An active matrix array device, such as an AMLCD, has an array of matrix elements (10) addressed via sets of address conductors (14, 16). An address circuit (35) connected to one set (16) comprises a multiplexing circuit (31) integrated on the same substrate (25) as the matrix elements which has a plurality of signal bus lines (33), the one set of address conductors being organized in groups with each conductor in a group being associated with a respective and different signal bus line and the groups being addressed in sequence. Each signal bus line is connected to a respective signal processing circuit (42), e.g. a D/A converter or sample and hold circuit in the case of an AMLCD, which is also integrated on the substrate. To avoid problems in use due to the manner of fabrication of these circuits and the operation of the multiplexing circuit, the address circuit is arranged so that the individual signal processing circuits associated with adjacent column conductors are located close together on the substrate.

The present invention relates to an active matrix array device comprising an array of individually addressable matrix elements, first and second sets of crossing address conductors connected to the matrix elements, the array of matrix elements and the sets of address conductors being carried on a substrate, and an addressing circuit connected to the sets of row and column conductors for addressing the matrix elements and comprising a multiplexing circuit integrated on the substrate which is connected to the first set of conductors and has a plurality, n, of signal bus lines, the address conductors of the first set being arranged in a series of groups with each group comprising n successive address conductors and the multiplexing circuit being arranged to couple sequentially each group of address conductors to the signal bus lines with each address conductor in a group being coupled to a respective one of the bus lines, the addressing circuit further including a respective signal processing circuit connected to each bus line.
The matrix array device may, for example, be an active matrix liquid crystal (LC) display device. Such a device typically comprises an array of liquid crystal display elements each of which is connected to the output of a respective TFT (thin film transistor) to which gating (selection) and data (video information) signals are supplied by respective raw and column conductors. The addressing circuit consists of a row drive circuit connected to the row conductors for applying a gating signal to each row conductor in sequence to turn on the TFTs of each row of display elements in turn in respective row address periods and a column drive circuit connected to the set of column conductors for applying data signals to the column conductors in synchronism with scanning of the row conductors whereby the display elements of a selected row are charged via their respective TFTs to a level dependent on the value of the data signal existing on their associated column conductors to produce a required display effect. The TFTs usually comprise either amorphous silicon (a-Si) TFTs or polysilicon TFTs.
For convenience of manufacture and compactness, parts of the row and/or column drive circuits can be integrated on the substrate carrying the TFTs of the display elements peripherally of the display element array using the same large area electronics technology as that employed for the active matrix circuitry of the array with the circuitry of the drive circuit being fabricated simultaneously and similarly comprising TFTs, conductor lines—, etc. Due to limitations in operational performance of the TFTs and the kinds of circuit possible when using TFTs, the column drive circuit is customarily provided in the form of a simple multiplexing circuit, examples of which are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,101, and the paper entitled "Fully Integrated Poly-Si TFT CMOS Drivers for Self-Scanned Light Valve" by Y. Nishihara et al in SID 92 Digest, pages 609–612. The operation of the column drive circuit is based on a multiplexing technique in which the video information (data) is sequentially transferred via multiplexing switches from a plurality of video input bus lines, to which video information is applied simultaneously, to corresponding groups or blocks of column conductors in the display with each column conductor in a group being connected via a multiplexer switch to a different video input line.
Commonly in polysilicon TFT display devices having an integrated column drive circuit this circuit is of an analog multiplexing type comprising groups of multiplexing switches, in the form of TFTs or CMOS gates, a set of video signal bus lines and a control circuit (normally comprising a shift register) which controls the operation of the multiplexer switches. Groups of video samples, constituting data, taken from an input video signal are applied to the video bus lines and the data is then transferred to corresponding groups of column conductors in the display array during a video line period, which corresponds to a row address period.
In known kinds of these display devices, the video information applied to the video bus lines is generated using external signal processing circuits (i.e. separate to the integrated multiplexing circuit), one such circuit being provided for each respective bus line, and which may consist of sample and hold circuits or digital to analog (D/A) converters.
It would be advantageous for additional circuit components of the address circuitry to be integrated on the device substrate in similar manner to the multiplexing circuit for example using TFTs etc formed by the same thin film technology employed for the active matrix array. The circuit components could then be fabricated simultaneously with the active matrix array thereby simplifying manufacture and reducing cost. Such integration would also lead to a more compact arrangement and reduce the number of external connections required.


A system and method for providing a unified file system on an air-gapped endpoint are provided. The method included monitoring a plurality of security zones, instantiated on the air-gapped endpoint, to intercept at least one file system operation to access files on a first security zone; determining if the detected file system operation triggers a display of the file system dialog window effecting a second security zone; and when the file system dialog window effecting the second security zone, blocking the display of the file system dialog window in the first security zone; and displaying the file system dialog window in the second security zone.

Air gapping is a security measure that involves isolating a computer from an external connection. For example, an air gapped computer is one that is physically segregated and incapable of connecting wirelessly or physically with other computers or network devices. Air gapped systems and networks are used to protect many types of critical systems, such as those utilized in industries including financial, military, government, utility facilities, and the like.
Preventing a computer or a network from accessing an external network significantly limits the productivity of users using such a computer or network. For example, an application executed on an "air gapped" computer cannot access any resource over the Internet. To do so, the user would need to use a different computer having access to the Internet.
In the related art, there are a number of solutions attempting to isolate different computing environments on a single computer. However, such solutions do not provide a complete air gapping architecture. Furthermore, such solutions often suffer from user experience issues.
As a prime example, isolation solutions are based on virtual machine (VM) technologies. That is, VMs are containers in which applications and guest operating systems can be executed. By design, all VMs are isolated from one another. This isolation enables multiple virtual machines to run securely while sharing hardware.
Although virtual machines share hardware (e.g., CPU, memory, and I/O devices, etc.), a guest operating system running on an individual virtual machine cannot detect any device other than the virtual devices made available to the guest operating system. In various virtualization environments, a hypervisor acts as an interface between the guest operating system and the host operating system for some or all of the functions of the guests. A host operating system directly interacts with the hardware. A host operating system may be Windows®, Linux®, and the like.
Endpoints (e.g., desktop or laptop computer) configured with VM isolation does not provide a complete defense against malicious code. One vulnerability point in such virtualization environments is the host operating system. That is, hackers can exploit security vulnerabilities integrated in such operating systems to propagate malicious code to the hypervisors and then to the guest operating systems. Further, a user can install malicious software directly on the host operating systems (i.e., outside of the virtualization environment). To prevent users from installing software directly on the host operating system, such an operating system should be restricted. However, such an approach limits the user experience as the user cannot install applications, plug-ins, change settings, and so on.
In addition, to limited operations that can be performed by users on endpoints configured with VM isolation, the look-and-feel of the computing environment is different from unrestricted endpoints. For example, many standard user experience (UX) features are not available at all on the restricted endpoints. For example, a user cannot view, on the endpoint's desktop, multiple windows of different applications executed on different VMs. As another example, the user cannot copy data (e.g., text snippet) from an application executed in one VM's environment to another VM's environment. These and more other UX functions being disabled on restricted endpoints, significantly limits the ability to freely and easily interact and perform actions on the user device. Thus, the user experience is negatively affected. As a result, the users would prefer to use unrestricted and unsecured endpoints with full UX capabilities.
In using a multi-VM environment, users oftentimes have to manage multiple file systems. Accessing multiple file systems can be confusing and time consuming. In addition, security issues arise when one file system must be secure and another file system lacks security requirements. In this case, saving files can cause conflicts as a secure file may be accidentally saved to the non-secure file system. Therefore, combining a secure and non-secure file system on the same system can cause confusion and security breaches for the end user.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a solution that would overcome the deficiencies noted above.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Unified file system on air-gapped endpoints


The present invention relates to a portable information processing device having a body part (2) and a display part (3) supported so that it can open/close and rotate on the body part (2). The portable information processing device has a stereo microphone (53) provided in the display part (3), a detecting unit (83) for detecting the opening/closing state and the rotating state of the display part (3) with respect to the body part (2), a control unit for allocating a first channel signal and a second channel signal of an audio signal outputted from the stereo microphone (53) to a right channel signal and a left channel signal on the basis of the result of the detection by the detecting unit, and a recording unit for recording the audio signal allocated by the control unit. The inputted audio signal is appropriately allocated to a right channel signal and a left channel signal and thus recorded in accordance with the opening/closing state and the rotating state of the display part (3) with respect to the body part (2) and the rotating state of an image pickup unit with respect to the display part (2).

Conventionally, a portable information processing device has been used which has a display part supported so that it can open/close on a computer body having a keyboard including a plurality of operation keys arranged thereon. Some of such conventional portable information processing devices have a stereo microphone provided on the display part.
With respect to the portable information processing device which has the display part supported so that it can open/close on the computer body, for example, if the display part is rotatable on the computer body, the display screen of the display part can be used whether it faces forward or backward. However, if the left and right channels of the stereo microphone are set to be constant, for the user, the left and right channels are inverted depending on the direction of use and the user may feel uncomfortable.

Portable information processor and information processing method


Fungi and fungal spores which are modified to confer a transmissible hypovirulent phenotype, related polynucleotides, and use of these fungi to control fungal diseases.

Fungi remain a medically, industrially and agriculturally important group of organisms. Opportunistic pathogens such as Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus can cause serious infections in humans. Recent increases in the incidence of infection of immunocomprised individuals by fungal pathogens has stimulated efforts to develop more effective antifungal therapeutic agents. There is a long history of the use of fungi in the food industry and for the production of biologicals, organic acids and pharmaceutical intermediates. The ability to genetically alter yeast and filamentous fungi by DNA-mediated transformation has considerably increased their industrial potential. Despite impressive progress in the development of chemical fungicides for agricultural application, yield losses due to plant pathogenic fungi remains a significant problem worldwide. The wide spread use of chemical fungicides is also complicated by the persistent development of acquired resistance and by a negative environmental impact.
Few plant disease epidemics have received as much attention or generated as much consternation as the chestnut blight epidemic that occurred in North America and Europe early this century as a result of the unintentional introduction of the Asian fungus, Cryphonectria (Endothia) parasitica. Contributing factors include the magnitude of the disease, e.g., an estimated 3.5 billion trees were destroyed in the North American eastern hardwood forest by 1950; the aesthetic, ecological and economic value of the host; and the total inability to devise effect control measures (Anagnostakis, 1982; Roane et al., 1986; Griffin 1986; MacDonald and Fulbright 1991). Consequently reports in the 1960's and 1970's of natural and artificial biological control of chestnut blight due to the phenomenon of "transmissible hypovirulence" generated considerable interest (Grente, 1965; Grente and Berthelay-Sauret, 1978; Van Alfen et al., 1975). Natural variants of C. parasitica that exhibited reduced levels of virulence (hypovirulent) were first discovered in Italy and were later identified in different geographic locations in Europe and North America (Grente and Berthelay-Sauret, 1978; Anagnostakis, 1982; MacDonald and Fulbright, 1991). While virulent C. parasitica strains penetrate and destroy bark and cambium layers causing wilting and death, hypoviolent strains usually produce superficial cankers that eventually heal as a result of host defense mechanisms. The basis for disease control lies with the ability of the hypovirulence phenotype to be transmitted to virulent strains resulting in conversion of the recipient to hypovirulence (Grente, 1965; Grente and Berthelay-Sauret, 1978; Van Alfen et al., 1975). Studies with auxotrophic mutant strains indicated that the genetic element responsible for the hypovirulence phenotype corresponded to a cytoplasmic determinant that was transferred by hyphal anastomosis (fusion of hyphae) (Van Alfen et al., 1975). Day et al. (1977) subsequently reported that hypovirulent C. parasitica strains contained double-stranded (ds) RNA species that were generally absent in virulent C. parasitica strains. Moreover, these ds RNAs were observed to be transmitted coincidentally with the hypovirulence phenotype during anastomosis.
Recent characterizations of structural and functional properties of hypovirulence-associated dsRNAs have provided evidence for a viral origin even though these RNAs appear not to have be encapsidated within a discrete virus particle. For example, the large dsRNA, L-dsRNA, present in hypovirulent C. parasitica strain EP713 was shown to encode two large polyproteins that undergo autoproteolytic processing during translation (Choi et al., 1991a; 1991b; Shapira et al., 1991a; Shapira and Nuss, 1991). Recent computer-assisted analysis of the predicted amino acid sequences of these polyproteins revealed five distinct domains with significant sequence similarity to previously described conserved domains within protein products encoded by members of the potyvirus group of positive-strand RNA plant viruses (Koonin et al., 1991). Phylogenic trees, derived from the alignment of one specific domain, that of the putative RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, with the sequences of all known viral RNA polymerases strongly suggested that L-dsRNA and potyvirus genomes share a common ancestry. Based on the similarity of the L-dsRNA genetic organization and expression strategy to those of several viral genomes and the apparent evolutionary relationship to the potyviruses, the term hypovirulence-associated virus (HAV) will be used to denote this class of genetic element (Shapira et al., 1991).
Direct analysis of the L-dsRNA present in hypovirulent C. parasitica strain EP713 has shown that one strand contains a 3'-poly (A) tail that is base paired to a stretch of poly (U) present at the 5'-terminus of the complementary strand (Hiremath et al., 1986). Sequence analysis of multiple cDNA clones that spanned the entire length of L-dsRNA revealed that the molecule consists of 12,712 bp, excluding the poly(A):poly(U) homopolymer domain, and that only the poly (A) strand contains coding domains of significant size (Shapira et al., 1991). The long open reading frame, designated ORF A, is preceded by a 495 nucleotide (nt) noncoding leader sequence and extends 1,869 nt. The junction between ORF A and ORF B, is contiguous with ORF A and extends 9,498 nt. The junction between ORF A and ORF B consists of the pentanucleotide 5'UAAUG-3' in which the UAA portion serves as a termination codon for ORF A (Choi et al., 1991a) and the AUG portion is the 5'-proximal initiation codon of ORF B (Shapira et al., 1991). An 851 nt 3' noncoding domain follows ORF B, terminating with the 3'-poly (A) tail.
ORF A encodes two polypeptides, p29 and p40, that are released from a polyprotein, p69, by an autocatalytic event mediated by p29 (Choi et al., 1991a). Cleavage occurs between Gly-248 and Gly-249 during translation and is dependent upon the essential residue Cys-162 and His-215 (Choi et al., 1991b). Expression of ORF B also involves an autoproteolytic event in which a 48 kDa polypeptide, designated p48, is released from the N-terminal portion of the encoded polyprotein (Shapira et al., 1991). Cleavage of p48 occurs between Gly-418 and Ala0419 and is dependent upon essential residues Cys-341 and His-388 (Shapira and Nuss, 1991). Both p29 and p48 resemble papain-like proteases. Putative RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and RNA helicase motifs have been located in the C-terminal half of ORF B (Shapira et al., 1991; Koonin et al., 1991).
Efforts to determine the precise genetic information responsible for transmissible hypovirulence have been hampered by the inability of HAV RNAs to initiate an infection by an extracellular route. This is a common property of mycoviruses and unencapsidated viral-like RNAs (Buck, 1986; Wickner 1989; El-Sherbeini and Bostian, 1987). We were recently able to partially overcome this limitation by introducing HAV coding domains into virus-free virulent C. parasitica strains by DNA-mediated transformation (Choi and Nuss, EMBO J. 1992). Significantly, transformation with a cDNA copy of the first L-dsRNA open reading frame, ORF A, conferred a number of traits similar to those exhibited by the L-dsRNA-containing hypovirulent strain (EP713). These traits included reduced pigmentation, reduced laccase accumulation and suppressed conidiation, characteristics that frequently, but not universally, accompany hypovirulence-associated traits (listed in Hillman et al. 1990). However, virulence was not reduced in the ORF A transformants. These results established a direct cause and effect relationship between the viral ds RNA present in a hypovirulent c. parasitica strain and specific traits associated with that strain. The fact that these hypovirulence associated traits were conferred in viral-free transformants demonstrated that they are not the result of some general reaction of the fungus to the physical presence of replication viral RNA but are caused by a specific coding domain. The observation that reduced virulence was uncoupled from associated traits such as suppressed sporulation in the ORF A transformants suggests that different viral encoded proteins may be responsible for specific traits expressed by individual hypovirulent strains.

Genetically engineered transmissible hypovirulence

University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute


A method of bringing to readiness an inflatable airbag of a safety device is characterized in the interruption of the gas flow through the inlet of the airbag at a specified time instant. The interruption of the gas flow through the inlet of the airbag alternates with its resumption, generating a sequence of gas flow pulses of controllable duration and on/off time ratio.

In its most general form, the safety device of air-cushion type comprises a gas-inflatable airbag having an inlet opening for the entry of gas and a system for feeding the gas flow into the airbag including a gas source, a duct for communicating the inlet with the gas source, and a triggering unit that serves to detect the accident and provide a signal for generating the gas flow from the gas source to the airbag.
With the vehicle in its normal operating conditions, the airbag lies folded adjacent the driver's or passenger's seat, e.g. in the steering wheel or in the dashboard in front of passenger. During an accident, in response to signal from the sensor, the airbag must be inflated to bring it to the ready status within an average of 40 msec. In this case, the inflated airbag protects a person from shocks, vibrations etc, restricting his movements inside the vehicle.
In known safety devices, a compressed-gas reservoir or a pyrotechnical gas generator containing a solid substance which is burned to produce gas is used as the gas source in the gas flow feeding system. Combined gas sources consisting of both compressed gas and the pyrotechnical gas generator are also known in the art.
Pyrotechnical gas generators have been widely used in safety devices such as safety cushions. One disadvantage of their use, however, resides in the
Besides, the gas produced is of a toxic nature and therefore, along with operation of the safety device, a forced ventilation system needs to be actuated to remove the toxic gas the cabin.
In addition, a fresh pyrotechnical gas generator has to be installed for the repeated use of a safety device, resulting in increased maintenance costs of the safety devices.
The use of a compressed-gas reservoir to serve as the source avoids the risk of burns and poisoning.
In known safety devices of the type, however, the gas supply to the airbag is generally characterized by destroying a fragile membrane serving as the quick-exhaust valve, which, prior to starting the safety device, shuts off the flow section between the compressed-gas reservoir and the inlet opening of the airbag, (U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,550). The membrane destruction is accompanied by a production of rather sharp fragments, which, as they get into the airbag, may damage it and even cause injury to people. In order to prevent the fragments from hitting the airbag, a filter is mounted before the inlet of the airbag. The filter, however, increases the hydraulic resistance in the inlet opening of the airbag, whereby its filling rate is slowed down.
Moreover, for repeated use of such safety device, either the membrane alone or the whole gas-flow feeding system has to be replaced, which requires a special skill from the serviceman making the replacement operation, thus increasing the maintenance costs of the safety device.
This drawback may be eliminated by placing a multiuse quick-exhaust valve between the gas source and the airbag inlet, such as disclosed, for example, in RU, C1, 2005249.
The valve device of RU, C1, 2005249 comprises a body forming a valve cavity with three ducts communicating with the valve cavity: a first duct lying between the valve cavity and the low-pressure space, a second duct between the valve cavity and the high-pressure space, and a third duct connecting the valve cavity, via the control valve, with the atmosphere and the controlling pressure source.
Located within the duct is a valve seat including at least two spaced annular flanges combined to form a circular passage tapering towards the low-pressure space.
The valve comprises a stop member including a movable dome-shaped shutoff device with its vertex facing the first duct and a hollow cylindrical guide with its outer openings coaxial with the first and second ducts, respectively, both located inside the valve cavity and jointed in a telescopic manner.
The movable shutoff device is made of an elastic material and consists of a domed part and a cylindrical part.
The third duct passes through the valve body and the body of the hollow guide, connecting the guide cavity, via the control valve outside the quick-exhaust valve body, either with the atmosphere or with an external source of the controlling pressure.
In the valve ready to work (closed position), the gas pressure within the guide cavity and beneath the domed part of the shutoff device is equal to that within the high-pressure space. The dome-shaped part of the shutoff device is snug against the annular flanges of the seat, whereas between the end faces of the cylindrical part of the shutoff device and the guide, there is formed an annular gap communicating the space beneath the domed part with the valve cavity.
As the valve is operated (i.e. brought to an open position), the guide cavity and, hence, the cavity beneath the dome of the shutoff device, is relieved of gas pressure through the third duct. The consequence of the pressure relief is a drop in the pressure forcing the domed part of the shutoff device against the seat. The shutoff device then moved off the seat, moving along the guide as far as its end, so that the flow section of the first duct is opened.
It will be noted that the valve having a flow area of up to 20 cm is opened within the time not exceeding 1 msec.
In order to bring the valve to an initial, i.e. closed, position, compressed gas is supplied along the third duct to the guide cavity from an external control pressure source. The increased pressure acts upon the domed part of the shutoff device which is thus moved along the guide towards the first duct, closing it.
The use of the aforementioned quick-exhaust valve, rather than fragile membranes, in safety devices such as an inflatable safety cushion, would prevent the formation of fragments. In addition, the valve of RU, C1, 2005249 is a multiple-action device, and its use in the safety device would result in lower maintenance costs of the same.
The presence of an external control gas source, however, leads to a rather large-sizes valve, thus limiting its applications, in particular, as concerns safety devices. Furthermore, because of the external control gas source, the valve closing time substantially exceeds its opening time, which puts further limitations on the applications of such valve. Specifically, the valve device of Patent RU, C1, 2005249, being a quick-exhaust valve, fails to provide a controllable fill-up of the airbag in the safety device.
Known in the art are methods of bringing the inflatable airbag to readiness, wherein the process of filling the airbag is dependent on variable parameters such as the mass of the person protected, his position relative to location of the inflated airbag, the speed of the vehicle at the time of the accident, etc.
It is known, for example, that in order to restrict the movement of bulky and heavy driver/passenger, as the vehicle collides at a high speed, there is a need for the airbag to be rapidly filled up to a higher excess pressure, while the protection of a small person (such as a child), with a low speed at the moment of collision, requires a slower airbag inflation rate with a lower excess pressure, so as to avoid injuring the person to be protected by too rigid airbag, while providing a sufficient fillup of the airbag to allow an effective restriction of the person's displacement.
Known in the art are safety devices in which the gas source, for the control-label filling of the airbag, is made multi-element, i.e. consisting of two or more gas generators (U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,200), or two or more pressure-gas reservoirs (DE, C, 4011492,) or else including both the gas generator and the pressure-gas reservoir, i.e. combined gas sources (U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,371).
The airbag filling in said devices is controlled by providing a preset time delay between initiations of the gas flow from the gas source elements (U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,200, DE, C 4011492).
Such airbag fillup control, however, fails to provide the filling conditions required for optimum protection.
This is due to a limited range of available airbag-filling regimes defined at the device design stage and specified by initial parameters of the gas source, namely, by the number of its components and the delay between their actuation times. The specified airbag-filling mode, as it is brought to readiness, does not depend on the nature of the accident.
Besides, the devices with a multielement gas source, particularly those including several tanks with compressed gas, are rather bulky and have a more complex system of gas supply to the airbag. Specifically, in DE, C, 4011492, each reservoir is provided with a separate pipe for gas supply to the airbag.
Also known in the art is a safety device providing a wider range of airbag-filling modes available (U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,487). In this device, the multi-element gas source includes at least two pyrotechnical gas generators of different output. Moreover, the gas-flow supply triggering unit comprises a vehicle acceleration transducer, an IR sensor for measuring the position of the person to be protected with respect to the airbag, and a computer. As the computer processes the signals arriving from the sensors during the development of the accident, it determines the shape of the "amount of gas enclosed vs time" curve, which is optimum for protection of persons. According to a specific curve, the computer chooses the sequence and delay times for igniting different gas generators are selected in accordance with nine probable types of emergency situations.
In other words, in this method and embodiment, the range of available airbag-filling modes is also defined by the initial parameters of the gas source.
In addition, the airbag-filling regime, at the time of accident, is based on the information obtained and analyzed only up to the moment of igniting the last gas generator, so that the airbag-filling cannot be controlled during the accident, as would be desired to provide optimum protection.
Further the more than one gas generator will increase the size of the device. Again, the repeated use of the safety device would require the gas generators to be replaced, thereby increasing the operating costs of the device.

Method of bringing to readiness an inflatable airbag of safety device, safety device for a vehicle, valve device

Abstract: A safety device comprises the airbag (1) a gas source (3), and a valve device (8). The valve device is formed by a pneumatic distributor having two stable positions: an open position, and a closed position.


The invention features implementation of a flat triangular blade which has wo cutting edges and a sharp point. The blade is caused to move pointwise across a cylindrical can's diameter, with the plane of the blade perpendicular to the can's axis, so that the point pierces the can, the two cutting edges slice through the can in both directions around the can's circumference, and the point again, diametrically oppositely, pierces the can. The inventive removal of the residual contents and propellants from a spent aerosol can is optimally effective, because the invention divides the can into two separate parts, concomitantly subdividing the can's internal components.

This invention relates to methods and apparatuses for penetrating containers, more particularly to such methods and apparatuses which are used for hazard abatement of aerosol container refuse.
Many commercially available substances (e.g., paints, insecticides, detergents, etc.) are packaged under pressure in conjunction with a gaseous propellant so as to be releasable as an aerosol. Aerosol containers (commonly referred to as aerosol "cans") present a potentially hazardous condition because of their pressurized flammable contents.
Often the need arises for expellation of the residual contents of used, spent and defective aerosol containers, so as to reduce hazards associated with their storage or disposal. Specifically, a container which has not been completely depressured and/or which has not been completely evacuated of liquid and/or gaseous residue may represent a perilous situation in terms of flammability, toxicity and explosiveness.
Conventional approaches to depressurizing the contents of a waste aerosol container have involved puncturing of the aerosol container. Conventional devices release the pressure held within the container by forcing a pointed object through the container wall, thereby producing a permanent hole.
These conventional processing methodologies are not entirely effective for processing aerosol containers, especially containers of more recent vintage. Conventional container processing often does not allow for complete drainage of the aerosol container's liquid contents; the liquid contents may not be provided adequate pathways to escape under gravitational forces. Furthermore, conventional processing approaches often fail to release all the propellant gases that are contained in the aerosol; escape of propellant gases from the single puncture hole may be unacceptably slow, perhaps even practically nonexistent. Moreover, the latest design containers have internal components which may obstruct complete processing when conventional methods are used.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


An error correcting system transforms a degree-five error locator polynomial .sigma.(x) into the polynomial w(y)=y.sup.5 =b.sub.2 y.sup.2 +b.sub.1 y+b.sub.0, where b.sub.1 =0 or 1, and y=.sigma.(x), and determines the roots of .sigma.(x) based on the roots of w(y). The polynomial w(y) has (2.sup.M).sup.2 solutions over GF(2.sup.M), rather than (2.sup.M).sup.5 solutions, since for any solution with b.sub.2 =h.sub.2, b.sub.0 =h.sub.0 and b.sub.1 =1, there is no such solution with b.sub.2 =h.sub.2, b.sub.0 =h.sub.0 and b.sub.1 =0. Conversely, if there is such a solution with b.sub.1 =0 there are no such solutions with b.sub.1 =1. The system can thus use a table that has 2.sup.2M entries and is addressed by {b.sub.2, b.sub.0 }. The table produces roots y=r.sub.i, i=0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and the system then transforms the roots y=r.sub.i to the roots of .sigma.(x) by calculating x=.sigma..sup.-1 (y). To further reduce the overall table storage needs, the table may include in each entry four roots r.sub.i, i=0, 1, 2, 3, and the system then calculates the associated fifth root r.sub.4 by adding the stored roots. The size of the look-up table can be even further reduced by (i) segmenting the Galois Field (2.sup.M) into conjugate classes; (ii) determining which of the classes contain values of b.sub.0 that correspond to solutions of w(y) with five distinct roots; (iii) representing each of these classes, respectively, by a single value of b.sub.0 '=(b.sub.0).sup.2.spsp.k ; and (iv) including in the table for each class only those solutions that correspond to representative values of b.sub.0 '. The table then contains a relatively small number of sets of roots of each of the classes, with each set associated with a particular value of b.sub.2 '=b.sub.2.sup.2.spsp.k. The roots of w(y) are determined by finding the value of k that produces b.sub.0 ' and b.sub.2 ', entering the look-up table using {b.sub.0 ', b.sub.2 '}, raising the roots r.sub.i ' produced by the table to the power -2.sup.k to produce y=r.sub.i, and then transforming the result into the roots of .sigma.(x) by x=.sigma..sup.-1 (y).

Data stored on magnetic media, such as a magnetic disks, are typically stored in encoded form, so that errors in the stored data can possibly be corrected. The errors may occur, for example, because of inter-symbol interference, a defect in the disk, or noise. As the density of the data stored on the disk increases, more errors are likely, and the system is required to correct greater numbers of errors, which include greater numbers of burst errors. A burst error is typically defined as a contiguous number of symbols in which the first symbol and the last symbol are erroneous. The speed with which the system corrects the errors, including the burst errors, is important to the overall speed with which the system processes the data.
Prior to recording, multiple-bit data symbols are encoded using an error correction code (ECC). When the data symbols are retrieved from the disk and demodulated, the ECC is employed to, as the name implies, correct the erroneous data.
Specifically, before a string of k data symbols is written to a disk, it is mathematically encoded using an (n, k) ECC to form n-k ECC symbols. The ECC symbols are then appended to the data string to form an n-symbol error correction code word, which is then written to, or stored, on the disk. When the data are read from the disk, the code words containing the data symbols and ECC symbols are retrieved and mathematically decoded. During decoding, errors in the data are detected and, if possible, corrected through manipulation of the ECC symbols [for a detailed description of decoding see, Peterson and Weldon, Error Correction Codes, 2nd Ed. MIT Press, 1972].
To correct multiple errors in strings of data symbols, the system typically uses an ECC that efficiently and effectively utilizes the various mathematical properties of sets of symbols known as Galois fields. Galois fields are represented "GF (P.sup.M)", where "P" is a prime number and "M" can be thought of as the number of digits, base "P", in each element or symbol in the field. P usually has the value 2 in digital computer and disk drive applications and, therefore, M is the number of bits in each symbol. The ECC's commonly used with the Galois Fields are Reed Solomon codes or BCH codes.
There are essentially four major steps in decoding a corrupted code word of a high rate Reed-Solomon code or a BCH code. The system first determines error syndromes that are based on the results of a manipulation of the ECC symbols. Next, using the error syndromes, the system determines an error locator polynomial, which is a polynomial that has the same degree as the number of errors. The system then finds the roots of the error locator polynomial and from each root determines the location of an associated error in the code word. Finally, the system finds error values for the error locations.
The steps of determining the syndromes and finding the error locations are the most time consuming in the error correction process. This invention relates to the step of finding the error locations.
While "fast" methods for finding four or fewer errors are known, prior known systems find the error locations for degree-five error locator polynomials by performing a time consuming Chien search. The Chien search is a systematic trial and error approach that involves trying each element of the applicable Galois field as a root of the error locator equation. If the Galois Field is relatively large, the Chien search takes a long time, and thus, slows the error correction operation. An alternative to the Chien search is to use a lookup table that is entered with the coefficients of the error locator polynomial. To correct five errors, the associated lookup table is prohibitively large since it must include all possible distinct roots for the degree-five error locator polynomials. In GF(2.sup.M) the lookup table has (2.sup.M).sup.5 entries. For systems that use 8-bit symbols, the lookup table has (2.sup.8).sup.5 or 2.sup.40 entries, with each entry including five 8-bit roots of the error locator polynomial. For many systems, the lookup table takes up too much storage space. This is particularly true as larger Galois Fields are used to protect more data.


A semiconductor device includes a gate electrode on a substrate, a gate insulating film on the gate electrode, an oxide semiconductor film via the gate insulating film on the gate electrode, a source electrode and a drain electrode on the oxide semiconductor film, a protective film provided on the source electrode and the drain electrode; and a conductive layer provided on the protective film and overlapped on the oxide semiconductor layer. The protective film includes a first silicon oxide film and a first silicon nitride film. The first oxide film is in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer. The gate insulating film includes a second silicon nitride film and a second silicon oxide film. The second silicon oxide film is in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer. The oxide semiconductor layer has a first region located between the source electrode and the drain electrode in a plan view.

Conventionally, a transistor using silicon as a semiconductor layer is used with a display device such as a liquid crystal display device or an organic EL display device. In recent years, there are increasing demands for larger area, higher resolution, and higher frame rate in display devices, and efforts are actively making to meet these demands.
Recently, the development of the transistor using oxide semiconductor instead of silicon has been promoted. The transistor using oxide semiconductor is expected to be able to achieve high mobility (for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2016-184764 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2015-133482). Since the off-leakage current of the transistor using oxide semiconductor is very small, a leakage of electric charge from a holding capacitor is small, a display element can be driven at a low frequency, and a power consumption can be reduced.


A method for making an inorganic structure including:                (a) applying a photoreactive composition to a substrate, wherein the composition includes:                    a reactive species,            a photoinitiator system, and            a plurality of substantially inorganic colloidal particles, wherein the particles have an average particle size of less than about 300 nm;                        (b) photopatterning the composition to define a structure; and        (c) subjecting the structure to elevated temperature for a time sufficient to pyrolyze the reactive species and to at least partially fuse the particles.

Conventional approaches for preparing inorganic microstructures such as planar optical devices (e.g., optical waveguides) involve numerous time-consuming process steps and complex, expensive capital equipment. The most common methods of making waveguides consist of depositing the waveguide layers by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), or flame hydrolysis deposition (FHD). A typical process for waveguide fabrication begins with deposition of a low-index optical cladding layer on an optically-flat substrate. This layer can be annealed to consolidate it (FHD), or densify and stabilize it (PECVD). Next a higher-index optical core layer is deposited on top of the lower cladding layer; it is also typically annealed. To produce useful devices, this core layer must be patterned into ridges that will form the waveguides. The patterning is typically done by first depositing a thin layer of a slowly etching material on the core to act as an etch barrier. The etch barrier is then coated with photoresist, which must be subsequently soft baked, imaged via exposure to ultraviolet light in a mask aligner, chemically developed and hard baked. The photoresist image is transferred to the etch barrier via a first etch step, then transferred to the core material via a directional etching process such as reactive ion etching. Finally, the waveguide ridges are covered with a lower-index upper optical cladding layer, which can be annealed after deposition. Although excellent results can be achieved using vapor deposition and reactive ion etching techniques, the deposition and patterning processes are complex and relatively slow (the deposition and etching steps can each require several hours), and the equipment is expensive (the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and reactive ion etching(RIE) units alone each cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars). Thus, it is difficult to manufacture very low cost devices, especially in low volume.
Sol-gel methods for waveguide fabrication potentially allow the deposition of films for waveguide fabrication without the use of FHD or PECVD, using relatively simple and inexpensive spin or dip coating equipment. Furthermore, these materials can potentially be photosensitized and directly patterned using traditional lithography, thereby eliminating many process steps and the need for RIE equipment. Unfortunately, sol-gel fabrication of high-quality layers suitable for waveguides has proven extremely challenging. This is because of the difficulty of producing uniform, crack free films having appropriate thicknesses for waveguide structures (typically on the order of 6–10 microns). This difficulty is largely due to shrinkage that occurs as sol-gel films are dried or sintered. Consequently, using sol-gel processing for fabrication of inorganic devices with dimensions suitable for good mode matching to single mode or multi-mode optical fiber can be difficult.


An intelligent mobile station for use in a cellular telecommunications network. The mobile station comprises a microprocessor that controls the mobile station and enables the mobile station to interface with the cellular telecommunications network and to execute enhanced subscriber services; a script memory connected to the microprocessor which stores service script logic; and a data memory connected to the microprocessor for storing script-related data required for executing the service script logic. The mobile station may collect script-related data from the cellular telecommunications network and the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). The mobile station may also transmit to the cellular telecommunications network and the PSTN, instructions for executing the enhanced subscriber services.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cellular telecommunications networks and, more particularly, to an intelligent mobile station that stores, retrieves, and executes enhanced subscriber services in a cellular telecommunications network.
2. Description of Related Art
In modem telecommunication systems, it has become increasingly important for network operators to be able to provide their subscribers with enhanced subscriber services. These services may include the provision of an 800 Services Database, a Credit Card Verification Database, Geographic Call Routing, Incoming Call Routing, Multi-location Extension Dialing, Network Automatic Call Distribution, Flexible Call Routing, Flexible Carrier Selection, CLASS Calling Name Delivery Database, and others. In wireline telephone systems, such enhanced subscriber services may be provided through an Intelligent Network (IN) (e.g., Bellcore Advanced Intelligent Network (AN) or its CCITT/ITU equivalent: ITUms, CS-1, Q. 1200, etc.).
FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a typical wireline telecommunication system using an IN to provide enhanced subscriber services. The exemplary network in FIG. 1 utilizes a Bellcore AIN. The AIN 12 and its associated Signaling System Number 7 (SS7) protocol are described in the Bellcore recommendation, "TR-NWT-000246, Bell Communications Research Specification of Signaling System Number 7," which is incorporated by reference herein. A large number of Local Switches (LSs) 13a-n may be connected to a Service Switching Point/Tandem (SSP/T) 14 via multi-frequency IF) links 15. A "tandem", as used herein, may be a local, LATA, or access tandem. The LSs 13a-n provide connections for subscribers 16a-n into the telecommunications system 11. The AIN 12 uses a system of high speed telecommunications links known as a Common Channel Signaling (CCS) network which employs the standard SS7 signaling protocol to link all of the components of the AIN 12. Standard telephony diagrams, and FIG. 1 herein, indicate lifiks utilizing the SS7 signaing protocol as dotted lines and MF trunks as solid lines.
The components of the AIN 12 may include the SSP/T 14, one or more Signal Transfer Points (STPs) 18a-n which act as intermediate switching nodes, and one or more Service Control Points (SCPs) 19a-n. The SCPs 19 each contain a database of enhanced subscriber services which are accessed and controlled by a Service Logic Program (SLP). The SCP 19 currently utiiizes a standardized protocol known as Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) for coordination of functions. The current version of the protocol required for communication with the SCP 19 is TCAP/AMN Release 0.1. The SCP 19 is described in the Bellcore recommendation, "TA-NWT-001280, Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) Service Control Point (SCP) Generic Requirements," which is incorporated by reference herein. The SCP 19 acts as a repository for enhanced subscriber services which may be accessed by any one of the LSs 13a-n. In the past, each LS had to be individually upgraded with enhanced subscriber services. With the implementation of the AIN 12, and the required communications capabilities in the LSs, new enhanced services need only be added to the SCP 19.
As seen from the above description, intelligent networks have been developed strictly as wireline communication systems. The signaling protocol utilized for intelligent networks allows only for control of telephone network switching elements in response to queries originated by network switching elements. The fixed nature of installed wirelines limits the utilization of intelligent networks. Therefore, following the development of intelligent networks, it was recognized that it would be beneficial for wireless communication systems to be able to access the intelligent networks as well. Systems have been proposed that enable mobile telephone users to access intelligent networks and retrieve enhanced services from the SCP.
One such system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,331 to Emery et al. (Emery). Emery discloses an integrated wired and wireless communications network that utilizes a SCP in an AIN to store enhanced subscriber services. A mobility controller (MC) is provided to enable access by mobile subscribers in a cellular telecommunications network. The cellular telecommunications network includes a home location register (HLR) which includes a database of subscriber information including location information and subscriber profiles for mobile stations known by that HLR. In Emery, the HLR and the SCP communicate via the TCAP communications protocol.
A major problem with systems such as Emery which integrate wireless communication systems with the existing wireline AIN is that they require that the TCAP protocol be utilized for communication with the SCP and access to enhanced services. It is a very expensive and inefficient process for equipment suppliers in the cellular telecommunications industry to modify their equipment to utilize the TCAP protocol. In addition, the storing of enhanced services in a centralized SCP in a wireline AIN places restrictions on mobile stations and the freedom they have to access enhanced services in the cellular network. There is no known solution to the above mentioned deficiency and shortcoming of existing systems for providing mobile subscribers with enhanced subscriber services.
In another proposed cellular telecommunication system, the functionality of the SCP is implemented in the HLR. All intelligent processing required to deliver calls is performed within the cellular network, in the HLR/SCP. The HLR/SCP locates the subscriber, assesses the subscriber's availability to receive calls, and routes incoming calls to the subscriber's serving MSC. In addition, the HLR/SCP transfers calls to other numbers or locations if call delivery does not succeed on the first attempt or if enhanced services stored in the HLR/SCP direct such call diversion.
In all this process, the HLR/SCP is a controlling, centralized "brain" of the operation. The mobile station is a "slave" to this brain. As a result, if a subscriber desires a particular service that is tailored to the subscriber's individual needs or desires, he must wait for a service provider to implement the service in the HLRISCP. This could mean major delays for the subscriber, or the service may never be implemented at all.
It would be a distinct advantage to have a system which provides mobile subscribers with enhanced subscriber services and does not require access to the wireline AIN or modification of cellular equipment to utiiize the TCAP protocol. Additionally, it would be advantageous for the source of intelligent processing to be decentralized in the cellular network rather than concentrated in the HLR/SCP. This would provided greater freedom to subscribers to customize their own services and implement enhanced services when desired. The present invention provides such a system.

Intelligent mobile station for a cellular telecommunications network


The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, an information processing program, and a recording medium for said program, which are designed to facilitate the editing process and permit the recording medium to be used conveniently. The edit list editing unit 55 generates the edit list (which is information about the result of editing) according to information of various kinds which has been generated by editing in the clip data editing unit 54. The resulting edit list is stored in the memory unit 63. At this time, the edit list editing unit 55 generates the clip metadata for the edit list according to the clip metadata of the clips to be edited, which do not need to be in real time. The edit list editing unit 55 generates the discontinuous point of the LTC corresponding to the video data of the clip to be edited and also generates the conversion table for the frame number. The present invention will be applied to the assistance system for video program production.

It has recently become common practice to record video and audio data obtained by shooting in such a way that they are incorporated with additional information for their editing. (See, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-292421, pp. 14-15, FIG. 8.)
The additional information may be metadata such as LTC (Linear Time Code), which is recorded in a recording medium together with the video and audio data. The editor uses this LTC for editing, thereby searching video and audio data, synthesizing several clips into one cut, and determining the timing (frame) to join clips together. In this case, the result of the editing of video and audio data is the edit list which is controlled as a file separate from the original clip data.
In other words, the editing of video and audio data yields the bridge essence file which is information resulting from the editing of individual pieces of data. The bridge essence file functions as the edit list which is controlled for individual edit units. The bridge essence file is a file to reproduce the video and audio data of original clips according to the content of the edit list (which is the result of editing), and hence it contains information about the procedure for reproduction. Thus the edit list permits the user to reproduce the result of editing of video and audio data. In other words, the edit list permits the user to carry out the (non-destructive) editing work without updating the video and audio data in the original clips.
In the above-mentioned procedure, however, the LTC is processed in the same way as the video and audio data. A problem in this situation is that when one cut is produced from several clips, it is difficult to unify the LTC in that cut. For example, if the user is to produce one cut from several clips containing mutually independent LTCs, he has to do the following to unify the LTCs after editing. That is, the user adds the LTC to the clips by foreseeing their synthesis, or the user rewrites directly the LTC data contained in the original several clips.
Thus, the above-mentioned procedure would be inconvenient in the case where the user wants to carry out (non-destructive) editing, such as synthesis of clips, without affecting data in the original clips.
If there exist a plurality of clips corresponding to the results of each editing, then there exist also a plurality of files of metadata containing LTC because LTC is produced for each clip. Thus, if video and audio data are to be read by using the edit list, it is also necessary to read the file of metadata containing LTCs. The disadvantage of the procedure mentioned above is that it takes a long time with an increased load to reproduce video and audio data based on the results of editing.

Information processing device and method, program, and recording medium


A heat dissipation assembly of the present invention includes a printed circuit board (50), an electronic component (60) mounted on the printed circuit board, a heat dissipation device (70) mounted on the electronic component, four securing members (10) secured to the heat dissipation device and four positioning members (20) extend through the printed circuit board. The positioning members are covered over by four resilient members (30) disposed in the securing members. The positioning members pull the securing members toward the printed circuit board.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat dissipation assemblies, and more particularly to a heat dissipation assembly removing heat from an electronic component.
2. Description of Prior Art
Numerous modem electronic components such as central processing units (CPUs) of computers generate large amounts of heat during operation. The heat must be efficiently removed from the CPU; otherwise, abnormal operation or damage may result. Typically, a heat dissipation device is mounted on the CPU to remove heat therefrom.
Mostly, holes are defined in printed circuit boards (PCBs). Screws are inserted through the heat dissipation device and engaged within the holes of the PCB to mount the heat dissipation device to the CPU. However, attachment and detachment of the screws are unduly laborious. Furthermore, the PCB is prone to be deformed due to overloaded force on partial portions thereof.
For overcoming the above-mentioned problems, metal piece clips are developed. This kind of clip commonly has a M-shaped profile. The clip comprises a central pressing portion and a pair of engaging portions extending perpendicularly from the pressing portion. The pressing portion is for pressing the heat dissipation device toward the CPU. The engaging portions are for engaging with a socket or a retention module in order to secure the heat dissipation device and render the heat dissipation device to contact the CPU. Unfortunately, tools are required to have the engaging portions engaged with the socket or the retention module. Engagement and disengagement of the clip from the socket or the retention module are still unduly laborious. Furthermore, the heat dissipation device is prone to displace relative to the CPU. This adversely affects the heat conduct capability from the CPU to the heat dissipation device.


A state modulation method and an apparatus for inserting state control codes are provided. To overcome the problems of inefficient control on direct current and low frequency component in conventional state modulation techniques, the disclosed method inserts state control codes in a state modulation method to increase the probability for selection. With multi-level characteristics, the inserted state control codes can provide a plurality of sets of different signals for selection during coding. Thereby, the direct current and low frequency components can be well controlled.

A direct current and low frequency component of a considerable amount is usually included in the binary signals read from the data stored in the optical data storage medium. The direct current (DC) and low frequency component may interfere with the server control signals to the optical disk players and may further prevent the data in the optical disk from reading. Therefore, various modulation and storage technologies are developed to control the direct current and low frequency component included in the binary signals read from or written to the data stored in the optical data storage medium.
The multi-level technology is one of the high-capacity optical data storage technologies. The multi-level run length limited (ML-RLL) technology, due to the affinity to the current optical data storage technology, is easier to implement. In practice, the non-return to zero (NRZ) signal is first generated, and then the non-return to zero invert (NRZI) signal is extracted from the NRZ signal using the equation, NRZI[n+1]=mod(NRZI[n]+NRZ[n+1], level_number), where level_number is the number of levels in use.
FIG. 1 shows the NRZ signal, NRZI signal, and the changes of the digital sum value (DSV). As shown in FIG. 1, with level_number=3, the NRZI signal is at the LV0 level initially. When NRZ=2, the new NRZI signal becomes mod(0+2, 3)=2; therefore, the new NRZI signal is at LV2 level. Next, when NRZ=1, the new NRZI signal becomes mod(2+1, 3)=0; therefore, the new NRZI signal returns to LV0 level. When NRZ=1 again, the new NRZI signal becomes mod(0+1, 3)=1; therefore, the new NRZI signal becomes at LV1 level, and so on. For maintaining the good spectrum characteristics or simplifying the circuit design, it is necessary to define the maximum and the minimum number of consecutive zeros in the NRZ signal. The minimum and the maximum numbers, called the minimum and the maximum of the run length, are denoted as d and k, respectively. For example, (d,k)=(2,8) indicates that at least two consecutive zeros and at most eight zeros must exist between any two non-zero values of the NRZ signal.
To prevent modulated NRZI signal from affecting the low frequency server control signal, the conventional two-level modulation usually uses the digital sum of the NRZI signal obtained by control codes to reduce the low frequency component of the NRZI signal. Theoretically, the smaller the range of the changes of the digital sum, the smaller the low frequency component is. The digital sum of the two-level modulation is defined as the difference of the number of the digits of the NRZI signal at high level and the low level. In the multi-level modulation, a weight is assigned to each level. As shown in FIG. 1, the weight of the three-level NRZI signal is assigned as 1, 0, −1, from top to bottom. If the initial digital sum is 0, the changes of the digital sum at each time point are computed.
To modulate correct NRZ signal, the state modulation is one of the commonly adopted modulation methods. Its main feature is to perform state categorization on the RLL codewords that conform to the (d,k) constrain according to the leading or trailing zeros, and then generate a corresponding table based on the state categories. During modulation, in addition to selecting the corresponding codeword from the table according to the current state, it is necessary to find the state of the next codeword so that the modulation will not violate the (d,k) constrain.
In 2000, Lee disclosed, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,604,219, a method to write a multi-level data sequence into a storage medium. When retrieving the multi-level data sequence from the storage medium, the disclosed method can reduce the DC and the low frequency component of the read data. The method estimates a plurality of candidate merge symbols individually to determine the impact on the running digital sum of the read signal from each merge symbol, and selects the preferred merge symbol. The merge symbol is inserted into the multi-level data sequence to control the running digital sum (that is, the DC and the low frequency component) of the read signal. However, the method must increase the length of the merge symbol to entirely control the running digital sum of the signal. Furthermore, the merge symbol may be even longer for connecting codewords when taking the (d,k) constrain into account. All these will reduce the coding rate.
In 2003, Immink disclosed a high performance modulation method in the article "Efficient DC-Free RLL Codes for Optical Recording", appeared in IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 52, No. 3, March 2003. The method design a modulation table for ML3 m/n(d,k), where d=2 and k=8 are the minimum and the maximum of the running length, respectively, m=8 is the information word length, and n=11 is the codeword length. The actual number of levels of the signal is 3.
FIG. 2A shows a part of the ML3 8/11(2,8) modulation table according to the Immink method. As the table is too large, only a small part (user data 44 to 6 ) is selected for explanation. As shown in FIG. 2A, the modulation table includes three states (S1, S2, S3). The first and the second digits of the codewords belonging to the S1 are both 0. The first digit of the codewords belonging to the S2 is 0, and if the second digit is 0, the third digit must be "X". The first digit of the codewords belonging to S3 is "X". The "X" in LV3 can be either 1 or 2. S3 can be further classified as S30 and S31. That is, when the current state is S3, two corresponding codewords (S30, S31) can be found. The two codewords can be either the same or different. The codeword with the lower DC and low frequency component can be selected for output. In this modulation method, the power spectrum density (PSD) is about −3 dB at the standard frequency10−4.
On the other hand, when the current state is S1, it indicates that the trailing 0 of the previous codeword is at least zero. When the current state is S2, it indicates that the trailing 0 of the previous codeword is at least 1. When the current state is S30 or S31, it indicates that the trailing 0 of the previous code word is 2.
Regardless of the current state, the codeword CA and the next state SB can be found in the modulation table according to the user data UA and the current state SA. According to the next user data UB and the codeword belonging to SB, the next codeword CB can be found, and so on. This can complete the modulation of all the user data. In demodulation, because the CA of the state SA may appear more than once, it requires the next state SB to demodulate the UA. CA and the possible SB are listed in FIG. 2B. FIG. 2B shows a relationship diagram between CA and the next state SB in the ML3 8/11(2,8) modulation table.
The coding efficiency of the high performance method is as high as 95%. However, if the coding is based on its modulation table, the function of low frequency component control for the obtained NRZI signals does not meet the requirements of the users.

State modulation method and apparatus for inserting state control codes

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A first semiconductor laser element and a second semiconductor laser element are arranged on an identical block, a first electrode of the first semiconductor laser element is in direct contact with the block, and heat radiating effect is high. A second electrode of the second semiconductor laser element is arranged on an insulating dielectric layer, and the block and second semiconductor laser element are electrically insulated. Therefore, irrespective of the material to compose the block, the first semiconductor laser element and the second semiconductor laser element can be independently driven. In addition, the light emitting point distance between the first semiconductor laser element and second semiconductor laser element is limited only by the distance between the electrodes of the respective semiconductor lasers and the positions of light emitting points on the semiconductor laser chip end face and can, therefore, be made as short as possible.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor laser device and, more particularly, to a semiconductor laser device to be used as an optical disk light source of optical communications equipment or optical information equipment for DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs) and CDs (Compact Discs), etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in order to efficiently radiate heat generated during operation, a semiconductor laser is frequently fusion-bonded and fixed to a high-heat conductivity block. On the other hand, in order to realize a further downsizing of the semiconductor laser device, a semiconductor laser device is demanded which allows a plurality of light sources to be integrated into one package and, furthermore, allows a plurality of light sources to be mounted on one block so as to emit a plurality of laser beams. For example, in recent optical disk systems where light sources are used for reading and writing to CDs and DVDs, an infrared semiconductor laser with both a 780 nm-band wavelength region for CDs with a large light spot diameter and a red semiconductor laser with a 650 nm-band wavelength region for DVDs and having a small light spot diameter are integrated into one package. From the viewpoint of this optical pickup configuration, the light emitting point distance between these semiconductor lasers needs to be approximately 100 μm or less.
A technique for downsizing of semiconductor laser devices, is taught in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei-10-289468. This publication discloses a technique wherein two semiconductor lasers with different wavelengths are arranged side by side and unitized. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-11417 discloses a technique wherein a plurality of semiconductor lasers with different wavelengths are build into one chip.
In semiconductor laser devices according to such prior art, two electrodes, which are formed on an insulating block so as to be electrically insulated from each other, and a first semiconductor laser and a second semiconductor laser are arranged on said electrodes via solder or the like, respectively. By employing such a configuration, the first semiconductor laser and second semiconductor laser can each be independently driven on an identical block. Accordingly, it becomes possible to realize a structure wherein the light emitting point distance between these semiconductor lasers is limited only by the distance between two electrically insulated and independent electrodes and the positions of light emitting points on the semiconductor laser end face.
However, in a case where an insulating block or the like is used, material which can be used for this block or the like is restricted by quality and its physical properties. In addition, many materials which may be used for an insulating block or the like have low workability and are difficult to process. Furthermore, in a case where a photodiode for monitoring laser output is provided on an identical block or the like, this photodiode must be additionally mounted, and therefore, the number of components to be mounted on the block is increased, causing an increase in the number of manufacturing steps and manufacturing costs.
For example, as shown in FIG. 1, in a case where a semiconductor laser device is constructed without limitation in material of the insulating block, a dielectric layer 5 is formed on a block 101, and on this dielectric layer 5, a first electrode 61 and a second electrode 62 are formed in a mutually isolated manner, and then, a first semiconductor laser element 31 and a second semiconductor laser element 32 are arranged by joining on the first electrode 61 and second electrode 62 via solder 65, respectively. At this time, if the first electrode 61 and second electrode 62 are out of contact, the respective semiconductor laser element 31 and 32 will be electrically insulated and, therefore, can be independently driven. However, in the case of the semiconductor laser device of FIG. 1, the dielectric layer 5 is interposed between the block 101 and semiconductor laser elements 31 and 32. The dielectric layer 5 generally has low heat conductivity compared to other materials such as a semiconductor and a metal. Therefore, when a semiconductor laser whose heat generation during driving is great or whose heat radiation from its exposed surface is small and a semiconductor laser sensitive to a change in temperature are mounted on the dielectric layer, the temperature characteristics of the semiconductor lasers on this dielectric layer are considerably deteriorated.
On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei-5-82904 discloses a technique which provides, although this is a semiconductor laser device provided with a single semiconductor laser, a semiconductor block which functions as a heat radiating member and also as a semiconductor laser light output monitoring photodiode by utilizing an n-type semiconductor substrate for a semiconductor laser mounting block. In this prior art, by forming a p-type semiconductor on a part of the n-type semiconductor block surface, a function such as a photodiode can be provided by this block itself. In addition, on a second portion of the n-type semiconductor block surface a p-type semiconductor is formed, an n-type semiconductor layer is further mounted on this p-type semiconductor surface, and on this n-type semiconductor surface, a semiconductor laser is arranged via an electrode and solder.
Based on this prior art, a semiconductor block functions as a heat radiating member and as a light output monitoring photodiode, and thus a semiconductor laser device mounted with a plurality of semiconductor lasers can also be considered. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a p-type semiconductor layer 2 is formed on a part of the surface of an n-type semiconductor block 1, and on the surface of this p-type semiconductor layer 2, two n-type semiconductor layers 3 are formed in a mutually separated manner. Then, on one n-type semiconductor layer 3, a semiconductor laser element 31 is arranged via a first electrode 61 and solder 65. In addition, on the other n-type semiconductor layer 3, a second semiconductor laser element 32 is arranged via a second electrode 62 and solder 65. On the upper surface of the respective semiconductor laser elements 31 and 32, a semiconductor laser electrode 24 is formed.
In a semiconductor laser device with the aforementioned structure, the first semiconductor laser element 31 and second semiconductor laser element 32 are electrically insulated by an npn structure composed of one n-type semiconductor layer 3, the p-type semiconductor layer 2, and the other n-type semiconductor layer 3. Accordingly, the respective semiconductor laser elements 31 and 32 can be independently driven. In this semiconductor laser device as shown in FIG. 2, which is different from the semiconductor laser device shown in FIG. 1, because the semiconductor laser elements 31 and 32 are mounted on a semiconductor block higher in heat conductivity than the dielectric layer. Thus, no considerable deterioration in temperature characteristics of the respective semiconductor laser elements 31 and 32 occurs.
However, in the semiconductor laser device shown in FIG. 2, in order to maintain electrical insulating characteristics of the respective semiconductor laser elements 31 and 32, an npn structure must be formed. Therefore, for the light emitting point distance between these semiconductor laser elements 31 and 32, in addition to the distance between the first electrode 61 and second electrode 62 and the positions of light emitting points on the semiconductor laser end face, the distance between the n-type semiconductor layers 3 is determined by the size of the npn structure required for preventing conduction of the respective semiconductor laser elements 31 and 32. Accordingly, the light emitting point distance between the semiconductor laser elements 31 and 32 is unnecessarily expanded, and therein exists a problem.
On the other hand, a domestic republication WO00/04614 of a PCT international publication for patent application as the purpose of providing a semiconductor laser device which can realize an optical pickup capable of reading and writing information with respect to different optical disks by an assembling technique equivalent to that of a conventional optical pickup without increasing the number of components on a heat radiating block. This publication discloses a semiconductor laser device wherein first and second semiconductor laser elements are mounted on a heat radiating block so that, where the distance between an emerging light axis of the first semiconductor laser element and a condenser lens center axis is provided as d1, i.e. the distance between an emerging light axis of the second semiconductor laser element and a condenser lens center axis is provided as d2, and the distance between the emerging light axes of the first and second semiconductor laser elements is provided as L, wherein 0≦L≦d1+d2<160 μm.
Moreover, FIG. 3 shows a semiconductor laser device described in this publication, a sub-mount 132 is mounted on a heat radiating block 131 and semiconductor lasers 133 and 134 are mounted on the heat radiating block 131 and on the sub-mount 132, respectively, so that emerging light axes 135 and 136 of the respective semiconductor lasers become identical in the level of height. Furthermore, a distance therebetween is thus made into a minimum value so as to restrain the distance between the emerging light axes to be a desirable 160 μm or less.
Moreover, in this prior art, for the reason that a light output monitoring photodiode can be formed on the sub-mount, a silicon semiconductor is particularly preferable.
However, in this prior art, no concrete means for enhancing heat radiation characteristics of semiconductor laser elements to be mounted or no concrete means for improving temperature characteristics of semiconductor laser elements is disclosed.


A method and apparatus for passively shimming a magnet. A magnetic field produced by the magnet is measured and modeled in the form of a Legendre polynomial expansion having a predetermined number of harmonic terms. The degree of non-homogeneity in the measured field is determined by examining the harmonic terms. A shim is then designed to correspond to a magnitude change of a harmonic term of the polynomial expansion in order to improve the homogeneity of the magnetic field. A metal plate is connected to or placed near a pole of the magnet, the shim is placed against the metal plate, and a plastic plate is attached to the metal plate such that the shim is held in place in a predetermined location against the metal plate.

Magnetic resonance imaging ("MRI") is one of the most versatile and fastest growing modalities in medical imaging. As part of the MRI process, the subject patient is placed in an external magnetic field. This field is created by a magnet assembly, which may be closed or open. Open magnet assemblies have two spaced-apart magnet poles separated by a gap, and a working magnetic field volume located within the gap.
The diagnostic quality of images produced by MRI is directly related to several system performance characteristics. One very important consideration is the uniformity, or homogeneity, of the main magnetic field. In order to produce high-resolution images, the magnetic field produced in the MRI scanner must be maintained to a very high degree of uniformity. However, an MRI magnet initially produces a field that is usually less uniform than that required to image successfully. At some point after manufacture, the magnet assembly must be adjusted to produce a more uniform field.
A process known as shimming is used to improve the homogeneity of the magnetic field to the necessary levels by making small mechanical and/or electrical adjustments to the overall field. Mechanical adjustments are called passive shimming, while electrical adjustments are known as active shimming. Electrical adjustments are effective because electrical current passing through a wire will produce a magnetic field around that wire. When these wires are formed into coils, the strength, direction, and shape of the magnetic field produced can be controlled by adjusting the physical and electrical parameters of the coils. Placing these coils in strategic locations as secondary magnetic field sources has the effect of adding to or subtracting from the main magnetic field in localized regions as well as over the entire pole surface, affecting the overall homogeneity of the main field. While the use of these "shim coils" has allowed the homogeneity of the main MRI magnetic field to be greatly improved, there are numerous drawbacks associated with their use.
For example, the electric current in the shim coils may be unstable, resulting in an overall instability in the main magnetic field. This instability may cause "ghosting" in the MR images. Ghosting is an interference phenomenon that appears at periodic intervals along the phase axis. These errors are unacceptable to any radiologist, who may confuse the correct position of the patient's anatomic elements, possibly resulting in an incorrect diagnosis.
Further, shim coils are temperature sensitive. Variations in the temperature of the individual coils can cause instabilities in the main magnetic field, resulting in image artifacts. In addition, the currents used to produce the magnetic fields in the shim coils require complicated electronic circuits, such as voltage and current regulators and current amplifiers, to maintain stability. The shim coil can become inoperable when one or more of these electronic components breaks or goes out of tolerance. Even when all the electronic components are working properly, this type of active shimming adds expense and complexity to the overall MRI system. Passive shimming avoids adding complexity to the MRI system, but instead makes manufacture of the magnets more complicated, usually by requiring the custom physical modification of the magnet core components, such as shim bars, while adjusting the uniformity of the field produced by the newly-manufactured magnet.

Method for passive control of magnet hemogeneity


This disclosure provides a network apparatus with communication ports, each connected to multiple channels, assigned a seed for eliminating the interference among the communication ports, and operable in a master or slave mode, each channel having a communication unit which comprises: an echo canceller, a near-end crosstalk (NEXT) canceller, a decision feedback equalizer, and a control unit configured for controlling the communication ports if the echo canceller and the decision feedback equalizer keep updating their filter coefficients according to the same symbol during a first pre-determined time-interval; wherein when more than two of the communication ports operate in the master mode, the control unit assigns different seeds to the more than two communication ports; and wherein when successive two of the communication ports operate in the slave mode, the control unit stops either the echo canceller or the NEXT canceller from updating their filter coefficients during a second pre-determined time-interval.

In the conventional communication system, the Farrow structure is usually used to process the interpolating calculation during the interference cancellation of cross clock domain, so as to transform corresponding data among different clock domains. In the art, the Farrow structure is a polynomial-based interpolation filter which can alleviate the complexity of the interpolating calculation. However, the application of the polynomial approximation would lead to an inevitable computational errors or bias. In general the maximum computational error will appear when the phase angle is at 180 degrees. Also, as the clocks of input and output data get closed to each other, the Farrow structure would have a downgrading performance and the computational error would rise up. In particular, when the two clocks are almost the same for the input and output data, a correcting computation to obtain interpolated data having 180-degree phases is extremely impossible from a Farrow-structure scheme.
For example, in the application of HDMI Ethernet channel, due to the feature of bi-direction transmission in a single cable, interference may arise from the incoming signals and the echo of the outgoing signals. In the art, an echo canceller is usually introduced to perform the cancellation of the echoes. Because a small clock difference of less than about 200 ppm may exist between the opposing ends of the HDMI Ethernet channel, the data at the local transmitter end needs to undergo clock domain switching to transform its clock domain into that of the data at the local receiver end, and then the echo canceller can be applied to depress the possible echoes according to the clock domain of the receiver end. Here, if the Farrow structure is introduced to process the clock domain switching, the interpolating accuracy would be poor due to the clock difference between the transmitter end and the receiver end. Thus, to obtain a satisfied computational precision from the Farrow structuring, a high-order polynomial is inevitable, but trade-off is a large number of taps in the Farrow structure. As a result, the computational complexity is high and the time delay in signaling is usually prolonged.
In a network apparatus with multiple communication ports, one port is often interfered by the other one. For example, to reduce the production cost, a transformer of a multi-port switch often has coils of two or four ports wrapped together in the same element. The internal coils of the transformer make signals interfere with each other, and this would downgrade signaling performance due to interference between the neighboring ports. Therefore, it is in need to develop a new technique to eliminate the cross-clock-domain interference between different communication ports in a network apparatus.

Network apparatus with multiple communication ports


An ornamental sound music module for a balloon has an ornamental suitably raised face with a peripheral lip or flange. A backer board is adhered to the rear of the ornamental face creating a housing. A central aperture is within the backer board with an annular support rim for supporting the outer disc portion of a piezoelectric buzzer in a firm manner to encourage the central regions of the buzzer to generate optimum music. A circuit board is contained within the housing and is connected to the buzzer by wires. The backer board suitably has an adhesive to allow the ornamental sound module to be affixed to a metalized nylon film balloon.

This invention claims priority to provisional application No. 60/692,745, filed Jun. 22, 2005, entitled ORNAMENTAL SOUND MODULE FOR A BALLOON, and relates to metalized nylon film balloons, and more particularly, to an ornamental sound module for such balloons.
Music modules with various ways of affixation in and onto balloons are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,638,207; 4,704,934; 4,823,907; 5,108,338; 6,482,065; 6,821,183 and Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0138120.
Problems with these music modules in combination with balloons renders them too expensive for general commercialization, technically too complex and often too heavy for a helium filled balloon which is designed to float.


A hydrocyclone (10) is disclosed which includes an internal conical separation chamber (15) which extends axially from a first end to a second end of relatively smaller cross-sectional area than the first end. The separation chamber (15) includes at least one gas inlet device (60) which comprises a plurality of openings in the form of a series of elongate slits (82) arranged in a spaced-apart relationship from one another around an interior circumferential wall (80) of the gas discharge chamber (74). In use the slits (82) are arranged for admission of gas into the separation chamber (15) at a region located between the first and second ends.

Hydrocyclones are used for separating suspended matter carried in a flowing liquid, such as a mineral slurry, into two discharge streams by creating centrifugal forces within the hydrocyclone as the slurry passes through a conical shaped chamber. Basically, hydrocyclones include a conical separating chamber, a feed inlet which is usually generally tangential to the axis of the separating chamber and is disposed at the end of the chamber of greatest cross-sectional dimension, an underflow outlet at the smaller end of the chamber, and an overflow outlet at the larger end of the chamber.
The feed inlet is adapted to deliver the slurry into the hydrocyclone separating chamber, and the arrangement is such that the heavy (for example, denser and coarser) matter tends to migrate towards the outer wall of the chamber and towards and out through the centrally located underflow outlet. The lighter (less dense or finer particle sized) material migrates towards the central axis of the chamber and out through the overflow outlet. Hydrocyclones can be used for separation by size of the suspended solid particles or by particle density. Typical examples include solids classification duties in mining and industrial applications.
For enabling efficient operation of hydrocyclones the internal geometric configuration of the larger end of the chamber where the feed material enters, and of the conical separating chamber are important. In normal operation such hydrocyclones develop a central air column, which is typical of most industrially-applied hydrocyclone designs. The air column is established as soon as the fluid at the hydrocyclone axis reaches a pressure below the atmospheric pressure. This air column extends from the underflow outlet to the overflow outlet and simply connects the air immediately below the hydrocyclone with the air at the top. The stability and cross-sectional area of the air core is an important factor in influencing the underflow and overflow discharge condition, to maintain normal hydrocyclone operation.
During normal "stable" operation, the slurry enters through an upper inlet of a hydrocyclone separation chamber in the form of the inverted conical chamber to become separated cleanly. However, the stability of a hydrocyclone during such an operation can be readily disrupted, for example by collapse of the air core due to overfeeding of the hydrocyclone, resulting in an ineffective separation process, whereby either an excess of fine particulates exit through the lower outlet or coarser particulates exit through the upper outlet. If coarser particles report in the overflow stream, it will be detrimental to the downstream classification processes.
Another form of unstable operation is known as "roping", whereby the rate of solids being discharged through the lower outlet increases to a point where the flow is impaired. If corrective measures are not timely adopted, the accumulation of solids through the outlet will build up in the separation chamber, the internal air core will collapse and the lower outlet will discharge a rope-shaped flow of coarse solids.
Unstable operating conditions can have serious impacts on downstream processes, often requiring additional treatment (which, as will be appreciated, can greatly impact on profits) and also result in accelerated equipment wear. Hydrocyclone design optimisation is desirable for a hydrocyclone to be able to cope with changes to the composition and viscosity of input slurry, changes in the flowrate of fluid entering the hydrocyclone, and other operational instabilities.


A resistive fault location method and apparatus are used on communication and power cables. Two instruments are connected to opposite ends of the faulted conductor. Each takes a series of voltage and current measurements that are then processed to determine the distance from each end of the conductor to the fault. To eliminate voltage and current transients, the data collected is statistically analyzed and data that is analyzed as being affected by transients is discarded. The remaining data is taken as being steady state data. This eliminates any requirement for simultaneous measurements at opposite ends of the conductor and accounts for any situation where local transients at the two ends of the conductor are different at any given instant.

Communication and power cables, which operate exposed to the environment, often develop faults between the insulated conductors or between the metallic shields or armor and earth. Locating and repairing damage to communication and power cables presents a particular challenge when certain types of fault develop. A conductor to conductor or conductor to ground fault caused by moisture is particularly difficult to locate. This type of fault tends to be erratic, with the ohmic value of the fault resistance changing with applied voltage and polarity over time. The unpredictable and electrically noisy nature of such faults makes fault locating using simple loop measurements from the ends of the faulted conductor(s) ineffective.
A measurement method and device to address this problem is described by Vokey et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,469. The patent details a method whereby instruments are placed at both ends of the faulted conductor(s). A series of simultaneous measurements are then carried out by carefully synchronizing the instruments such that the voltage and current readings are recorded at both ends at the same instant. The instrument at the remote end transmits its measurement data to the first instrument for computation. The conductor resistances are then calculated as follows: ##EQU1## Where: V.sub.a is the voltage at end a, l.sub.a is the current at end a;
V.sub.b is the voltage at end b, l.sub.b is the current at end b;
i is the ith simultaneous measurement; and
N is the number of simultaneous measurements.
A fundamental limitation exists in this method. The simultaneous measurement of the voltage and current at the conductor ends assumes that steady state conditions will predictably exist at both ends at the same instant.
In practical applications such as locating damage to the plastic and steel protective outer jacket on buried fiber optic communication cables, the conductor ends can be 100 km or more apart. At these distances the series resistance and parallel capacitance to ground of the protective steel armor gives rise to transmission line phase delays. Disturbances along the conductor from external electrical influences such as power lines or telluric earth currents affect the ends of the conductors differently at different times. These disturbances coupled with time delays result in different transient voltage and current conditions at different times at the conductor ends. These transient voltages can introduce measurement errors at the precise time of the simultaneous measurements.
The present invention is concerned with a determination of the distance to a conductor fault without the inherent susceptibility to errors caused by transient voltages and other electrical disturbances.

Method and apparatus for locating resistive faults in communication and power cables