The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire with a built-in sealant layer comprised of a depolymerized butyl rubber based sealant precursor. The butyl rubber of the built-in sealant precursor composition is depolymerized in situ within the tire with an activated free radical generating organoperoxide. The organoperoxide is activated with a 2,2,6,6-tetra alkyl piperidine hindered amine. Representative of such hindered amines are, for example, a poly[[6-[1,1,3,3,-tetramethylbutyl)amino]-s-triazine-2,4-diyl][2,2,6,6,-tetramethyl-4-piperidyl)imino]hexamethylene[(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidyl)imino]] compound. The sealant layer, if desired, may be of a color which contrasts with black. For such purpose the sealant layer may contain a colorant of a non-black color to a substantial exclusion of carbon black. The butyl rubber-based sealant precursor is built into the tire as a layer to form a tire assembly wherein the butyl rubber-based composite portion of the sealant precursor layer is at least partially depolymerized by a said activated organoperoxide during a subsequent curing of the tire at an elevated temperature in a suitable mold to form the tire having the resultant built-in sealant layer. The sealant composition may additionally contain conventional clay, exfoliated intercalated clay platelets and/or calcium carbonate.

Various pneumatic tires have been proposed which contain a built-in sealant layer based upon a depolymerized butyl rubber layer.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,610 it is proposed to build a layer of butyl rubber-based composition into a tire which contains a polyisobutylene polymer and an organoperoxide, following which under a condition of elevated temperature used to cure the tire, a major portion of the butyl rubber is presented as being depolymerized to form a tacky material which has puncture sealant properties.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,228,839, 4,171,237 and 4,140,167 also relate to a sealant layer in a tire formed by depolymerizing and crosslinking a butyl rubber-based rubber composition, particularly by irradiation treatment.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0034799 A1 relates to a tire with built-in sealant comprised of a partially depolymerized butyl rubber via an organoperoxide which contains a dispersion of particulate pre-cured rubber particles.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/368,259, filed Feb. 17, 2003, relates to a tire with built-in sealant comprised of a partially depolymerized butyl rubber via an organoperoxide which contains a particulate filler comprised of carbon black and/or coal dust and, optionally short fibers, hollow glass microspheres and rubber processing oil wherein the sealant may also contain a liquid diene-based polymer.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0034799 A1 relates to a self sealing tire containing a sealing material which may be contained within the tire and which may be comprised of a thermally degraded butyl rubber with an organic peroxide and containing a reinforcing filler.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0113502 A1 relates to a tire with a built-in colored sealant layer.
Additional patents which relate to various tire constructions which may involve built-in or built-on sealants for tires such as for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,239,291, 2,877,819, 3,048,509, 3,563,294, 4,206,796, 4,286,643, 4,359,078, 4,444,294, 4,895,610, 4,919,183 and 4,966,213.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 6,767,937 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0087998 A1 relate to various 2,2,6,6-tetra alkyl piperidine hindered amines for use in stabilizing various cellulose ester based polymer coatings and films (said U.S. Pat. No. 6,767,937) and for light stabilizing various thermoplastic organic polymers selected from polyolefins and copolymers and blends thereof (said U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0087998 A1).
In one aspect, the various built-in sealant layers for the pneumatic tires which are derived from a depolymerization of a butyl rubber-based sealant precursor composition typically contain a rubber reinforcing carbon black filler and are therefore black in color.
For this invention, it is desired to provide a built-in sealant layer for a pneumatic tire which is derived from a depolymerization of a butyl rubber-based sealant precursor composition which is of a black color (resulting from an inclusion of carbon black) or a color other than black (resulting from an inclusion of a colorant with a minimal, if any carbon black content), where the sealant of other than black color may be used as an aid to identify a puncture wound in a carbon black reinforced innerliner, tread and/or sidewall of said tire, depending somewhat upon the position of the built-in sealant layer, because of its contrasting color. Therefore, in one aspect, it is envisioned that such a non-black colored sealant layer is substantially exclusive of carbon black and particularly substantially exclusive of a rubber reinforcing carbon black. By the term "substantially exclusive of" carbon black it is intended that only a minimal amount, preferably none, of carbon black is present such as, for example, an impurity amount (e.g. less than about 0.1 phr) of carbon black, alternately an amount of up to about 2, preferably less than about 0.5, phr of carbon black, may be present so long as the sealant layer is of a color other than black and preferably contrasting with black colored (carbon black reinforcement containing) tire components which adjoin the built in sealant layer such as, for example, a tire innerliner component.
In practice, built-in sealants for tires based upon organoperoxide depolymerized butyl rubber have heretofore, in general, relied upon containing rubber reinforcing carbon black to provide a degree of reinforcement and thereby a suitable rubber viscosity to enable the sealant precursor composition to be conveniently processable both by formation into a suitable rubber sheet whether by extrusion or calendering and, also, by handling to build a sheet, or layer, of the sealant precursor composition into a tire assembly. Further, the presence of the rubber reinforcing carbon black is relied upon to provide a suitable viscosity of the built-in sealant in order to promote the stability of the sealant composition.
However, for this invention, synthetic, amorphous silica (aggregates of primary silica particles), preferably in the form of a precipitated silica, may be used as a primary reinforcing filler for the butyl rubber-based sealant precursor composition instead of rubber reinforcing carbon black where it is desired that the built in sealant is of a color other than of a black color.
In another aspect of the invention, a portion of the precipitated silica may be replaced by fillers such as, for example, clay, for example kaolin clay and calcium carbonate for which, therefore, the butyl rubber-based sealant precursor may contain one or more of such additional fillers in addition to the precipitated silica.
Significant challenges are presented in the use of the synthetic, amorphous silica, particularly precipitated silica, as well as the inclusion of the aforesaid additional fillers.
For example, contrary to rubber reinforcing carbon black, such precipitated silica, (e.g. precipitated silica aggregates of primary silica particles), normally contains a significant presence of water of hydration, and/or water of association on its surface as well as a significant presence of hydroxyl groups (e.g. silanol groups). The clay and calcium carbonate may also contain an associated water moiety.
While the mechanism may not be fully understood, it is envisioned that at least a portion of such water, and possibly a portion of such hydroxyl groups, is available to prematurely decompose the organoperoxide intended to be used to depolymerize the butyl rubber in the sealant precursor composition.
It is considered herein that such premature decomposition of the organoperoxide, whether by presence of the water of hydration and/or association or by the presence of the hydroxyl groups, may adversely affect the free radical generating activity of the organoperoxide for a timely depolymerization of the butyl rubber after the sealant precursor layer is built into the tire assembly and the tire is cured at an elevated temperature. Such prematurely formed free radicals may become associated with the silica, and possibly the clay and calcium carbonate, rather than be involved with the desired depolymerization of the butyl rubber. It is further envisioned that if excess organoperoxide is added to allow for such premature decomposition, a portion of such excess organoperoxide may later or otherwise gradually become available to interact with associated rubber layers of the tire assembly, or construction, adjacent to the built-in sealant.
In order to inhibit, retard and/or significantly prevent significant contact of such water moieties and hydroxyl groups of the amorphous silica aggregates with the organoperoxide, the synthetic amorphous silica may be treated in situ within the rubber composition prior to addition of the organoperoxide, or may be pre-treated prior to its addition to the rubber composition with a low molecular weight polyalkylene oxide polymer, which might sometimes be referred to as a polyalkylene glycol; with an alkylsilane, a coupling agent having a moiety reactive with the hydroxyl groups on the silica and another moiety which is normally interactive with carbon-to-carbon double bonds of an elastomer or by a combination of alkylsilane (e.g. alkoxysilane) and coupling agent.
An important aspect of this invention is providing a pneumatic tire with a built-in black or non-black colored sealant layer positioned (sandwiched) between dimensionally stable sulfur vulcanized rubber layers (e.g. between a tire inner liner rubber layer and tire carcass) which promotes sealing against an externally puncturing object to prevent, or significantly retard, leakage of gas (e.g. air) from the tire cavity through the puncture to the outside of the tire by allowing the pressure within the tire cavity (air pressure greater than ambient atmospheric pressure) to press the sealant against the puncturing object or the cavity caused by the puncturing object.
In the description of this invention, the term "phr" is used to designate parts by weight of an ingredient per 100 parts of elastomer unless otherwise indicated. The terms "elastomer" and "rubber" are used interchangeably unless otherwise indicated. The terms "cure" and "vulcanize" are used interchangeably unless otherwise indicated.

Pneumatic tire with depolymerized butyl rubber-based built-in sealant prepared with activated organoperoxide


A compiler method analyzes a program listing to identify a first set of subroutines therein, each of which accepts a variable number of arguments, converting the first set of subroutines into further sets of subroutines which accept fixed numbers of arguments. The method includes the steps of: locating subroutines in the program listing which accept a variable number of arguments and identifying which thereof comprise a first set of subroutines that can be altered to a form which accepts a fixed number of arguments; for each subroutine identified as part of the first set, determining call sites which pass arguments to each subroutine and determining a number and kind of said arguments to be passed therefrom; partitioning call sites to each subroutine of the first set into one or more groups, each group comprising call sites which pass an identical number and kind of arguments to an associated subroutine of said first set; duplicating each subroutine of said first set into plural second sets of N corresponding subroutines, wherein N is equal to the number of groups associated with the subroutine of the first set, and revising each one of said N corresponding subroutines to receive a number of fixed arguments to be passed by call sites partitioned into an associated group; and substituting in the program listing the N corresponding subroutines and revising call sites in each group to refer to an associated one of said N corresponding subroutines.

Many programming languages provide a mechanism for indicating that a subroutine can accept a varying number of arguments at run time. For example, the C and C++ languages provide a mechanism commonly known as "varargs". Hereafter, the term "varargs" subroutine will be used to refer to a subroutine in any source language with this property. The C subroutine "printargs", shown below is an example of such a subroutine:
______________________________________ void printargs(int arg.sub.-- cnt, . . . ) int i; va.sub.-- list pvar; va.sub.-- start (pvar, arg.sub.-- cnt); for (i = 0; i < arg.sub.-- cnt; i++) { printf("arg[%d] = %d.backslash.n", i, va.sub.-- arg(pvar, int)); } va.sub.-- end(pvar); } ______________________________________
For those not familiar with the C language, the possible sequences of statements in the above subroutine is illustrated in FIG. 1. The subroutine "printargs" as shown therein, may be called at call sites which pass different numbers of integer-valued arguments to the subroutine (as in the sample calls shown below). A call site syntax provides the name of the called subroutine, followed by a first argument which defines the number of arguments to be passed by the call, followed by the argument(s) themselves:
______________________________________ CALL SITE EFFECT WHEN CALLED ______________________________________ 1: printargs(0); (none) 2: printargs(1,142); arg[0] = 142 3: printargs(2,11,-22); arg[0] = 11 arg[1] = -22 4: printargs(1,99); arg[0] = 99 ______________________________________
A subroutine in C is described by a signature and a body. The signature is the first line of the subroutine, and describes the name of the subroutine, the return value of the subroutine, and the number, name, and type of each subroutine argument. For instance, the following signature EQU int abc(int a, char b, double c )
describes a routine named "abc" which requires exactly three arguments from each caller. The first argument "a" must be of integer type (i.e., "int"), the second argument "b" of character type (i.e., "char"), and the third argument "c" of double-precision floating-point type (i.e., "double"). Additionally, the subroutine abc returns a value of integer type to the caller.
Signatures, such as the one above that precisely specify the number and type of arguments the caller must pass, are called "fixedarg" signatures, and subroutines with such signatures are called "fixedarg subroutines". A fixedarg signature specifically identifies each argument that will be used by the fixedarg subroutine and enables the subroutine to refer to the argument by "name".
The signature is followed by a sequence of program statements which make up the body of the subroutine. The body encompasses all statements between an opening brace { and a closing brace }. The arguments named in the signature may be referred to (or accessed) in the body by using the argument name.
In the printargs subroutine (as shown in FIG. 1), the signature is: EQU void printargs(int arg.sub.-- cnt, . . . )
Such a signature indicates, by means of an ellipsis ". . . " in the argument description, that the subroutine will accept a varying number of arguments from its callers; that is, it is a varargs subroutine. It also names a single fixed argument of integer type which is required to be passed by all callers. In this case there is no name that refers to the other arguments. To determine the value of those arguments in the body of the subroutine, the programmer must employ special program statements. Those statements are "va.sub.-- start", "va.sub.-- arg", and "va.sub.-- end". "Va.sub.-- start" is an instruction to start with a first argument; "va.sub.-- arg" is an instruction to move to a next argument; and "va.sub.-- end" indicates that the subroutine is finished. Each appearance of one of these constructs in the subroutine body is termed a varargs access.
As shown in FIG. 1, the printargs subroutine commences at Block 1 with an integer count set to 0 and a test is made to determine if the count is less than the argument count indicated by the call. If yes, a next argument is accessed that has been passed from the call site and the procedure of the subroutine operates thereupon (Block 2). The integer count is incremented and if still less than the argument count, the procedure repeats with a next argument. Otherwise, the procedure ends (Block 3).
Calls to varargs subroutines often require more processing than calls to equivalent fixedarg subroutines, because the number of arguments is unknown (as is their type) and so may need to be moved from locations specified by the caller into locations expected by the callee. For instance, compilers for the Hewlett-Packard 700 and 800 series work stations use an extra instruction sequence known as an "argument relocation stub" that is interposed between caller and callee to move each varargs argument. The execution of these extra instructions makes a call to a varargs subroutine slower than a call to an equivalent fixedarg subroutine,
Varargs subroutines can limit the effectiveness of interprocedural optimizations. For example, it is impossible to directly insert a varargs subroutine inline in a code listing, because inlining requires that each argument reference in the callee be identified with a particular argument in the caller. Varargs subroutines also do not allow accurate per-parameter information to be collected during interprocedural analysis.
Accordingly, there is a need for a compile procedure which improves the execution time of a program that includes vararg subroutines. Further, such a compile method, in replacing vararg subroutines with fixedarg subroutines, should avoid untoward code growth.

Method for conversion of a variable argument routine to a fixed argument routine


Devices and systems for determining fractional flow reserve. In at least one embodiment of a device for determining fractional flow reserve of a fluid within a luminal organ, the device comprises an elongated body sized and shaped to fit within a luminal organ, and at least two sensors positioned along the elongated body a predetermined distance from one another, wherein the device is operable to detect a first fluid with a first parameter having a first value using at least one of the at least two sensors when the device is positioned within the luminal organ, and wherein the device is further operable to detect a second fluid having a second parameter, wherein the second parameter of the second fluid has a second value different from the first value, upon introduction of the second fluid within the luminal organ at or near the at least two sensors, and wherein the device is further operable to determine fractional flow reserve when the device is positioned within the luminal organ at or near a stenosis, wherein the fractional flow reserve is based upon a flow velocity obtained by the device, a mean aortic pressure within the luminal organ, and at least one cross-sectional area at or near the stenosis.

Coronary heart disease remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States and the developed world. Although the current "gold standard" for assessing coronary artery disease (CAD) is angiography, it has serious limitations in evaluating the functional significance of intermediate coronary lesions (comprising 30-70% stenosis). Coronary angiography relies on a visual interpretation of coronary anatomy. A number of studies have documented the large intra- and inter-observer variability that results from visual grading of coronary stenotic lesions. Moreover, studies have shown a lack of correlation between the angiographic delineated stenosis with their physiologic severity on coronary flow. This stems from the highly non-linear relation between the degree of stenosis and the change in blood flow. Typically, the blood flow remains unchanged until the degree of stenosis reaches a critical range (typically >80%), at which point the decrease in flow is quite dramatic. Lesions that are not functionally significant (i.e., do not reduce the flow) may not need treatment. Hence, there is a need for complementary methods to conventional coronary arteriograms that combine coronary anatomy and physiology to assess CAD accurately.
Blood vessel diameter or cross-sectional area gives anatomic measures of stenosis severity. Coronary blood flow, on the other hand, reflects coronary hemodynamic function and can be used to assess functional severity of stenosis through parameters such as coronary flow reserve (CFR) and fractional flow reserve (FFR). CFR, defined as the ratio of hyperemic (induced by pharmacological agents) to resting flow in a coronary artery. It has been previously found that a significant stenosis leading to inducible ischemia occurs when CFR has a value less than 2.0. Normally, the coronary circulation has a flow reserve of 3-5 times that of normal resting blood flow. This reserve stems from the tone of small blood vessels (microvascular bed). In disease, the microvascular bed dilates and uses some of its reserve to compensate for the pressure drop to the stenosis. Hence, a low CFR value can characterize disease in the epicardial arteries or the distal resistive microvascular bed.
CFR can be estimated from hyperemic and resting blood velocities measured by a Doppler guidewire. This method is based on the principle of Doppler which requires that the piezo-electric crystal to be at a specific angle to the flowing blood. Since this condition is very difficult to meet in clinical practice as the tip of the wire is difficult to align with the direction of flow, the measurements are not reliably accurate and this method has not enjoyed clinical utility. Recent developments have introduced methods and systems for accurate determination of cross-sectional area of blood vessels including coronary arteries. Simultaneous measurements of cross-sectional area and flow (including CFR) would provide a clinician with a greater insight in the contribution of the epicardial vessel and microvasculature to total resistance to myocardial blood flow.
In summary, there are well-known limitations to the use of visual estimation to assess the severity of coronary artery disease and luminal stenosis. This is especially true in the case of intermediate coronary lesion where coronary angiography is very limited in distinguishing ischemia-producing intermediate coronary lesions from non-ischemia-producing ones. For this reason, a functional measure of stenosis severity is desirable. Previous devices involving Doppler flow wires also have serious limitations as referenced above. Hence, there is clearly a need for a simple, accurate, cost effective solution to determination of coronary blood flow in routine practice.


A data storage device that includes a controller and a non-volatile memory may perform a method that includes comparing, in the controller, first parameter values of a first group of parameter values to second parameter values of a second group of parameter values. The second parameter values of the second group of parameter values are associated with a scheduled non-volatile memory operation. The first parameter values correspond to parameter values that are in the non-volatile memory. The method includes sending, from the controller to the non-volatile memory, a parameter value of the second group in response to determining that the parameter value differs from a corresponding parameter value of the first group.

Non-volatile memory is used in data storage devices such as universal serial bus (USB) flash memory devices or removable storage cards, as well as in data storage devices in computers, servers, electronics, and telecommunications, as illustrative examples. As non-volatile memory ages with passage of time and use of the non-volatile memory, physical and/or electrical characteristics of the non-volatile memory may change as compared to a beginning-of-life condition of the non-volatile memory. Parameters such as read voltages and programming pulse lengths may be adjusted to accommodate the changing characteristics of the non-volatile memory. However, adjusting such parameters may result in the non-volatile memory storing more recent data using recent values of the parameters and also storing older data that was programmed into the non-volatile memory using older values of the parameters. Although re-configuring the non-volatile memory to read and/or write using the older parameters or the newer parameters may enhance an accuracy of data storage and retrieval, transferring sets of parameters into and out of the non-volatile memory to accommodate reading and writing of older data as well as more recent data may cause delays and may impact device read and write latency.

Devices and methods to conditionally send parameter values to non-volatile memory


In a plastic shell ski (1) with a body formed by hollow sections and a lower part with a running surface, and top (10) is connected to the lower part by substantially vertical webs (3, 5) running in the ski longitudinal direction, hollow sections (2, 4) are formed by at least two U sections open on the same side and variable in height, whose webs (3, 5) are connected to connecting sections (9), running in the longitudinal direction, for the connection with a substantially plate-shaped part (8) by welding and/or gluing.

A series of proposals has already been made for the design of plastic shell skis, in which consistently more or less costly forming steps were necessary for the individual components of the shell ski. For example, from AT-PS 309,282 it has already become known to assemble a plastic shell ski from an upper shell and a lower shell, and both shell parts exhibit webs projecting toward each other. Such webs were designed so that one web of one shell could be pressed in between two webs of the opposite shell and in this way could be inseparably joined to the opposite shell. Such a design requires that in the manufacture of the shell parts, a high degree of precision be maintained, and it must further be insured that the desired shape of the ski results. Moreover in these cases the assembly of such half shells is relatively costly. A shell design, once it is produced, can be reliably used only for one and the same type of ski with a certain length, and a later alteration of the height of the ski core is not easily possible, unless at the same time the danger of an inadequate connection of the two shell parts with one another is accepted.
According to the proposal in AT-PS 390,197 a shell ski was assembled from a number of sections, whose webs or legs perpendicular to the running surface, delimit hollow spaces, and according to this earlier proposal the bent sections are nested in one another, overlapping one another at least partially. The hollow spaces that are formed in this way between adjacent webs or legs can be subsequently filled with a filling material. In this design, as a result of the possible lateral shifting of the outer sections over the length of the ski relative to the inner section or sections, an easier matching to the desired outer contour of the ski seems possible. However, disadvantageous with such a design is the circumstance that because of the special design of the sections, at least in the lateral edge areas, a subsequent machining is not easily possible and furthermore, depending on the type of arrangement, the legs of the areas which are to be nested in one another have to be designed with dimensions reduced by the wall thickness of the section in the areas located between the legs, to produce an even outer contour. All these measures make any later precise machining difficult and thus here also for each ski norm the appropriate section must be prefabricated as precisely as possible.
Particularly with the use of fiber-reinforced plastics it is advantageous if sections that are as simple as possible are used and if the sections are produced in one simple production operation, for example by simple pressing, extrusion or pultrusion. Extrusion of fiber-reinforced sections is possible in principle, but can be used, however, only when there is a constant cross-section.


An improved adaptive notch filter for removing undesired cochannel FM interference includes in-phase and quadrature signal processing paths in which the undesired FM signal is translated to zero frequency, i.e. to DC. In each of the in-phase and quadrature phase signal paths, a first multiplier translates the input frequency spectrum in a dynamic manner so that the frequency of the undesired FM signal is always centered on DC. The undesired signal, now at DC, is filtered out by a high pass filter with a sharp rolloff. The output of the high pass filter is remultiplied in a second multiplier to translate the desired FM signal back to the original position in the frequency spectrum. In order to eliminate an unwanted difference frequency remodulation signal at the output of the second multiplier, the quadrature phase signal path performs a parallel operation on the same input signal, but with a quadrature phase (90 degree phase shift) control signal. The output the in-phase and quadrature signal processing circuits are combined in an adder circuit to cancel the unwanted difference frequency remodulation signal.

FM cochannel interference cancellation systems are well known. The general problem of cochannel interference arises when two FM signals are so close in frequency as to interfere with each other, such as may occur in fringe areas between FM stations, or by deliberate jamming in communications systems. In a typical FM tuner, only the stronger of the two FM signals will be captured by the FM receiver. Furthermore, if the weaker signal is only slightly weaker than the stronger, a distorted stronger signal will result.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,366 to Baghdady discloses a system for suppressing interfering FM signals. The basic principle is to receive the undesired FM signal (typically the stronger FM signal), track its instantaneous frequency, and then control an adaptive notch filter to track and remove the undesired FM signal. Thus, the stronger FM signal can be removed. One of the keys to effective realization of a cochannel interference cancellation system is the implementation of the adaptive notch filter.
A fixed notch filter removes signal energy contained in a narrow band of frequencies. The fixed frequency of the notch is determined by the value of the circuit elements, as is well known to those skilled in the art. An adaptive notch filter which has an electrical control input to vary the center frequency of the notch, is more complex and difficult to implement than a fixed frequency notch filter. The adaptive notch filter shown by Baghdady uses a fixed frequency notch filter and two mixer circuits to create the effect of a controllable adaptive notch filter.
To realize an adaptive notch filter, the input signal is translated in the frequency spectrum, in a first mixer circuit, in a dynamic manner so that the frequency of the undesired FM signal is always centered on the fixed notch frequency of the notch filter. After the fixed frequency notch filter, the signal is translated in the frequency domain in a second mixer circuit back to its original position in the frequency spectrum.
The principle disadvantage of the adaptive notch filter disclosed by Baghdady, is that the system requires an accurate fixed frequency oscillator precisely equal to the center frequency of the notch. Specifically, the filter control signal is first heterodyned with the fixed frequency oscillator signal, then filtered to remove an unwanted difference term, in order to form the intermediate control signal which is then used as the local oscillator input to the two mixer circuits. Since the fixed center frequency of the notch must correspond exactly to the frequency of the fixed frequency oscillator, a notch filter with a very small stop band cannot be used because a small error in the instantaneous frequency of the local oscillator control signal will cause the notch stop band to miss the FM signal to rejected. Also, the analog approach of Baghdady does not lend itself to integrated circuit techniques.

Adaptive notch filter for FM interference cancellation


A base has a clamp adjustably affixed to the reverse side thereof to support a cell phone. An elongated securing band is elastically attached to the base, the securing band having a transparent panel portion and a distal end including a fastener for securing the cell phone to the support by tightening the securing band around the phone and securing the fastener. The securing band is sized and shaped to allow at least partial operation of the cell phone when the cell phone is secured in the cell phone support.

In the art of providing cell phone supports, many different versions are widely available. However, many cell phone supports are not configured in a manner that allows use of the cell phone when the cover is in use. In particular, in many governmental jurisdictions, legislation or regulations are proposed or have been adopted that may limit certain use of cell phones during operation of motor vehicles unless configurations are provided that would allow "hands free" use of the cell phone.
Various "hands free" systems have adopted technological fixes; examples include the use of ear mounted devices that communicate with a cell phone located nearby and the use of headphones with microphone or of earpieces in combination with a microphone. However, in such prior devices, the user must remember to carry the appropriate hardware and must take the time to install the hardware before beginning operation of the motor vehicle. Thus, there remains a significant and as yet unmet need for a cell phone support configuration that would allow easy and quick location of the cell phone in a location in the motor vehicle that nevertheless would allow "hands free" operation of the vehicle without the necessity of connecting or utilizing separate hardware components.


A dispenser assembly for dispensing a sheet from a roll of sheet material having a longitudinal axis, including:                a roll holder for removably holding the roll of sheet material, which is free to rotate relative to the roll holder;        a base for supporting the roll holder and for coupling the dispenser assembly with an environment structure; and        a pair of coupling elements including a first element coupled to the roll of sheet material and a second element integral to the roll holder, the first element being coupled in a free to rotate and removable manner relative to the second element by magnetic coupling. The first element includes a contacting portion extending transversally relative to the longitudinal axis, which is adhered to a lateral edge of the roll of sheet material and arranged to at least partially recover the lateral edge so that the first element is fixedly secured to the roll of sheet material.

The document U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,127 describes a dispenser for rolls of sheet material including a base or housing for supporting one or more rolls of sheet material. An extension from one side of the housing includes a receiver for receiving one end of an axle/push rod. A journal is positioned on the opposite side of the housing from the receiver. The journal and receiver in turn are positioned along an axis. The axle/push rod has a first section which can be inserted into the center passageway through the roll and extend at least slightly out of the opposite side of the roll. A second section of the axle/push rod abutting the side of the roll has a diameter greater than the passageway through the roll and allows the axle/push rod to push the roll rotatably supported on the first section out of the housing. The entire length of the axle/push rod is greater than twice the length of a roll. The roll on the axle/push rod is then exposed outside the housing for dispensing of sheet material. Once the roll exposed for dispensing is expired, the axle is withdrawn from the receiver and withdrawn through the housing, with a half turn the remaining rolls drop in the housing and the axle right side up is reinserted into the next succeeding roll passageway. The axle/push rod is used to then push the next roll out to where it is positioned for dispensing.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 6,145,771 describes a dispenser for dispensing a paper or plastic product that allows a user to easily tear off one sheet of the product at a time. The dispenser includes a first magnetized member, a second magnetized member, a support bar and at least one stop device.
However, these techniques are not satisfactory because the loading operation may not be easily and/or quickly done.


A restore management apparatus comprising a restore performing unit which performs restoration of a data and stores the data in a restore disk which is distinct from a backed up disk, a management unit that manages progress of the restoration performed by the restore performing unit, and an access controlling unit that references the progress of the restoration managed by the management unit, makes the restore performing unit preferentially perform the restoration of data that includes a region where the restoration is not completed in response to a data access request to the region, and accesses the region of the restore disk after the restoration is completed.

A restore method is known which restores a system, a disk, or a database in which a failure has occurred.
When restoration is performed via a network, it is time-consuming, and a business operation cannot recover until the restoration is completed.
Thus, a method is known which fixes/restores data content of a system to a reserved disk without stopping the system.
A method is also known which manages the status of a copy operation by using a table and accesses data without stopping the system.
However, in the above-described method, for example, since a data access method is changed by referencing boundary information that indicates the end position of the storage region where data storing is completed, it is not possible to directly update or reference data in the region of the reserved disk where restoration is not completed. Therefore, there is a problem that the same region must be re-restored later.

Method and apparatus for restore management


A roofing system, especially suited for use with metal roofing panels includes a V-shaped vent cover located above an air circulation vent at the crest or apex of a sloping roof. A vent closure strip in the form of a composite member is located in the gap between the vent cover and the roofing panels, which contain a series of ribs or protrusions forming an uneven surface. An air impermeable backing strip, which can be a closed cell foam, includes fastening blocks through which fasteners extend to fasten the vent cover to the roofing panels. Air permeable members are adhered to the backing strip. These air permeable members can be a reticulated foam with a convoluted lower surface for compressively conforming to the uneven upper surface of the roofing panels. The air permeable members are more porous and more dense than the air impermeable members.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a vent closure member formed of a closed cell, air impermeable backing member and air permeable foam members, to close the gap between metal or other roofing panels and a v-shaped ridge vent cover, in order to permit air circulation but prevent entry of wind driven rain and insects.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Metal roofing has become an accepted material that provides a high quality and long lasting roof. Numerous manufacturers of metal roofing panels will typically each have some unique difference in the profile of their own metal panel. Each manufacturer therefore has their own specialized signature profile. The profile of the metal roof when viewed from the end leaves openings that might allow for the penetration by wind driven precipitation, or openings through which birds, insects and other creatures can gain entrance into a roofing system. Closing these gaps has been necessary to prevent the intrusion of foreign debris, acoustic energy, and precipitation from gaining entrance to the roofing system.
The manufacture of gaskets or closure strips used to cover the gaps has been widely used since the 1970's. These gaps and voids need to be filled in order to have an effective roof system. Materials used to close these gaps and voids are known as closure strips. Historically rubber materials including ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) and vinyl nitrile were used in the construction of metal buildings and metal roofing as closure strips to prevent water and insects from penetrating the joints of the metal building. In the 1970's it was discovered that polyethylene foam could perform similarly to the EPDM and vinyl nitrile products previously employed for closure strips. The polyethylene worked well because it was closed cell and was light weight (2 lb/ft.3), but had problems with oxidation and premature aging. The preferred material in the industry became crosslinked polyethylene which didn't have the oxidation problem that linear polyethylene had. One of the major disadvantages of using crosslinked polyethylene, however, was availability from manufacturers, from whom it could not be reliably purchased. Production in other markets often limited the availability of crosslink polyethylene in the metal building markets. The substitution of alternate materials has therefore been under investigation for some time. Substitute materials that have been investigated to overcome physical short comings of the cross linked polyethylene, which included that fact that it is non recyclable which adds to manufacturing costs; cross linked polyethylene had no UV stabilizer, which would help to extend the life span of the product; the original Crosslink product had no fire resistant properties; and the crosslink product had substantial shrinkage problems at elevated temperatures, which allowed the ready passage of rain water and insects. Typical metal roof temperatures during warmer months will reach 180° Fahrenheit, and can even reach 200° Fahrenheit on extremely warm days.
Initial development resulted in a material known as "Soft cell", which matched the physical performance characteristics of the crosslink closure, had UV stabilization, had F/R, was micro cellular, and was recyclable. A second iteration of material was called GF-1, which exceeds the physical characteristics of crosslink polyethylene in compressive strength, thermal stability, UV resistance, tear resistance, thermal stability, and density, Both products were marketable, as manufacturing costs to produce the GF-1 strips were lower than that of crosslink polyethylene. While they both performed well for the application, and had significant advantages over the crosslink polyethylene, the base resin was linear polyethylene, and at elevated temperatures seen on most buildings as high as 200° F., crosslinked and linear polyethylene were limited in their capability. The low level of thermal stability for both crosslinked and linear polyethylene caused them to shrink at the high temperature levels. It was at this point a third iteration was investigated that would not only continue to exhibit the UV stability, recyclability, compressive strength, F/R, tear resistance, but would also have thermal stability at higher temperatures which would not show signs of shrinkage. This approach involved foaming polypropylene which as a base resin has a greater heat resistance as high as 280° F., which is in excess of the requirements of metal roofing and metal buildings.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,276,331 discloses a sealant strip that can be located between a roof and a ridge cap. That device has an air impermeable section that is cut to engage the contoured surface of the roof, such as the ridges or protrusions on a metal roofing panel. A series of rectangular air permeable members engage the flat lower surface of the ridge cap. In that device, the air permeable members are less dense than the air impermeable members.

Roof venting closure member including convoluted foam


A TIG welding method of welding a first part with a first wall and an end edge to a second part with a second wall and an edge along a junction surface between said edges and along which the first wall forms a salient angle with the second wall. The TIG welding electrode is moved along the junction surface to weld the first part to the second part. The electrode being aligned on the side of the salient angle at an angle (β) with respect to the first wall smaller than 180° and with the longitudinal axis of the electrode running through the re-entrant angle associated with the salient angle.

A combustion chamber is generally annular in shape, and comprises a jacket providing axial openings upstream for letting air through and means of fuel distribution in the chamber enclosure. Close to such means, the jacket exhibits on its peripheral wall radial openings for letting through fuel sparking plugs. The plugs are fixed to the wall by force of spark plug guides which are globally cylindrical. These spark plug guides are welded by their front edge along the edge of an orifice provided in the wall of the jacket.
Currently the TIG welding method is performed manually. FIG. 1 represents the position of both parts. The spark plug guide tube 1 is engaged in the machined orifice 3 through the wall 5 of the combustion chamber before welding. The wall of the chamber, represented in axial section, exhibits a curve also in this axial direction. The edge of the orifice 3 is chamfered so as to provide a space with the external edge of the tube. Welding consists in placing a tungsten electrode T torch 7 above said space while bringing the metal by means of a rod B. During a first pass, a first bead is deposited at the bottom of the space for deeper penetration of the welding. In a second pass, the whole space is filled up.
This manual mode exhibits the shortcoming of requiring high dexterity from the operator by reason of the complexity of the junction zone. Besides, progressing along the welding bead, he must adapt permanently the quantity of energy to bring since the thicknesses and masses to be welded are not constant. Welding is not even. There ensue deformations requiring in particular final heating of the assembly to relax the internal stresses occurred in particular during the welding operation. Surface irregularities, inside the chamber or in the guide tube, involve moreover re-machining of the welding bead. Sometimes also, the stresses are high enough to generate cracks in the junction zone.
It should be reminded that Tungsten Inert Gas—TIG welding is an electric arc welding method with refractory electrode under gaseous atmosphere. This technique is used with or without any filler metal. Inert gas, generally argon—or helium-based, separates from the air the molten metal, the hot zones and the tungsten electrode. Any oxidisation is thereby prevented. In an inert gas stream, an electric arc is caused to flash between the infusible tungsten electrode and the part to be welded. The heat generated by the arc melts the edges of the part and any filler metal contributing to the formation of the welding bead. TIG welding is a manual or automated method. It is reserved for small and medium thicknesses, less than 5–6 mm, since the welding speeds for greater thicknesses are less than those of the other methods.


The invention is directed to inner-focusing zoom lenses that include multi groups of lens pieces, namely, the first lens group or the leading lens group of positive refractivity, the second lens group of negative refractivity, and the remaining trailing groups of positive refractivity, as a whole. At least one group of positive refractivity among the trailing groups includes two or more negative lens pieces, at least one of which is connected on its surface to another lens piece to form a duplicated composite lens so that the junction between two of them functions to diverge incident beams. Assuming now that a sum of the refractivities of all the junctions of the composite lenses can be expressed as Σφ=Σ|(N1−N2)/R| where N1 and N2 are refractivities that substances before and after the junction of the composite lenses respectively have, R is a radius of curvature of the junction, ft is a focal length of the comprehensive lens optics of the zoom lens at the telephoto end.

In the prior art, it is well known that some zoom lenses are adapted to simply displace the leading group of lens pieces closest to a subject being photographed for the focusing, which may be referred to as a 'front lens focusing system'. With such a front lens focusing system, switching the focusing mode to 'Automatic' forces the large heavy lens pieces to move instantaneously, resulting in an unsatisfactory rapidity.
Additional types of the focusing system, which are known as 'inner-focusing' and 'rear-focusing,' have been developed in the art which enable rapid focusing by virtue of the reduced dimensions of the focusing lens groups.
With such inner-focusing and rear-focusing, however, their rapid focusing ability is a tradeoff of more largely varied aberration, and as a result of the focusing, it becomes hard to compensate well for so much variation in the aberration.
In a specific type of the zoom lens, which is for telephoto shooting with a field angle 2ω of less than 40 degrees at the wide-angle end, a positive lens piece(s) in the first lens group has its convex surface faced toward the image plane while a negative lens piece(s) closest to the subject being photographed in the second lens group has it objective surface flattened or convex in shape and faced toward the subject being photographed, so as to reduce variations in spherical aberration at the telephoto end, thereby facilitating the compensation, which is a tradeoff of considerable difficulties in adjusting and controlling the varied curvature of the image plane at the wide-angle end.
For instance, one typical inner-focusing zoom lens already disclosed is of five groups of lens pieces, including their respective optical properties, i.e., of positive, negative, positive, positive, and negative refractivities, respectively (see Patent Document 1 listed below).
Another zoom lens coping with the aforementioned disadvantage in the art is of six groups of lens pieces where only the fifth succeeding to the first or the leading group of them are displaced for the focusing (see Patent Document 2 listed below).
Still another typical zoom lens in the prior art is of six groups of lens pieces, namely, the ones respectively having positive, negative, positive, negative, positive, and negative refractivities, and the sixth serving as the primary focusing lens along with the fourth behave as floating lens during the focusing for a shift from the long distance zooming to the short distance zooming (see Patent Document 3 listed below).
Patent Document 1    Japanese Patent Publication of Unexamined Application No. 2005-292338
Patent Document 2    Japanese Patent Publication of Unexamined Application No. H10-133107
Patent Document 3    Japanese Patent Publication of Unexamined Application No. 2000-47107
The zoom lens as disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a problem of significant variation in curved image plane at the wide-angle end due to a negative lens piece closest to the subject being photographed in the second lens group that has its surface closer to the subject shaped in concave.
In the zoom lens as disclosed in Patent Document 2, the first or foremost of the lens groups under-correct the varied spherical aberration during the focusing for the shift from the long distance zooming to the short distance zooming, but instead, the fifth lens group permits the variations in spherical aberration to be overdone and prevalent by means of connecting a single negative lens piece and another lens piece into a composite lens with its junction serving to diverge incident beams, so as to countervail the variations in the spherical aberration in the lens optics, as a whole. Configured in this manner, however, the zoom lens fails to sufficiently adjust the varied spherical aberration as desired in the comprehensive lens optics, especially, at the telephoto end, due to the insufficient diverging effects at the junction of the composite lenses.
Patent Document 2 also teaches the fifth and the fourth of the lens groups behave in the floating manner for focusing. This is especially for adjusting and controlling both the curved image plane at the wide-angle end and the varied spherical aberration at the telephoto end. In contrast with the one that carries out the focusing simply relying on the inner-focusing system, however, this prior art embodiment becomes more complicated in structure because of additional coupling components to a lens barrel to cope with the floating.
According to the disclosure of Patent Document 3, the first to the fourth of the lens groups under-correct the varied spherical aberration, and instead, the fifth turns the same overdone and prevalent during the focusing, which permit the variations in spherical aberration to be reduced in the lens optics, as a whole. However, the negative lens of the composite lens effects insufficient to diverge the incident beam thereon to satisfactorily compensate for the varied spherical aberration at the telephoto end. Moreover, the teachings about the focusing where the fourth and the six of the lens groups behave in a floating manner bring about another problem of the more complicated structure due to the coupling components added to the lens barrel to conduct the floating.
During focusing for the shift from long distance zooming to short distance zooming, in general, the zoom lens is prone to under-correct the variations in spherical aberration unless it is specifically modified to address the desired reduction in displacement of the focusing lens groups or modified in some other ways, and this tendency is conspicuous especially at the telephoto end. As to the zoom lenses designed specifically for telephoto shooting where a focal length is as long as 400 mm, degradation in optical performance is considerable during the focusing for the short distance zooming.
The present invention is made to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages in the prior art that zoom lenses employing a focusing system such as inner-focusing, rear-focusing, or the like, allow for rapid focusing in contrast with the front lens focusing system but compromise with difficulty in well compensating for the varied aberration, and accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a zoom lens that has merely a single group of lens pieces among other groups utilized for inner-focusing or rear-focusing to well compensate for varied spherical aberration at the telephoto end during focusing.


A liquid level sensing apparatus, and related method, that utilizes a tuning fork assembly to detect the presence of not only a liquid or air at a particular location within a container, but also a solid material at that location. The tuning fork assembly includes an excitation transducer and a receiving transducer mechanically coupled to a pair of paddles that are exposed within the container, and a phase-locked loop control system applies an excitation signal to the excitation transducer having a frequency that is regulated to track the tuning fork's resonant frequency. A comparator compares that resonant frequency with a prescribed threshold, to determine whether the tuning fork assembly is disposed in air or a liquid. A failure of the phase-locked loop control system to lock the frequency of the excitation signal at any particular frequency indicates that the tuning fork assembly is over-damped and likely contacted by a solid material. Since the apparatus normally excites the tuning fork assembly at its resonant frequency, this allows the apparatus to be operated at reduced power levels, leading to improved efficiency.

This invention relates generally to devices for sensing the level of a liquid in a container and, more particularly, to devices of this kind that utilize a tuning fork or the like whose resonant frequency changes when contacted by the liquid.
Devices of this particular kind generally include a tuning fork disposed at a fixed location within the container, with both an excitation transducer and a receiving transducer mechanically coupled to the tuning fork. An oscillator generates an electrical excitation signal that is coupled to the excitation transducer, to mechanically oscillate the tuning fork. The receiving transducer senses this oscillation and produces a receive signal having an amplitude and frequency corresponding to the sensed oscillation. The tuning fork's oscillation is damped by the medium (i.e., gas or liquid) in which it is disposed, and its resonant frequency generally varies according to whether it is disposed in the gas or the liquid.
Typically, the excitation signal produced by the oscillator has a frequency that is made to sweep a frequency band that encompasses the tuning fork's resonant frequency both when disposed in the gas and when disposed in the liquid. By determining the particular frequency within this range at which the amplitude of the receive signal is a maximum, the tuning fork's resonant frequency can be determined. Alternatively, a series of pulses having a known frequency spectrum can be applied to the excitation transducer, and the resulting receive signal can be analyzed in a frequency discriminator to determine the tuning fork's resonant frequency. From the resonant frequency determination, the presence of the gas or liquid adjacent to the tuning fork can be determined.
In other level sensing devices of this kind, the resonant frequency of the tuning fork can be determined using a phase discriminator that monitors the relative phases of the excitation signal applied to the excitation transducer and the receive signal produced by the receiving transducer. Such devices utilize a recognition that the phase of the receive signal changes significantly at or near the tuning fork's resonant frequency.
Although the level sensing devices described briefly above can function reliably to detect the presence or non-presence of a liquid at a particular location within a container, the devices are believed to be unduly complicated and to consume an excessive amount of electrical power. There is therefore a need for an improved level sensing device that can reliably sense the presence or non-presence of a liquid at a particular location within a container, with reduced complexity and with reduced power consumption. The present invention fulfills this need.

Apparatus and method for level sensing in a container


A system for estimating the temperature of an oxygen sensor installed in an exhaust system of an engine comprises a section for sensing a load of the engine; a section for sensing a rotation speed of the engine; and a section which, based on both the engine load and the engine rotation speed, calculates a basic estimated temperature of the oxygen sensor which would appear under a normal condition. A section is employed which senses a speed of the vehicle. A section is employed which, based on the vehicle speed, determines a first correction factor for correcting the basic estimated temperature. A section is employed which senses the temperature of outside air. A section is employed which, based on the outside air temperature, determines a second correction factor for correcting the basic estimated temperature. A target estimated temperature calculating section is employed which, based on the basic estimated temperature and the first and second correction factors, calculates a target estimated temperature of the oxygen sensor and issues an output signal representative of the target estimated temperature. A stopper section is further employed which suppresses the target estimated temperature calculating section from issuing the output signal or calculating the target estimated temperature until a predetermined time passes from a time on which energization of the electric heater starts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to systems and methods for controlling operation of an automotive internal combustion engine based on an information signal issued from an oxygen sensor installed in an exhaust system of the engine, and more particularly to systems and methods for estimating the temperature of the oxygen sensor to measure the current activating degree of the oxygen sensor. More specifically, the present invention is concerned with the estimating systems and methods of a type which estimates the temperature of the oxygen sensor based on an operating condition of the engine and a driving condition of an associated motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hitherto, in motor vehicles powered by an internal combustion engine, there have been widely employed a so-called air/fuel ratio feed-back control system which controls operation of the engine based on an information signal issued from an oxygen sensor installed in an exhaust system of the engine. In fact, as the oxygen concentration in the exhaust gas has a close relation with an air-fuel ratio of the mixture fed to the engine, the control of engine operation is so made as to bring a current air/fuel ratio to a target air/fuel ratio with reference to the information signals issued from the oxygen sensor.
As is known, since the intrinsic function of the oxygen sensor is exhibited only when the sensor (more specifically, oxygen sensing element thereof) is heated up to its activating temperature, the air/fuel ratio feed-back control is started once the sensing element of the oxygen sensor is heated up to such activating temperature.
Hitherto, in the air/fuel ratio feed-back control system, for the need of diagnosing the responsibility of the oxygen sensor, the temperature of the sensing element of the oxygen sensor has been estimated based on the temperature of engine cooling water and the time elapsed from engine start. One conventional technique for estimating the oxygen sensor temperature is described in Japanese Patent First Provisional Publication 7- 269401.
However, due to inherent construction, the above-mentioned conventional temperature estimating technique tends to produce a non-negligible error in estimating the temperature of the oxygen sensing element under a certain operating condition of the engine and a certain environment. Such error causes the air/fuel ratio feed-back control system to fail to exhibit its intrinsic function. That is, such error obstructs the control system from not only feeding the engine with a mixture of a desired air/fuel ratio but also carrying out a proper diagnosis on the responsibility of the oxygen sensor.

System and method for estimating the temperature of oxygen sensor installed in exhaust system of internal combustion engine


One embodiment provides a method, including: receiving a target unstructured document for determining whether the target unstructured document comprises biased information; identifying an objective of the target unstructured document by extracting, from the target unstructured document, (i) entities and (ii) relationships between the entities; creating a structured knowledge base, wherein the creating comprises (i) creating an entry in the structured knowledge base corresponding to the target unstructured document, (ii) identifying other unstructured documents having a similarity to the target unstructured document, and (iii) generating an entry in the structured knowledge base corresponding to each of the other unstructured documents; applying a bias detection technique on the structured knowledge base; and providing an indication of whether the target unstructured document comprises bias.

Bias represents a prejudice or unfairness towards a particular group. If a user or an entity has a particular bias, for example, the user likes one sports team over another sports team, this bias can sway the opinion of the user or entity. In situations where decisions have to be made with regard to a user or entity, the user or entity does not want a particular bias to affect that decision. For example, if the user is applying for a home mortgage, job, credit card, school, or the like, the user does not want a particular bias of the decision-making entity to affect the decision. Rather, the user wants the decision to be made using all the same criteria that would be applied to any other user or entity applying for the same thing and without regard to the bias of the decision-making entity. Thus, in decision-making processes, attributes or features that should not be used to influence a decision are referred to as a protected attribute, meaning the attribute cannot be used to influence the decision.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A fabricating method of a nonvolatile memory device is disclosed. A disclosed method comprises: implanting ions into an active region of a semiconductor substrate to form a well of a low voltage transistor and adjust its threshold voltage; implanting ions into an active region of the semiconductor substrate to form a well of a high voltage transistor and adjust its threshold voltage, thereby forming a conductive region; depositing an ONO layer on the semiconductor substrate; patterning and etching the ONO layer to form an ONO structure; and forming a gate oxide layer on the semiconductor substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method of fabricating a memory device and, more particularly, to a method of fabricating a nonvolatile memory device which forms a structure for operating silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide semiconductor(hereinafter referred to as "SONOS") cells before a logic circuit is fabricated, not affecting characteristics of an existing logic circuit.
2. Background of the Related Art
In general, there are two categories in semiconductor devices, namely, a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory. The volatile memory again includes a dynamic random access memory (hereinafter referred to as "DRAM") and a static DRAM (hereinafter referred to as "SDRAM"). One characteristic of the volatile memory is that data are maintained just while electric power is being applied. In other words, when power is turned off, the data in the volatile memory disappear. On the other hands, the non-volatile memory, mainly a ROM (Read Only Memory), can keep the data regardless of the application of electric power.
From the point of a view of the fabrication process, the non-volatile memory is divided into a floating gate type and a metal insulator semiconductor (hereinafter referred to as "MIS") type. The MIS type has doubly or triply deposited dielectric layers which comprise at least two kinds of dielectric materials.
The floating gate type stores data using potential wells, and is represented by an ETOX (Electrically erasable programmable read only memory Tunnel OXide) used in a flash EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory).
The MIS type performs the program operation using traps at a bulk dielectric layer, an interface between dielectric layers, and an interface between a dielectric layer and a semiconductor. A Metal/Silicon ONO Semiconductor (hereinafter referred to as "MONOS/SONOS") structure mainly used for the flash EEPROM is a representative MIS structure.
A conventional SONOS memory device comprises a tunnel oxide layer, a trap nitride layer and a block oxide layer on a P-type silicon substrate, and a gate deposited thereon.
In the SONOS memory device, a program operation is performed by FN (Fowler-Nordheim) tunneling or directly tunneling electrons so that the electrons are trapped at a predetermined site in the trap nitride layer, thereby increasing a threshold voltage. An erase operation also moves the electrons by various tunneling ways such as the FN tunneling, the direct tunneling, and trap assisted tunneling so that the electrons are withdrawn to the P-type silicon substrate, thereby decreasing the threshold voltage.
However, the conventional memory devices comprising SONOS cells entirely affect, particularly when SONOS cells are fabricated, characteristics of fabricating process of a logic circuit, which means that additional circuit verification steps such as parameter measurement by SPICE (simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis) are required.

Methods of fabricating nonvolatile memory device


In accord with one aspect, a microfluidic coagulation assessment device defining a plurality of microchannels is provided, wherein a blood sample is driven through the microchannels at a substantially constant flow rate and a controller is configured to, in combination with a timer and a pressure sensing device, determine a first pressure value (or flow value) at an initiation of flow, a first time (Tpg) at which a second pressure value is about twice the determined first pressure value, and a second time (Tpf) at which a third pressure value is about (1+e) times the determined first pressure value and establish a subject coagulation model predictive of channel occlusion therefrom. In another aspect, the blood sample is driven through the microchannels at a substantially constant pressure and a controller is configured to, in combination with a timer and a flow sensing device make the determination based on flow rate.

Prevention of thrombosis with anticoagulants, such as heparin or coumadin, is critical for treatment of many diseases and conditions (e.g., atrial fibrillation, sepsis, trauma, prosthetic heart valves, various coagulapathies or other bleeding disorders) as well as for many life-saving procedures, including dialysis, hemofiltration, extracorporeal oxygenation (ECMO), angioplasty, intravenous fluid delivery, apheresis and collection of blood samples for analysis or culture. As thrombosis can result from activation of platelets as well as the coagulation cascade, anticoagulation therapy is typically supplemented by anti-platelet therapy. It would therefore be extremely helpful to be able to monitor global anticoagulation in real-time in the clinic because coagulation responses to variations in anticoagulant levels and platelet numbers can vary significantly among patients and in the same patient at different times. However, it is currently difficult to quickly and quantitatively ascertain the degree and efficiency of whole blood anti-coagulation and anti-platelet therapies, and there is no reliable method to do it rapidly at the bedside, having the possibility of using native blood.
Patients who have bleeding or clotting problems are now routinely monitored using Prothrombin Time (PT) and Activated Clotting Time (ACT)/Activated Partial Clotting Time (APTT) tests, which provide semi-quantitative measures of the extrinsic or intrinsic coagulation pathways respectively. However, the results produced by these assays can vary considerably depending on sample preparation, anticoagulation tubes, addition of activators, equipment, and user expertise. As a result, measurements of the same sample carried out at different sites or on different days often produce different results. The specificity and sensitivity of these tests are also poor and often result in false positive or negative cases in the clinic. Moreover, PT, ACT and APTT assays do not provide information on platelet function and therefore, do not serve as global coagulation tests. Because of the limitations of conventional blood clotting time tests, new point-of-care monitoring systems, such as thromboelastography (TEG) and rotation thromboelastometry (ROTEM) devices, have started to be integrated into clinical laboratories. These devices are able to provide greater information about hemostasis because they measure the cumulative contribution of plasma, platelets, leukocytes and red blood cells to the clotting response. These tests, however, measure clotting characteristics under static conditions (no flow) and hence, they are limited in their clinical utility with respect to platelet and endothelial cell functions, which are highly sensitive to physical forces, including pressure and flow. For example, fluid shear stresses and gradients of shear stresses in blood have a major impact on platelet activation and thrombosis and thus, coagulation monitors that do not incorporate fluid dynamics fail to accurately assess blood coagulation physiology as it occurs in the vasculature of a living patient.

Microfluidic device for real-time clinical monitoring and quantitative assessment of whole blood coagulation

President and Fellows of Harvard College


This application discloses a media information display method performed at a computing device. While rendering main media information on the display, the computing device detects a first user input operation, determines a first position of a progress bar on the display corresponding to the first user input operation, and renders additional media information at the first position. After detecting a second user input operation, the computing device moves the progress bar from the first position to a second position of the progress bar on the display corresponding to the second user input operation. The computing device renders the additional media information at the second position of the progress bar on the display and then removes the additional media information from display after a preset time period.

Currently, at the same time when main media information is displayed (for example, media files such as a video or audio is played), various additional media information are further pushed. For example, a video advertisement is inserted and promotion information (for example, news and public welfare announcement information) is pushed. However, these additional media information display manners are fixed and undiversified, and the display effect needs to be further improved.
Use a video advertisement as an example. In the existing technology, a presentation manner of the video advertisement and video content that a user is to watch are serial. After the user sends an instruction of playing the video content, the video advertisement is first played in a video play window of a player. In a play period of the video advertisement, the user clicks a video region of the video advertisement by using a mouse (a PC end) or touches (a mobile terminal) the video region of the video advertisement, and a page will redirect to a particular link to obtain further information. Only after the play of the video advertisement is finished can the user watch the video content.

Display method and device for attached media information

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


In a method for aligning three-dimensional shape data obtained by performing a three-dimensional measurement of an object, photogrammetry of the object with a target mark is performed to obtain a three-dimensional position and a normal vector of the target mark by a calculation, and the three-dimensional measurement of the object is performed to obtain a three-dimensional position and a normal vector of the target mark. Then, determined is a correspondence between the three-dimensional position of the target mark obtained by the photogrammetry and the three-dimensional position of the target mark obtained by the three-dimensional measurement, by using the three-dimensional position and the normal vector of the target mark obtained by the photogrammetry and those of the target mark obtained by the three-dimensional measurement, and three-dimensional shape data obtained by the three-dimensional measurement is aligned based on the correspondence between the three-dimensional-positions of the target marks.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for aligning three-dimensional shape data obtained by performing a three-dimensional measurement of an object, by using target marks provided on the object.
2. Description of the Related Art
A three-dimensional measurement in a noncontact manner is frequently performed to obtain three-dimensional shape data of objects. Examples of the three-dimensional measurement include passive types such as a lens focus method and a stereo image method and active types such as an optical radar method and a light projection method. According to the stereo image method, the object is photographed from a plurality of different positions, for example, by a camera, and from the obtained images, the three-dimensional coordinates of each point on the object are calculated based on the principle of triangulation. This method is also called photogrammetry, because the three-dimensional coordinates are obtained by photographing the object. According to the light projection method, detection light is projected onto the object, and the reflected light from the object is received by an image sensor. A method using slit light as the detection light is a slit light projection method (also called a light-section method). According to the slit light projection method, slit light is deflected to optically scan the object, and from the degree of deformation of the slit light based on the surface configuration of the object, the three-dimensional coordinates of each point on the object are calculated based on the principle of triangulation.
To obtain complete three-dimensional shape data of one object, it is necessary to perform the three-dimensional measurement of the object from different positions a plurality of number of times and combine the obtained pieces of three-dimensional shape data into one piece. In particular, with active-type three-dimensional measurement instruments (three-dimensional digitizers), since the viewing angle is limited, there are cases where the entire object does not fall within the visual field of one measurement. For this reason, it has conventionally been performed to perform the measurement of the object part by part and combine the obtained pieces of three-dimensional shape data into one three-dimensional model.
In combining a plurality of pieces of three-dimensional shape data, it is necessary to align them. For the alignment of the three-dimensional shape data, it is performed to paste a multiplicity of target marks on the object and perform alignment based on the target coordinates which are the three-dimensional coordinate positions of the target marks.
However, in a case where the alignment is performed based on only the target coordinates like the conventional method, when there are a plurality of target coordinates in a similar positional relationship, there are cases where which target coordinates are correspondent cannot be found.
For example, in a case where six target marks TM are provided on an object Q as shown in FIG. 14(A), when the triangles of two groups A and B each including three target marks TM surrounded by a chain line are similar to each other, these cannot be distinguished from each other. In this example, as shown in FIG. 14 (B), the two triangles of the groups A and B are mirror symmetric and the correspondences among the target marks TM coincide with each other, so that it is difficult to distinguish these from each other. Consequently, there is a possibility that the pieces of three-dimensional shape data are erroneously aligned.
As mentioned above, the conventional method has a problem that the robustness in determining the correspondence among the target coordinates is low. To solve this problem, it is considered to irregularly paste the target marks TM when providing them on the object Q or increase the number of target marks TM. However, since irregularly pasting the target marks TM is difficult to quantify and is, in a large measure, know-how, depending only on it is a problem. When the number of target marks TM is increased, since the area of the object hidden by the target marks TM is increased, a new problem arises that the quality of the measured three-dimensional shape data is degraded.

Method and system for aligning three-dimensional shape data from photogrammetry data and three-dimensional measurement data using target locations and surface vectors


Disclosed is a sample storage apparatus in that a multilayered rotary table is formed in a liquid nitrogen vessel, so that a plurality of sample storage boxes is stored in the multilayered rotary table, whereby it can effectively and maximally ensure the space for storing the samples. The sample storage apparatus includes: a rotating axis 100; a rotary table 200 having an upper cylinder portion 210 protruded upward from an upper middle portion thereof and allowing the rotating axis 100 to be inserted therein and a lower cylinder portion 220 protruded downward from a lower middle portion thereof and allowing the rotating axis 100 to be inserted therein; at least one partition member 300 for partitioning off an upper surface of the rotary table 200 formed at the upper surface of the rotary table 200; a fixing member 400 coupled to one side of an outer circumference of the lower cylinder portion 220 through a hinge coupling portion 410 and having a lower portion protruded downward from a lower end of the lower cylinder portion 220 and a slanting portion formed at one side of an upper end thereof so as to form a fixing gap angle 430; and a latching member 500 formed along an outer circumference of the upper cylinder portion 210 and having a plurality of insertion holes 510 for allowing a lower end of the fixing member 400 to be inserted therein.

Generally, a sample storage apparatus serves to store a liquid oxygen, a liquid nitrogen, an argon, or a carbon dioxide gas and so on.
Especially, the sample storage apparatus serves to store a cord blood, a gene, a cell, a bone marrow, a fertilized egg, a white blood corpuscle, valves of the heart, various microorganisms, etc. for a long time.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional sample storage apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional sample storage apparatus includes a vessel 10 for storing the liquid nitrogen and so on, a cylindrical entrance 30 for incoming and outgoing the liquid nitrogen, and a cover 20 for covering the cylindrical entrance 30.
However, in the conventional sample storage apparatus, there is a problem in that the entire size of the sample storage apparatus becomes bigger in order to store a plurality of sample storage boxes, thereby increasing manufacturing costs thereof.

Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources


Portable apparatus for receiving and supporting scuba diving tanks when not in use. A collapsible or folding sawhorse supports an overlying scuba tank caddy. The caddy includes a horizontal top panel and a horizontal lower panel disposed below the top panel. The top panel has one or more openings adapted to receive a scuba tank. Each scuba tank, when inserted through an opening in the top panel, is supported by the lower panel, which in turn is supported by the sawhorse whereby the tank is maintained upright within the caddy and at a height suitable for a diver to mount a tank from the caddy to his back and vice-versa. In one embodiment, intended for two or more divers who each wear a single scuba tank, the openings are spaced about two feet apart. In an alternative embodiment, intended for a diver who wears dual scuba tanks, the openings are spaced about six inches apart.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to apparatus for receiving and holding scuba tanks when not in use, and, in particular, to such apparatus that is portable.
2. General Background
When scuba diving, it is useful and convenient to have apparatus that can be brought near to, or upon, scuba divable waters, which apparatus can there receive, and temporarily support and hold, one or more scuba diving tanks when the tanks are not in use—for instance, during the divers' rest periods. To facilitate removal of the tank(s) from the apparatus and the mounting of the tank(s) onto the back of a diver, as well as for thereafter dismounting the tank(s), such apparatus should hold the tanks upright.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,721 to Cummings disclosed apparatus for holding at least one scuba tank within a boat. The apparatus included a receptacle, a cover covering the receptacle interior and having holes for receiving scuba tanks, and lock plates adjustably slidably mounted on side walls of the receptacle for engagement with the boat. The apparatus further included a shelf selectively positionable between the bottom and the cover below the opening for supporting a scuba tank extending upwardly through the opening in an elevated condition and spaced from the bottom for facilitating lifting of the scuba tank from the receptacle. The apparatus disclosed by Cummings is unsuitable, however, for scuba divers who either lack access to a suitable boat, or who prefer to enter divable waters from an adjacent shore and desire to keep their scuba tanks on dry shore land during rest periods. For such divers, the apparatus should preferably hold the scuba tanks upright above ground level and adjacent to the back of a scuba diver who stands with his/her back toward the apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,007 to Rohatensky disclosed a scuba tank rack for holding four scuba tanks and regulators, intended especially for storing scuba tanks, with accessories attached, in an automobile, on the deck of a boat, raft or the like. U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,935 to Hadacheck disclosed a portable, upright scuba tank retention rack adapted for use in the bed of a pickup truck. The racks disclosed by Cummings and by Hadacheck likewise lacked provision for supporting the tanks at a suitable height above ground level.


To improve the reading time of a memory, it is determined when a word line will be completely charged by making an additional memory cell, connected to an additional bit line, at the end of this word line. The additional memory cells are all in a programming state such that they enable the detection of a read current positively. Furthermore, by programming these cells insufficiently, they become conductive before the normal cells of the memory array. This instant is used to activate the reading of the cells of the memory array.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a memory having fast reading time. More particularly, the invention relates to non-volatile memories comprising floating gate transistors, having a reading time smaller than 100 nanoseconds.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Nonvolatile memories having floating-gate transistors are of the so-called EPROM or EEPROM or even FLASH-EPROM type depending on the mode of programming and the mode of erasure chosen for the memory cells. An example of this type of memory is described for example in the patent application FR-A-2 714 202. The usual elementary reading time of a bit or word in a memory of this kind is about 100 nanoseconds.
The principle of the reading of the memory cells comprising a floating-gate transistor is as follows. In the floating gate of the transistor, charges are either stored or not, depending on whether the transistor is said to be programmed or erased (or vice versa, as the designations used differ from one technology to another). In one example, the charges stored are electrons. The floating gate then acts as a potential generator. When a cell is to be read, the drain and source regions of this transistor are subjected to a sufficient potential difference and a voltage capable of making the control gate of the floating-gate transistor conductive is applied to it. If there are no electrical charges stored on the floating-gate, the transistor becomes conductive. If there are electrical charges stored on the floating gate, the voltage applied to the control gate is insufficient to combat the potential induced by the floating gate and thus the transistor does not conduct. A read circuit, in principle, has a device that measures the presence or absence of conduction current through the transistor. The detection or non-detection of this passage of current provides information on the binary state memorized in the memory cell.
FIG. 1 provides a schematic view of a memory cell of this kind with a floating-gate transistor. This transistor has a source 1 connected to a ground and a drain 2 connected to a bit line LB 3. Bit line 3 is connected to a current measurement circuit (not shown) which, in practice, is a voltage generator with high internal impedance. As soon as the generator lets through current, the voltage on bit line 3 drops. The transistor of the memory cell furthermore has a floating gate 4 and a control gate 5 superimposed on the floating gate 4 and playing the role of a word line LM. The memory array of a memory has several cells of this type connected in matrix form to the bit lines and to the word lines.
As a general rule, the bit line is formed, at the top of the integrated circuit, by a metallized line: it has very low resistivity. Consequently, the propagation of the read voltage on a bit line is very swift. By contrast, the word line 5 consists of a polysilicon layer: it is resistive. Even if the word line has metallized sections, the word line still consists of polysilicon sections such that word line 5 remains more resistant than the bit line 3. In view of the surfaces presented by these conduction lines with respect to the memory array, these lines are capacitive. Since the word line is more resistive than the bit line, it is slower in allowing the necessary read voltage to build up.
At the time of reading, the build-up of the different potentials on the lines must be synchronized allowing the word line sufficient time to build up voltage on the gate. For example, at the detection of an address transition signal, when a new word or a new cell of the memory is addressed to be read, there is no point in immediately preparing the read circuit connected to the bit line (this is a preparation that lasts about 10 nanoseconds) if in the meantime the word line takes about 80 nanoseconds to get charged.
FIG. 2 furthermore shows the behavior of a floating-gate transistor of a memory cell whose word line receives a potential VLM that increases slowly (taking every factor into consideration) starting from an instant t0 corresponding to a detection of an address transition. In one example where the conduction threshold VT of a floating-gate transistor is about 2 to 3 volts and where the electrical supply of the integrated circuit is about 5 volts, a value of 4 volts (80% of the electrical supply) is chosen as being the value necessarily applied to the control gate 4 to make the transistor conductive. For example, FIG. 2 shows that when the applied voltage is equal to VT, the conduction current I of the transistor begins to increase. It reaches a significant value which allows reading of the transistor only when the voltage on the word line is equal to approximately 4 volts (80% of the electrical supply). It is important to have precise knowledge of the time t at which, for a given integrated circuit, this reading will be possible.
Unfortunately, the time t greatly depends on the design of the different transistors, the chronology of the steps of the method leading to the manufacture of the integrated circuit, as well as the conditions of use of this circuit, especially the value of the supply voltage and the temperature of use. For example, it is known that the value of t varies greatly, for example between 50 nanoseconds for a naturally fast circuit and 100 nanoseconds for a slow circuit. The reasons for the speed variations can be understood from FIG. 2. When the cell becomes conductive, the current I increases suddenly and the slope of growth of the voltage on the word line is small. Consequently, a very small disturbance in the polarization of these word lines or in the operating conditions of the floating-gate transistors is sufficient to result in great variations in the activation instant t, i.e., the time VT is reached indicated in the figure by means of dashes.
In the prior art, to overcome this problem, and to obtain the value of t, the voltage build-up time of the word lines is simulated on an additional word line or false word line. In practice, the false word line has been simulated by a single RC type circuit. However, in order to have time constants that are independent of temperature and supply voltage and of the method of manufacture of the integrated circuit, it has become necessary to make BANDGAP type circuits or circuits with bipolar transistors. Apart from their complexity, these circuits have the drawback of consuming current continuously if speed is to be obtained. All the same, it is necessary to take account of worse-case situations with these circuits, namely cases where the period is 100 nanoseconds.
Another problem also arises. Indeed, it is possible that the address bus connected to the memory will be badly managed and deliver false addresses in an anarchic manner even for a certain period. These false addresses are detected by the address transition detection circuit and normally prompt a build-up in voltage of the false word line which will be used to prepare the activation time t, the instant of synchronization of the reading. When the detection is a parasitic address transition detection, it is necessary, at a subsequent address transition detection, to swiftly discharge the false word line from the voltage to which it has risen and then begin charging it again towards its nominal voltage.
There are approaches in which the false word line of the RC type is provided with several capacitors distributed along the line and, to discharge it, with several big deselection transistors parallel-connected with these transistors. They make it possible to reposition the false word line at zero before making the voltage rise again. In one example, there are known word lines with 1000 cells in which it is necessary to have eight big transistors separating groups of 128 cells. However, the distribution of these eight big transistors modifies the rules of design: the pattern of the cells is no longer repetitive (it has to be modified every 128 cells) and the making of the integrated circuit becomes far too complex.
In practice, this is not done. To simplify matters, a simple RC type circuit is made with a single deselection transistor. The problem encountered in this case is that the RC type circuit has characteristics that change greatly with temperature and supply voltage. It is therefore necessary then once again to choose a worst-case situation for this RC type circuit. Ultimately, the memory is made to work in a slowed down manner.


Methods and apparatus for a circuit including a DC-DC converter including: a boost converter to provide a DC voltage output from a DC input voltage, the DC output voltage configured to connect with a first load terminal, a feedback module configured to connect with a second load terminal, a switching module having a switching element coupled to the boost converter, and a control circuit coupled to the switching module to control operation of the switching element, the control circuit coupled to the feedback module, wherein the control circuit includes a slope generator to generate a ramp signal having a slope that can vary cycle to cycle.

As is known in the art, Electro-Magnetic Emission (EMI) compliance rules dictate the maximum amount of power a device is allowed to radiate at a particular frequency. In order to meet these requirements, a common technique employed is to spread the transmitted power over a frequency range in order to prevent the power from concentrating at a particular frequency.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional DC-DC converter 10 including a boost circuit 12 having an inductor 14, a diode 16 and a capacitor 18. A DC input voltage Vin is converted to a DC output voltage Vo, which can energize a load 20. A switching element 22 is coupled to the boost circuit 12 to determine the output voltage Vo. A control circuit 24 receives feedback from the load and uses this information to control operation of the switching element 22.
In fixed frequency DC-DC converters, power switching occurs at a constant frequency and results in radiated emissions concentrated at harmonics of the switching frequency, making it difficult to pass EMI requirements. In one known technique, in order to spread out the emitted power, the switching frequency is slightly changed in a random (or typically pseudo-random) fashion. Since the frequency is deviated by a small amount (e.g., +/−10%), the DC-DC converter maintains proper fixed-frequency operation and the emitted power is spread over a wider frequency span.

Methods and apparatus for DC-DC converter having dithered slope compensation


A semiconductor structure includes a first substrate; a heater surrounded by the first substrate; a pressure adjusting material disposed over the first substrate and adjacent to the heater; a second substrate disposed over the first substrate; and a cavity enclosed by the first substrate and the second substrate, wherein the pressure adjusting material is disposed within the cavity.

Electronic equipment involving semiconductive devices are essential for many modern applications. The semiconductive device has experienced rapid growth. Technological advances in materials and design have produced generations of semiconductive devices where each generation has smaller and more complex circuits than the previous generation. In the course of advancement and innovation, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometric size (i.e., the smallest component that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased. Such advances have increased the complexity of processing and manufacturing semiconductive devices.
Numerous manufacturing operations are implemented within such a small and high performance semiconductor device. The manufacturing of the semiconductor device in a miniaturized scale becomes more complicated. The increase in complexity of manufacturing may cause deficiencies such as delamination of components, development of cracks, poor electrical interconnection, warpage, etc.
Therefore, there is a continuous need to modify structure and manufacturing method of the semiconductive devices in order to improve performance and reliability of the semiconductive device as well as efficiency of manufacturing of the semiconductive device.

Semiconductor structure and manufacturing method thereof

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.