An information processing apparatus specifies an area wherein a tint block image is applied, or an area wherein a tint block is not applied. A user selects either an application mode or a non-application mode in an area 2250 to specify a tint block application area or a tint block non-application area, and selects, in an area 2251, a shape for a tint block application area or a tint block non-application area. Then, the user employs, for example, a mouse to adjust the size and the location of the selected figure, and specifies the tint block application area or the tint block non-application area. The printer driver employs the selected area information to generate tint block application/non-application area information, and employs this information to create tint block image data while taking into account the area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a method for processing information, and more specifically, to processing executed for printing an image including a tint block image, which restrains people from using duplicates and the like, in a system configured by having the information processing apparatus, such as a personal computer, and the printing apparatus, such as a printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in order to prohibit copying a ledger sheet, a resident card, and the like, or restrain people from doing so, papers on which special printing is given, papers called anti-counterfeit paper have been used. The anti-counterfeit paper is a paper in which characters or the like such as "COPY" is embedded to be hard to recognized by a human eye when the paper is in a state of an original and to show up on the copied paper when the original is copied using a copying machine or the like. Thereby, people can visually distinguish a print sheet as the original from the duplicate made by copying the original, easily. The use of this anti-counterfeit paper as an original causes those who copy the original to hesitate to use duplicated papers. Moreover, the anti-counterfeit paper gives a mental restraint effect of inhibiting an act of copying itself. The reason why characters in the original of the anti-counterfeit paper needs to be hard for people to recognize is to enable people to distinguish between the original and the duplicate definitely. If characters such as "COPY" is recognizable to such an extent that people can clearly recognize it even in the original, there may occur the possibility that people recognize it as the duplicate and such paper does not make a sense as the anti-counterfeit paper. Wicker (U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,285) and Mowry et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,728) disclose arts for manufacturing such an anti-counterfeiting paper.
On the other hand, as various contents are being digitized, the contents of ledger sheets, a resident card, or the like are being transformed into digital data similarly However, digitization for handling of these ledger sheets and resident cards, such as use of these documents, is still in a transition phase. Consequently, the contents of digital data formed using a computer is likely to be outputted on papers with a printer or the like for subsequent use.
Under such circumstances, significant improvement in printer performance has been achieved in recent years, and this is one of cause for a technology, which makes it possible to print out a paper on demand that has the same effect as the conventional anti-counterfeit paper using a computer and a printer, to attract an attention. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-197297 discloses a technology whereby, when contents data formed using a computer is printed out with a printer, an image called tint block (a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern) is also outputted with superposed on the background of the contents data. The tint block image is an image that is recognized only as a simple pattern or a mere background color in the original (a printed matter outputted by a printer) to the human eye, but, when it is copied, will show up as predetermined characters or the like in the duplicate. Thereby, the same restraint effect as the anti-counterfeit paper can be given to those who copied.
In the case that the contents are printed out together with a tint block image generated by a computer, being superposed thereon, a normal printing paper or the like can be used. Therefore, this technology has an advantage in terms of cost in comparison with the technology using the anti-counterfeit paper. Moreover, the tint block image can be generated when the contents are outputted by printing. Thereby, characters or the like that will be basically made visible at the time of copying can be set freely. Further more, there is also an advantage that dynamic or any information, such as a user name and printout time and date, can be made to show up as the characters, in addition to static information such as "COPY".
The tint block image, as discussed above, is one that, when being duplicated, visualizes a predetermined character or the like that could not be recognized before duplication, therefore restrains people from using the duplicate, and realizes an effect of enabling people to visually identify what the people sees to be the duplicate, in other words, not to be the original easily. In order to realize this effect, the tint block image is basically composed of two areas; an area which remains (shows up) in the duplicate when being copied, and an area which disappears in the duplicate or becomes too light-colored to recognize compared to the image remaining area. These two areas, as being printed, are of almost the same density, and therefore no one can recognize that characters etc., such as "COPY" that will become visible by duplication are hidden (embedded) therein at first sight, in a macroscopic sense However, in a microscopic sense, for example, in a level of printed dots, these two areas have different characteristics, respectively, as will be shown below. Hereafter, an image that will show up by duplication is called a "latent image" and an image that will disappear or become light-colored is called a "background" for convenience. The tint block image is basically composed of the latent image and the background image. Moreover, there is a case where the tint block image also includes a below-mentioned camouflage image. Incidentally, there may be a case where the latent image is called a foreground as a term related to a user interface.
The latent image portion or the foreground portion of the tint block image, which is an area that remains including the printed dots after duplication, consists of blocks of the concentrated printed dots. On the other hand, the background portion, which is an area whose dots disappear or whose density is made lighter after duplication, consists of the dispersed printed dots.
Note that tint block printing is not limited to the above-mentioned composition, and the tint block image may be composed in such a way that characters, such as a "COPY", a logo, or a pattern will be rendered (will become visible) as an recognizable image to the human eye in the duplicate. That is, even if the characters "COPY" are rendered as outlined characters in the duplicate, it will achieve its object as tint block printing.
FIG. 27 is a view showing these two areas. As shown in this figure, the tint block image is composed of both the background section in which dots are arranged dispersedly and the latent image section in which concentrated dot masses are arranged. These two areas can be generated by mutually different half tone dot processing and dither processing. In the case where the tint block image is generated using the half tone dot processing, half tone dot processing with a small number of lines is suited for the latent image and that with a large number of lines is suited for the background section. In the case where the tint block image is generated using dither processing, dither processing using a dot concentration type dither matrix is suitable for the latent image section, and dither processing using a dot dispersion type dither matrix is suitable for the background section.
Generally, the copying machine has critical points in reproducing capability that depends on input resolution of reading fine dots of a manuscript and output resolution of reproducing fine dots. In the case where the dot in the background section of the tint block image is formed smaller than the critical point of dots that the copying machine can reproduce and the dot masses in the latent image section thereof are formed larger than the critical point, an image composed of larger dot masses of the tint block image is reproduced and an image composed of smaller dots is not reproduced, in the duplicate by copying. As a result, the latent image will be made visible. Moreover, even in the case where dispersed small dots are not completely disappeared by copying, i.e., in the case where the density of the background section is low compared to that of concentrated dot masses, relatively the latent image can be recognized more markedly. Such image that shows up is called a visualized image.
FIGS. 28A and 28B are views showing visualization of the latent image. FIG. 28A is a view corresponding to a state where the tint block image is printed. FIG. 28B is view corresponding to a duplicate obtained when an original image shown in FIG. 28A is copied by a copying machine. From FIG. 28A and FIG. 28B, it may be understood that the latent image by the concentrated dot masses will show up and the background by the dispersed dots will disappear.
Further, it is also known well that a technique called the "camouflage" for making it difficult to recognize a latent image embedded in the original is applied to the tint block image. The camouflage is a technique of arranging a pattern whose density is differentiated from those of the latent image section and the background section to be superposed on the tint block image. The tint block image to which the camouflage is applied has an effect that the camouflage image whose density is different from those of the latent image section and the background section becomes noticeable and the latent image section becomes further less noticeable. Moreover, the camouflage image has an effect of giving a decorative impression to a printed matter. FIG. 29A shows a tint block image to which no camouflage image is given. FIG. 29B shows a tint block image to which a camouflage image is given. In order to make it easy to recognize a visualized latent image in the duplicate after duplication, it is desirable that dots constituting the camouflage image are made not to be reproduced in the duplicate. This can be realized by, for example, drawing the camouflage image as an outlined image, as shown in FIG. 29B.
As is described above, the tint block image is one that is to be printed on the same sheet as an image (hereinafter also referred to as an original image) which is subject for applying brakes to use duplication of that image. Conventionally, during tint block printing, the tint block image is printed across the entire face of a physical sheet (page) on which the original image is to be printed. More specifically, conventionally, whether tint block printing should be applied is individually determined for each physical page. For example, as is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-197297, a page for the printing of the tint block image is specified, and the original image and the tint block image are printed on the specified page, without especially specifying an area for printing the tint block image. For this printing, a watermark printing method is employed whereby an original image, in the background of a tint block image, is overwritten, or a superimposition method is employed whereby an OR operation or an AND operation is performed for a tint block image and an original image, and as the obtained results, the tint block image is printed. This can make interference between these images avoided to minimize any reduction in the quality of the original image as much as possible, especially when the area for printing the original image and the area for printing the tint block image are overlapped.
For a problem of controlling the degradation of the quality of the original image, a technique is also available that can specify an area for the printing of a tint block image. According to this technique, for the form printing of debit notes or bonds, a data file (definition data) for tint block printing is prepared separately from data related to the form. Then when the form is to be output, data related to the tint block printing, which are prepared in advance, are obtained to generate a tint block image. Thereafter, the thus produced tint block image and the image of the form are synthesized, and the result is printed out (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-324898).
However, even when a printing method such as the watermark printing or the superimposition printing described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-197297 is employed, preventing the quality of the original image from being degraded may be insufficient. For example, for a predetermined image, such as the portrait of a person, that is constructed of an outline portion and a gradation (changing) portion, which are formed of dots, and a blank portion, in which no dots are formed, when the dots used for the tint block image are formed in a part of the blank portion or the gradation portion, the impression got from the image may differ from that of the original, or the image itself may not easily be identified. Further, even if the original image is a character, depending on the printing method employed, the character obtained may be partially got chipped by the tint block image. Furthermore, when the above described camouflage is employed to a tint block image, the camouflage pattern would give an especially strong impression, and degradation of the quality would be more noticeable.
At the same time, some methods are considered in which an area for the tint block image being applied or an area for the tint block image being not applied can be specified to avoid overlapping itself of the printing areas for the original image and the tint block image.
As one of these methods, it may be considered that a pre-printed sheet, on which a tint block image has previously been printed in accordance with a given area of an image form to correspond to the specific original image form, is employed. That is, the pre-printed sheet is not a sheet on which the tint block image is printed over an entire area of the sheet but is a sheet on which the tint block image is printed on only the given area. However, this method differs from the previously described technique whereby a tint block image is output with an original image by using a printer, and is of the same type as the above described technique used for anti-counterfeit sheet. Therefore, basically, the same problems are encountered with this method. More specifically, since such pre-printed sheets are generally expensive and are used only in the printing of specific forms, there is a greater increase in costs. And furthermore, if the printing forms were changed, the pre-printed sheets for tint block images would also have to be changed, so that on taking time and cost expenditures into consideration, the method that uses pre-printed sheets is not economical.
Other methods may be considered, like one described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-324898. In the method, a special application, which has a function for previously generating a tint block image of a given size which is separate from an original image such as forms, is employed to generate and store a tint block image, and then the stored tint block image is read out and is combined with the original image when printing is performed. However, since the style of the generated tint block image is specialized for the application, it is not possible to apply a tint block image with specifying an area to which the tint block image is to be applied, in connection with an original image such as a document that is generated by another application. That is, so long as the layout of an image to be printed is not known previously, an area on which a tint block image is to be printed, or an area on which the tint block image is not to be printed, can not be specified.
In addition, according to this method, a definition file for specifying the location and the size of a tint block image must be prepared in advance. Thus, it may be often difficult for a user to display image data for which printing is desired (a preview display), and while confirming the image data, to specify a size and a location for an area wherein a tint block image is applied, or for an area wherein the tint block image is not applied. That is, since the area used for a tint block image must be defined in advance, it is difficult to say that, for a user, the degree of freedom and the usability of specifying an area used for a tint block image are high for data having various styles and layouts. Of course, the definition file must be rewritten for changing the layout of data and thus changing the layouts is a very painful operation for the user. That is, this technique can not easily specify a tint block image, which is to be combined, at an arbitrary area of an original image, whatever the type of the original image is.

Information processing apparatus and method for processing information


Embodiments of the present disclosure includes a III-N device having a substrate layer, a first III-N material layer on one side of the substrate layer, a second III-N material layer on the first III-N material layer, and a barrier layer disposed on another side of the substrate layer, the barrier layer being less electrically conductive than the substrate layer.

As large native substrates for group III-Nitride (III-N) semiconductors are not yet widely available, III-N films, such as GaN and its alloys, are currently grown by heteroepitaxy on suitable non-III-N substrates. Typically, the films are grown on sapphire (Al2O3), silicon carbide (SiC), or silicon substrates. Silicon substrates are emerging as a particularly attractive substrate candidate for III-N layers due to their low cost, wide availability, large wafer sizes, thermal properties, and ease of integration with silicon-based electronics. However, due to the large lattice mismatch and thermal expansion coefficient mismatch between silicon and III-N materials, there is typically a net tensile stress in III-N epitaxial layers deposited directly on silicon substrates.
This mismatch can result in cracking of the layers and thus thick III-N layers on silicon substrates that are crack-free and that exhibit adequate structural quality can be difficult to achieve. For example, the maximum thickness of III-N layers that can be grown without sustaining substantial defects may be limited. If the III-N layers are grown too thick, tensile stress in the layer becomes substantial, which can cause cracking upon cooling. In many applications in which III-N heteroepitaxial layers are used, it may be necessary that substantially thick III-N layers of adequate quality be grown on the foreign substrates.

III-N device structures having a non-insulating substrate


Uncontrolled characteristic impedance along a spring biased pin probe assembly is avoided by providing a stepped shelf of ground plane that extends outward along the pin and toward the target signal. The length of outward extension is chosen such that even when there is only (or at least) an expected minimum amount of compression of the spring while producing and maintaining contact, the entire exposed portion of the pin is over the shelf, whose depth of step has been selected to produce a selected Z0 for the exposed pin that matches Z0 for existing transmission lines already within the probe assembly. The spring biased pin may be a resistor tip spring pin that includes a small resistor in its tip.

The probing of high frequency signals, whether for an Oscilloscope or a Logic Analyzer, presents certain technical problems that increase in difficulty as the frequency of the signal gets higher. Quite aside from attaining the requisite bandwidth in the 'Scope or Logic Analyzer, careful attention has to be paid to the way the signals of interest (the 'target signals') are acquired through suitable probes. At the highest frequencies, say, above ten GHz for 'Scopes and above about a one GHz clock rate for Logic Analyzers, probe related issues that could be often be ignored at lower frequencies emerge as factors that limit overall system performance.
The incorporated 'SIGNAL PROBE AND PROBE ASSEMBLY' is a way to deal with at least one of these issues: getting a necessary resistor in the probe's tip as close as possible to the target signal. Probes for different kinds of test equipment (e.g., 'Scopes, Logic Analyzers, Spectrum Analyzers, etc.) have such tip resistors for different reasons, such as damping, minimizing loading, attenuation, or, perhaps impedance matching. What follows the probe tip is generally a length of coaxial cable having a particular characteristic impedance (Z0) that should not be thought of as merely a shielded conductor, but as a transmission line. Generally there is an active circuit of some sort at the other end of the coax, such as an amplifier with a particular frequency response, or, a threshold detector. The active circuit's output is then sent by a robust buffer amplifier over suitable transmission lines to the particular measurement circuitry in use. Probe architectures vary, but in each case it remains desirable to get the tip resistor as close as possible to the target signal.
There are two general reasons for this. First, any extra distance represents length along a conductor that will exhibit both a parasitic series inductance and a parasitic shunt capacitance to any nearby AC ground. These parasitic reactances represent target signal loading over an above what the probe's coupling network proper is intended to present. These parasitic reactances can be the cause of reflections and bandwidth limitations. Second, even if those parasitic reactances do not noticeably cause reflections and reduced bandwidth, they still amount to an unwanted intervening impedance that means that the signal presented to the entrance of the probe tip's resistor is not the identically same as the one contacted by the very end of the probe's tip. This is an issue of signal fidelity within the probe, quite apart from, and even in the absence of, significant loading.
The spring pin disclosed in 'SIGNAL PROBE AND PROBE ASSEMBLY' reduces the length of the probe tip by placing the probe tip resistor very close to the mechanical location of electrical contact with the target signal. It is almost as if one end of that resistor were the actual mechanical point of contact. We can't really achieve exactly that, because the resistor is an SMT part with rather flat surfaces for leads, while the contacting surface for the probe needs be a durable needle point or some non-slip variation on that, such as a 'crown point' having a plurality of points around a central depression. The next best thing is for the target side of the tip resistor to carry the durable point, while the other end of the resistor is mounted in a socket that in turn is carried by the larger contact structure and is mechanically biased against axial movement by a spring. 'SIGNAL PROBE AND PROBE ASSEMBLY' goes on to show an inline array of such spring pins carried by a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) that couples each of those spring pins to an associated coaxial cable that is a transmission line of characteristic impedance Z0 and that leads to some type of test equipment. We shall hereinafter call such a spring pin contact a 'resistor tip spring pin' contact.
As significant an improvement as 'SIGNAL PROBE AND PROBE ASSEMBLY' represents, there is still an aspect of its operation that can be improved. In particular, and as will become apparent when the Drawings are considered, the region of the spring pin: (a) which telescopes in and out of the housing containing the spring; and (b) which bears the socket that receives the tip resistor; (c) represents a variable length (depending upon how far down the entire probe assembly is moved to ensure good contact for all the probe tips carried by the assembly) that also has an arbitrary characteristic impedance (Zx) that in general is not equal to that (Z0) of the interconnecting cables. This mischief arises owing to the placement of the aforementioned housing right at the edge of the PCB (in the belief that this would maximize the variation in the amounts that different spring pins may move when contact is established). That is, the pin driven by the spring and carrying the tip resistor is sticking out into space by some unregulated amount, amounting to a transmission line of arbitrary Zx. Once the pin enters the housing, however, the characteristic impedance is controlled (Z0), and remains so from there on as the signal proceeds further into the probe assembly. At high frequencies, the transition from the short length of uncontrolled Zx into the controlled Z0 is a discontinuity that manifests itself as reflections in the time domain and as frequency response anomalies in the frequency domain. It would be advantageous to adjust Zx to be the same as Z0. What to do?

Probe assembly with controlled impedance spring pin or resistor tip spring pin contacts


A PWM controller compensates a maximum output power of a power converter having a power switch. The PWM controller includes an oscillator for generating a saw signal and a pulse signal, a power limiter coupled to the oscillator for generating a saw-limited signal in response to the saw signal, and a PWM unit coupled to the power limiter and the oscillator to generate a PWM signal for controlling the power switch in response to the saw-limited signal and the pulse signal. The saw-limited signal has a level being flattened during a period of time before an output voltage is generated, and is then transformed to a saw-limited waveform after the period of time.

Power converters are generally used to power many of electronic devices. The pulse-width modulation (PWM) technique is a conventional technology used in a power converter to control and regulate the output power. Various protection functions are built-in in the power converter to protect the power converter from permanent damage. The function of compensating the maximum output power is commonly used for overload and short-circuit protections.
FIG. 1 shows a traditional power converter. The power converter includes a power transformer T1 having a primary winding NP and a secondary winding NS. The power transformer T1 is to provide galvanic isolation between AC line input and an output of the power converter for safety. The primary winding NP is supplied with an input voltage VIN Of the power converter. In order to regulate an output voltage VO of the power converter, a control circuit coupled in series with the primary winding NP of the power transformer T1 generates a PWM signal VPWM in response to a feedback signal VFB. The control circuit comprises an oscillator 10, a first comparator 31, a second comparator 32, a logic circuit 33, and a flip-flop 20. The PWM signal VPWM controls a power switch Q1 to switch the power transformer T1. A sense resistor RS is connected in series with the power switch Q1 to determine the maximum output power of the power converter. The sense resistor RS turns the switching current of the transformer T1 to a current signal VCS. The current signal VCS is coupled to the control circuit. If the current signal VCS is greater than a maximum threshold VM through the first comparator 31, the control circuit is coupled to disable the PWM signal VPWM, and it also restricts the maximum output power of the power converter.
FIG. 2 shows the signal waveforms of the PWM signal VPWM and the current signal VCS of the power converter in FIG. 1. As the PWM signal VPWM becomes logic-high, a primary-side switching current IP will be generated accordingly. A peak value IP1 of the primary-side switching current IP can be given by,
                              I                      P                                                                          1                          =                                            V              IN                                      L              P                                ×                      T            ON                                              (        1        )            The maximum output power PO can be expressed by,
                              P          O                =                                                            L                P                                            2                ×                                  T                  S                                                      ×                          I                              P                                                                                1                            2                                =                                                    V                IN                2                            ×                              T                ON                2                                                    2              ×                              L                P                            ×                              T                S                                                                        (        2        )
In Equations (1) and (2), LP is the inductance of the primary winding NP of the transformer T1, and TON is an on-time of the PWM signal VPWM while the power switch Q1 is switched on, and TS is the switching period of the PWM signal VPWM.
From Equation (2), we find that the output power varies as the input voltage VIN varies. The input voltage ranges between 90VAC and 264VAC when the safety regulations are taken into consideration, and wherein the power limit in high line voltage is many times higher than the power limit in low line voltage. There is a delay time TD from the moment the voltage in current signal VCS is higher than the maximum threshold VM to the moment the PWM signal VPWM is actually turned off. The maximum output power is also affected by the delay time TD of the control circuit. In the period of the delay time TD, the power switch Q1 is still turned on, and it keeps on-state for delivering the output power. Therefore, the actual on-time of the PWM signal VPWM is equal to TON+TD, and the actual maximum output power PO becomes as follows:
                              P          O                =                                            V              IN              2                        ×                                          (                                                      T                    ON                                    +                                      T                    D                                                  )                            2                                            2            ×                          L              P                        ×                          T              S                                                          (        3        )
Although the delay time TD is short, generally within the range of 200 nsec˜350 nsec, the higher the operating frequency and smaller the switching period TS, the more influential impact is caused by the delay time TD. Therefore, the input voltage VIN should be compensated properly, such that the input voltage VIN does not affect the maximum output power.

Power converter having PWM controller for maximum output power compensation


A temperature responsive switch includes a housing, an actuator arm for movement in response to temperature conditions, a movable contact, and an adjustable contact connected to a auxiliary terminal for completing an auxiliary circuit. The movable contact engages and disengages the auxiliary contact to cycle a first element on and off in response to exceedingly large temperature swings a specified location, and also engages a stationary contact to complete a main circuit and cycle a different electrical element on and off in response to relatively modest changes in temperature changes at the same specified location.

This invention relates generally to condition-responsive switches and, more particularly, to a switch for controlling more than one circuit in response to a specified temperature reference point.
Switches that are responsive to temperature changes, commonly known as thermostats or cold controls, are widely used in refrigeration systems, and typically regulate the switching cycle of a compressor in response to the temperature of the air contained at a remote location. When the temperature exceeds a certain xe2x80x9cturn-onxe2x80x9d point, the switch contacts are closed and the compressor is switched on to cool the air. When the temperature drops below a certain xe2x80x9cturn-offxe2x80x9d point, the switch contacts are opened and the compressor is switched off. Thus, the thermostat opens and closes a main electrical circuit in response to temperature changes at a specified location.
Sometimes, however, it is desirable to also control an auxiliary circuit in response to changes in temperature at the same location that stimulates the main circuit. Thus, extreme temperature conditions, or fault conditions in the main circuit, may be corrected by or identified by auxiliary elements connected to the auxiliary circuit.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a condition responsive switch capable of providing temperature control of both a main circuit and an auxiliary circuit.
In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a condition responsive electric switch includes a housing, an actuator arm, a movable electrical contact, and an adjustable electrical contact for completing an auxiliary circuit. The actuator arm is mounted within the housing for pivotal movement that moves the movable contact and opens and closes the movable and adjustable electrical contacts to complete or break an auxiliary circuit through the switch in response to environmental conditions outside of the housing, such as the temperature of a specified reference point.
When the reference temperature falls, refrigerant inside a bellows and in fluid communication with the temperature reference point contracts and moves the actuator arm, which causes the movable contact to engage the adjustable contact and complete an auxiliary circuit. As the temperature of the reference point rises, the refrigerant expands in the bellows and causes the actuator arm to move and disengage the movable contact from the adjustable contact. Thus, the auxiliary circuit can be used to avoid excessively cold temperatures at the temperature reference point, by, for example, switching on a heating element through the auxiliary circuit.
The position of the adjustable contact relative to the movable contact is adjustable to calibrate the sensitivity of the auxiliary circuit to movement of the actuator arm. Thus, the auxiliary contact may be moved closer to or farther away from the movable contact to vary the required temperature change, or differential in the reference point temperature that cause the movable contact and the auxiliary contact to engage, thereby closing the auxiliary circuit. The smaller the separation of the movable contact and the auxiliary contact, the smaller the temperature differential at the reference point that will close the contacts.

Dual circuit temperature controlled switch


A method for forming transistors with mutually-aligned double gates. The method includes the steps of (a) providing a wrap-around-gate transistor structure, wherein the wrap-around-gate transistor structure includes (i) semiconductor region, and (ii) a gate electrode region wrapping around the semiconductor region, wherein the gate electrode region is electrically insulated from the semiconductor region by a gate dielectric film; and (b) removing first and second portions of the wrap-around-gate transistor structure so as to form top and bottom gate electrodes from the gate electrode region, wherein the top and bottom gate electrodes are electrically disconnected from each other.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to double-gate FETs (Field Effect Transistors), and more specifically, to double-gate FETs whose double gates are electrically disconnected from each other.
2. Related Art
Dopant fluctuations are becoming a serious problem in Vt (threshold voltage) control in advanced semiconductor devices. As semiconductor devices become smaller and smaller in size, Vt control becomes more difficult. A known solution is to use back gates (in addition to front gates) in the semiconductor devices to control Vt. Without precise alignment between the top and bottom gates, however, the performance advantage of dual gates is decreased or lost completely.
As a result, there is always a need for new methods for forming transistors with aligned double gates. The present invention provides such a new method.

Double-gate FETs (Field Effect Transistors)

International Business Machines Corporation


Described herein are compounds for and methods of treating conditions or diseases in a subject by administering to the subject a pharmaceutical composition containing an effective amount of an α-adrenergic modulator. The compounds and methods are also useful for alleviating types of pain, both acute and chronic.

Clinical pain encompasses nociceptive and neuropathic pain. Each type of pain is characterized by hypersensitivity at the site of damage and in adjacent normal tissue. While nociceptive pain usually is limited in duration and responds well to available opioid therapy, neuropathic pain can persist long after the initiating event has healed, as is evident, for example, in the "ghost pain" that often follows amputation. Chronic pain syndromes such as chronic neuropathic pain are triggered by any of a variety of insults, including surgery, compression injury or trauma, infectious agent, toxic drug, inflammatory disorder, or a metabolic disease such as diabetes or ischemia.
Unfortunately, chronic pain such as chronic neuropathic pain generally is resistant to available drug therapy. Furthermore, current therapies have serious side-effects such as cognitive changes, sedation, nausea and, in the case of narcotic drugs, addiction. Many patients suffering from neuropathic and other chronic pain are elderly or have medical conditions that limit their tolerance to the side-effects associated with available analgesic therapy. The inadequacy of current therapy in relieving neuropathic pain without producing intolerable side-effects often is manifest in the depression and suicidal tendency of chronic pain sufferers.
As alternatives to current analgesics, α2 adrenergic agonists, which are devoid of respiratory depressant effects and addictive potential are being developed. Such drugs are useful analgesic agents when administered spinally. However, undesirable pharmacological properties of α-adrenergic agonists, specifically sedation and hypotension, limit the utility of these drugs when administered orally or by other peripheral routes. Thus, there is a need for effective analgesic agents that can be administered by oral or other peripheral routes and that lack undesirable side-effects such as sedation and hypotension. The present invention satisfies this need and provides related advantages as well.
Also provided herein are new therapies for chronic pain sufferers, who, until now, have faced a lifetime of daily medication to control their pain. Unfortunately, available treatments for chronic neuropathic pain, such as tricyclic antidepressants, anti-seizure drugs and local anesthetic injections, only alleviate symptoms temporarily and to varying degrees. No available treatment reverses the sensitized pain state or cures pain such as neuropathic pain. Effective drugs that can be administered, for example, once or several times a month and that maintain analgesic activity for several weeks or months, are presently not available. Thus, there is a need for novel methods of providing long-term relief from chronic pain. The present invention satisfies this need and also provides related advantages.

Methods of treating alpha adrenergic mediated conditions


A method and apparatus for driving a liquid crystal panel in a line-inversion system is disclosed. In the method, at least one pixel block each of which includes at least two data lines within the liquid crystal panel is set. The adjacent pixels in a gate line direction within the pixel block respond to data signals having the same polarity. The pixels within the other pixel areas except for the pixel block respond to data signals having a polarity contrary to the adjacent pixels at the left and right sides thereof. Accordingly, a current amount charged in the adjacent pixels having a large brightness difference is supplied always equally, so that the brightness difference between the adjacent pixels can be reduced to eliminate a noise pattern in the vertical direction.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a technique for driving a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to a liquid crystal panel driving method of driving a liquid crystal panel using an inversion system and an apparatus thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a liquid crystal display device controls the light transmissivity of liquid crystal cells in a liquid crystal panel to display a picture corresponding to a video signal. Such a liquid crystal display device uses a line-inversion system, a column-inversion system, a dot-inversion system and a group-inversion system, etc. so as to drive the liquid crystal cells in the liquid crystal panel. In a liquid crystal panel driving method of line-inversion system, as shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, the polarities of data signals applied to the liquid crystal panel are inverted in accordance with row lines, that is, gate lines on the liquid crystal panel and in accordance with frames. In a liquid crystal panel driving method of column-inversion system, as shown in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, the polarities of data signals applied to the liquid crystal panel are inverted in accordance with column lines, that is, source lines on the liquid crystal panel and in accordance with frames. In a liquid crystal panel driving method of dot-inversion system, as shown in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B, data signals having polarities contrary to the adjacent liquid crystal cells on the gate lines and to the adjacent liquid crystal cells on the data lines are applied to each liquid crystal cells in the liquid crystal panel, and the polarities of data signals applied to all liquid crystal cells in the liquid crystal panel are inverted every frame. In other words, in the dot-inversion system, data signals are applied to the liquid crystal cells in the liquid crystal panel in such a manner that the positive(+) polarity and the negative(−) polarity appear alternately as shown in FIG. 3A as it goes from the liquid crystal cell at the left upper end into the liquid crystal cells at the right side and into the liquid crystal cells at the lower side when a video signal in the odd-numbered frame is displayed; while data signals are applied to the liquid crystal cells in the liquid crystal panel in such a manner that the positive (+) polarity and the negative(−) polarity appear alternately as shown in FIG. 3B as it goes from the liquid crystal cell at the left upper end into the liquid crystal cells at the right side and into the liquid crystal cells at the lower side when a video signal in the even-numbered frame is displayed.
The line-inversion system in the above-mentioned liquid crystal panel driving method has a serious crosstalk in the horizontal direction. Particularly, when a picture alternated with two colors (i.e., a color with a medium gray scale and a black color) depending on the line is displayed on the liquid crystal panel by the liquid crystal panel driving method of line inversion system, a serious flicker emerges between the horizontal lines. Similarly, when a picture alternated with two colors (i.e., a color with a medium gray scale and a black color) depending on the line is displayed on the liquid crystal panel by the liquid crystal panel driving method of column inversion system, a serious crosstalk in the vertical direction is generated. The dot-inversion system in which the polarities of the data signals are inverted in both the vertical and horizontal directions unlike the line-inversion system and the column inversion system provides better picture quality than the line- and column-inversion systems. Recently, owing to such an advantage, the liquid crystal panel driving method of dot-inversion system has been often used.
However, the liquid crystal panel driving method of dot-inversion system has a problem in that a brightness difference is generated at a boundary portion between column driver integrated circuits (IC'S). This generation of the brightness difference at the boundary portion between the column driver IC's is caused by an output deviation of the column driver IC's and a large difference in a voltage Vgs between the gate and the source of a thin film transistor (TFT) generated because the polarities of video signals applied to the liquid crystal cells at the boundary portion between the column driver IC's is opposed to each other.
The foregoing will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4 to FIG. 6B. Each pixel on the liquid crystal panel can be expressed by an equivalent circuit as shown in FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, the pixel includes a TFT connected between a gate line GL and a data line DL, and a liquid crystal cell Clc connected between a source terminal of the TFT and a common voltage line CL. Further, the pixel includes a parasitic capacitor Cgs formed between the source terminal of the TFT and the gate line GL, and a parasitic resistor Rtft existing between the drain terminal and the source terminal of the TFT. The parasitic resistor Rtft is an equivalent resistance between the drain terminal and the source terminal when the TFT is turned off, which does not have a fixed value. The liquid crystal cell Clc charges a difference voltage between a video signal at the data line DL and a common voltage Vcom applied to the common voltage line CL until a time interval when the TFT maintains an ON state, that is, until a time interval when a gate high voltage Vgh is applied to the gate line GL. Accordingly, the difference voltage charged in the liquid crystal cell Clc becomes different depending on the polarity of the video signal and an output deviation of the column driver IC's.
Referring to FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, there are shown a liquid crystal panel 10 having liquid crystal cells arranged in a matrix type, N column driver IC's 12 for individually applying a video signal to M data lines DL, and J gate driver IC's 14 for individually driving K gate lines GL. Herein, J, K, M and N are an integer. The N column driver IC's 12 apply video signals with a contrary polarity to the adjacent data lines DL in such a manner to be synchronized with a time interval when the gate high voltage Vgh is sequentially applied to the gate lines GL by the J gate driver IC's 14. The pixels at the oblique-lined boundary portion positioned between the column driver IC's 12 are supplied with video signals having a polarity contrary to the video signals applied to the adjacent pixels. Voltages charged in the odd-numbered pixels P(J*(2I−1),M), P(J*(2I−1),2M), . . . , P(J*(2I−1), (N−1)*M) and P(J*(2I−1),M+1), P(J*(2I−1),2*M+1), . . . , P(J*(2I−1), (N−1)*M+1) in the data line direction of the pixels P(J*K,M), P(J*K,2M), . . . , P(J*K,(N−1)*M) connected to the left data lines DL and the pixels P(J*K,M+1), P(J*K,2*M+1), . . . , P(J*K,(N−1)*M+1) connected to the right data line DL at the boundary portions of the adjacent column driver IC's 12 in the odd-numbered frames as shown in FIG. 5A are represented by FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B, respectively. Herein, I is an integer. FIG. 6A represents a voltage Vgs between the gate and the source charged in the odd-numbered pixels P(J*(2I−1),M), P(J*(2I−1),2M), . . . , P(J*(2I−1), (N−1)*M) connected to the left data lines at the boundary portions between the column driver IC's 12, whereas FIG. 6B represents a voltage Vgs between the gate and the source charged in the odd-numbered pixels P(J*(2I−1),M+1), P(J*(2I−1),2*M+1), . . . , P(J*(2I−1), (N−1)*M+1) connected to the right data lines at the boundary portions between the column driver IC's 12 in the odd-numbered frames. As seen from FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B, the voltage Vgs between the gate and the source charged in the odd-numbered pixels P(J*(2I−1),M), P(J*(2I−1), 2M), . . . , P(J*(2I−1), (N−1)*M) connected to the left data lines at the boundary portions in the odd-numbered frames becomes much smaller than the voltage Vgs between the gate and the source charged in the odd-numbered pixels P(J*(2I−1),M+1), P(J*(2I−1),2*M+1), . . . , P(J*(2I−1), (N−1)*M+1) connected to the right data lines at the boundary portions. A difference in the voltages Vgs between the gates and the sources charged in the adjacent pixels within the boundary portions emerges at the even-numbered pixels P(J*2I,M), P(J*2I,2M), . . . , P(J*2I, (N−1)*M) and P(J*2I,M+1), P(J*2I,2M+1), . . . , P(J*2I,(N−1)*M+1) in the data line direction in opposition to the odd-numbered pixels P(J*(2I−1),M), P(J*(2I−1),2M), . . . , P(J*(2I−1), (N−1)*M) and P(J*(2I−1),M+1), P(J*(2I−1),2*M+1), . . . , P(J*(2I−1), (N−1)*M+1), respectively. Accordingly, since a brightness difference of the displayed picture becomes serious at the boundary portions between the column driver IC's 12, a noise pattern at the vertical line emerges on the field. Such a phenomenon becomes more serious as the output deviation of the column driver IC's 12 goes larger. The video signal applied to each pixel cell in the even-numbered frames following the odd-numbered frames has a polarity contrary to that in the odd-numbered frames. In the even-numbered frames, a voltage Vgs between the gate and the source charged in the odd-numbered pixels P(J*(2I−1),M), P(J*(2I−1),2M), . . . , P(J*(2I−1), (N−1)*M) connected to the left data lines at the boundary portions between the column driver IC's 12 is as shown in FIG. 6B. On the other hand, a voltage Vgs between the gate and the source charged in the odd-numbered pixels P(J*(2I−1),M+1), P(J*(2I−1),2*M+1), . . . , P(J*(2I−1), (N−1)*M+1) connected to the right data lines at the boundary portions between the column driver IC's 12 is as shown in FIG. 6A. Accordingly, in the even-numbered frames, the voltage Vgs between the gate and the source charged in the odd-numbered pixels P(J*(2I−1),M), P(J*(2I−1),2M), . . . , P(J*(2I−1), (N−1)*M) connected to the left data lines at the boundary portions becomes much smaller than the voltage Vgs between the gate and the source charged in the odd-numbered pixels P(J*(2I−1),M+1), P(J*(2I−1),2*M+1), . . . , P(J*(2I−1), (N−1)*M+1) connected to the right data lines at the boundary portions. In the even-numbered frames, a difference in the voltages charged in the even-numbered pixels P(J*2I,M), P(J*2I,2M), . . . , P(J*2I, (N−1)*M) and P(J*2I,M+1), P(J*2I,2M+1), . . . , P(J*2I,(N−1)*M+1) in the data line direction emerges in opposition to that in the odd-numbered pixels P(J*(2I−1),M), P(J*(2I−1),2M), . . . , P(J*(2I−1), (N−1)*M) and P(J*(2I−1),M+1), P(J*(2I−1),2*M+1), . . . , P(J*(2I−1),(N−1)*M+1), respectively.
Meanwhile, a large output deviation may be generated between the output terminals of the same column driver IC 12. In this case, a large brightness difference is generated between the adjacent pixels in the data line direction of the pixel areas within the same column driver IC 12 in similarity to the above-mentioned phenomenon appearing at the boundary portions between the column driver IC's 12.
As a result, in the conventional dot-inversion system, a voltage difference and a current difference charged in the adjacent pixels in the data line direction becomes large, and a large brightness difference is generated between the adjacent pixels in the data line direction due to an output deviation within the column driver IC 12 or an output deviation between the column driver IC's 12 which is more increased at a higher resolution.

Method and apparatus for driving liquid crystal display panel in inversion


Wireless communication systems wherein services involving two or more stations in the system may be activated automatically. Data is communicated between airborne stations according to a TDMA protocol, where the data is transmitted in time slots organized in frames of a repeating frame structure. A link address is associated with at least one time slot. The stations select link addresses for transmission of data according to a self-organizing transmission algorithm. Each station broadcasts data messages of a first type at a first repetition rate and receives such corresponding messages from the other stations. At least based on the received data messages of the first type, each station determines whether a service activation criterion is fulfilled with respect to at least one other station. If the service activation criterion is fulfilled, the station starts to transmit data messages of a second type, which pertain to a service that involves the station itself and the at least one other station.

There are many occasions when the communication demand between two or more stations of a wireless communication system may vary. Particularly, this is true with respect to stations located in air vehicles, such as aircrafts and UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). Namely, these types of vehicles are capable of traveling long distances in a relatively short time. Moreover, the possibility and/or requirement to exchange information between two or more stations may be highly dependent upon the distances between the vehicles. Therefore, a protocol for communicating data between airborne stations must be very dynamic and flexible.
An STDMA (Self-organized Time Division Multiple Access) system is capable of handling the communication dynamics and the inherent unpredictability of the airborne stations' behavior. In an STDMA system a self-organizing transmission algorithm is applied to allow simultaneous transmissions from many stations, while minimizing the risk of transmission conflicts. Furthermore, the stations themselves control the usage of the transmission resources, i.e. without any external controlling or polling functions from a base station structure or a corresponding master control entity. However, an external time reference in the form of a ground station or satellite is normally required. As a consequence of the distributed resource control only a partial, or local, organization of the communication resources is possible. Therefore, the self-organizing transmission algorithm must be capable of handling occasional communication conflicts, which are unavoidable when two or more stations which have been located outside one another's communication ranges approach each other, such that their communication ranges suddenly overlap.
Moreover, also when a number of stations are present within one another's communication ranges and the self-organizing transmission algorithm has already enabled a non-conflicting exchange data between the stations situations may arise which render it necessary to establish particular services involving these stations, where the services depend upon particular characteristics of the vehicles and/or the vehicles' spatio-temporal interrelationship. However, there is yet no automatic technical solution as how to handle such situations.


A magnetic field measurement system includes an array of magnetometers; at least one magnetic field generator configured to generate a compensation field across the array of magnetometers; and a controller coupled to the magnetometers and the at least one magnetic field generator and configured for adjusting a dynamic range and sensitivity of the array by adjusting a spatial variation of the compensation field to alter which of the magnetometers of the array operate in a measurement mode. Another magnetic field measurement system utilizes at least one magnetometer instead of the array. The controller is configured for adjusting a dynamic range and sensitivity of the array by adjusting a spatial variation of the compensation field to alter which of multiple domains within the at least one magnetometer operate in the measurement mode.

Optical magnetometry is the use of optical methods to measure a magnetic field with very high accuracy, for example, on the order of 1×10−15 Tesla. A vector magnetometer is a type of magnetometer that can be used to determine the magnetic field components along one, two or three Cartesian axes. The spin-exchange-relaxation-free (SERF) method is one way to create a highly sensitive vector magnetometer based on zero-field magnetic resonances. However, due to the intrinsic dynamic range of zero-field resonances SERF magnetometers can typically only operate in an ambient background magnetic field environment ranging from 0 nT to a few tens of nT. Since this sensitivity range is far below the background magnetic field strength of the Earth, passive and active shielding are conventionally employed. Due to its limited dynamic range, a SERF magnetometer cannot be used to measure (and therefore suppress through electromagnetic inductors) the Earth's magnetic field, which has a magnitude that varies from a few 1,000 nT to 80,000 nT depending on location.
In the nervous system, neurons communicate via action potentials, which transmit information through brief electric currents which flow down the length of neuron causing chemical messengers to be released at the synapse. The time-varying electrical current within the neuron generates a magnetic field. For neural signals in the brain, the magnetic field can propagate beyond the human head and can be observed. Neural and other electrical signals in other parts of the body also generate an observable magnetic field. Conventional observation and measurement devices, for example, a Superconductive Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) or an Optical Magnetometer (OM) or any other suitable magnetic field detector can be used for detection. One challenge with a SQUID detector is that it requires cryogenic cooling which can be costly and bulky.

Magnetic field measurement system and method of using variable dynamic range optical magnetometers


This application provides a method to establish and construct cell lines expressing pathogens without destruction of the host cells. The invention allows for the formation of cell lines for the purpose of continuous expression, release, and harvesting of the pathogen and maintain the consistency of the final biological pro duct. Although the invention is intended for pathogen antigen expression, the invention allows for the production of any antigen by the described methods. The establishment of a chronically infected celline can be used for reagent, diagnostic, quantification, or vaccine purposes. We have used the procedure to select for a host cell line that naturally adapts to HIV-1 replication without affecting the host cell's ability to survive. This allowed for the establishment of a chronic HIV-1 expressing cell line that continuously expresses HIV-1 particles.

Most, if not all pathogens, destroy their host cell during pathogen replication. Death of living cells can follow more than one possible scenario. It may result from an external injury, from cell killing during acute infection with cytopathic pathogens, or it may be the outcome of activating an internal pathway for cell suicide—programmed cell death. Programmed cell death or apoptosis is a controlled process by which unwanted cells are selectively eliminated. Apoptosis is a normal physiological process of eliminating unwanted cells from living organisms during embryonic and adult development, but can also be induced in cells following exposure to a pathogen.
The mechanism by which pathogens cause cell death—either direct killing or indirect—varies with the pathogen and the host cell in question. Controversy surrounds the cause of pathogen-induced cell death in even in the most extensively studied pathogens. For example, in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-initiated killing of CD4+ cells T cell death has been reported to be caused by syncytium formation-interaction of the envelope glycoprotein (gp120) with CD4 and subsequent fusion of the cells; influenced by type 1/type 2 cytokine modulation; mediated by specific cell death proteases (caspases) that function in the distal portions of the proteolytic cascades involved in apoptosis; membrane tumor necrosis factor induced cooperative signaling of tumor necrosis factor membrane receptors p55 and p75; Fas-induced apoptosis; and direct interaction of HIV gp120 envelop with the T cell CD4 molecule. Although agreement in the mechanism of cell death is disputed, it is clear that pathogen replication results in host cell destruction.
Pathogens replication can only occur inside host cells, commandeering the cell's machinery to reproduce. Infection typically begins when a pathogen encounters a cell with a specific cellular surface receptor molecule that matches the proteins found on the virus. The membranes of the virus and the cell will fuse, followed by release of viral nucleic acids, proteins and enzymes into the cell. Cell-to-cell spread of the pathogen also can occur through the fusion of an infected cell with an uninfected cell. The pathogen nucleic acid moves to the cell nucleus, where in most cases is spliced into the host DNA (for RNA-based pathogens, pathogen encoded reverse transcriptase converts RNA into DNA). Once incorporated into the cellular genome, RNA copies are made that are read by the host cell protein-malcing machinery. After the MRNA is processed in the cell nucleus, it is transported to the cytoplasm. The pathogen co-opts the cellular protein-making machinery to make long chains of viral proteins and enzymes, using the pathogen MRNA as a template. Newly made pathogen proteins, enzymes and nucleic acids gather inside the cell, while the pathogen envelope proteins aggregate within cellular membranes. An immature viral particle forms and pinches off from cellular membranes, acquiring an envelope. Depending on the pathogen, the mature virus particle is either released into the cytoplasm of the cell or released external to the cell.
In the case of HIV-1, the outer coat of the virus, known as the viral envelope, is composed of 72 copies (on average) of a complex HIV protein that protrudes from the envelope surface. This protein, known as Env, consists of a cap made of three or four molecules called glycoprotein (gp) 120, and a stem consisting of three or four gp41 molecules that anchor the structure in the viral envelope. Within the envelope of a mature HIV particle is a bullet-shaped core or capsid, made of 2,000 copies of another viral protein, p24. The capsid surrounds two single strands of HIV RNA, each of which has a copy of the virus genes—nine genes in total. Three of these, gag, pol and env, contain information needed to make structural proteins for new virus particles. The env gene, for example, codes for a protein called gp160 that is broken down by a viral enzyme to form gpl20 and gp41, the components of Env. Three regulatory genes, tat, rev and nef, and three auxiliary genes, vif, vpr and vpu, contain information necessary for the production of proteins that control the ability of HIV to infect a cell, produce new copies of virus, or cause disease. The core of HIV also includes a protein called p7, the HIV nucleocapsid protein; and three enzymes that carry out later steps in the virus life cycle: reverse transcriptase, integrase and protease. Another HIV protein called p17, or the HIV matrix protein, lies between the viral core and the viral envelope.
The ability to either molecularly clone and subsequently express a gene by recombinant technology, isolate whole pathogens, or purify specific pathogen gene(s), has led to the development of sensitive assay systems for detecting pathogens and for measuring immune responses to their infection. Because early pathogen infection often causes no symptoms, a doctor or other health care worker relies on testing a person's blood for the presence of antibodies (disease-fighting proteins) to the pathogen in question for diagnosis. By early testing, treatment at a time when the individuals' immune systems are most able to combat the pathogen and thus prevent the spread the virus to others could occur. Medical diagnose of pathogen's infection is normally performed by using two different types of antibody tests, ELISA and Western Blot. Diagnostic studies with a number of pathogens show that pathogen burden predicts disease progression. That is, people with high levels of pathogen in their bloodstream are more likely to develop pathogen-related symptoms or to die than individuals with lower levels of pathogen. Methods are available to detect specific antigens or nucleic acid sequences. These techniques can detect pathogen exposures that occur before antibody responses are established. Diagnostic detection for most pathogens exist in first-, second-, and third-line screening procedures and the use of Western Blot analysis is routinely established as a recognized confirmatory method.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Provided is a medicine packaging device. The medicine packaging device includes: a reader-writer that reads information from an IC tag installed at a supply core of an ink ribbon roll detachably installed to an ink ribbon cassette as well as writes information to the IC tag; a motor control unit that controls a winding motor for rotating a winding core, based on a used length of the ink ribbon which is information read from the IC tag, so that the ink ribbon of the ink ribbon roll runs in a winding direction at a higher speed than a feeding speed of a continuous sheet for packaging; and a written information output unit that outputs information showing the used length of the ink ribbon which has been changed due to use of the ink ribbon, to the reader/writer as information written on the IC tag.

As a medicine packaging device that prints patient names and the dates for taking medicine, etc. on a continuous sheet for packaging, as well as package medicine such as tablets or powder medicine, etc. by one package by using the continuous sheet for packaging, a medicine dispensing apparatus disclosed in a publication of Japanese patent No. 4564437 is known.
In the medicine dispensing device, the continuous sheet for packaging for packaging medicine is supplied from a roll, the continuous sheet for packaging and an ink ribbon are overlapped with a position of a print head, and printing of a name of a patient, a dosage time, etc. is performed through the print head. In a state where an opening of the continuous sheet for packaging to which printing was performed as stated above is faced upward and the continuous sheet for packaging is folded in half, medicine such a tablet and powdered medicine is packaged by one package.
The ink ribbon comes in contact with the continuous sheet for packaging, and run along with the continuous sheet for packaging. The ink ribbon is separated from the continuous sheet for packaging after the printing by the printing head. When a slack occurs in the ink ribbon which is to be separated, the ink ribbon is separated vertically from the continuous sheet for packaging. Therefore, there is a possibility that printing failure may occur. For this reason, the ink ribbon is passed over a tension bar which is arranged in a running path of the ink ribbon so that the ink ribbon is separated obliquely from the continuous sheet for packaging, thereby preventing defective printing. The tension bar is rotatably provided as well as is biased towards one direction by a spring. When the ink ribbon is loosened on the running path, a biasing force of the spring rotates the tension bar to ensure constant tension. Then, when the tension bar is rotated to a predetermined position, a sensor detects this, and a motor for rotating a winding portion which winds the ink ribbon is activated to wind the ink ribbon. Once the ink ribbon is wound in this manner, the tension bar is pressed by the ink ribbon, and the tension bar rotates the opposite way against the biasing force of the spring.

Medicine packaging device, ink ribbon running control method, ink ribbon roll and ink ribbon cassette


Compounds are provided that function as thyromimetics, which compounds have utility for treating diseases such as neurodegenerative disorders. Pharmaceutical compositions containing such compounds are also provided, as are methods of their use and preparation. Such compounds have the structure of Formula (I) as shown herein, or a pharmaceutically acceptable isomer, racemate, hydrate, solvate, isotope or salt thereof.

Thyroid hormone (TH) is a key signal for oligodendrocyte differentiation and myelin formation during development, and also stimulates remyelination in adult models of multiple sclerosis (MS) (Calzà L et al, Brain Res Revs 48:339-346, 2005). However, TH is not an acceptable long-term therapy due to there being virtually no therapeutic window in which remyelination can be achieved while avoiding the cardiotoxicity and bone demineralization associated with chronic hyperthyroidism. Some thyroid hormone analogs can activate thyroid hormone-responsive genes while avoiding the associated downsides of TH by exploiting molecular and physiological features of thyroid hormone receptors (Malm J et al, Mini Rev Med Chem 7:79-86, 2007). These receptors are expressed in two major forms with heterogenous tissue distributions and overlapping but distinct sets of target genes (Yen P M, Physiol Rev 81:1097-1142, 2001). TRα is enriched in the heart, brain, and bone while TRβ is enriched in the liver (O'Shea P J et al, Nucl Recept Signal 4:e011, 2006).
Developing selective thyromimetics has been challenging due to the high sequence homology of thyroid hormone receptor subtypes; namely, only one amino acid residue on the internal surface of the ligand binding domain cavity varies between the α1 and β1 forms. GC-1 was one of the first potent analogs that demonstrated significant TRβ-selectivity in vitro (Chiellini G et al, Chem Biol 5:299-306, 1998; Yoshihara H A I et al, J Med Chem 46:3152-3161, 2003) and in vivo (Trost S U et al, Endocrinology 141:3057-3064, 2000; Grover G J et al, Endocrinology 145:1656-1661, 2004; Baxter J D et al, Trends Endocrinol Metab 15:154-157, 2004).
While progress has been made in this field, there remains a need in the art for further thyromimetic compounds, as well as to products containing the same, and for methods related to their use and preparation.


A method by which to easily and inexpensively make a matched set of male and female embossing dies so that articles can be embossed in an arts and crafts environment. Upper and lower sheets of adhesive are applied to opposite faces of a substrate, and each adhesive layer is covered with a paper backing to form a sandwich with the substrate secured between the upper and lower sheets. A design to be embossed is then cut through the sandwich. A portion of the backing covering the upper adhesive sheet is removed to expose an area of the adhesive, and a first die plate is bonded to the upper sheet. A different portion of the backing covering the lower adhesive sheet is removed to expose an area of the adhesive, and a second die plate is bonded to the lower sheet. The first and second die plates are pulled away from one another with a first part of the design cut through the sandwich affixed to the first die plate to form a male die half and the remaining part of the design cut through the sandwich affixed to the second die plate to form a female die half.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method by which a matched set of male and female embossing dies can be quickly, easily and inexpensively manufactured at home, at school, and at the office so that a material can be embossed with a design without requiring any special manufacturing or operating equipment or skills.
2. Background Art
Embossing is an art form that has long been used by those engaged in industrial and commercial enterprises. However, the methods heretofor employed for making an embossing die have often been complicated and require special skills. More particularly, special molds and/or expensive cutting machines are typically used to manufacture a matched set of embossing dies. In this same regard, the dies cannot be made or the machinery operated by anyone other than an experienced die maker. Because of the complex equipment, costs, and level of skill associated with making most embossing dies, there is little opportunity to manufacture a set of embossing dies at home, at school or at the office.
Therefore, what is needed is a method for easily making a matched pair of embossing dies without requiring complicated and expensive equipment or die making experience to enable articles to be embossed at home in an arts and crafts environment rather than a large scale industrial or commercial environment as has otherwise been common in the past.

Method for making a set of embossing dies


A first fluid having a dyed styrene monomer is injected into a porous reservoir rock to effect saturation. A second fluid, miscible with the first fluid and having a dyed styrene monomer differing in color from the first fluid, is injected into the porous rock to displace the first fluid. Effluent flow from the porous rock is monitored with UV-visible light spectroscopy for use in determining oil displacement characteristics of the porous rock. Subsequent rapid polymerization of the styrene monomer within the porous rock allows identification and characterization of the controlling factors and attributes of the pore network responsible for entrapment of the residual phase. This allows assessment of larger intervals of the reservoir rock.

In the production of oil from subterranean reservoirs, it is usually possible to recover only a small fraction of the total oil present in the formation by so-called primary recovery methods which utilize only the natural forces present in the reservoir. To recover oil beyond that which is produced by primary methods, a variety of supplemental production techniques have been employed. In these supplementary techniques, commonly referred to as enhanced recovery operations, a fluid is introduced into the oil-bearing formation in order to displace oil to a production system comprising one or more production wells. The displacing or "drive" fluid may be an aqueous liquid such as brine or fresh water, a gas such as carbon dioxide, steam or dense-phase carbon dioxide, an oil-miscible liquid such as butane, or an oil and water-miscible liquid such as an alcohol.
In miscible flooding operations, it is important to be able to determine the efficiency with which oil can be displaced from porous reservoir rock. Previous attempts at identification and quantification of pore systems and their attributes that effect residual oil and recovery efficiency during miscible flooding have been unsatisfactory, particularly in carbonate reservoir rocks, due to extreme complexity and heterogeneity.

Method for identifying residual oil characteristics of porous reservoir rock


An underrun energy-absorbing structure (14) (“structure”) for a vehicle (10) includes a rail member (16), a deformable crush tube (18), and a plate (20). Rail member (16) is formed from an inboard panel (22) and an outboard panel (24). Crush tube (18) is sandwiched between inboard panel (22) and outboard panel (24) and extends perpendicularly from rail member (16). Plate (20) is adjacent to crush tube (18) and extends perpendicularly from rail member (16). Plate (20) is supported by crush tube (18) during a vehicle collision.

Light truck vehicles (LTV's) with energy-absorbing structures typically decrease vehicle underrun in collisions with smaller passenger cars. To that end, energy-absorbing structures typically extend downward from the vehicle frame of the LTV. Current energy-absorbing structures include a blocker beam and complex bracketry. Blocker beam typically extends between rails and is offset downward from the vehicle frame for blocking the smaller passenger vehicle. The complex bracketry typically attaches blocker beam to the vehicle frame.
Blocker beam and bracketry typically add a significant amount of weight to the vehicle. The bracketry typically includes a high number of parts, which can increase in-plant processing time and manufacturing costs.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an underrun protection energy-absorbing structure that has a simple and robust construction with a substantially lighter overall mass and fewer parts, as compared with conventional energy-absorbing structures.

Underrun energy-absorbing structure for a vehicle


Provided are a CMOS transistor, a semiconductor device having the transistor, and a semiconductor module having the device. The CMOS transistor may include first and second interconnection structures respectively disposed in first and second regions of a semiconductor substrate. The first and second regions of the semiconductor substrate may have different conductivity types. The first and second interconnection structures may be disposed on the semiconductor substrate. The first interconnection structure may have a different stacked structure from the second interconnection structure. The CMOS transistor may be disposed in the semiconductor device. The semiconductor device may be disposed in the semiconductor module.

1. Field
The inventive concept relates to a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistor, a semiconductor device including the transistor, and a semiconductor module including the device.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a semiconductor device may include a gate structure formed on a semiconductor substrate. The gate structure controls the flow of charge between source and drain regions of a CMOS transistor. The gate structure may include a gate insulating pattern, a polysilicon (poly-Si) gate and a gate electrode that are sequentially stacked. The poly-Si gate may contain impurity ions. The poly-Si gate may determine the work function of the CMOS transistor along with the semiconductor substrate.
When driving the semiconductor device, the poly-Si gate may have a parasitic capacitance due to diffusion of the impurity ions. The parasitic capacitance of the poly-Si gate may degrade the current drivability of the CMOS transistor. In order to prevent generation of the parasitic capacitance of the CMOS transistor, the poly-Si gate has been replaced by a diffusion stopping pattern and a metal gate that are sequentially stacked. The metal gate may not develop a parasitic capacitance during the driving of the semiconductor device.
However, the metal gate may react with the gate electrode and diffuse constituent atoms of the gate electrode into the diffusion stopping pattern and/or the gate insulating pattern. In this case, the gate electrode, depending on semiconductor fabrication process conditions, may cause deviation of a threshold voltage of the CMOS transistor from its intended magnitude.
The CMOS transistor, which includes the metal gate and the gate electrode, may be disposed in a semiconductor module and a processor-based system. The electrical properties of the semiconductor module and the process-based system may be degraded by reaction of the metal gate with the gate electrode in the CMOS transistor.

CMOS transistor, semiconductor device including the transistor, and semiconductor module including the device


A method of controlling a motorized device comprises the steps of providing a motorized device, receiving a code, checking that code, and changing the operational state of a portion of the motorized device in response to the code in certain circumstances. In one embodiment, the motorized device comprises a drive system, an activation mechanism, and a safety circuit that is in communication with the activation mechanism and at least a portion of the drive system. After receiving an unlocking code from the activation mechanism, the next step is to determine if the received unlocking code corresponds to a predetermined unlocking code. Subsequently, if the received unlocking code corresponds to the predetermined unlocking code, then the safety circuit is transitioned from a locked state to a normal operation state. Additional codes and corresponding operational states may also be incorporated into other embodiments of the method.

Electric vehicles, unlike gasoline or diesel powered vehicles are virtually impossible to detect if they are "on" while stationary because they make no discernible sounds. Many times people exit these electric vehicles after using them, leaving the vehicle in gear (i.e. having a direction selected, either forward or reverse), and not turning off the key-switch. When these vehicles are left in gear and the key-switch is on, any unwanted person pushing or any object hitting, falling on, bumping, or moving the accelerator pedal will cause the vehicle to move in the direction selected. In some instances a "falling" or "thrown" object can get lodged between the accelerator and another part of the vehicle thereby depressing the accelerator and causing the vehicle to move in the selected direction in an uncontrolled manner. This poses a very dangerous situation in that the vehicle can run over, injure, mutilate, or kill anyone in its path.
Embodiments of the present invention may safeguard and prevent electric vehicles that are left in gear with the power on from moving in any direction unless the accelerator is intentionally depressed by the operator.
Embodiments of the present invention may also be used with gasoline powered vehicles that start the engine when the accelerator is depressed with the key-switch on. After depression of the accelerator, this type of vehicle will then move in the direction selected. The engine then stops running when the accelerator is released. Similar to the electric vehicles discussed above, this type of vehicle also poses a threat if it remains in gear with the power on when vacated, because if the accelerator is pressed unintentionally (either by an operator or a foreign object), then the vehicle will move in the selected direction. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention may be used to help prevent this type of vehicle from moving in any direction unless the accelerator is intentionally depressed by the operator.
Still other embodiments of the present invention may be used with industrial equipment, including but not limited to hand tools and machinery, which utilizes an on/off switch in conjunction with an activation mechanism, such as a trigger or pedal, to activate the machinery or component thereof. By way of example only, some brake presses require the operator to depress a foot pedal to activate the brake motion and some table saws require the operator to depress a foot pedal to activate the saw. Similar to the vehicles described above, this type of equipment can pose a significant hazard if it operates when the equipment is left on and the activation mechanism is unintentionally depressed/activated either by an operator or foreign object. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention may be used to help prevent this type of equipment from being activated unless the activation mechanism is intentionally depressed/activated by the operator.
While a variety of safety systems have been made and used, it is believed that no one prior to the inventors have made or used an invention as described herein.
The drawings are not intended to be limiting in any way, and it is contemplated that various embodiments of the invention may be carried out in a variety of other ways, including those not necessarily depicted in the drawings. The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification illustrate several aspects of the present invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention; it being understood, however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements shown.


In a vehicle travel support device 10, an ECU 4 includes an air resistance distribution acquisition unit 41, a target traveling position determination unit 43, and a travel support unit 44. The air resistance distribution acquisition unit 41 acquires air resistance distribution in the left and right directions of a host vehicle. The target traveling position determination unit 43 determines a target traveling position of the host vehicle against a preceding vehicle using the air resistance distribution. The travel support unit 44 performs support to guide the host vehicle to the target traveling position. According to this vehicle travel support device 10, even if an area in which a large aerodynamic effect is obtained by a preceding vehicle deviates in the left and right directions of the host vehicle, the host vehicle can be guided to a position corresponding to the deviation. Because of this, the fuel efficiency can be effectively improved.

In the related art, as a vehicle travel support device, a rank traveling system is known which reduces energy consumption of the entire rank through organization of the ranks according to the projected areas of the respective vehicles in the wind flowing direction during the rank traveling of plural vehicles, for example, as described in Patent Literature 1. In this rank traveling system, in a case where the rank is one row, vehicles having a relatively large projected area are arranged in front, and just behind the front vehicle, vehicles having a relatively small projected area are arranged.


Topically relevant objects in an object database are first identified using any generally known methods to obtain a set of topically relevant objects (topically relevant set). Parents, and in alternative embodiments other ancestors, of one or more of the topically relevant objects are identified according to directional structural relationships that the parents have with respect to the topically relevant objects. These objects form a set of structurally relevant objects (structurally relevant set). In some embodiments, the user query identifies one or more of these structural relationships. The topically relevant objects are then organized under one or more of their respective parents to form a hierarchy level of both (topically relevant and structurally relevant) sets of objects. In some preferred embodiments, the process can iterate to create more than one hierarchy level.

A hypermedia object database is a collection of hypermedia objects stored electronically as files on one or more computers. Hypermedia objects contain information in the form of text, images, sound, or video. Hypermedia objects may also participate in relationships, where a relationship identifies one or more hypermedia objects that are related somehow (a hypermedia object may be related to itself). One common relationship is the hyperlink relationship. Two hypermedia objects are related by a (directed) hyperlink relationship if one of the objects contains a hyperlink pointer to the other object. A hyperlink pointer is a reference to a hypermedia object that allows the target object to be accessed directly from the source object.
Users access a hypermedia object database to locate objects of interest and retrieve those objects for processing (e.g., reading, viewing, listening, analysis). Finding objects of interest by manually inspecting every object in a large database is impractical. Instead, users typically search the database for interesting objects using a search system. A search system allows a user to express an information need in the form of a query. The system's search engine processes the query and returns to the user a hit-list of relevant objects. The user then selects interesting objects from the hit-list and retrieves those objects.
A relational database management system (RDBMS) may be used to index and search arbitrary hypermedia objects based on their attributes. Attributes include items such as size, creation date, author, and title. Searching for objects in this fashion is well known. In addition to attribute-based searching, users may want to search for hypermedia objects based on their content. The algorithms and data structures used by a content-based search system depend on the kind of object being searched. Text objects are typically searched using an information retrieval (IR) system (e.g., IBM Search Manager/2, a trademark of the IBM Corporation). Image objects are typically searched using an image indexing and retrieval system (e.g., IBM QBIC, a trademark of the IBM Corporation). Content-based search techniques for video and sound exist and have been incorporated into prototype systems, but this technology is less mature than text and image search. Objects found using an attribute-based or content-based search system are said to be "topically relevant" to the query.
Some prior art content-based search systems attempt to improve the search results for hypermedia object databases by refining object relevance scores based on the structural relationships (e.g., hyperlinks) between the objects. Three representative techniques are used by these systems. The first technique is a form of "spreading activation," where object relevance scores are propagated along outbound hyperlink pointers to neighboring objects and used to modify the relevance scores of those objects (see Cohen, P. R., and Kjeldsen, R. "Information Retrieval by Constrained Spreading Activation in Semantic Networks," Information Processing & Management, 23(2), pp. 255-268, 1987; Savoy, J. "Citation Schemes in Hypertext Information Retrieval," in M. Agosti and A. Smeaton (Eds.), Information Retrieval and Hypertext, Boston, Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 99-120, 1996). This procedure is typically iterated until a steady-state is reached or some terminating condition is met.
The objects are then sorted by their final relevance scores and returned on a flat hit-list (i.e., the hit-list simply enumerates the objects without describing any structural relationships).
In the second technique, it is assumed that the hypermedia objects are organized in a given hierarchy, such that every object has at most one parent and the children of a given object are explicitly identified. An object's relevance score is then calculated as a function of its content-based relevance score and the relevance scores of its children. Relevance scores must be propagated from the leaves of a hierarchy to the root (see Frisse, M. E. "Searching for Information in a Hypertext Medical Handbook," Communications of the ACM, 31(7), pp. 880-886, 1988). The objects are then sorted by their final relevance scores and returned on a flat hit-list.
In the third technique, the content of neighboring objects is added to the content of the current object when determining the relevance score for the current object (see Croft et al. "Retrieving Documents by Plausible Inference: an Experimental Study," Information Processing & Management, 25(6), pp. 599-614, 1989). Neighboring objects are those objects to which the current object contains hyperlink pointers. As in the previous two techniques, objects are sorted by their relevance scores and returned on a flat hit-list.
The above cited references are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Regardless of the search technology being used, most search systems follow the same basic procedure for indexing and searching a hypermedia object database. First, the objects to be searched must be input to the search system for indexing. Next, attributes and/or contents are extracted from the objects and processed to create an index. An index consists of data that is used by the search system to process queries and identify relevant objects. After the index is built, queries may be submitted to the search system. The query represents the user's information need and is expressed using a query language and syntax defined by the search system. The search system processes the query using the index data for the database and a suitable similarity ranking algorithm, and returns a hit-list of topically relevant objects. The user may then select relevant objects from the hit-list for viewing and processing.
A user may also use objects on the hit-list as navigational starting points. Navigation is the process of moving from one hypermedia object to another hypermedia object by traversing a hyperlink pointer between the objects. This operation is typically facilitated by a user interface that displays hypermedia objects, highlights the hyperlinks in those objects, and provides a simple mechanism for traversing a hyperlink and displaying the referent object. One such user interface is a Web browser (see below). By navigating, a user may find other objects of interest.
In a networking environment, the components of a hypermedia object database system may be spread across multiple computers. A computer comprises a Central Processing Unit (CPU), main memory, disk storage, and software (e.g., a personal computer (PC) like the IBM ThinkPad). (ThinkPad is a trademark of the IBM Corporation.) A networking environment consists of two or more computers connected by a local or wide area network (e.g., Ethernet, Token Ring, the telephone network, and the Internet.) (See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,852 to Attanasio et al. issued on Dec. 6, 1994 which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.) A user accesses the hypermedia object database using a client application on the user's computer. The client application communicates with a search server (the hypermedia object database search system) on either the user's computer (e.g. a client) or another computer (e.g. one or more servers) on the network. To process queries, the search server needs to access just the database index, which may be located on the same computer as the search server or yet another computer on the network. The actual objects in the database may be located on any computer on the network.
A Web environment, such as the World Wide Web on the Internet, is a networking environment where Web servers, e.g. Netscape Enterprise Server and IBM Internet Connection Server, and browsers, e.g. Netscape Navigator and IBM WebExplorer, are used. (Netscape Navigator is a trademark of the Netscape Communications Corporation and WebExplorer is a trademark of the IBM Corporation.) Users can make hypermedia objects publicly available in a Web environment by registering the objects with a Web server. Moreover, users can create arbitrary relationships between these objects, even if the objects were created by another user. Other users in the Web environment can then retrieve these objects using a Web browser. The collection of objects retrievable in a Web networking environment can be considered as a large hypermedia object database.
To create an index for a hypermedia object database in a Web networking environment, the prior art often uses Web crawlers, also called robots, spiders, wanderers, or worms (e.g., WebCrawler, WWWWorm), to gather the available objects and submit them to the search system indexer. Web crawlers make use of the (physical) hyperlinks stored in objects. All of the objects are gathered by identifying a few key starting points, retrieving those objects for indexing, retrieving and indexing all objects referenced by the objects just indexed (via hyperlinks), and continuing recursively until all objects reachable from the starting points have been retrieved and indexed. The graph of objects in a Web environment is typically well connected, such that nearly all of the available objects can be found when appropriate starting points are chosen.
Having gathered and indexed all of the objects available in the Web environment, the index can then be used, as described above, to search for objects in the Web. Again, the index may be located independently of the objects, the client, and even the search server. A hit-list, generated as the result of searching the index, will typically identify the locations of the relevant objects on the Web, and the user will retrieve those objects directly with their Web browser.

System and method for hierarchically grouping and ranking a set of objects in a query context based on one or more relationships

International Business Machines Corporation