes a long time not only to cope with the narrowing pitch and the narrowing gap but to fill the high viscous underfill material using the capillary flow method.
Furthermore, adoption of lead-free solders has increased the reflow temperature. For this reason, upon cooling after reflow, a stress during contraction due to a difference in the thermal expansion coefficients between the substrate and the semiconductor chip increases the risk that the solder breaks. Accordingly, there is a need for protection of the solder also upon cooling after reflow.
In order to solve the problems of the capillary flow method as described above, a method is under study, in which a resin to serve as the underfill material is applied to a substrate in advance before mounting a semiconductor chip on the substrate (a packaging method of preliminarily placing the underfill material on a substrate). This method is called a no-flow underfill method. Studies on resin compositions capable of exhibiting both the flux function and the underfill function by containing a flux component in a resin are under way (e.g., see non-Patent Document 1 and non-Patent Document 2).
(2) Method of Bonding Via the Bump, Such as the Gold Bump, the Nickel Bump, or the Conductive Resin Bump
In this case, the number of terminals for connecting between a semiconductor chip and a substrate is on the order of 100 to 500 pins. The bump is often arranged in the outer periphery of the semiconductor chip (peripheral arrangement).
The examples of this bonding method include (A) a method based on a soldered joint between a gold wire bump and a solder formed in a substrate, (B) a method (SBB method) of bonding via a conductive resin formed on the surface of a gold wire bump, called a stud bump bonding, (C) a direct bonding method of bonding by contact by directly pressing a gold wire bump against a substrate, (D) a method of bonding a stud bump that is leveled via conductive particles using an anisotropic conductive adhesive, a gold-plating bump, or a nickel-plating bump to a terminal formed in a substrate, and (E) an ultrasonic method of metallically bonding a bump to a terminal formed in a substrate by applying an ultrasonic wave.
Since a semiconductor chip is bonded to a substrate via an adhesive in the direct bonding method (C) or the method using an anisotropic conductive adhesive (D), the electrical connection and the underfill filling can be performed simultaneously.
On the other hand, as for the other method, the capillary flow method is adopted, in which a solder bonding, a connection by curing a conductive resin, and a solid-phase metal bonding by applying an ultrasonic wave are carried out, respectively and thereafter an underfill material is injected, filled, and cured. Also in the case where the bonding via the bump, such as the gold bump, the nickel bump, or the conductive resin bump is carried out, a packaging method of preliminarily placing an underfill material on a substrate has been studied for the purpose of coping with the narrowing pitch or narrowing gap and also for simplifying the packaging process, as with C4.
The packaging method of preliminarily placing an underfill material on a substrate requires a step of applying a liquid resin to the substrate in advance or a step of applying a film-like resin onto the substrate in advance.
Application of a liquid resin is usually performed using a dispenser. The application from the dispenser is most often controlled by pressure. However, since the discharge amount of the liquid resin will vary in accordance with the viscosity change of the liquid resin even under a constant pressure, it is difficult to keep the amount of application constant. Too small amount of application would cause a non-filled region in which the liquid resin is not filled. If the amount of application is too much, a protruding liquid resin might adhere to a member that crimps a semiconductor chip and a substrate, or might scatter to the adjacent spaces.
On the other hand, in applying a film-like resin to a substrate, since the resin amount can be adjusted by adjusting the thickness and area of the film-like resin, the variation in the resin amount that protrudes during packaging can be reduced.
However, since there is a limit to the accuracy of an apparatus that applies the film-like resin to the substrate, the film-like resin larger than the size of the semiconductor chip needs to be applied to the substrate. Moreover, in bonding wide variety of semiconductor chips having different sizes to the substrate, the film-like resin matching the size of the semiconductor chip needs to be prepared, respectively. Under such technology trends, in recent years, there is a need for a method of efficiently obtaining a singulated semiconductor chip, upon which an adhesive layer matching the size of the semiconductor chip is adhered, and an efficient manufacture method of semiconductor devices using the same.
Then, there are proposed methods capable of solving the complexity in the packaging method of preliminarily placing an underfill material on a substrate and also capable of coping with the narrowing pitch and narrowing gap (e.g., see non-Patent Document 3, Patent Document 1, and Patent Document 2). In these methods, an adhesive as the underfill material is applied to a semiconductor wafer for forming a semiconductor chip and thereafter the semiconductor wafer is singulated to obtain a semiconductor chip upon which the adhesive is adhered. Then, this semiconductor chip is applied to a substrate.
In the method described in non-Patent Document 3, a resin is applied to a semiconductor wafer in advance and thereafter the semiconductor wafer is singulated to obtain a semiconductor chip upon which an underfill material is adhered. In this method, the semiconductor chip in which solder bumps are formed is used. Some of the solder bumps are exposed from the underfill material. The self-alignment of the solder corrects the positional offset between the semiconductor chip and the substrate.
However, in a semiconductor chip in which a bump formed by plating gold, nickel, or the like, or a gold wire bump formed using a gold wire is formed, the bonding is performed by applying an energy, such as by heating or applying an ultrasonic wave, while pressing the semiconductor chip against the substrate using a pressurizing head. For this reason, the self-alignment cannot be used.
On the other hand, in the method described in Patent Document 1, after applying a film-like adhesive to a semiconductor wafer, the semiconductor wafer is singulated by cutting. As a result, a semiconductor chip upon which the film-like adhesive has adhered is obtained. In this method, first, a layered product of semiconductor wafer/film-like adhesive/separator is fabricated. After cutting the layered product, a semiconductor chip upon which the film-like adhesive has adhered is obtained by peeling off the separator.
Patent Document 2 discloses the method, in which with a tape bonded to the semiconductor wafer circuit surface, the rear surface of this semiconductor wafer circuit surface is ground and then this wafer is cut by dicing and is singulated, and then a chip upon which an adhesive layer has adhered is picked up.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 2833111    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-49482    Non-Patent Document 1: Yoshinobu Homma, "Underfill materials for flip chip", Electronic Materials, Kogyo Chosakai Publishing Co., Ltd., Sep. 1, 2000, vol. 39, No. 9, pp. 36-40    Non-Patent Document 2: Katsuyuki Mizuike, Eiichi Nomura, "Underfill materials for flip chip", Electronic Technology, Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun Ltd., September, 2001, extra edition, pp. 82-83    Non-Patent document 3: Kazutoshi Iida, "Development of materials for bare chip mounting", Electronic Technology, Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun Ltd., September, 2001, extra edition, pp. 84-87

Production method of semiconductor device and bonding film


The present invention is directed to an audio mixing console having main and secondary faders to independently adjust the maximum and minimum levels of a FADE OUT or FADE IN signal received from an editor associated with the mixer console.

In the prior art, it is known to use FADE OUT or FADE IN signals (collectively referred to as a FADE signal) in order to execute a fading out of a particular audio signal or the fading in of such a signal. FIG. 1 depicts the general shape of such signals. It is also known that FADE signals can be generated by an editor used in conjunction with an audio mixer.
However, when an editor is used to generate a FADE signal, typically a fade can be implemented only to either the minimum or maximum level of the FADE signal such as shown in FIG. 1. In order to overcome this drawback, it is known to provide one or more faders on the audio mixing console in order to adjust the maximum and/or minimum level of the FADE signal. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a main fader may be used to lower the maximum FADE level or FADE IN point. A secondary fader can be used to adjust the minimum fade level or FADE OUT point thereby providing a depth of fade control.
However, in some circumstances a drawback exists with this two control scheme. That is, the two controls are interactive. This occurs on the Soundcraft 200 BVE and the Sony MXP-2900, for example. To further explain, the "interactive" nature of these controls means that when the main fader is adjusted to change the maximum fade level, the minimum fade level is also adjusted even if the secondary fader is not adjusted. This may occur if, for example, the minimum level is determined to be some ratio of the maximum level. This occurs in the Soundcraft 200 BVE, for example, because the main fader is located in the audio path. Therefore, if the main fader is adjusted, the level of attenuation due to the secondary fader is also effected. In effect, the main fader shifts the entire FADE signal curve. To illustrate this, reference is made to FIGS. 3A-3B.
From FIGS. 3A-3B, it can be seen that if, for example, the main fader is set at a position corresponding to a maximum value (MAX) and the secondary fader is set at point A (an arbitrary reference point), then the FADE signal will resemble that shown by solid lines in FIG. 3A. If the main fader is adjusted as shown in FIG. 3B, and the secondary fader is not adjusted (it remains at reference point A), then the FADE signal will resemble that shown by the solid lines in FIG. 3B. In other words, adjusting the main fader downwards causes a downward shift of the entire signal including the FADE OUT level. This can be undesirable in that it may necessitate adjusting the secondary fader, if, for example, an absolute FADE OUT level is desired. That is, if it is desired that the FADE OUT level not be a ratio of the main fader or maximum level.
While a FADE OUT signal is shown in FIGS. 2-3, it will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the same phenomena will occur with a FADE IN signal such as shown in FIG. 1. To avoid unnecessary duplication and for clarity, the following will discuss either a FADE OUT signal or generally a FADE signal. It is to be understood that the invention clearly applies to both FADE IN and FADE OUT signals.


A conveying method and a conveyor for carrying out the method is disclosed for manually moving plant stock around in a greenhouse. The method utilizes an elongated rectangular conveyor with rounded corners and handholds at each end and having the proper mix of rigid and pliable characteristics to allow pulling the conveyor from one bench across an aisle bridged by a stationary conveyor to an adjacent bench or along the length of a bench.

It is common in the nursery business to use greenhouses for germinating and growing plants.
Typically, plants are planted as seeds or cuttings in 11 by 22 inch plastic flats or in pots. Pots are typically 3, 4, or 5 inches in diameter but may be anywhere from 2 to 10 inches in diameter. The plants may be kept in the original flats or pots until sold or, after reaching a certain size, may be transplanted to larger pots to provide sufficient soil volume to support the plant's root system and keep it from getting root bound. If a large plant is desired, several transplantings into larger pots may be appropriate to continually provide the proper soil volume to support the plant. As the plant grows, its foliage takes up a continually larger space, making it necessary to spread individual pots or flats apart to allow sufficient sunlight to reach the foliage. Growing plants in greenhouses therefore requires frequent movement of plants from one location to another, such as from the potting shed to the germinating greenhouse, and from one area of a particular greenhouse to another to accommodate sunlight demands of the growing foliage.
A majority of greenhouses employ benches to provide a platform for laying out plants and keep the stock elevated above the floor. Benches are typically constructed of steel, wood, plastic, or concrete frames with galvanized expanded metal, turkey wire, or special bench fabrics spread across the top. Galvanized expanded metal or other bench surfaces allow water to drain from the plants during frequent watering.
A bench is typically 3.5 to 7 feet wide by as long as needed. The bench surfaces are 16 to 36 inches above ground level to bring them to a comfortable work level for personnel. Most frequently, benches do not have a rim around the outer perimeter of the top surface. For those that do have a rim, it is frequently a fairly short lip.
As it costs a great deal of money to heat a large volume of air, space is at a premium in greenhouses. A bench would typically be 60 to 100 feet long or even longer. As many rows of benches as possible are fitted in each greenhouse to maximize the growing space available to plants and the aisles between the rows of benches are typically kept very narrow, usually from 16 to 20 inches wide. These narrow aisles make it difficult to transport potted plants or flats during the many times they are rotated within a greenhouse or from one greenhouse to another. A main aisle, measuring 8 to 12 feet wide, may be created within the greenhouse to allow carts or an overhead track system access to the ends of the benches in the greenhouse.
Methods currently used by greenhouses to transfer plants include the use of portable conveyors. The conveyors are typically in multiple sections with each section being ten to twelve feet long. One section, the drive section, is motorized and quite heavy. The other conveyor sections connect to the drive section through a gear mechanism at each junction. The main unit, the drive section, is quite heavy and becomes quite awkward to move around. The other conveyor sections, typically constructed of aluminum, are not very heavy but are still awkward to move down the benches. It requires two persons to hook the conveyor sections together and the maximum practical conveying distance with one drive unit is about 80 feet.
The conveyor is typically configured with all its sections in place and sections are removed and the conveyor shortened as the benches are filled with plants. The conveyor is typically laid on top of a bench near one aisle and two benches are therefore filled with plants as subsequent sections of the conveyor are removed.
The type of time and effort required to lay out and connect the sections of the conveyor and then remove sections as the benches are filled in the type of effort most greenhouse operators have found does not pay. Most greenhouses have found that it is easier and more efficient to just let people carry the flats or potted plants. One person can typically carry only one or two flats at a time, and perhaps four to eight pots at a time, depending on the size of the pots. Therefore there is typically a lot of labor involved in moving plants around in a greenhouse, and multiple trips must be made up and down the aisles to distribute the plants on the benches.
Greenhouse operators have automated the filling process of the pots or flats; they've automated the movement of the plants through the main aisles of the greenhouses, which can be quite a distance at times, by the use of carts or overhead conveyors. However, the time consuming portion of moving plants around greenhouses which involves the movement of the plants onto, off of, and around the benches themselves, because of the narrow aisles and the large expanse that would be required to install a mechanized conveyor system, have prevented full automation.
Accordingly, the present art has not proven fully satisfactory in providing an arrangement has not proven fully conveying flats or potted plants within greenhouses.


Disclosed is a particulate filter regenerating system which comprises a fuel injection device (7) adapted to inject fuel into a combustion chamber of an engine body (1), and an exhaust gas temperature-adjusting device (33) adapted, when a PM deposit amount which is an amount of particulate matter (PM) deposited in a DPF (particulate filter) 13 provided in an exhaust passage of an engine, reaches a predetermined value X, to cause the fuel injection device (7) to perform a post-injection for injecting fuel into the combustion chamber during an expansion stroke of the engine, so as to execute a filter regeneration process of raising a temperature of exhaust gas flowing into the DPF 13 to burn the deposited PM. The exhaust gas temperature-adjusting device (33) is operable to cause the fuel injection device (7) to stop performing the post-injection in a stage where a PM burning amount which is an amount of PM burned through the filter regeneration process, is less than an initial PM deposit amount which is the PM deposit amount X at a timing of initiation of the filter regeneration process, by a predetermined amount. The particulate filter regenerating system of the present invention can adequately burn and remove PM deposited in a particulate filter, by means of a post-injection of fuel, while effectively suppressing a fuel consumption due to the post-injection.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a particulate filter regenerating system which comprises a fuel injection device adapted to inject fuel into a combustion chamber of an engine, and an exhaust gas temperature-adjusting device adapted, when a PM deposit amount which is an amount of particulate matter (PM) deposited in a particulate filter provided in an exhaust passage of the engine, reaches a predetermined value, to cause the fuel injection device to perform a post-injection for injecting fuel into the combustion chamber during an expansion stroke of the engine, so as to execute a filter regeneration process of raising a temperature of exhaust gas flowing into the particulate filter to burn the deposited PM.
2. Description of the Background Art
In a diesel engine and a lean-burn gasoline engine, particulate (particulate matter: PM) consisting primarily of carbonaceous components is contained in exhaust gas at higher levels as compared with a normal gasoline engine configured to perform combustion of an air-fuel mixture around a stoichiometric air/fuel ratio. For this reason, in the diesel engine or the lean-burn gasoline engine, there has heretofore been employed a technique of arranging a particulate filter in an exhaust passage of the engine to trap PM, and, when a predetermined amount of PM is accumulated or deposited in the particulate filter, executing a filter regeneration process for burning and removing the deposited PM.
Generally, the filter regeneration process is achieved by performing a so-called post-injection for injecting fuel into a combustion chamber during an expansion stroke of the engine. More specifically, through the post-injection, fuel components are added into exhaust gas, and burned in an oxidation catalyst or the like arranged upstream of the particulate filter, so that exhaust gas raised to high temperature flows into the particulate filter, and thereby the deposited PM is burned and removed based on functions of the high-temperature exhaust gas and a catalyst supported on the particulate filter.
As an exhaust gas purification system for an engine employing the above filter regeneration technique, there has been known one type as disclosed, for example, in JP 2004-162633A. Specifically, an exhaust gas purification system disclosed in this patent document is configured as follows. When it is determined that a difference between respective pressures detected by upstream and downstream pressure sensors provided across a particulate filter is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (i.e., the particulate filter is clogged), a post-injection (after-injection) is performed in an earlier-stage regeneration mode. Then, when a difference between respective exhaust gas temperatures before and after the particulate filter becomes equal to or less than a reference temperature difference after a predetermined time has elapsed from initiation of the post-injection in the earlier-stage regeneration mode, a post-injection mode is shifted from the earlier-stage regeneration mode to a later-stage regeneration mode. Upon the shifting to the later-stage regeneration mode, a fuel injection amount for the post-injection (post-injection amount) is reduced, or a fuel injection timing during the post-injection (post-injection timing) is advanced, as compared with that in the earlier-stage regeneration mode, to suppress a rise in exhaust gas temperature.
In the technique of the above patent document, when a difference between respective exhaust gas temperatures before and after the particulate filter becomes smaller to cause the shifting to the later-stage regeneration mode, a rise in exhaust gas temperature is suppressed by reducing the post-injection amount or advancing the post-injection timing. This provides an advantage of being able to prevent thermal damage of the particulate filter, and thermal degradation of oxidation catalyst supported on the particulate filter.
However, in the later-stage regeneration mode where the post-injection amount is reduced (or the post-injection timing is advanced), although an excessive rise in exhaust gas temperature can be suppressed, a PM burning rate becomes lower along with a reduction in exhaust gas temperature, and thereby, if the later-stage regeneration mode is continued until PM deposited in the filter is completely burned and removed, a process time in the later-stage regeneration mode is increased to cause an increase in total fuel consumption due to the post-injection, which is likely to result in deterioration in fuel economy performance.


Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture that may be used for identifying and indicating annotations made for a variety of different type (i.e., heterogeneous) data objects are provided. According to some embodiments, an annotation store may be queried to identify annotations for data objects in a current view of data. For certain identifiable portions of the view (e.g., a row in a relational view), a callable function may be created that returns a set of indicia maps indicating which objects in the portions are annotated. Bits in an indicia map may correspond to different objects (e.g., individual cells in a row or the row itself). Using these indicia maps, an indication of which data objects are annotated may be provided in the view, for example, by displaying annotation icons proximate annotated objects.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of data entry and retrieval and, more particularly, to a method and system for indicating the existence of annotations made for a variety of heterogeneous data objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
An annotation system is used to create, store, and retrieve descriptive information about objects. Virtually any identifiable type of object may be annotated, such as a matrix of data (e.g., a spreadsheet or database table), a text document, or an image. Further, subportions of objects (sub-objects) may be annotated, such as a cell, row, or column in a database table or a section, paragraph, or word in a text document. Some annotation systems store annotations separately, without modifying the annotated data objects themselves. For example, annotations are often contained in annotation records stored in a separate annotation store, typically a database. The annotation records typically contain information about the annotations contained therein, such as the creation date and author of the annotation, and an identification of the annotated data object, typically in the form of an index.
An indexing scheme is typically used to map each annotation to the annotated data object or sub-object, based on the index. Therefore, the index must provide enough specificity to allow the indexing scheme to locate the annotated data object (or sub-object). Further, the indexing scheme must work both ways: given an index, the indexing scheme must be able to locate the annotated data object and, given an object, the indexing scheme must be able to calculate the index for use in classification, comparison, and searching (e.g., to search for annotations for a given data object). Databases are typically used as the annotation store for performance reasons, so that annotation records can be efficiently stored and retrieved.
When a user views a portion of a data (e.g., results received in response to issuing a query), it is generally desirable to display annotations made for data objects in the view. The fact that the annotations and the data described by the annotations may be stored in totally separate data stores may present a problem, however, as there is currently no readily available technique for tying together data from totally separate data stores. For example, the data source and annotation store typically have no primary keys in common form that can be used for a standard join.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method for identifying and indicating annotations made for a variety of different type data objects.

Including annotation data with disparate relational data

International Business Machines Corporation


An unordered error correcting code is constructed by an encoding method and apparatus that accepts k bits of information and is capable of providing unordered ECC codewords. All pairs of these codewords are at least a distance d apart, where d.gtoreq.(2t+1) and t is the maximum number of errors correctable by the code. The k bits of information are encoded with an ECC encoding algorithm to produce ECC codewords that are at least distance d apart. The least number of tail bits required to produce the unordered ECC codewords is appended to each of the ECC codewords. The tail bits for each codeword are constructed by dividing its weight by d for determining the integer part of the resulting quotient, generating a binary representation of the value of its integer part, and complementing said binary representation. A noisy received version of the ECC codeword with tail bits truncated is decoded and a preselected error correcting algorithm is applied to correct t.sub.1 actual errors and produce a decoded ECC codeword. Tail bits corresponding to the decoded ECC codeword are generated and compared with segregated tail bits for the noisy received ECC codeword for determining the number t.sub.2 of errors actually detected. The k information bits derived from the decoded ECC codeword are outputted when (t.sub.1 +t.sub.2).ltoreq.t.

To fully understand unordered codes it is best to consider an example. For a binary vector u of length n, u=u.sub.1,u.sub.2, . . ,u.sub.n. The set of non-zero bits of vector u are hereafter referred to as the "support" of u. For instance, for n=6, if u=100101, the support of u is the set {1,4,6}. Two vectors u and v of length n are considered unordered when their supports are unordered as sets; i.e., neither of them contains the other. Thus, u=100101 and v=010101 are unordered because their corresponding supports are {1,4,6} and {2,4,6}. By contrast, the vector w=000101 which has a support of {4,6} would not be unordered relative to either u or v because its support {4,6} is a subset of the support of both u and v.
One of the early descriptions of unordered codes is by J. M. Berger, "A Note on Error Detection Codes for Asymmetric Channels", Information and Control, Vol. 4, pp. 68-73, 1961. He used the term "sum code" in which the sum of the number of 1's appearing as information (e.g., data) bits was converted to a binary representation and the complement taken for each of the resulting binary digits. Unordered codes were stated to be especially useful in error detection for asymmetric channels; i.e., those in which only one type of error occurs in which either only 1's are converted to 0's or only 0's are converted to 1's. However, Berger's code did not have error correcting capability.
More recently, unordered codes have attracted wide attention in coding theory. Among their applications are protecting write-only memories (WOM) against hostile overwrites, use in parallel asynchronous communications, and detection of asymmetric and unidirectional errors in computer memories.
Examples of optimal unordered codes from the point of view of the number of codewords they contain are the so-called "balanced" codes; i.e., the number of 1 bits (called the "weight" of a vector) is half the length of the vector. Thus, in the above example, both u and v are balanced because the number of 1 bits in each is 3 and the length is 6 bits.
Balanced codes and also balanced codes that incorporate error correction are known in the prior art. However, despite the fact that balanced codes are optimal as unordered codes, they are not easy to encode and decode except when the length n of the code is a relatively small number. Also, balanced codes are not "systematic", a term which connotes codes in which the information part of the codeword and the redundancy part of the codeword are separated. Systematic codes are convenient in most applications. Some systematic unordered codes are presented by Berger. However, the Berger codes cannot correct errors.
There is a need (1) for unordered codes which have error correcting capability and are easy to encode and decode, and (2) for a method and apparatus for encoding and decoding unordered systematic codes that provide error correction capability.

Method and apparatus for encoding and decoding unordered error correcting codes

International Business Machines Corporation