As for wireless communication lines between a master station and a plurality of remote stations, each remote station has a function F having an unitary variable which is known over all the stations and has two unique IDs, respectively. The master station is provided with a remote station ID memory circuit which outputs one ID of a remote station when the other ID of the remote station is input thereto, and a scrambler. carries out scrambling by using a fixed scramble vector VO during a setup sequence period and using a scramble vector VF set from a master station control circuit at the time of data transmission. A descrambler descrambles an input signal from the remote station by using the scramble vector VO during the setup sequence period and using a scramble vector VR set from the master station control circuit at the time of data transmission.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital wireless communication system for transmitting data between a plurality of remote stations and a master station in the wireless communication, and more particularly to a scramble wireless communication system having a scrambling function for maintaining a privacy of data in wireless communication lines.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data have been conventionally transmitted between a master station and a plurality of remote stations by using wireless communication lines.
FIG. 1 is a view showing an example of a network structure adopting such a conventional scramble communication system, In the drawing, data have been transmitted between a master station (MS) 60 and N (an integer equal to or above one) remote stations (RS) 50.sub.1 to 50.sub.N in a communication system using TDMA (Time Domain Multiple Access) or SCPC (Single Channel Per Carrier) method.
Since an outsider can relatively easily intercept data transmitted on such a wireless communication line, there is employed a privacy function by which the data currently transmitted on the wireless communication line are scrambled as a countermeasure for avoiding the interception.
The description will be given as to a first example of the prior art in which such a scramble process is carried out with respect to the wireless communication line for data transmission with reference to FIG. 2 and 3.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a construction of the master station 60. In the drawing, the master station 60 is constituted by: a switch circuit 22 which receives a data signal (a data signal in the form of, e.g., voice or facsimile) input from a terminal and an information signal (which is referred to as Signal Unit and abbreviated as SU hereinbelow) from a master station control circuit (MASTER CONT) 21 and switches between these signal using a control signal from the MASTER CONT 21; a scrambler 23 which receives output data from the switch circuit 22 and a scramble vector from the MASTER CONT 21 as an initial value of pseudo-random noise pattern (PN pattern) and generates a random pattern to perform scrambling; a transmitter 24 which receives an output from the scrambler 23 and carries out a predetermined digital modulation to transmit data to a remote station by using a predetermined radio frequency; a receiver 25 which receives a transmitted signal scrambled at each of the remote stations 50.sub.1 to 5.sub.N and demodulates a data signal transmitted from the remote station; a descrambler 26 which performs descrambling by receiving demodulated output data which has been scrambled from the receiver 25 and generating the same PN pattern with that of the scrambler 23 and restores the original data; and a switch circuit (SWITCH) 27 which switches between the MASTER CONT 21 and an external terminal to which an output from the descrambler 26 is supplied in accordance with a control signal from the MASTER CONT 21.
On the other hand, FIG. 3 illustrates a structure of one station arbitrarily selected from the remote stations 50.sub.1 to 50.sub.N. As similar to the master station 50, a master station 60 receives a transmitted signal which is obtained by scrambling a data signal input from a terminal through a switch circuit 29, a scrambler 30 and a transmitter 31.
A scramble signal transmitted from the master station 60 is externally output as output data through a receiver 32, a descrambler 33 and a switch circuit 34 or output to a remote station control circuit 28.
When carrying out the communication between the master station 60 and the remote stations 50.sub.1 to 50.sub.N, there is always provided a setup sequence period before transmitting and/or receiving the actual communication data and the information required for the communication (for example, the information of such as radio frequency used in the actual communication) is transmitted between the master station 60 and a remote station 50.sub.k (k is a positive integer arbitrarily selected from 1 to N) at which the communication is desired. The scrambling is not carried out during the setup sequence period in order to simplify the sequence procedure and obtain a reliable communication.
In the master station 60, therefore, the SWITCH 22 performs switching in accordance with the control signal from the MASTER CONT 21 to supply the SU signal to the scrambler 23 during the setup sequence period. The scramble vector which is a parameter for determining an initial value of the scrambler 23 during the setup sequence period is a fixed value (referred to as VO) and the scramble vector of the descrambler 26 is always a VO.
An output signal from the descrambler 26 is switched to the SU side by means of the SWITCH 27 and fed to the MASTER CONT 21.
In addition, as to the remote station 50.sub.x, the REMOTE CONT 28 switches the SWITCH 29 to the SU side and the SU transmitted from the master station is supplied to the scrambler 30. The scramble vector of the scrambler 30 is the VO which constantly gives a fixed value and an output signal from the scrambler 30 is sent to the transmitter 31.
On the receiving side, the scramble vector of the descrambler 33 is the VO and the SWITCH 34 is changed over to the SU side to supply the SU to the REMOTE CONT 28.
The setup operation between the master station 60 and the remote station 50.sub.k is carried out with the above-described settings.
Subsequently, the remote station 50.sub.k randomly generates at the REMOTE CONT 28 a value of the scramble vector (referred to as VF) which is used in the actual communication and transmits the determined value to the master station 60 by using the SU,
Upon receiving a value of the scramble vector VF transmitted by the remote station 50.sub.k, the master station 60 stores this value in the MASTER CONT 21 and determines a value of the scramble vector VF of the scrambler 23 by using the received value. As a result, the scramble vectors which are the same in transmission and reception are obtained, thus enabling the transmitting/receiving processes. That is, the remote station 50.sub.k determines the scramble vector of the descrambler 33 as the VF, and the master station 60 sets the scramble vector of the scrambler 23 as the VF when the SU including the VF is input to the MASTER CONT 21.
Consequently, the data VO having a fixed value are always used as the scra mble vector when transmitting from the remote stations 50.sub.1 to 50.sub.N to the master station 60 in the data communication after the setup sequence period is completed, while the scramble vector VF randomly generated in the remote stations 50.sub.1 to 50.sub.k is used when transmitting from the master station 60 to the remote stations 50.sub.1 to 50.sub.k.
The scramble processing is fixedly carried out when transmitting from the remote stations to the master station while the scramble processing is randomly performed when transmitting from the master station to the remote stations. That is because the structure of the master station which is complicated as compared with those of the remote stations and the enlarged dimension of the antenna lead to the low possibility of interception on the wireless. communication lines between when transmitting from the remote s ations to the master station, thereby lowering the necessity for the scramble processing. Further, since the simplification in the network structure and the improvement of reliability are also intended, these two types of scramble processing are performed.
FIG. 4 shows the flow of signal processing between the remote station 50.sub.k and the master station 60 described above. In the drawing, the scramble vector is set as the VO between the remote station 50.sub.k and the master station during the setup sequence period, and thereafter the scramble vector VF is transmitted from the remote station 50.sub.k to the master station 60. Both the vectors are transmitted by the scramble vector VF in the communication period. In FIG. 4, the fact that the signal transmitted from the remote station 50.sub.k to the master station 60 is represented as the SU (VO) means that the SU signal is transmitted with the scramble ector which is the VO. The same representation is used hereinbelow. The scramble vector VF is randomly generated from the ma ter station to the remote station in the prior art structure described above. The parameter value of this scramble vector VF is transmitted from the remote station to the master station during the setup sequence and the actual communication periods, but alternatively the scramble vector and the communication data may be subjected to the frequency division to be transmitted.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a remote station used in such a second example of the prior art.
In this example, it is basically assumed that the transmission is carried out between remote stations (the master station may be included therebetween).
In the drawing, a scramble vector V randomly generated by each remote station at a remote station control circuit (REMOTE CONT) 35 is set in a scrambler 36 and input data (for example, data of such as voice or facsimile) is scrambled. The scramble vector used here is encoded into a VZ by an encoder circuit 39 and input to a multiplexer circuit 37.
The multiplexer circuit 37 subjects the input data and the scramble vector to the frequency multiplexing in the different frequency bands and transmits them by a transmitter circuit 38.
In the receiving portion, a signal received by a receiver circuit 40 is separated from a main sound signal and an encoded signal VZ of the scramble vector by means of a separator circuit 41, and the main sound signal is input to a descrambler 42 while the encoded signal VZ is decoded into the scramble vector V set on the transmitter side by a decoder circuit 43 to be supplied to the remote station control circuit 35 and the descrambler 42. The descrambler 42 performs descrambling by using this scramble vector V and outputs a sound signal. Such a scrambling method is disclosed in, for example, Japanese patent laid-open publication No. Hei 4-192638, 1992.
In the configuration of the above-described prior art, the scramble vector transmitted from the master station to the remote stations is randomly generated for each communication in the first example, but the scramble vector transmitted from the remote stations to the master station is always the same even when the remote station with which the master station communicates varies, and hence there occurs such a problem that the scramble vector can be decoded by intercepting the communication from every remote station.
Further, although the scramble vector which is random in the bidirectional manner can be used when communicating between remote stations as described in the above second example, the transmission frequencies having multi-value parameters are excessively used outside the band, thus reducing the frequency efficiency in all the communication lines.


A system and method is provided for providing security to components or assemblies employed by application programs during runtime. Assemblies carry version information that can be used to enforce the versioning rules described by the application program. At runtime, version numbers requested by the application programs are compared with those version numbers of the assemblies that are actually found. In addition to comparing version numbers, the present invention offers a stricter form of version checking based on cryptographic hashes. An assembly is provided with module information that contains a list of the files that make up the assembly. Part of the information recorded about each module is a hash of the module's contents at the time the manifest was built. An assembly referencing another assembly computes the hash of the manifest of the referenced assembly. An assembly manifest may include dependency information, which is information about other assemblies that the assembly depends on or references. Part of the information stored as part of an assembly reference or manifest is a hash of the dependent assembly's manifest.

In the past, application programs consisted of a single monolithic binary file. Once a compiler generated the application program, the application program did not change until a next version was recompiled and shipped. Changes in an operating system, hardware and market demands were dependent on waiting for the next version to be implemented and recompiled. Today, application programs are comprised of several components—additionally, many of these components are linked at runtime. These components include dynamically linked libraries (DLLs) and other files that are shared by different application programs. These DLLs are listed within tables in application components to be linked at runtime. An operating system will search in a loader search path, application directory, operating system directory or user specified path for the name of the dynamic linked library, so that DLL code can be loaded into memory for execution. Since these DLLs can be shared by different application programs, changes to a DLL for one application may cause another application to stop operating.
Furthermore, many application programs running on operating systems, such as Microsoft® Windows® Operating System employ shared operating system components. One of the primary issues faced by administrators and developers on the current Microsoft® Windows@ Operating System platform is the inability to control an exact set of dynamic link libraries and other files that will run as part of a deployed application program. It is quite common to have installation of one application program affect other application programs by overwriting files that those applications depend on. Unfortunately, there is no built in support in Microsoft® Windows® Operating System to detect when a file that an application depends on has changed.
Presently, there has not been a way of tracking assemblies used to build and test application programs. In the past, components may be changed and the application program may still run if the changes do not effect the functionality of the application program. For example, if a publisher of a component corrects a minor error in a component, the application program may still operate without a problem. Also, if a version upgrade has occurred by a publisher, the application program may execute the component without a problem, if the component is backwards compatable. However, there is no way of protecting application programs from versioning upgrades by a publisher of components, if the publisher was wrong about the new version being backwards compatible with the previous components. Furthermore, if the component has been altered by an untrusted third party, execution of the code can result in damage to the software and hardware of the environment that the application program is operating on. Some codes include versioning information in the name of the component (e.g., fool.dll, kernel2.dll). Since application programs reference these components by name, a change in the name will cause the application program to terminate its operation or use an old version of the component residing on the system.
Accordingly, there is an unmet need in the art for a method for ensuring and verifying integrity of components employed by application programs during runtime. There is also a need for a tool for verifying integrity of components at runtime.


Provided is a semiconductor device including a fuse, in which a insulating layer surrounding the fuse or metal wiring is prevented from being damaged due to the cut of a fuse, which can occur when a repair process is performed. The semiconductor device includes a conductive line formed on a semiconductor layer, a protective layer formed on the conductive line, one or more fuses that are electrically connected to the conductive line, and a fuse protective layer formed on the one or more fuses, and spaced apart from the protective layer.

(i) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device including a fuse.
(ii) Description of the Related Art
As a result of the development of highly-integrated and high-capacity semiconductor memory devices, there has been an increase in the number of memory cell defects in semiconductor memory devices generated during the manufacturing of these semiconductor memory devices. To replace a defective memory cell with a redundancy cell, a repair process in which wiring, that is, a fuse connected to the defective memory cell is cut by a laser, or the like may be performed. In general, a fuse and metal wiring are formed together by using a damascene method.


A steering system includes an upper bracket having a first tooth row, a rigid tooth member, a second tooth row provided on the tooth member, a first moving member, and an elastic member disposed between the tooth member and the first moving member. The first tooth row includes a plurality of first teeth. The second tooth row includes a plurality of second teeth. The elastic member exerts a constant restoration force. The second tooth row meshes with the first tooth row when the first teeth and the second teeth are alternately arranged in a tilt direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a steering system.
2. Description of Related Art
A steering column described in US Patent Application Publication No. 2009-0013817 (US 2009/0013817 A) includes an adjustment portion that positions the steering column and a holding portion that does not move in a direction in which the position of the steering column is adjusted (adjustment direction). The holding portion is provided with tooth portions arranged in the adjustment direction. A tooth plate of an elastomer is inserted through a clamp bolt penetrating the adjustment portion and the holding portion. The tooth plate has tooth portions arranged in the adjustment direction.
Operating an operation member attached to the clamp bolt allows a pressing member through which the clamp bolt is inserted to be moved toward the holding portion. Moving the pressing member toward the holding portion causes the tooth plate to be pressed by the pressing member to move toward the holding portion. At this time, the tooth portions of the tooth plate are each placed between the tooth portions of the holding portion to engage the tooth portions of the holding portion with the tooth portions of the tooth plate.
The steering column described in US 2009/0013817 A needs to operate the operation member with a predetermined force (operating force) during locking. When the operation member is locked, unlike the case where the tooth portions of the tooth plate mesh properly with the tooth portions of the holding portion, when the tooth portions of the tooth plate fail to mesh properly with the tooth portions of the holding portion and move onto the tooth portions of the holding portion to deflect the tooth plate, the reaction force of the deflected tooth plate acts on the operation member via the pressing member to increase the operating force. Thus, the operating force exerted on the operating member may vary between the case of the proper meshing between the tooth portions of the tooth plate and the tooth portions of the holding portion and the case of the failure in the proper meshing, which leads to an unstable operating force.


A process and related assembly for creating an extrusion molded article with a chemically applied outer film. An extruded base material is formed during a first extrusion operation, following which a multi-layer film is bonded to the base material while the base material still at an above ambient temperature. The multi-layer film further includes successive layers of each of a polypropylene (PP), an adhesive, a polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a coating and s subsequent surface PET. The step of bonding of the film further occurs during an intermediate step between the first extrusion operation for forming the base material according to a given profile section and a subsequent extrusion operation for applying additional material along an edge of the film, the additional material including profile wings as required for a given design.

The prior art is documented with extruded materials, such as for use without limitation in vehicle roof ditch applications. A first example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,783,751 to Bland/Baxter for a coextruded roof ditch molding with hard and soft components and including an associated fastener system seated within a track of the molding for mounting to the vehicle roof ditch.
Karmo, U.S. Pat. No. 10,183,634, teaches an automotive ditch molding including a base with side portions extending from a central portion, an outer surface and an over-mold disposed over the outer surface. The over-mold defines first and second lips that extend downward transversely from the side portions of the base.
Schneider, U.S. Pat. No. 6,333,094, teaches a multilayer thermoformable composite synthetic veneer film having a multi-polyolefin base layer with a thickness of 100 to 500 μm. The film also includes at least one intermediate primer layer, bonding layer or bonding film or, respectively, bonding layer, along with an optional printing layer, coloring layer or color-printing layer arranged over part or all of its surface area. At least one polyester-containing single- or multiple-layer-structure layer or film includes at least one bonding layer, an adhesion-promoting layer or reactant layer on the side of the base layer that is to be applied to a substrate; with a surface-covering layer on the top of the film.

Method, article and assembly for applying a multi-layer film to an elongate extruded article


A swirler assembly of a combustor of a gas turbine, the swirler assembly including a primary swirler having a primary swirler flow opening, and a swirler ferrule plate connected to an upstream side of the primary swirler. The swirler ferrule plate includes (a) a fuel nozzle opening, and (b) a plurality of oxidizer purge passages surrounding the fuel nozzle opening, each one of the plurality of oxidizer purge passages including (i) an inlet passage portion, and (ii) an outlet passage portion extended from the inlet passage portion to a downstream end of the swirler ferrule plate and having an outlet in fluid communication with the primary swirler flow opening. The outlet passage portion has an increasing cross-sectional area extending along the length of the outer passage portion from the inlet passage portion to the outlet that induces a pressure drop in a flow of oxidizer through the oxidizer flow passage.

Some conventional gas turbine engines are known to include rich-burn combustors that typically use a swirler integrated with a fuel nozzle to deliver a swirled fuel/air mixture to a combustor. A radial-radial swirler is one example of such a swirler and includes a primary radial swirler, a secondary radial swirler, and a swirler ferrule plate surrounding a fuel nozzle. The primary swirler includes a primary swirler venturi in which a primary flow of swirled air from the primary swirler mixes with fuel injected into the primary swirler venturi by the fuel nozzle. The swirler ferrule plate may include constant height purge holes that provide a purge flow of air from a pressure plenum to the primary swirler venturi. The purge flow through the constant height purge holes of the swirler ferrule plate is at a relatively high velocity as it exits the swirler ferrule plate into the primary swirler venturi.

Swirler ferrule plate having pressure drop purge passages


A distributed system that includes a merchant application, a buyer application and a seller or drummer application. The applications reside and run on personal computing devices and operate together to allow a merchant to create an offer, drummers to select, present and share the offer with buyers, and buyers to receive and save the offers in anticipation of a conversion. Upon a conversion, revenue derived from the transaction is provided to the merchant but, some of revenue is shared with one or more drummers involved in pushing the offer.

Personal computing devices ("PCDs"), such as cellular telephones and other "smart" devices, have become ubiquitous in today's society. And, due to the inherent portability of most PCDs, a buyer's personal PCD may be easily carried along just about anywhere. Similarly, a sales person's personal PCD may be easily carried along just about anywhere too. Consequently, when a consumer and a sales person cross paths, an opportunity exists for their respective PCDs to be used as mechanisms for presentment and collection of a temporally and/or geographically and/or contextually relevant promotion.
It's easy to see that because many people carry PCDs, an opportunity exists for any type of entity offering goods or services to benefit. These entities can include, but is certainly not limited to, retailers, sellers, merchandisers, leasers, renters, service providers and pretty much any type of entity that is moving, offering or presenting goods and/or services. In some instances, these entities may not be involved in selling or offering goods and/or services but rather, may be providing promotional information, incentives, general information (such as the launching of a new company, or an announce about a pending product release, etc.). Thus, it should be appreciated that within this description, any such entity is collectively be referred to as a "retailer", but it should be appreciated that the term retailer is to be broadly construed to include any entity that is moving goods and/or services, offering incentives, information, announcements or anything that could be made available for consumers. Further, throughout the description, the term "offer" should also be construed broadly to not just include goods and/or services offered for consumption, but rather could be any type of a benefit, such as incentives, information, goods, services, promotions, etc.
Retailers need consumers and, to attract consumers, retailers need efficient and effective ways to promote their products and services. Direct sales forces, contract sales forces, advertising campaigns through various media (print, radio, Internet/social media, etc.) all have their place in a comprehensive marketing effort for a retailer, but the most efficient marketing almost always includes a person-to-person promotion. Most people make buying decisions through the referrals by other people. And so, the more people a retailer has promoting its offerings to potential consumers, especially in a personal and meaningful way, the more sales that retailer is likely to generate.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system and method that enables a retailer to post promotional offers and create incentives for an on-demand sales force to present the promotional offers to would-be consumers. More specifically, there is a need in the art for a system and method that enables a retailer to leverage PCD users as a dynamic, on-demand sales force for promotion of retail offers to other PCD users who may be likely consumers for the retailer.

Distributed system to enable dynamic, on-demand sales force with merchant, seller and buyer networked


A feeding robot which is capable of drawing a glass panel for a liquid crystal display from a cassette without bringing it into collision with the cassette, and then feeding the drawn glass panel with a reduced error, and a method for controlling the same. Determination is made as to whether an object to be fed has been accurately aligned with a traveling axis of the feeding robot. A turned angle of the object relative to the traveling axis is calculated if the object has not been accurately aligned with the traveling axis. The robot is turned by the turned angle and then draws the object. While the robot moves to a target position, a correction value for the target position is calculated, and the target position is then corrected by the calculated correction value. The feeding robot control method is capable of aligning the glass panel with a hand of the feeding robot using sensors in the robot. The feeding robot is able to draw the glass panel from the cassette safely without bringing it into collision with the cassette and to lay the drawn glass panel on an outlet stage with a high degree of positional precision.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to feeding robots, and more particularly to a feeding robot which is capable of drawing a glass panel for a liquid crystal display from a cassette without bringing it into collision with the cassette, and then feeding the drawn glass panel with a reduced error, and a method for controlling the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are each generally manufactured with a number of transistors integrated on a glass panel, which is a main substrate of the LCD. The LCD glass panel normally remains loaded in a cassette, and is then automatically fed from the cassette to the next process by a feeding robot as needed.
A description will hereinafter be given of a typical operation of feeding the above LCD glass panel.
FIGS. 1a and 1b are plan views illustrating the operation of a conventional feeding robot.
With reference to FIGS. 1a and 1b, provided that an LCD glass panel 3, which is an object to be fed, remains loaded in a cassette 4 under the condition that it is turned at a certain angle relative to its correct position, it will be misaligned with a hand 2 of a feeding robot 1 accessing to feed it.
Accordingly, when the hand 2 of the feeding robot 1 moves to draw the LCD glass panel 3 from the cassette, a portion 5 of the glass panel 3 may be brought into collision with the cassette 4 and then get broken. This may in turn result in a loss in components, a delay in working process, a degradation in productivity, etc.
Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a feeding robot which is capable of drawing a glass panel for a liquid crystal display from a cassette without bringing it into collision with the cassette, and then feeding the drawn glass panel with a reduced error, and a method for controlling the same.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a feeding robot having a body, a plurality of joints, a plurality of links, each for interconnecting corresponding ones of the joints, and a hand for holding an object to be fed, the robot comprising distance sensing means for measuring a distance between the hand and the object; traverse sensing means for sensing a movement of the feeding robot to a predetermined target position; and a controller for controlling the feeding robot on the basis of information sensed by the traverse sensing means and distance sensing means.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a feeding robot, comprising the steps of a) determining whether an object to be fed has been accurately aligned with a traveling axis of the feeding robot; b) calculating a turned angle of the object relative to the traveling axis if the object has not been accurately aligned with the traveling axis; c) turning the robot by the turned angle and then drawing the object; d) moving the robot to a target position and calculating a correction value for the target position; and e) correcting the target position by the calculated correction value.

Feeding robot and control method therefor


A PIN photodiode structure includes a substrate, a P-doped region disposed in the substrate, an N-doped region disposed in the substrate, and a first semiconductor material disposed in the substrate and between the P-doped region and the N-doped region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photodiode structure and the method for making the photodiode. In particular, the present invention relates to a photosensitive PIN photodiode structure and the method for manufacturing the photodiode.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The conventional copper cables are less and less likely capable to carry more and more signals to travel a longer and longer distance due to the physical limitation of electrical resistance and signal delays. Naturally, optical fibers meet the demand of carrying very large information to travel a very long distance so they replace the conventional copper cables to be the medium of long distance carrier of information because one single optical fiber allows multiple beams of light of different wavelength, each carrying different information to travel at the speed of light without mutual interference and without attenuating too much after traveling an extreme long distance.
Light of different wavelengths in the form of pulse signals constitutes the basic principle of transmission by optical fiber. However, such basic principle of transmission is not compatible with the basic principle of transmission by electron current in the current electronic devices to carry and to transmit signals. In order to form a transform medium between the optical fiber transmission and the electron current transmission, the photo-detector is deemed to be a convenient tool.
The photo-detector is an important photo-electrical transform unit. The photo-detector is capable of transforming the optical signals to electrical signals (into voltage or current), so it can transform the optical pulse signals in the optical fibers to become the electrical signals which can be carried, transmitted or used by ordinary electronic devices. Amongst them, the PIN (p-intrinsic-n photodiode) which has the advantages of easy to be manufactured, high reliability, low noise, compatible with low-voltage amplifier circuits and very wide bandwidth becomes one of the most widely used photo-detector.
The basic operational mechanism of the PIN photodiode is that when the incident light hits the p-n junction of the semiconductor, the electrons in the valence band of the semiconductor would absorb the energy of the photons in the incident light and jump over the forbidden band to arrive at the conduction band, which means, the incident photons create electrons, called photo-electrons, in the conduction band of the semiconductor if the photons have sufficient energy. Simultaneously, an electrical hole is left behind in the valence band and an electron-hole pair, or called photocarrier, is thus generated, which is also known as the photoelectric effect of the semiconductors. Afterwards, the photo-electron and the corresponding hole are quickly separated under the influence of an inner electric field and an outer negative bias to be respectively collected at the positive electrode and the negative electrode. Therefore, a photo-current appears in the outer circuit.
In order to enhance the operational performance of the PIN photodiode, the current technology integrates the Ge semiconductor material into the Si substrate to accomplish an optical communication of wide wavelength because Ge is deemed to have much higher carrier mobility than Si. The importance of integration of Ge semiconductor material into the Si substrate lies in the essential qualities of fast, effective and low noise. The photo-detectors made of Ge have the capabilities of effectively detecting the optical signals at the wavelength used by the optical communication. In addition, if the photo-detectors made of Ge are integrated with the conventional processes of Si type, it would be able to further lower the cost of the PIN photodiode.
There is a known PIN photodiode which integrates the Ge semiconductor material into the Si substrate. FIG. 1 illustrates the conventional PIN photodiode with Ge semiconductor material. The PIN photodiode 101 includes a Si substrate 110, an oxide layer 120, a P-doped Si 130, the intrinsic Ge 140, an N-doped Si 150, electrode regions such as the first electrode region 161 and the second electrode region 162. The P-doped Si 130, the intrinsic Ge 140 and the N-doped Si 150 together constitute the core element of the PIN photodiode. Because in the above-mentioned structure of the PIN photodiode 101, the first electrode region 161 in the electrode regions is disposed above the N-doped Si 150, such arrangement will decrease the frontal area to receive light and the quantum yield is thus lower due to the incident light partially absorbed by passing through the p-doped Si 130. Moreover, the manufacturing process of the PIN photodiode 101 is not fully compatible with that of the conventional MOS. Accordingly, it is needed to provide a novel PIN photodiode structure and the method for making the PIN photodiode to more effectively integrate the manufacturing process of the novel PIN photodiode structure with the traditionally fully-developed MOS manufacturing process to lower the manufacturing cost.


Systems and methods for improving bearing availability and accuracy in a traffic collision-avoidance system (TCAS). In an exemplary method, if only a single phase-difference value is received for one of two two-element antennas, a processor determines an expected maximum antenna element phase-difference value for the elements of the two-element antenna that did not receive a phase-difference value for a target signal source; estimates a phase-difference value for the two-element antenna that did not include a phase-difference value, based on the expected maximum antenna element phase-difference value and a previously determined predicted bearing value; and calculates bearing based on the estimated phase-difference value and a phase-difference value received from the other two-element antenna. The determination is based on previously received signals associated with the target signal source and based on elevation information of the target signal source and a predefined maximum antenna element phase-difference value for the respective antenna element pair. An output device outputs information associated with the calculated bearing.

A current aircraft antenna system includes two two-element antenna devices—one located on the top of the aircraft and one located on the bottom of the aircraft. These antennas transmit and receive signals (e.g., traffic collision-avoidance system (TCAS)) with other aircraft. According to the phase difference of the signals received at both two element antennas, the bearing of the source of the signal can be determined. However, determination of phase difference may not always be possible, due to signal quality. In this situation, bearing cannot be accurately determined.

Systems and methods for improving bearing availability and accuracy for a tracking filter


A cell culture plate which contains cells incubated in a liquid medium held in sample wells formed and arranged over the surface of the plate, is covered and sealed with a waterproof adhesive sealing membrane which excludes microbial contaminants, but which is functionally permeable to oxygen and carbon dioxide gases. The membrane allows cellular respiration to continue, with the transmission rate of oxygen and carbon dioxide through the membrane being essentially uniform from well to well over the surface of the plate.

This invention relates to a cover for a multi-sample container, of a variety known as a "cell culture plate" or a "microtiter plate" for culturing and manipulating living cells. Specifically, the invention concerns cell culture plates in which the plate is sealed with an oxygen and carbon dioxide-permeable waterproof sealing membrane.
Cell culture plates including the so-called "multiwell microliter plates" (herein collectively abbreviated and termed "culture plates" or "plates") are shallow plastic vessels with multiple compartments, i.e., sample wells, which are used for holding growth medium for culturing cells. Culture plates are currently manufactured from polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, polycarbonate, and polyvinyl thermoplastic resins using conventional injection-molding or thermoforming methods. The most common present day culture plates measure approximately 3 inches by 5 inches and are physically described, depicted and commercially available in most scientific supply catalogs (see, for example, Nunc Products 1996 catalog, Nalge Nunc International, Naperville Ill.). Culture plates typically contain between 4 and 384 sample wells per plate. Depending upon the size of wells in a plate, the liquid capacity of each well ranges from approximately 100 microliters to 2 milliliters.
Living cells contained in the sample wells of culture plates can be tested or assayed for physical, chemical and biological properties during or after cell growth using biochemical and immunochemical techniques and reagents. Growth and/or reliable testing of cells in the multiple wells of such plates depends upon the plates being free of cytotoxic substances, ongoing sterility being maintained within the wells of the plates, and uniform dependable oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange into and out of the wells. For maintaining sterility, either of two commercially available covers may be used on the plates during or after cell growth. The covers protect not only living cells within the sample wells, but also their metabolites and any associated sterile reagents added to the wells. The first type of cover is principally used during cell growth, and is a loose-fitting molded plastic lid which overhangs the plate to exclude particulate contaminants (such as bacterial contaminants), while allowing exchange of gases for support of cellular respiration and cell growth. The second type of cover is an essentially gas-impermeable adhesive polyester, polypropylene, or polyethylene plastic sealing film (e.g., Sealplate.TM., manufactured by Excel Scientific, Inc., Wrightwood, Calif.). Such sealing films function to seal each sample well, and prevent well to well contamination and sample evaporation, while being chemically inert so as to allow chemical processing steps to be carried out in the plate. Since this second type of cover is gas-impermeable, it is only applied to the plate following cell growth. It is most useful for freezer storage, preservation, and the chemical processing of cells and other micro-samples.

Cell culture plate with oxygen and carbon dioxide-permeable waterproof sealing membrane


An oil nozzle assembly is disclosed. In various embodiments, the assembly includes a nozzle body oriented along an axial center line, comprising a main portion, and a tip portion connected to the main portion; a nozzle insert, comprising a sleeve, an end wall connected to the sleeve, an orifice disposed in the end wall, the orifice fluidly coupled to the tip portion, and a first finger extending axially from the end wall; and a retaining ring configured to engage the first finger to the nozzle body.

Gas turbine engines typically include a fan section, a compressor section, a combustor section and a turbine section. During operation, air is pressurized in the compressor section and mixed with fuel and burned in the combustor section to generate hot combustion gases. The hot combustion gases are then communicated through the turbine section, where energy is extracted from the hot combustion gases to power the compressor section, the fan section and various other loads occurring within or proximate a gas turbine engine.
Within gas turbine engines, oil nozzles are used for distributing lubricating oil throughout bearing compartments. Oil nozzles incorporated into the bearing compartments, and other gas turbine engine housings, require flow testing before use. Disassembling compartments to perform flow testing can expose large and expensive parts to damage and debris within the compartments. If parts become damaged, entire housings and assemblies may require replacement.
Oil nozzles often include fasteners as large as or larger than the nozzles themselves for retaining the nozzles within the bearing compartment. Oil nozzles with large fasteners often cannot be removed from the bearing compartments without disassembling major engine modules due to other engine components being in the path of extraction or space requirements for tooling to engage the nozzle fasteners.


A temperature-regulated apparatus for food and drink preparation and storage, particularly for refrigeration and sous vide cooking. The apparatus is preferably a consumer electronic device comprising a compartment, base, reservoir, tube network, heating and cooling element, and an air pump system. The apparatus is controlled electronically and wirelessly in connection with a hardware and software system.

Sous vide cooking systems and devices have become a popular method of preparing and cooking vacuum sealed food within the United States. These sous vide cooking methods have traditionally used a cooking pot on a stove top which cooks a selected vacuum sealed food to a specific temperature using an inserted circulation mechanism. The resultant process is intended to produce an evenly cooked product prepared at a very specific temperature within its natural juices. Sous vide cooking methods are especially useful for cooking delicate ingredients such as seafood.
Generally, sous vide cooking involved placing food in a vacuum-sealed plastic vessel and placing the vessel in a water bath. The vacuum-sealed vessel is preferably completely submerged in the water bath to provide for even cooking while reducing water loss. For example, a salmon filet with seasoning can be placed in a vacuum sealed vessel, placed in the sous vide water bath and cooked to the desired temperature while remaining tender.
Sous vide cooking apparatuses provide cooking advantages but require careful monitoring by someone familiar with the cooking requirements for each type of food being cooked. Parameters such as temperature and time will vary depending on the food type.
Currently, there are a variety of sous vide devices which use the above-mentioned technology. However, most of these designs are difficult to use, and the cooking methods are complicated. Further, these devices are not configured to be stored on a countertop, built in to cabinets, or placed on the floor or other surface.
Current devices are not easily accessible and require multiple parts to be assembled each time the device is used. Further, these devices merely allow the user to cook a vacuum-sealed food to a precise temperature and do not provide any means of storage or refrigeration.
Traditional sous vide apparatuses either have only a single chamber that performs one function—cooking or heating—or have multiple chambers for different purposes. In multi-chambered apparatuses, a person must move the vacuum-sealed vessel from one chamber to the next. Some apparatuses have a cooking chamber and a storage chamber where the food in the vacuum sealed vessel can rest after cooking.
Sous vide apparatuses also cannot be used like slow cookers. With slow cookers, a person places the ingredients in the slow cooking pot and sets the cooking temperature and/or time in the morning before leaving for work. When the person comes home in the evening, the ingredients in the slow cooker will be cooked and kept warm. Slow cookers also are not typically recommended for use with delicate ingredients such as seafood like fish filets, scallops, shrimp, crab legs, and lobster tails because such delicate ingredients will be overcooked. If the slow cooker heat is turned off once the ingredients have been cooked, then the food sits at room temperature for several hours, increasing the chances of bacterial and fungal overgrowth.
Similarly, a person cannot place a vacuum sealed vessel containing food in a sous vide apparatus in the morning and come home to a read-to-eat meal because the food and ingredients in the vacuum-sealed vessel will either be overcooked if cooked all day or will have increased bacterial and/or fungal growth if left at room temperature for several hours. Furthermore, delicate food will spoil, and food will be wasted.

Temperature regulated preparation and storage system


It is purposed to ensure both high speed operation and low power consumption in an output section of a Bi-CMOS type TTL logic circuit. For this purpose, impedances of a base driving part (a series circuit of a MOS transistor 9 and a resistor 11) and a collector driving part A (a resistor 12) of a bipolar transistor 1 are brought into low impedances only when the bipolar transistor 1 is changed from an off-to on-state thereof. To achieve the just-mentioned operation, potential on an output 30 is detected by an inverter 16 and on the basis of an output from the inverter 16 both MOS transistors 17, 19 are on-controlled to substantially short-circuit the resistors 11, 12. When the transistor 1 stays at its on-state, both transistors 17, 19 have been switched off, so that base and collector currents of the transistor 1 have been conducted through the resistors 11, 12 to permit the resistors 11, 12 to be greater. Thus, low power consumption is attained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a TTL logic circuit, and more specifically to a Bi-CMOS type TTL logic circuit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Referring now to FIG. 1, an arrangement is illustrated of an output circuit section of a TTL logic circuit having a Schottky diode realized by a Bi-CMOS technique.
An input signal "A" from an input terminal 20 is fed to gate terminals of a P channel MOS transistor 9 and an N channel MOS transistor 5, and a source output from the MOS transistor 9 drives a base of an NPN Schottky barrier diode-equipped bipolar transistor 1 through resistance 11. The MOS transistor 5 disposed between the base of the transistor 1 and ground potential is to quickly discharge electric charges residual on the base of the transistor 1 for speeding-up cut-off operation of the transistor.
The transistor 1 has its collector connected with a resistor 12 through which a collector driving current of the transistor 1 is fed. The transistor 1 further has its emitter connected with one end of a resistor 13 which is further connected with ground at the other end, and connected with a base of an NPN type Shottky barrier diode-equipped bipolar transistor 2 which is driven by an output of the emitter of the transistor 1. The transistor 2 provides a circuit output 30 on its collector. An N channel MOS transistor 6 is provided for quickly discharging residual electric charges remaining on the base of the transistor 2, to a gate of which transistor 6 the input signal "A" is applied.
A low level of the circuit output is determined by the transistors 1 and 2, and a high level of the same is determined by NPN bipolar transistors 3, 4 which are interconnected in Darlington construction. For driving the transistors 3 and 4 are provided an inverter 15 for inverting the input signal "A" and a CMOS inverter (a combination of a P channel transistor 10 and an N channel transistor 7) for further inverting an output of the inverter 15, an output of the CMOS inverter is applied to a base of the transistor 3. An emitter output of the transistor 4 provides the circuit output 30. Herein, the transistor 7 has a function to quickly discharge electric charges residual on the basis of the transistor 3.
For quickly discharging electric charges residual on a base of the transistor 4, an N channel MOS transistor 8 is provided, to a gate of which the output of the inverter 15 is applied. The transistor 4 has its collector connected with a Schottky barrier diode 14 for protecting the transistors 3, 4 when any load (not shown) is short-circuitted.
The above prior art TTL logic circuit is constructed such that the high and low levels of the circuit output 30 are completely isolated by the CMOS transistor to greatly reduce power consumption of the circuit particularly the power upon a high level output being provided.
The prior art circuit is further constructed such that for preventing saturated operations of the transistors 1, 2 upon a low level output being provided both collector potentials are clamped by the Shottky barrier diode and a clamped current is limited by the resistors 11 through 13.
In order to speed up the operation of the prior art circuit the following techniques are considered:
(1) Resistances 11 and 12 are reduced to increase a current flowing through the NPN transistor 1.
(2) The gate width of the P channel MOS transistor 9 is extended to increase the current flowing through the NPN transistor 1.
(3) The gate widths of the N channel MOS transistors 5 through 8 are extended to further speed up the cut-off of the NPN transistors 1 through 4.
(4) The gate widths of the P channel MOS transistor 10 and the N channel MOS transistor 7 are both extended.
The technique (2) is less effective because on-resistance of the P channel MOS transistor 9 is typically several hundred ohms whilst the resistance 11 is several kilo ohms, considerably greater than the on-resistance.
The techniques (3) and (4) are unsuccessful because of an increase of paracitic source-drain capacitance due to the extension of the gate width as well as an increase of the number of elements (an increase of an element area as a result of the extension of the gate width.). It is therefore the present state of the prior art circuit to design a circuit so as to optimize an interrelation between the power consumption and the operating speed using the technique (1).
In the prior art TTL circuit, an interrelation is existent between the power consumption and the operating speed hence it is impossible to satisfactorily improve the operating speed even though the operating speed and the power consumption are made optimum independently.
For instance, in FIG. 1, with the resistances 11 and 12 being reduced the operating speed is improved but simultaneously the power consumption is also increased. A current flowing through the circuit at the low level output being stationary is expressed by: EQU Icc=(Vcc-(2V.sub.B E -V.sub.S B))/R12+(Vcc-2V.sub.B E)/R11,
where V.sub.B E, denotes base-emitter forward voltages of the NPN transistors 1 and 2, V.sub.S B forward voltage of the Schottky barrier diode equipment in the transistors 1, 2, Vcc power supply voltage, and R11 and R12 denote resistance values of the resistors 11 and 12.
A first term on the right side of the above equation denotes a collector current flowing through the NPN transistor 1, and a second term denotes a base current flowing through the NPN transistor 1. It can be seen from the equation that the power consumption is inversely proportional to the resistance values of the resistors 11 and 12, so that an intension to improve the operating speed causes a severe increase of the power consumption. Thus, an effort to yield practical power consumption impedes a satisfactory improvement of the operating speed.

Bi-CMOS logic circuit with inverter feedback for high speed


A method for processing cells at a user-network interface with automatic identification of virtual circuit identifiers and a testing function is provided. The method includes distinguishing the source of the cell. When the cell is from a first source, the method tests the cell against at least one selected criteria. When at least one test determines the cell is invalid, the cell is marked. When the tests determine that the cell is valid, the method translates a virtual circuit identifier to a default setting and forwards the cell to a queue for further processing.

The Internet enables communication of data and information between users at diverse locations throughout the world virtually instantaneously. The Internet is in widespread use and continues to grow in popularity and utility. Over the years, various systems have been developed to deliver high-speed access to the Internet. For example, some consumers subscribe to digital subscriber line (DSL) service through their local exchange carrier (telephone company) or other service provider. Other consumers gain high-speed connection to the Internet through their cable company or a satellite service provider.
The asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) services that are being deployed throughout the world provide a "user to network interface" or UNI. Conventionally, an ADSL modem is connected to a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) via the UNI. The ADSL service is invoked by provisioning at least one virtual circuit. The virtual circuit needs to be provisioned from end-to-end (source to destination) and involves multiple network elements. The provisioning procedure is tedious and time consuming. Some modems and DSLAMs are configured to default to a single virtual circuit for each end user. In order for the ADSL service to be functional, both the ADSL modem and an associated DSLAM need to have a compatible ATM layer configuration. Existing networks that utilize virtual circuit connections and can be categorized as connection oriented, include but are not limited to asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), frame relay (FR) and multi-protocol label switching (MPLS).
The common network element deployment strategies typically consist of manually provisioning a permanent virtual circuit (PVC), default initializing a PVC, or implementing a signaling connection setup sequence for switched virtual circuits (SVC). The signaling connection setup sequence requires pre-provisioned signaling client/server entities in some of the elements. A combination of the above strategies may also be applied to the access network. The above described deployment strategies are labor intensive and can cause interoperability limitations between different vendor's equipment.
The assignee of the present application has developed a "plug and play" technique for automatically provisioning an ADSL modem. This technique is described in co-pending application Ser. No. 09/833,780, entitled "AUTOMATIC PERMANENT VIRTUAL CIRCUIT CONNECTION ACTIVATION FOR CONNECTION ORIENTED NETWORKS" (the Auto PVC Application). The text of the Auto PVC Application is incorporated herein by reference. The access node provisions the ADSL modem by learning the virtual channel identifier for the modem and creating a translation to a default virtual channel identifier provisioned at the access node.
DSL service is typically provided over an ATM network with a connection between a remote terminal (RT) and a central office terminal (COT). In ATM networks most of the monitoring occurs at the physical layer, meaning that the individual units, e.g. ATM switches, LAN switches, remote terminals, and end units, in the network provide alarms or other error message when problems with physical transmission are determined. However, physical layer monitoring does not monitor the virtual channels at the ATM layer, specifically the queuing, routing and translation functions that provide the virtual channel functionality through different elements in the network. Since ATM and DSL connections have extremely high throughputs the inability to test the channel as a whole or in part can result in missing translation or routing problems that can result in cells being transmitted along incorrect virtual channels.
In addition, ATM utilizes Operations and Maintenance (OAM) layer functions to perform testing at the ATM adaptation layer (AAL). OAM cells are injected to test either virtual paths or provisioned virtual channels and can be sent from the testing apparatus to an end point or can be looped back between any two ATM nodes along the virtual path or virtual channel. However, OAM cells are limited to ATM links in the network and generally require processing capability in each of ATM switches or end units that the OAM cell passes because the cell identity is contained in the cell payload and these cells cannot be readily distinguished from data cells. This increases the cost of the equipment needed for the end points that in turn drives up the overall cost of the ATM system.
The assignee of the present application has provided a solution to this monitoring problem as described in co-pending application Ser. No. 10/093,296, entitled "EMBEDDED CELL LOOPBACK METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TESTING IN ATM NETWORKS" (the "ECLP application"). The text of the ECLP Application is incorporated herein by reference. Essentially, the ECLP Application provides for testing the functionality of the ATM layer using specially inserted cells. These cells include special codes stored in a field such as the GFC field.
Unfortunately, use of automatic provisioning for ADSL modems as taught in the Auto PVC application in an access node that supports an embedded cell loop-back protocol as taught in the ECLP patent can result in transmission errors. For example, miss-inserted cells may be improperly interpreted as ECLP cells or may be routed improperly when received at the user-network interface.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for improvements to ingress cell processing at the user-network interface in access network equipment.

Ingress cell processing at a user-network interface


A valve actuation system for a combustion engine is provided. The valve actuation system may have an engine valve movable between first and second spaced apart end positions. The valve actuation system may also have a first cam element mechanically coupled to move the engine valve, and a first hydraulic slave piston operatively connected to the engine valve to move the engine valve independent of movement of the first cam element. The valve actuation system may further have a high pressure rail fluidly connected to the first hydraulic piston, and a control valve disposed between the high pressure rail and the first hydraulic piston to regulate movement of the engine valve.

The operation of an internal combustion engine such as, for example, a diesel, gasoline, or gaseous-fuel powered engine, may cause the generation of undesirable emissions. These emissions, which may include particulates and oxides of nitrogen (NOx), are generated when fuel is combusted in a combustion chamber of the engine. An exhaust stroke of the engine piston forces exhaust gas, which may include these emissions, from the engine. If no emission reduction measures are in place, these undesirable emissions will eventually be exhausted to the environment.
Research is currently being directed towards decreasing the amount of undesirable emissions that are exhausted to the environment during the operation of the engine. It is expected that improved engine design and improved control over engine operation may lead to a reduction in the generation of undesirable emissions. Many different approaches such as, for example, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), water injection, and fuel injection timings, have been found to reduce the amount of emissions generated during the operation of the engine. Aftertreatment solutions such as, for example, traps and catalysts, have also been found to effectively remove emissions from an exhaust flow. However, because some of these solutions require increased exhaust temperatures, their efficient implementation sometimes requires non-typical engine valve events.
The engine valves in an internal combustion engine are typically driven by a cam arrangement that is operatively connected to a crankshaft of the engine. The rotation of the crankshaft results in a corresponding rotation of a cam that cyclically drives one or more cam followers. The movement of the cam followers results in the actuation of the engine valves, and the shape of the cam governs the timing and duration of the valve actuation. In order to produce a non-typical engine valve event, a variable valve actuation device that interrupts the cyclical movement of the valves is required.
One type of variable valve actuation device includes a hydraulic master/slave piston combination, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,585 (the '585 patent) issued to Hu on Oct. 3, 2000. Specifically, the '585 patent describes an internal combustion engine having an exhaust valve connected to a lobed cam by way of hydraulic linkage. As the lobed cam rotates, a master piston is displaced within a cylinder to pressurize fluid in the linkage. As the fluid is pressurized, a slave piston connected to the exhaust valve is displaced from an associated cylinder to reciprocatingly move the exhaust valve in accordance with cam rotation. To vary the actuating motion of the exhaust valve (i.e., lose valve lift by delaying valve opening or completely eliminate valve lift), some amount of the pressurized fluid is spilled from the linkage before pressurizing begins, thereby effectively shortening the linkage length. By selectively changing the exhaust valve's opening profile, exhaust treatment solutions such as EGR can be implemented.
Although the variable valve actuation device of the '585 patent may be effectively used to recirculate exhaust gas and, thereby, reduce an engine's emissions, it may be limited. In particular, the motion of the exhaust valve, as described in the '585 patent, is directly connected to motion of the lobed cam and, thus, the exhaust valve can only open, close, and/or have a maximum lift that corresponds with the rotational timing of the cam and the cam lobe profile. There may be situations where valve opening is desired but the cam lobe is not in a position to contact the master piston. In these situations, the device of the '585 patent would provide no assistance.
The valve actuation system and method of the present disclosure solve one or more of the problems set forth above.

Variable engine valve actuation system having common rail


Embodiments of a synchronization circuit, a method for synchronizing clock signals, and electronic devices that include the synchronization circuit or a computer-program product (e.g., software) with instructions for operations in the method are described. This synchronization circuit synchronizes clock signals in different timing domains using state variables. In particular, the synchronization circuit generates a synchronization acquisition curve based on a temporal history of state-variable differences between the clock signals. Next, the synchronization circuit synchronizes the clock signals (without a discontinuous temporal transient in one or more state variables of a dependent one of the clock signals) based on the sum of the synchronization acquisition curve and the state-variable differences between the clock signals. This state variable may include: a phase of the dependent clock signal, a frequency of the dependent clock signal, and/or a rate of change of the frequency of the dependent clock signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to synchronization circuits and synchronization techniques. More specifically, the present invention relates to a synchronization circuit that synchronizes different timing domains based on state variables.
2. Related Art
Many integrated circuits contain different functional blocks that operate at different speeds. As a consequence, these integrated circuits may include different timing domains. Because the different functional blocks in these integrated circuits often interact with each other, it is typically useful to synchronize or lock the clock signals in the different timing domains. For example, the clock signals from different timing domains may be synchronized using a phase-locked loop.
However, existing synchronization techniques typically bring the frequency and the phase of the clock signals into lock in a nonlinear or an unpredictable manner. For example, the frequency and the phase of the clock signals being locked are often a nonlinear function of time.
This nonlinear or erratic behavior of the clock signals during synchronizing can cause problems in a variety of applications. For example, if clock signals in a media transport system have nonlinear variations while they are being locked, there may be undesirable transients in resulting audio signals that users can perceive. More generally, nonlinear or erratic variations in clock signals during synchronization can adversely impact data transport in a series of cascaded circuits.
Hence, what is needed are synchronization circuits and techniques that overcome the problems listed above.

Synchronizing timing domains based on state variables


A head performs recording or reading information with respect to a sheet-shaped recording medium. A pair of rollers sandwich therebetween and transport the recording medium in a transport path of the recording medium passing through the head. A cantilevered frame extends while being cantilevered in a direction traversing the transport path. One end of an opening and closing unit is rotatably supported by the cantilevered frame. The opening and closing unit is revolvable around the one end to move between a closed position where the opening and closing unit covers at least a transport portion by the pair of rollers in the transport path and an open position where the transport position is exposed to the outside.

The present invention relates to a recording medium processing apparatus which transports a sheet-shaped recording medium, such as a check along a transport path passing through a plurality of heads and a pair of transport rollers.
There is a check processing apparatus which reads information inscribed in magnetic ink characters (MICR) from a sheet-shaped recording medium, such as a check, and performs printing on the recording medium by a recording head. The check processing apparatus includes a magnetic reading head which reads the magnetic ink characters. In the check processing apparatus, a transport path is provided which passes through a recording bead for performing printing. Thus, a check or the like is transported along the transport path. For example, in a small check reading apparatus, a magnetic reading head is arranged in a transport path portion which linearly extends from a check insertion port provided at the front surface of the apparatus toward the depth side of the apparatus. A recording head is arranged in a transport path portion which passes through a deep curved transport path portion upward or forward of the apparatus.
Patent Document 1 describes this type of recording medium processing apparatus (multi-function processing apparatus). In the multi-function processing apparatus of Patent Document 1, a check processing section which includes a magnetic reading head and a recording head is provided at the front portion of the apparatus, and a roll sheet unit which performs printing on a roll sheet is provided at the rear of the check processing section. In the multi-function processing apparatus, the rear end of the roll sheet unit is rotatably supported by a rotary support shaft provided at the rear side of the apparatus, such that the roll sheet unit revolves upward of the apparatus, opening and closing a unit cover in the top surface of the apparatus. Thus, the recording head arranged in a portion extending longitudinally in the second half of the transport path in the check processing section is exposed, making it easy to perform the replacement of consumables in the recording head or the maintenance of a cutter device provided in front of the check discharge port.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-2000-43339
With the configuration of Patent Document 1, the roll sheet unit is opened/closed, such that it is possible to expose the transport path portion which extends longitudinally toward the check discharge port in the top surface of the apparatus. However, it is impossible to expose the curved transport path portion from the transport path portion which transversely extends from the check insertion port at the front surface rearward of the apparatus to the transport path portion which extends longitudinally. Arranged in the curved portion are a pair of transport rollers, such as a pair of transport rollers which are provided in the vicinity of the magnetic reading head (provided in the transverse transport path portion), a pair of transport rollers which are provided in the vicinity of the recording head (provided in the longitudinal transport path portion). That is, the portion is at the deepest position of the transport path and shielded from the check insertion port and the check discharge port by the two pairs of transport rollers, making it difficult to access the portion from either the check insertion port or the check discharge port. For this reason, if a paper jam occurs in the portion, a hand does not reach the position where the paper jam occurs. Thus, in order to remove the jammed check, the apparatus has to be disassembled. Disassembly causes a problem in that it takes time and effort to recover the original state. In addition, there is a problem in that, at the time of disassembling the apparatus, components may be broken or lost, and the apparatus may not be reconstituted to its original state.


A magnetic detection apparatus detects movement of an object having a nonuniform system of teeth by means of magneto-electric conversion devices, wherein technical problems such as too large an amplified output signal, a nonuniform pulse period and a complicated circuit configuration can be solved. A plurality of uniform triangular teeth are formed on the circumference of a gear at equal angular intervals, and in a predetermined region a trapezoidal tooth is formed, where the height of the trapezoidal tooth is smaller than the height of the uniform teeth but greater than half their height. The magnetized surface of a bias magnet facing the gear generates a bias magnetic field directed toward the gear. Magneto-resistive devices are provided in the bias magnetic field. Variations in state of the bias magnetic field generated by the bias magnetic magnet when the gear is rotated are converted into an output electrical signal by the magneto-resistive devices. A binary conversion circuit converts the electrical signal output into a binary signal. Receiving the binary signal, a processing circuit detects a reference position and the rotational direction of the object.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic detection apparatus for detecting the movement of an object by means of a magneto-electric conversion device which utilizes the current magnetic-effect of a magneto-resistive device, a Hall device or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional rotation detecting apparatus for detecting the movement of an object by using a magneto-electric conversion device is known by, for instance, JP-A 3-195970. In this apparatus, magneto-electric devices are provided in such a way that each of them faces gear teeth through an air gap. Variations in bias magnetic field generated by a bias magnet which variations are caused by the rotation of the gear and are converted by the magneto-electric device into an output electrical signal. The output electrical signal is then converted into binary data. By counting the number of pulses of the binary data or measuring the gap between two consecutive pulses or the pulse period, the rotational angle and the rotational speed can be found. As an apparatus of this type, a determination as to whether or not the rotation is in the opposite direction can also be made as is disclosed in JP-Y2 6-33419. In this apparatus, two component pairs each comprising a magneto-resistive device and a circuit for converting a signal output by the magneto-resistive device into binary data are provided. The binary data output by the circuit is used for determining whether the direction of the rotation is normal or reverse.
In several experiments conducted by the inventors, an attempt was made to detect a reference position by eliminating a tooth of the gear at the reference position. With a tooth eliminated, the gap between two consecutive pulses is changed and the change in pulse gap (or pulse period) can be observed as the reference position. However, the inventors were aware of the fact that the amplitude of an alternating current signal output by the magneto-resistive device on the boundary between a region with teeth arranged continuously and a location with a missing tooth for detecting the reference position inevitably increased. As a result, a problem was encountered when the alternating current signal output by the magneto-resistive device was amplified in preprocessing prior to the conversion process into binary data. On the boundary between the region with teeth arranged continuously and the location with a missing tooth, the pulse gap for detecting the reference position is found to be greater than the pulse gap (or the pulse period) in the region with teeth arranged continuously after the binary conversion, making it impossible to pass on accurate rotation angle information after the binary conversion. In order to determine whether or not the rotation is in the reverse direction, it is necessary to provide two component pairs each comprising a magneto-resistive device and a circuit for converting a signal output by the magneto-resistive device into binary data as described above, making the configuration of the circuit complex.
In the detection of the rotation of an object of observation by means of a magnetic pickup, the output voltage V is equal to d.PHI./dt. As a result, the magnitude of the output voltage is small at a low rotational speed, making it difficult to put the apparatus to practical use.
A magneto-resistive device serving as a sensor provides an output with a constant magnitude without regard to the rotational speed. For this reason, the magneto-resistive device offers a benefit in that it can also be used for low rotational speeds as well. On the other hand, since the magnitude of the output is small, it must be amplified.
If the amplitude of a signal output by an amplifier for amplifying the signal output by the magneto-resistive device is increased excessively, however, too large a voltage is applied to devices employed in the circuit, giving rise to a possibility of malfunction. For this reason, in general, the signal output by the amplifier is limited so that its magnitude does not exceed a predetermined value. An amplification factor must thus be set so that, on the boundary between the region with teeth arranged continuously and the region with a missing tooth, the amplitude of the amplified signal for detecting the reference position is smaller than a predetermined limit. As a result, the amplitude of the amplified signal in the region with teeth arranged continuously can not be amplified sufficiently, giving rise to a problem that it is difficult to distinguish the signal output by the magneto-resistive device from existing noise.

Magnetic detection apparatus for detecting movement of an object having a nonuniform system of teeth


An artificial insemination apparatus for insertion into a cervix of a sow, including a tubular passage member which is helically coiled at a distal end. The helically coiled distal end terminates in an open tip including an opening communicating with a bore of the tubing. The helically coiled distal end is inserted into and is secured by the muscular folds in the cervix, and semen is transmitted therethrough.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to artificial insemination and, more particularly, to an apparatus for artificially inseminating livestock.
2. Description of the Related Art
Artificial insemination (AI) is an increasingly valuable technique and management practice for the pork producer. AI allows the pork producer widespread use and dissemination of outstanding boars and increases the number of offspring from the best boars. AI is invaluable for breeding under various environmental and managerial conditions, and allows the pork producer to accelerate the introduction of new genetic material. AI also reduces the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases within the stock and prevents injuries common in natural service.
Pork producers and researchers have attempted to mimic the anatomy of a boar to make artificial insemination successful for the pork industry. In natural service the boar's penis has developed spiral glands to engage the muscular folds of the sow's cervix. This specialization locks the spiral tip of the penis in the folds of the cervix. This locking action during coitus ensures the bulk of the semen is transmitted into the uterus of the sow. The artificial insemination rods currently used by pork producers include an overmolded tip portion designed to simulate the spiral tip of the boar's penis. The insemination rod is inserted into the cervix and manipulated to simulate the natural locking action. Boar semen is then passed through the hollow rod and into the uterus.
Though artificial insemination is vital to the pork industry, insemination rods have changed little over the years despite persistent disadvantages with the overmolded tip portion. The tip portion has heretofore been available in two primary configurations, i) an elongate tip with a spiral flange or ii) a bulbous tip with a circumferential groove. Although each is designed to mimic the tip of the boar penis and lock the rod in the muscular folds of the cervix, neither configuration provides a secure interlock for the transmission of semen. Since the overmolded tip portion can separate from the hollow tube and cause blockage of the cervix, safe removal of the overmolded insemination rod is of a great concern.
Several other problems are associated with the overmolded insemination rod designs. Since the rod is often rotated to interlock within the cervix, molded material flash or sharp flange comers can cause damage to the interior wall tissue of the cervix. The material compound of the overmolded tip also presents a tradeoff between reusability and interior wall tissue damage. The molding operation used to produce the overmolded tip also unnecessarily increases the cost of the insemination rods.
There is, accordingly, a need in the art for an insemination rod design which improves securability in the cervix of a sow, which is reliably removed from the cervix, which reduces damage to the interior wall of the cervix, and which is cost effective to manufacture.

Artificial Insemination Technologies LLC


One preferred embodiment of the invention provides a wireless base station which provides a multicasting service to simultaneously transmit identical data to a plurality of wireless terminals. A wireless base station is connected to a plurality of wireless terminals and provides a multicasting service for a plurality of wireless terminals. The wireless base station determines autonomously whether it provides the multicasting service for the plurality of wireless terminals. Another preferred embodiment of the invention provides a method of selecting a wireless base station for a wireless terminal, the wireless base station providing a multicasting service for the wireless terminal. When the wireless terminal can receive the same multicasting information from a plurality of wireless base stations, the wireless terminal selects one of the plurality of wireless base stations so as to make the number of the wireless base stations that send the same multicasting information as small as possible.

Generally, in a wireless communication system, a number of wireless base stations have respective service areas to which the service of each base station is provided, and the service areas of the wireless base stations are overlapped each other.
In the IP (Internet protocol) network, there is an increasing demand for broadcasting communication applications, such as music or vide distributions. The studies of the protocols suitable for such applications in the IP network have been carried out. Hence, the wireless access communication system that supports the multicasting service is the important issue.
Multicasting is the ability of one network node (for example, a wireless base station) to send identical data to a number of end-point terminals (for example, wireless terminals). However, the service areas of wireless base stations are not necessarily appropriate for providing the wireless terminals with the multicasting services.
For example, it is often possible that multiple wireless base stations cover the same service area, in order to avoid network congestion.
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a problem of a service area of a conventional wireless base station. In the example of FIG. 1, small service areas 3 through 6 are provided within a larger service area 1, and small service areas 7 through 9 are provided within a large service area 2.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the large service area 1 of the conventional wireless base station in FIG. 1. As shown, in the large service area 1, a wireless base station B stands ready to provide its service. In the small service area 3, a wireless base station A stands ready to provide its service.
In the example of FIG. 2, a wireless terminal "a" exists in the service area 3, and a wireless terminal "b" exists in the service area 1. Each of the wireless base stations A and B provides the multicasting service. In the present example, the wireless terminal "a" can receive the multicasting service provided by the wireless base station A, and the wireless terminal "b" can receive the multicasting service provided by the wireless base station B.
When providing the multicasting service in a wireless access communication system in which the service areas of plural wireless base stations overlap each other, it is likely that the plural wireless base stations simultaneously send identical data to the overlapping service area. For the example of FIG. 2, in such a case, the wireless terminal "a" receives the multicasting service from the wireless base station A, and, at the same time, it receives the multicasting service from the wireless base station B. Namely, the wireless terminal "a" receives identical data from both the wireless base station A and the wireless base station B at the same time.
In the present example, it is sufficient for the wireless terminal "a" to receive the multicasting service from the wireless base station B only. It is not necessary that the wireless terminal "a" receive the multicasting service from the wireless base station A.
Hence, in the present example, the multicasting service provided to the wireless terminal "a" by the wireless base station A is inefficient. The radio resources are utilized inefficiently in the present example, and the efficiency of utilization of the radio resources is lowered.
Further, conventionally, when the services supported by the wireless base stations have to be changed in the individual base stations, the scheduling of the service changes of the wireless base stations is produced at another location other than the wireless base stations, and the service changes are effected at the respective base stations. Such conventional method requires high cost from the standpoint of maintenance and operation.
In order to eliminate the above-mentioned problems, one object of the present invention is to make efficient use of the radio resources and lower the maintenance and operation cost.
Further, when the access communication network is based on the IP network, the IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) can be used as the multicasting protocol. According to the IGMP protocol, it is determined whether the router sends the multicasting messages to the sub-network, in order to avoid the network congestion. When the access communication system is connected to the IP network that supports the IGMP protocol, it is preferred that the system employs the access control flow that is compatible with the IGMP protocol.
According to the IGMP protocol, in order to prevent the sending of unnecessary data to the sub-network, the multicasting is not performed for the packets having a group address that is not related to the sub-network. In addition, for the wireless access system that supports the multicasting, the sending of unnecessary data to the sub-network is avoided, and the radio resources are saved.
However, when two different routers A and B receive the packets having a same group address, the routers A and B perform the multicasting to send identical data to the terminals of the related group within the respective service areas thereof
In a wireless access communication system in which the service areas of plural wireless base stations overlap each other and some wireless terminal can simultaneously receive the multicasting services from the plural wireless base stations, it is likely that the wireless terminal is connected to the wireless base station that provides the highest level of communication quality for the wireless terminal.
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining another problem of a service area of a conventional wireless base station. As shown, reference numeral 1 denotes the service area of the wireless base station A, and reference numeral 2 denotes the service area of the wireless base station B.
As indicated in (A) in FIG. 3, the wireless terminal "a" is connected to the wireless base station A, and the wireless terminal "b" can be connected to both the wireless base station A and the wireless base station B. However, the wireless terminal "b" is located at the place that is nearer to the wireless base station B than the wireless base station A. As the wireless base station B provides a higher level of communication quality for the wireless terminal "b", the wireless terminal "b" is connected to the wireless base station B and receives the service from the wireless base station B.
As indicated in (B) in FIG. 3, when the service area 4 of the wireless base station A is provided within the service area 3 of the wireless base station B, the wireless terminal "a" can be connected to both the wireless base station A and the wireless base station B. In the example of FIG. 3(B), the wireless base station A provides a higher level of communication quality for the wireless terminal "a" than the wireless base station B, and the wireless terminal "a" is connected to the wireless base station A and receives the service from the wireless base station A.
However, conventionally, in the example of FIG. 3(A), the wireless terminal "a" is connected to the wireless base station A according to the communication quality level, even when the wireless terminals "a" and "b" belong to the same IGMP group (group G1) and receive identical data. The wireless base station A sends to the wireless terminal "a" the identical data that is the same as that is sent to the wireless terminal "b".
If the connection of the wireless terminal "b" and the wireless base station B is switched to the connection of the wireless terminal "b" and the wireless base station A when the wireless terminal "b" is the only terminal that belongs to the group G1 and exists in the service area 2 of the wireless base station B, the wireless base station B stops providing the multicasting service to the wireless terminal "b". The radio resources needed for the wireless base station B to transmit other services to the group G1 terminals can be saved because of the disconnection of the wireless terminal "b" from the wireless base station B.
Further, in the example of FIG. 3(B), the wireless terminal "a" exists in the service area 3 of the wireless base station B, and the wireless terminal "a" can communicate with the wireless base station B as well. If the connection of the wireless terminal "a" and the wireless base station A is switched to the connection of the wireless terminal "a" and the wireless base station B, the radio resources needed for the wireless base station A can be saved.
In a conventional IGMP network, it is likely that, when different wireless base stations provide the multicasting service for the wireless terminals which belong to the same IGMP group and exist in the overlapping service area, the wireless base stations send identical data to the wireless terminals at the same time. The radio resources are used unnecessarily in such a situation, and the utilization of the radio resources is lowered.
In order to eliminate the above-mentioned problems, another object of the present invention is to reduce the number of the wireless base stations that send identical data to the wireless terminals and increase the efficiency of utilization of the radio resources.

Wireless base station, method of selecting wireless base station, method of multicasting, and wireless terminal


A circuit for the fast turn off of a field effect transistor (FET) for use in circuits such as a power converter circuit. The FET turn off circuitry includes a gate current sink transistor and a capacitor linked between the base of the gate current sink transistor and the drain of the FET. This capacitor increases the current into the base of the gate current sink transistor, and enables an increased magnitude of current to flow from the FET, thereby increasing the speed with which the FET turns off. A diode is preferably also connected between the base and the emitter of the gate current sink transistor to provide a return path to discharge the capacitor.

In many electrical devices, such as switching power converters, means are required to switch a large current on and off at a fast rate. Field effect transistors FETs are often used as such power switching means, especially at high switching frequencies. One of the reasons FETs are often used in this application is that FETs generate a lower electrical energy loss when compared with other switching elements at frequencies above approximately 10 kHz.
Even though FETs generate a low electrical energy loss, it is desirable to further lower their energy loss to improve the operation efficiency of a device using a FET. Further, the electrical energy loss of a FET is converted mostly into heat, which could raise the temperature of all the circuit elements in the device. Since the performance and life of most circuit elements are adversely affected by high temperature, the reduction in heat generation by the FET will enhance the performance and reliability of not only the FET, but the device using the FET as well.
One of the major causes of electrical energy loss by a FET is the turn-off loss resulting from the FET switching from a conductive ON state to a nonconductive OFF state. This transition is not instantaneous; it takes a finite period of time. During this transistion period, the drain to source voltage of the FET increases from a value of almost zero to a high value. At the same time, the current flowing through the FET decreases from a high value to almost zero. The power loss is proportional to the product of the current and the drain to source voltage of the FET, and the energy loss is the integral of the power loss over time. During the transition period, the product of the current and the drain to source voltage of the FET could be quite large, thereby leading to a large turn-off power loss. Thus, it is desirable to turn off the FET as fast as possible so that the energy loss can be reduced.
In order to turn off a FET, the voltage of its gate terminal has to be changed. It is well known that the various layers of a semiconductor comprising a FET cause parasitic capacitors to exist between the gate, source, and drain terminals of the FET. In order to change the voltage of the gate terminal, a current is needed for discharging the parasitic capacitors associated with the gate terminal. The magnitude of the current is proportional to the rate of discharging of these capacitors. Thus, a large gate current sink is needed to turn off the FET rapidly. In order to provide such a gate current sink, a gate current sink driver capable of sinking a large current from the gate terminal is typically connected to the gate terminal of the FET.
Typically, a gate current sink driver consists of a transistor having its collector coupled to the gate terminal of a FET for sinking the necessary gate current when the transistor is turned on. In order to reduce the turn off time of a FET, it is desirable to increase the collector current of the transistor. An example of a prior art means for the fast turn off of a FET is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,182, issued to Pilukaitis, et al. This patent discloses the use of a supplementary drive transistor to enhance the gain of the gate current sink transistor in a FET gate current sink circuit. Additional passive circuit elements, such as bias resistors, are also needed in order to use the supplementary drive transistor taught by Pilukaitis, et al.
One of the problems with the above method is that such a supplementary drive transistor and its associated passive circuit elements take up valuable board space. Another problem is the additional cost incurred in using these circuit elements. The present invention eliminates the need for such a supplementary drive transistor.

Circuit for the fast turn off of a field effect transistor