In an apparatus for gel electrophoresis in which a sample of fluorophore-labelled DNA fragments is caused to migrate by electrophoresis through a gel electrolyte layer in an electrophoresis plate from top to bottom, thereby separating the sample into individual DNA fragments, and a laser beam is launched horizontally into said electrolyte layer from one side of the electrophoresis plate in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said electrophoresis plate, with the emitted fluorescences being detected to determine the base sequences of the respective DNAS, a mirror for reflecting fluorescences is provided at the back of the electrophoresis plate in such a way that it is parallel to the direction of laser beam application, and the fluorescences reflected by this mirror are received by a fluorescence detector such as a CCD sensor or MOS linear image sensor. In one embodiment, the mirror is inclined by an angle of 45.degree. with the electrophoresis plate in such a way that it reflects the incident fluorescences upward, and the fluorescence detector is positioned above the mirror along the electrophoresis plate. In another embodiment, Texas Red having an excitation maximum wavelength of 596 nm and an emission maximum wavelength of 615 nm is used as the fluorophore and a He-Ne laser operating at a wavelength of 594 nm is used as the light source.

This invention relates to an apparatus for electrophoresis. More particularly, this invention relates to a compact vertical-type apparatus for gel electrophoresis.
Gel electrophoresis is practiced extensively as a technique for determining the base sequences of DNA and other proteins. Conventionally, the sample to be subjected to electrophoresis is labelled with a radioisotope for analysis but this method has had the problem of being painstaking and time-consuming. Furthermore, the use of radioactive substances always calls for utmost safety and management and analysis cannot be performed in areas other than facilities that clear certain regulations. Under the circumstances, a method that uses fluorophores to label the sample and which detects fluorescences as emitted upon irradiation with light is being reviewed.
In this method, fluorophore-labelled DNA fragments are caused to migrate through a gel and a light excitation portion and a photodetector are provided for each electrophoresis track in an area 15-20 cm below the start point of electrophoresis. The DNA fragments are assayed as they pass through the line connecting the light excitation portion and the photodetector. A typical procedure of the method is described below. First, using as template the DNA chain to be determined for its base sequence, DNAs of various lengths with known terminal base species are replicated by a method involving an enzymatic reaction (the dideoxy method). Then, the replicated DNAs are labelled with a fluorophore. Stated more specifically, there are prepared a group of adenine (A) fragments, a group of cytosine (C) fragments, a group of guanine (G) fragments and a group of thymine (T) fragments, all being labelled with a fluorophore. A mixture of these fragment groups is injected into separate lane grooves in an electrophoretic gel and, thereafter, a voltage is applied at opposite ends of the gel. Since DNA is a chained polymer with negative charges, it will move across the gel at a rate in inverse proportion to its molecular weight. The shorter the DNA chain (the smaller its molecular weight), the faster will it move and vice versa; this is the principle behind the fractionation of DNA by molecular weight.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application (kokai) No. 21556/1988 teaches a DNA base sequencer that is adapted in such a way that a line on the gel in an apparatus for electrophoresis at which laser light is applied and the direction in which photodiodes are arranged are both perpendicular to the direction in which DNA fragments migrate in the apparatus. The setup of this apparatus is shown schematically in FIG. 6. An electrophoresis plate 74 comprises a gel (typically a polyacrylamide gel) held between two glass plates. The electrophoresis plate has an overall thickness of up to about 10 mm but the thickness of the gel electrolyte layer itself is less than about 1 mm. The upper end of the gel electrolyte layer is comb-shaped and located slightly below the upper end of the plate 74. Fluorophore-labelled DNA fragments to be assayed are injected into grooves 75 corresponding to the teeth of the comb.
In the apparatus shown in FIG. 6, a laser beam emitted from a light source 70 is reflected by a mirror 72 and launched horizontally from one side of the plate 74 at a predetermined point on the gel. As the fluorophore-labelled DNA fragments migrating through the gel pass through the irradiated region, they will fluoresce successively. The horizontal position of fluorescence emission tells the species of a particular terminal base, the time difference from the start of migration tells the length of a particular fragment, and the emission wavelength identifies the sample under assay. The fluorescence from each electrophoresis track is condensed by a lens 78 to focus at a light-receiving area in an image intensifier 80. The received signal is amplified and converted to an electric signal in a photodiode array 84 for the purpose of various measurements. The results of measurements are processed with a computer so that the sequences of the individual DNA fragments are calculated to determine the base sequence of the DNA at issue.
The conventional apparatus for gel electrophoresis uses an argon laser as a light source and adopts an image intensifier camera in the light-receiving optics. The image intensifier camera is not only very expensive but also comparatively large as an optical device. The argon laser is also of a comparatively large size and requires a large transformer for use with the associated drive power supply. As a result, the overall size of the conventional apparatus for electrophoresis becomes bulky, often making it difficult to allow for a space for accommodating signal processing boards and other related devices.

Hitachi Electronics Engineering Co., Ltd.


A method includes providing a first set of location data using a first coordinate system that corresponds to a first building and a second set of location data using a second coordinate system that corresponds to a second building. A third set of location data is generated from the first and second sets of location data by converting the first set of location data from the first coordinate system to a third coordinate system and converting the second set of location data from the second coordinate system to the third coordinate system.

Radio frequency (RF) planning is frequently a part of plans to deploy a large-scale wireless local area network (LAN). The purpose of RF planning is to ensure an adequate quality of RF signal coverage across the area in which the wireless LAN is to be deployed. Data to be considered for RF planning includes signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio (SINR).
Conventional RF planning efforts generate data that indicates the locations of building features, relevant objects, and planned and/or existing sources of RF signals within a building. However, conventional RF planning may fail to take into account potential for interference from RF sources in other buildings.

Radio frequency planning with consideration of inter-building effects


A stroller comprises a stroller frame, and a child seat positioned on the stroller frame and having a seat back, a seat bottom, and a seat bight. The stroller frame includes a cup holder forward of the seat bight. The stroller can further include a child barrier, such as a child tray or a child arm bar, movably coupled to the stroller frame such that the cup holder remains stationary relative to the stroller frame while the child barrier moves relative to the stroller frame. The child tray can also be movably coupled to the cup holder and releasably coupled to the stroller frame.

Strollers often are equipped with a child tray positioned in front of the seat back of the child seat and above the seat bottom of the child seat. The child tray generally is movably mounted to the stroller frame so that the child tray can be pivoted or slid away from the child seat to facilitate removal of the child from, or placement of the child into, the seat. The child tray can include a built-in cup holder for holding a sippy cup, a juice box, snacks, or other items. An older child seated in the stroller can reach the item(s) contained in the cup holder himself and, thus, remain content in the stroller for longer periods of time. When a caregiver needs to move the child tray, however, item(s) in the cup holder may spill out of the cup holder.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a stroller with a cup holder that is accessible to a child seated in the stroller and that can remain stationary as the child tray is moved relative to the stroller frame.


The invention provides a photographic element comprising a light sensitive silver halide emulsion layer having associated therewith a dye-forming coupler having formula I: ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 is selected from the group consisting of alkyl, aryl, and heterocyclic groups;. R.sub.2 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl, aryl, and heterocyclic groups; PA1 W is C(O) or S(O).sub.2 ; PA1 R.sub.3 is selected from the group consisting of alkyl, alkoxy, aryl, aryloxy, and amino groups; PA1 each R.sub.4 is independently selected from the group consisting of alkyl, alkoxy, aryl, aryloxy, and alkylamino groups, and n is an integer from 1 to 4; PA1 Y is a substituent; and PA1 X is H or a coupling-off group; PA1 provided that the number of carbon atoms contained in R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 combined is at least 18 and provided further that any two or more of R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 may be joined to form a ring.

It is well-known to use pyrazolotriazole couplers for forming magenta dyes in photographic elements. One type of coupler used for this purpose is a 1-H-pyrazolo(5,1-c)-1,2,4-triazole coupler. An example of such a coupler is shown in Romanet et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,728. The couplers shown in the Romanet patent contain a nitrogen in a position beta to the carbon in the 3-position of the pyrazolotriazole nucleus. The preferred coupler of the Romanet patent is shown as Compound V at column 25 of the patent. This compound corresponds to comparative coupler C-1 in the present application.
The couplers of the Romanet patent were found to exhibit a desired level of reactivity and to produce a dye having a very satisfactory hue. However, the coupler of Romanet has been found to have an undesirable sensitivity to the pH of the developer solution used when processing a photographic element containing the coupler to develop an image. The result is that the relationship between the amount of exposure and the resulting dye density (the D-LogE curve or gamma) varies for the coupler as a function of the pH of the processing solution.
It is, of course, essential that a photographic element having a particular latent image produce the same resulting viewable image upon development regardless of the minor variations in the maintenance of the target pH values in the developer solution that are typical in the processing business.
Moreover, the couplers of Romanet should contain water-solubilizing groups in order to have high reactivity towards oxidized developer. This results in high imaging efficiency. However, these same substituents also cause the couplers to partially or totally dissolve at the high pH of the developer solution and diffuse (wander) into other imaging layers where it can react with the oxidized developer generated in that layer. This leads to undesirable color contamination. Reducing the degree of water solubility of the coupler can minimize coupler wandering but also decreases the ability of the coupler to react with oxidized developer.
Additionally, it is desirable to generate a photograpic element that has minimal dye density in the regions of no or very low light exposure. When silver develops in this exposure region, the resulting unwanted dye density adds noise to the system, lowers contrast, adds to variability in the process and increases printing time resulting in decreased photofinisher output. It is important that a coupler exhibit high reactivity toward oxidized developer without forming too much dye with the silver developed in the low exposure regions.
Thus, it is a problem to be solved to provide a photographic element that contains a magenta dye-forming coupler which is much less sensitive to variations in the pH value of the developer solution than is the case with elements containing couplers previously known while maintaining high imaging efficiency and without color contamination due to coupler wandering or high fog readout as measured by green Dmin.

Photographic element containing an improved pyrozolotriazole coupler


The present invention relates to a basketball net for a breakaway net attachment system that detachably mounts a basketball net to the rim of a basketball goal. The attachment system may include clasps located in the attachment loops of the basketball net. The clasps may release in response to an application of a predetermined force applied to the basketball net. Once released, the attachment loops may disengage form the basketball rim, effectively allowing the basketball net to breakaway from the basketball rim.

The invention relates to a system for detachably retaining a net on a basketball goal rim and, more particularly, to a basketball net clip for detachably retaining a net on a basketball goal rim whereby the net may be released from the rim upon application of a predetermined force.
Basketball goal nets are typically retained on the rim of a goal by attaching looped end portions of the net to hooked portions, known as rams, welded to the rim of the goal. By passing the looped portions of the net over the rams, the net is retained on the rim during use of the goal, for example during a game of basketball.
Under certain circumstances it is desirable to permit the net to detach from the rim of the goal whereby a force, in excess of what may be applied during normal play, will not be conveyed through or resisted by the connection point between the net and the rim. For example, when a player engages and produces a pulling force on the net, it is desirable for the net to be capable of separating from the rim rather than tearing the net or damaging the rim and/or the associated support apparatus. However, during the normal course of play, the net should remain engaged with the rim.
In one known net attachment system, net clips are used to secure a conventional net to a rim. Unfortunately, the net clip systems required a special rim fabricated to accept the net clips. The net clips connect to specially formed holes in the underside of the rim and also connect to the loops of a conventional net. As a result however, the attachment of the net is difficult and time consuming to assemble. Further, the system requires the use of loose clips or pieces that are separate from the net and the rim and may be freed during release. Consequently, the loose clips are easily lost or misplaced during release and/or assembly.
In another known net attachment system, plastic ties are used with a conventional rim. The plastic ties wrap around the rams of the rim and the looped end portions of the net whereby the net is retained on the rim of the goal. The ends of each of the plastic ties are connected to each other and will separate from each other when a large force is applied to the net, thereby permitting the net to separate from the rim of the goal.
Although the plastic ties may be used with a conventional rim, the plastic ties still present difficulties for assembly and reattachment. When the net is released from the rim, the connecting ties are freed from both the net and the rim such that they may be lost. As with other systems, if the connecting ties are misplaced during assembly or lost during release, the proper attachment or the reattachment of the net to the rim may be hindered or made impossible.
Accordingly, there is a need for a basketball goal net attachment system whereby the net may be attached to the rim of an existing basketball goal in a typical manner, and which further ensures that the components of the attachment system remain associated with the system during detachment of the net from the rim.

Releasable basketball net for breakaway net attachment system


There is disclosed a diaphragm for a high pressure gas diaphragm valve. The diaphragm comprises a sealing body defining a sealing face for seating against a valve seat of the valve to close the valve; an outer flange for attaching the diaphragm to the valve, the outer flange defining a flange plane; and a deformable web that extends between the outer flange and the sealing body, the deformable web including a gusset that has at least one convolute portion. The gusset is deformable to allow the sealing body to move between a natural configuration in which the sealing body is on a first side of the flange plane, and a raised configuration in which at least part of the sealing body is on the opposing side of the flange plane, and wherein the at least one convolute portion biases the sealing body towards the natural configuration.

High pressure gas diaphragm valves are used in a wide variety of applications. Depending on their use, diaphragm valves can be exposed to high and low temperatures, temperature fluctuations across a wide temperature range, high and low pressures, and corrosive liquids or gases.
In addition to being suited to such conditions, the diaphragm of a diaphragm valve needs to be flexible and durable. Durability is important as regularly replacing diaphragms is typically a logistically difficult and expensive procedure. In use, a diaphragm may not be readily accessible, making replacement difficult. In order to replace a diaphragm it is generally necessary to suspend operation of the plant or machine of which the diaphragm is part. In some applications, especially those which require sterile or inert environments, diaphragm failure can contaminate the batch being produced and make it unsuitable for use.
Diaphragms are typically made, at least in part, from synthetic elastomers. One type of diaphragm consists of a central valve closure disk formed from a hard, inflexible material, such as metal, rigid plastic or a combination of metal and rigid plastic, supported on a flexible impervious fabric reinforced web. Such diaphragms are typically used in conjunction with a spring to ensure valve closure. The fabric may typically be nylon or the like. The fabric may be coated or laminated between sheets of Viton®, a fluoroelastomer available from DuPont Dow Elastomers, or Nitrile, also known as Buna-N, an acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer. Both Viton® and Nitrile have good temperature and chemical resistance. However, such fabric reinforced diaphragms are subject to delamination and wicking of the nylon fibres, resulting in leakage and/or poor durability.
Moulded plastic diaphragms are an alternative to the fabric reinforced diaphragms. One moulded plastic diaphragm currently available is composed of Hytrel® (DuPont). Hytrel® is a thermoplastic polyester elastomer. However, Hytrel® is not suitable for use in applications where severe operating conditions may be experienced, as it has a low maximum operating temperature, approximately 60° C., a narrow range of chemical resistivity and is not particularly durable.
Moulded plastic diaphragms have also been made from high density polyethylene. These diaphragms are subject to early fatigue failure and are not resistant to high temperatures.
It would be desirable to provide a diaphragm that overcomes or ameliorates one or more disadvantages of existing diaphragms. Alternatively, it would be desirable to provide consumers with a useful choice.


A vehicle body structure having right and left floor frame members and right and left side sills located outside the right and left floor frame members is disclosed. Rear end portions of the right and left floor frame members are joined to longitudinally middle portions of the right and left side sills, respectively. Seat brackets for mounting passenger seats are provided on the rear end portions of the right and left floor frame members, respectively, without being extended between the right and left side sills.

Generally, for mounting a passenger seat on a vehicle body, a seat bracket is provided on the vehicle body, and the seat consisting of a seat cushion and a seatback is mounted on the seat bracket via a seat rail.
There are two ways to mount the seat bracket on the vehicle body as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 hereof.
A first vehicle body 100 shown in FIG. 9 has a floor panel 106 and right and left side sills 103, 103 provided at the opposite sides of the floor panel 106, extending longitudinally. A floor tunnel 101 is formed at the transverse center of the floor panel 106, extending longitudinally and protruding upward. A floor tunnel reinforcing member 102 for reinforcing the floor tunnel 101 is provided on the underside of the floor tunnel 101. Seat brackets 104, 104 are provided on top surfaces of the floor panel 106 between the floor tunnel 101 and the right and left side sills 103, 103, respectively. Right and left passenger seats 105, 105 are mounted on the seat brackets 104, 104, respectively.
A second vehicle body 200 shown in FIG. 10 has a floor panel 206, and right and left side sills 203, 203 provided at the opposite sides of the floor panel 206, extending longitudinally. A floor tunnel 201 is formed at the transverse center of the floor panel 206, extending longitudinally and protruding slightly upward. Auxiliary brackets 202, 202 are provided at the corners where the right and left side sills 203, 203 abut on the floor panel 206. A seat bracket 204 is extended on the floor panel 206 between the right and left side sills 203, 203, straddling the floor tunnel 201. Right and left passenger seats 205, 205 are mounted on the seat bracket 204.
The seat brackets 104, 204 shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 are configured such that the seat brackets 104, 204 are extended between the right and left side sills 103, 103 and between the right and left side sills 203, 203, respectively. The seat brackets 104, 204 must be large members to fit the dimensions between the right and left side sills 103, 103 and between the right and left side sills 203, 203, respectively.
There is thus a demand for reducing the size and weight of a seat bracket for mounting a passenger seat on a vehicle body.


A first metrology method includes the steps of projecting a first image and a second image, aligning the first image and the second image to form an aligned image of a known size, and determining a dimension of a target object by comparing the aligned image to the target object. A second metrology method includes the steps of projecting a first image and a second image, aligning the first image and the second image to form an aligned image of a known size by synchronously adjusting a zoom factor for projecting the first image and an angle for projecting the second image, and determining a dimension of a target object by comparing the aligned image to the target object.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a method for measuring a dimension of a target site. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method of triangulation for creating an image of a predetermined size for use in measuring a dimension of a target site.
2. Background of the Related Art
Minimally invasive surgery, e.g., laparoscopic, endoscopic, and thoroscopic surgery, has many advantages over traditional open surgeries. In particular, minimally invasive surgery eliminates the need for a large incision, thereby reducing discomfort, recovery time, and many of the deleterious side effects associated with traditional open surgery.
The minimally invasive surgeries are performed through small openings in a patient's skin. These openings may be incisions in the skin or may be naturally occurring body orifices (e.g., mouth, anus, or vagina). In general, insufflation gas is used to enlarge the area surrounding the target surgical site to create a larger, more accessible work area.
During minimally invasive procedures, it is often difficult for a surgeon to determine sizes of various organs, tissues, and other structures in a surgical site. Various in-situ surgical metrology methods exist for measurement in a surgical site. Such methods require many moving parts and projection images that change size and/or focus quickly as projectors move in or out of a surface of projection. A continuing need exists for in-situ surgical metrology methods that operate with a stable focus and no moving parts.

Methods utilizing triangulation in metrology systems for in-situ surgical applications


A battery protection circuit and protection method for a rechargeable battery is provided. The rechargeable battery includes a positive voltage pin, a negative voltage pin, and a temperature sensing pin. A resistance of the temperature sensing pin varies with the temperature of the rechargeable battery. The battery protection circuit includes a temperature and voltage detection unit and a discharging unit. The temperature and voltage detection unit is coupled between the positive voltage pin and the temperature sensing pin, and configured to determine the temperature of the rechargeable battery according to the resistance of the temperature sensing pin. The discharging unit discharges the rechargeable battery when the temperature of the rechargeable battery is higher than a predetermined temperature and stops discharging the rechargeable battery when a voltage of the positive voltage pin is lower than a first predetermined value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a battery protection circuit and a battery protection method, and more particularly, to a battery protection method that can reduce the swelling of the battery under high temperature environment.
2. Description of Related Art
With development of technology in light, small and portable electronic products, various high performance components of the products are being developed with a trend toward being light, thin and small. As a result, batteries that are light-weighted and small-sized and have a large capacity are becoming particularly important. In addition to the small size and large capacity, a battery protection circuit designed to prolong the life of the battery and provide security to the user can be also rather important. Typical battery protection circuits only work for batteries which are being used, which provide monitor and protect during the charging and discharging states of the batteries. These protection circuits includes, for example, circuits for overcharge monitoring, over-discharge monitoring, excess current and short protection.
During the course of using the battery, overcharge may be caused by a user's misuse, which may raise the temperature of the battery and cause electrolyte of the battery to decompose to generate gas thus increasing an internal pressure of the battery. The overcharge may also cause leakage of the interior chemical solution which places the battery at a risk of catching fire. As a result, the overcharge monitoring protection circuit is used to detect if the battery is overcharged to avoid the deterioration of performance, catching fire, and breakage of the battery, thereby ensuring the user's safety during using the battery. The over-discharge monitoring protection circuit detects abnormity during the course of discharging to ensure the life of the battery. The excess current and short protection circuit is used to break the connection between the battery and a load in case of a current abnormity of the battery and enable the battery to return back to normal operation after the abnormity disappears, thereby protecting the battery.
Although these battery protection circuits can provide monitoring and protection to batteries that are being used, they cannot protect batteries that are not being used. For example, when a cell phone or a digital camera is placed in an internal space of a car that has a high temperature, although the battery inside the cell phone or the digital camera is not being used, abnormity or swelling of the battery may still occur due to the high temperature environment, which would reduce the life of the battery that is not being used and place the user in danger.

Battery protection circuit and protection method


A system is provided for monitoring analyte in a host, including a continuous analyte sensor that produces a data stream indicative of a host's analyte concentration and a device that receives and records data from the data stream from the continuous analyte sensor. In one embodiment, the device includes a single point analyte monitor, from which it obtains an analyte value, and is configured to display only single point analyte measurement values, and not any analyte measurement values associated with data received from the continuous analyte sensor. Instead, data received from the continuous analyte sensor is used to provide alarms to the user when the analyte concentration and/or the rate of change of analyte concentration, as measured by the continuous analyte sensor, is above or below a predetermined range. Data received from the continuous analyte sensor may also be used to prompt the diabetic or caregiver to take certain actions, such as to perform another single point blood glucose measurement. In another embodiment, the device provides for toggling between two modes, with one mode that allows for display of glucose concentration values associated with the continuous glucose sensor and a second mode that prevents the display of glucose concentration values associated with the continuous glucose sensor.

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease, which occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin (Type I), or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces (Type II). This condition typically leads to an increased concentration of glucose in the blood (hyperglycemia), which can cause an array of physiological derangements (e.g., kidney failure, skin ulcers, or bleeding into the vitreous of the eye) associated with the deterioration of small blood vessels. Sometimes, a hypoglycemic reaction (low blood sugar) is induced by an inadvertent overdose of insulin, or after a normal dose of insulin or glucose-lowering agent accompanied by extraordinary exercise or insufficient food intake.
People with type 1 diabetes generally have to submit to a demanding daily regimen that typically requires frequent monitoring of blood glucose (BG) and dosing of insulin by injection or infusion pump, in order to maintain safe blood sugar levels. Under current FDA regulations, a diabetic or caregiver can not make dosing decisions off of conventional continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology. Accordingly, even with the use of a conventional CGM system, the diabetic or a caregiver would still be required to double-check glucose levels by using a blood glucose monitoring (BGM) device, in determining whether to administer insulin. Use of BGM devices traditionally involves pricking of a finger to obtain a small blood sample, which the diabetic or caregiver applies onto a strip that is inserted in the BGM device.

Continuous analyte monitor data recording device operable in a blinded mode


An image display apparatus operates in field sequence mode which effectively reduces the generation of color break. A color break strength calculating unit determines a color break strength that indicates the noticeability of the generation of the color break. A light-source signal generating unit controls each light source so that as the color break strength of a color mixed component having the highest color break strength is higher, the color mixed component is contained more in light output from a light-source unit during the extension subframe period. If there is present a first pixel region as an area including one or more pixel formation regions where an image containing the component of interest is displayed, the color break strength of the component of interest increases more as a magnitude of the component of interest is larger in the first pixel region.

Many of the liquid crystal display apparatuses that display a color image include a color filter that allows light rays of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) to pass through respectively three sub pixels into which one pixel is divided. Since about two-thirds of backlight rays irradiating a liquid crystal panel are absorbed by the color filter, a color-filter liquid crystal display apparatus has a problem of low light use efficiency. For this reason, a field-sequential liquid display apparatus that displays a color image without using the color filter gains attention.
In accordance with the field sequential technique, a display period (1 frame period) of one screen is divided into three subframe periods. The subframe period is also referred to as a subfield period. In the discussion that follows, the term subframe period is used consistently. During a first subframe period, a red screen is displayed in response to a red component of an input signal. During a second subframe period, a green screen is displayed in response to a green component of the input signal. During a third subframe period, a blue screen is displayed in response to a blue component of the input signal. As described above, colors are displayed one by one so that a color image is displayed on a liquid crystal panel. The field-sequential liquid crystal display apparatus is free from the color filter, and provides a light use efficiency about 3 times as high as that of the color-filter liquid crystal display apparatus.
However, the field sequential color technique suffers from a problem of a generation of color break. FIG. 27 illustrates the generation principle of the color breaking. In a section A of FIG. 27, the ordinate represents time, and the abscissa represents location on a screen. When an object moves within a display screen, a line of sight of a viewer typically keeps track of the object and moves in a movement direction of the object. For example, when a white object moves from left to right within the screen display as illustrated in FIG. 27, the line of sight of the viewer moves in a slant arrow-headed line direction. If the three subframe images of R, G, and B are extracted from a video at the same instant, the objects in the subframe images are at the same location. For this reason, a color break takes place in the video focused on the retina as illustrated in a section B of FIG. 27.
Japanese Patent No. 3766274 describes as below how the color break is reduced in a color display apparatus such as a liquid crystal display apparatus. In the color display apparatus, one frame period includes at least 4 or more subframes. The first through third subframes respectively display red, green, and blue. The fourth subframe displays a color presentation of non-3-primary colors, i.e., a presentation of at least two colors (a color mixed display). A color displayed by the fourth subframe is determined by performing a specific statistic process on an original image signal including an RGB signal of one frame.
The following related art in the field of the present invention is also known. According to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-90916, one frame period includes three subframes of the 3-primary colors of red, green, and blue, and a subframe of white or of an intermediate color between the three-primary colors. According to Japanese Patent No. 3215913, one frame period is divided into four subframes, and a fourth subframe presents a white display. According to Japanese Patent No. 3952362, one frame period is divided into four subframes, and the color of a light source that lights on in a fourth subframe is determined based on the mean value of luminance of the colors. According to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-241165, RGB driving and RGBW driving is switchable so that the RGB driving is performed in a bright environment, and the RGBW driving is performed in a dark environment in order to prevent color breaking.

Image display apparatus and image display method


The disclosure relates to an electrode exhaust structure, an electrode, a display panel and a fabrication method thereof, a display device. The electrode exhaust structure includes first exhaust holes arrayed in a matrix and arranged on an electrode, and second exhaust holes arrayed in a matrix and arranged on the electrode. A column of the second exhaust holes are arranged between adjacent columns of the first exhaust holes, and a row of the second exhaust holes are arranged between adjacent rows of the first exhaust holes; the length of the second exhaust hole in the row direction is greater than or equal to the distance between the adjacent columns of the first exhaust holes; and the length of the second exhaust hole in the column direction is greater than or equal to the distance between the adjacent rows of the first exhaust holes.

In a process of fabricating an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED), an anode is generally formed by using an evaporation process, and the anode is formed on an organic material layer. The high temperature of the evaporation process may cause the vaporization of a part of the organic material layer to produce steam. In order to avoid the steam from corroding the anode formed, there is a need to form exhaust holes on the anode to release the steam.
As shown in FIG. 1, exhaust holes 20 formed at present on an anode 10 are arrayed in a matrix, and there are obvious anode continuous regions in both a row direction (x direction) and a column direction (y direction). That is, the width of the anode 10 remains unchanged in a longer range, but obvious anode continuous regions may influence exhaust effect.

Electrode exhaust structure, electrode, display panel and manufacturing method therefor, and display apparatus

Chengdu BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


A vehicular air conditioning apparatus is equipped with a casing having respective air passages therein, and first and second blower units are connected to the casing. Further, the casing is constituted by first and second divided casings. In addition, air is supplied to the interior of the casing from the first and second blower units. Moisture, which is generated when the air is cooled by an evaporator, is guided to forward bottom surfaces of the first and second divided casings and the moisture is discharged to the exterior from first drain ports disposed at terminal end positions of inclined surfaces that decline gradually toward opposite sides of the casing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular air conditioning apparatus mounted in a vehicle for blowing air into a vehicle compartment that has been adjusted in temperature by a cooling means, for thereby adjusting temperature of the vehicle compartment.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a vehicular air conditioning apparatus that is mounted in a vehicle, internal and external air is introduced into a casing by a blower, and after cooled air, which has been cooled by an evaporator that forms a cooling means, and heated air, which has been heated by a heater core that forms a heating means, are mixed together in the casing at a predetermined mixing ratio, the mixed air is blown out from a defroster blow-out port, a face blow-out port, or a foot blow-out port, whereby adjustment of temperature and humidity in the vehicle compartment is carried out.
With this type of vehicular air conditioning apparatus, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 05-178068, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 06-040236 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 06-191257, it is known to provide a first blower for the purpose of taking in air from the vehicle compartment into the casing, and a second blower for the purpose of taking in external air outside of the vehicle compartment into the casing. In such a vehicular air conditioning apparatus, air that is introduced from an internal air introduction port by rotation of the first blower is heated by a first heat exchanger and then is blown into the vehicle compartment through a first air passage from the face blow-out port or the foot blow-out port. In addition, air that is introduced from an external air introduction port by rotation of the second blower is heated by a second heat exchanger and then is blown into the vehicle compartment through a second air passage from the defroster blow-out port. More specifically, a switching operation is performed such that when air is blown out from the face blow-out port or the foot blow-out port, the first blower is driven and air from the interior of the vehicle is introduced, whereas when air is blown out from the defroster blow-out port, the second blower is rotated and external air is introduced.
Further, in another vehicular air conditioning apparatus having first and second blowers for introducing air, the first blower is arranged facing toward an external air inlet port of a duct, and the second blower is arranged facing toward an interior air inlet port, and together therewith, the first blower includes a switching means, which is capable of switching the air that is introduced to the duct by the first blower between interior air and exterior air.
In addition, the air that is introduced to the duct by the first blower is switched between interior air and exterior air by the switching means, and after the air is mixed with air that is introduced to the duct by the second blower and adjusted in temperature by a heating means and a cooling means so as to provide a desired temperature, the air is blown into a desired region in the vehicle compartment through a face blow-out port, a foot blow-out port, or a defroster blow-out port.
In the aforementioned structure, with the vehicular air conditioning apparatus, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-180255, when air is cooled by an evaporator that constitutes the cooling means thereof, water droplets (hereinafter also referred to as condensate water) are generated on surfaces of the evaporator. When such water droplets are left uncontrolled as is, freezing and build-up of ice occurs, thus reducing the effective area of the evaporator, and the heat conversion efficiency of the evaporator is drastically lowered. Consequently, measures have been taken to discharge such water droplets to the exterior.
Recently, in response to demands to increase the vehicle compartment space inside of vehicles, it is desirable to reduce the size and scale of the vehicular air conditioning apparatus, which is mounted in the vehicle.
With respect thereto, with the conventional technique pertaining to the aforementioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-180255, so that condensate water, which is generated at the evaporator, can be discharged to the exterior regardless of changes in the posture of the vehicle during running thereof, a bottom surface of the casing is inclined significantly in a downward direction, such that at all times condensate water is collected toward a water discharge or drainage port provided on the bottom surface of the casing. Notwithstanding, by adopting such a structure, the dimension in the vertical direction on the bottom surface portion of the casing becomes large, and accommodation of the vehicular air conditioning apparatus within the limited space inside the vehicle is problematic. Stated otherwise, configuring the vehicular air conditioning apparatus in this manner runs contradictory to efforts to reduce the size and scale of the vehicular air conditioning apparatus.


A non-human animal that produces human tissue factor (TF) without substantially producing non-human animal tissue factor, said animal having a genome in which cDNA encoding human TF has been inserted upstream of the translation initiation codon for the non-human animal genomic TF gene.

Inhibiting agents of tissue factor (TF) are useful as inhibitors of blood coagulation, inhibitors of angiogenesis, therapeutic agents for arteriosclerosis, and the like. However, inhibiting agents of human tissue factor are highly species-specific, and, for example, anti-human TF antibody does not react to tissue factors from animals other than primates. Therefore, the creation of animals that express human TF is highly desired for the evaluation of inhibiting agents of human TF.
Though a knock-out mouse for human TF exhibits embryonic lethality, the expression of human TF can circumvent embryonic lethality (Parry G C N et al., J. Clin. Invest. 101:560-569 (1998)). However, as this mouse has an introduced human TF minigene, the expression of tissue factor is low and thus breeding performance is poor (Erlich J. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96:8138-8143 (1999)).

Methods of using human tissue factor-producing knock-in mice


An integrated automatic IIP2 calibration architecture for wireless transceivers is disclosed. The architecture enables a wireless transceiver to generate a test radio frequency (RF) signal having a second order tone with minimal additional circuitry. In particular, the test RF signal is generated using a combination of native transceiver circuits and test adaptor circuits. Native transceiver circuits are those circuits implemented on the transceiver chip for executing native transceiver functions during normal operation, which can be used for generating the test (RF) signal. Test adaptor circuits are added to the transceiver chip, more specifically to the native circuits, for enabling the native circuits to generate the test RF signal in a self-test mode of operation. Circuits for implementing a particular IIP2 minimizing scheme can be included on the transceiver chip for automatic IIP2 calibration during the self-test mode of operation.

Wireless devices have been in use for many years for enabling mobile communication of voice and data. Such devices can include mobile phones and wireless enabled personal digital assistants (PDA's) for example. FIG. 1 is a generic block diagram of the core components of such wireless devices. The wireless core 10 includes a base band processor 12 for controlling application specific functions of the wireless device and for providing and receiving voice or data signals to a radio frequency (RF) transceiver chip 14. The RF transceiver chip 14 is responsible for frequency up-conversion of transmission signals, and frequency down-conversion of received signals. RF transceiver chip 14 includes a receiver core 16 connected to an antenna 18 for receiving transmitted signals from a base station or another mobile device, and a transmitter core 20 for transmitting signals through the antenna 18. Those of skill in the art should understand that FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram, and can include other functional blocks that may be necessary to enable proper operation or functionality.
Generally, the transmitter core 20 is responsible for up-converting electromagnetic signals from base band to higher frequencies for transmission, while receiver core 16 is responsible for down-converting those high frequencies back to their original frequency band when they reach the receiver, processes known as up-conversion and down-conversion (or modulation and demodulation) respectively. The original (or base band) signal may be, for example, data, voice or video. These base band signals may be produced by transducers such as microphones or video cameras, be computer generated, or transferred from an electronic storage device. In general, the high frequencies provide longer range and higher capacity channels than base band signals, and because high frequency radio frequency (RF) signals can propagate through the air, they are preferably used for wireless transmissions as well as hard-wired or fibre channels.
All of these signals are generally referred to as radio frequency (RF) signals, which are electromagnetic signals; that is, waveforms with electrical and magnetic properties within the electromagnetic spectrum normally associated with radio wave propagation.
FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a direct conversion receiver core that can be used in the wireless transceiver 10 of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the receiver core 16 can include a low noise amplifier 30, a mixer 32, a variable gain amplifier (VGA) 34, a filter 36, an analog to digital converter (ADC) 38 and a digital processing circuit 40. VGA 34, filter 36, ADC 38 and digital processing circuit 40 can be considered signal processing circuitry since they collectively condition the RF input signal RFin for use by downstream circuits such as the baseband processor. While not expressly shown in the circuit of FIG. 2, those skilled in the art should understand that there are separate i and q signal propagation paths. This listing of components in receiver core 16 is not comprehensive, and any person of skill in the art will understand that the specific configuration will depend on the communication standard being adhered to and the chosen receiver architecture.
The general operation of the receiver core 16 is as follows. An RF input signal RFin is amplified by low noise amplifier 30, and then down-converted to baseband frequency R_CLK by mixer 32. This down-converted baseband signal is amplified to a desired level of gain by variable gain amplifier 34 in response to the level of gain control voltage VCONT, and then filtered through filter 36 to reduce the dynamic range of the signal. The resulting output signal is then converted to a digital signal D_SIGNAL by ADC 38. The digital signal D_SIGNAL can now be further processed in the digital domain by downstream circuits, such as digital processing circuit 40. In most configurations, digital processing circuit 40 provides a digital signal Dig_Out to the baseband processor.
In the presently shown direct conversion receiver core 16, a problem is the generation of second order intermodulation products (IIP2), which originates from mixer 32. An explanation of where IIP2 is generated follows with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.
An example of a known differential mixer circuit is shown in FIG. 3. This differential mixer can be used as mixer 32 in FIG. 2. Differential pair mixer circuit 50 is an active mixing circuit, which includes a load resistor R1 and n-channel transistor 52 connected in series between a voltage supply VCC and a drain terminal of input n-channel transistor 54, and a load resistor R2 and n-channel transistor 56 connected in series between VCC and the same drain terminal of input n-channel transistor 54. The gate terminal of n-channel transistor 52 receives the signal z, and the gate terminal of n-channel transistor 54 receives the complement of the signal z denoted as z*. The gate terminal of input n-channel transistor 54 receives RF input signal x, and its source terminal is connected to VSS. The resulting complementary output signals y and y* are taken from the drain terminals of n-channel transistors 52 and 56 respectively. One output path 58 of mixer circuit 50 is between the drain of input n-channel transistor 54 and the node y, while the other output path 60 is between the drain of input n-channel transistor 54 and the node y*. In the context of mixer 32 of FIG. 2, signal x is equivalent to RFin, signals z and z* are equivalent to R_CLK and its complement R_CLK*, and signals y and y* are equivalent to the outputs of mixer 32.
A problem with this circuit lies in the non-linear nature of input transistor 54, which will generate an output y/y* having undesired intermodulation products. The current "I" through input transistor 54 can be expressed in equation (1) below:I=gm*Vx, where gm is the transconductance and Vx is the voltage of input signal x  (1)
However, since gm of transistor 54 is a non-linear, the actual current "I" will be expressed by equation (2):I=a1Vx+a2Vx2+a3Vx3+a4Vx4  (2)
where a1, a2, a3 and a4 are coefficients, and terms from a2 and on are considered nth order intermodulation products.
The effect of the intermodulation products can be seen in the output y(t) of the mixer circuit 50 downconverted to baseband by z(t), which has a large frequency component at the RF signal frequency. FIG. 4a shows an input signal, x(t) made up of two tones ω1 and ω2. FIG. 4b shows the signal z(t), having a frequency tone at ωz used to down convert the signal x(t). After down conversion, the tones ω1 and ω2 are displaced by ωz. FIG. 4c shows the displacement of ω1 and ω2 as ω1−ωz and ω2−ωz respectively. The tone ω1−ω2 is generated by the second order term in equation (2) along with mismatches in 52 and 56 or R1 and R2. This tone effectively degrades the SNR of the radio. Thus, to mitigate the effect of second order intermodulation products, the linear relationship is ideally maintained by ensuring that all coefficients other than a1 are zero, so that those terms will disappear.
However, because mixer circuit 50 is a differential-type circuit, the a2 coefficient should be inherently reduced to zero. Differential circuits such as the one shown in FIG. 3 generally have two complementary data paths that should inherently cancel out any distortion components that may be introduced in them. In ideal conditions, differential-type circuits will set all even order terms a2, a4, a6 etc.=0.
In practice however, the even order terms will cancel only if the two complementary data paths are identically matched. In mixer circuit 50 of FIG. 3 for example, the even order terms will cancel the characteristics of both resistors R1 and R2 are identical (ie. R1=R2), the electrical characteristics of both transistors 52 and 56 are identical, and the connections between transistor 54 to 52 and 54 to 56 are identical. In this situation both data paths can be considered matching. Therefore the second order intermodulation products should be inherently cancelled out.
However, this situation is ideal, and in practice the two data paths 58 and 60 are not electrically identical to each other. Semiconductor circuit layout and/or slight process variations and/or anomalies across the chip can introduce mis-match between the two paths. With reference to FIG. 3, the two load resistors can have slightly different values, or transistors 52 and 56 can have slightly differing doping levels or dimension differences, or un-balanced parasitic capacitance on the connections between the transistors, which are sufficient to cause mis-match in the paths. This mis-match can cause the second order intermodulation products to appear. The data path mismatch can be compensated for by trimming one or both load resistors, or by digitally switching in different valued resistors that are pre-formed on the chip. This is typically done during testing of the fabricated devices by detecting and measuring the amplitudes of the second order intermodulation products, and then selecting the appropriate resistor that minimizes the magnitude of the second order intermodulation products.
Another known scheme of minimizing second order intermodulation products is balancing, or matching, the complementary output paths of a mixer by directly adding or removing current from one of the paths. One example of a suitable scheme for minimizing second order intermodulation products in differential mixers is disclosed in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/298,667, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference.
In accordance with the scheme shown in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/298,667, mixer 32 of FIG. 2 receives an IIP2 compensation signal COMP for balancing its differential signal paths. Depending on the particular IIP2 minimizing scheme being used, COMP can be one or more digital or analog signals. With respect to the embodiments of the present invention, any IIP2 minimizing scheme can be employed.
Regardless of the IIP2 minimizing scheme employed, prior to application of an IIP2 compensation signal the wireless device must be tested for measuring or quantifying the amount of IIP2 being generated. Then the appropriate IIP2 compensation signals are generated and provided to the IIP2 minimizing scheme being employed.
FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a generic IIP2 testing method for measuring IIP2 from a wireless device to be used in conjunction with an IIP2 minimizing scheme. Generally, the test involves application of an input signal to the chip, measuring the IIP2, and then applying some signal compensation to minimize the IIP2. It is assumed that the parameter being measured is a parameter compatible with a particular IIP2 minimizing scheme. This method is applied to a fabricated wireless device, such as a wireless transceiver chip, or a wireless system incorporating the wireless transceiver chip such as a mobile phone for example.
The method starts at step 70 where a test input signal is applied to an input port of the chip or system. Test signals can be generated with widely available testing equipment, and customized to include a second order tone. This is typically the same input through which a received RF signal will propagate to the receiver core. Alternately, the test input signal can be applied through a specific test input port. The entry point of the test signal is not important, as long as it is applied before the source of IIP2 generation and compensation. In the example receiver core 16 of FIG. 2, the input test signal can be applied before mixer 32. Alternately, the input test signal can be applied at the input of the low noise amplifier 30 or at the antenna port.
At step 72, the output of the chip or system is evaluated and the IIP2 parameter is measured. An appropriate compensation code or signal is generated at step 74, which is then applied to the IIP2 minimizing scheme, which then adjusts α2=a2 to be zero. Fuses or other suitable programming means can be used for permanently storing the specific IIP2 compensation signal code either on chip or in the system.
Proceeding to step 76 after the compensation code is generated, if there are further chips or systems to test, then the method returns to step 70 for a subsequent testing loop for the next chip or system. This testing method repeats until there are no further chips or systems to test.
As previously mentioned, this method can be used for testing individual chips prior to packaging, or entire systems. At the chip level, each chip is tested, and the appropriate compensation programming is applied. For example, the programming can be done by blowing particular on-chip fuses or storing the appropriate compensation code in non-volatile memory prior to packaging. Alternately, each packaged chip can be tested and a corresponding compensation code is generated. This code can be used at the system level to compensate for the measured IIP2. At the system level, the IIP2 is measured as a function of the entire phone, and appropriate compensation circuits in the system can be appropriately enabled to minimize IIP2.
While the previously described method of FIG. 5 is effective for testing wireless chips and systems and minimizing IIP2, it is not very practical. In particular, the method is very cumbersome and time consuming to implement. This is due to the fact that circuit mismatch can vary from chip to chip, and accordingly, the IIP2 of each chip (or system) must be measured, and a corresponding compensation code valid only for that chip (or system) is provided. Moreover, relatively expensive test equipment such as signal generators and chip/system test apparatus are required. This cost increases if high testing throughput is required, otherwise testing will be time consuming. Therefore, IIP2 testing and compensation is both economically and/or time consuming.
BIST (built-in-self-test) schemes are presently used in other semiconductor systems, such as memory devices and controllers for example. Such self-testing is automatically executed by the chip, and can relieve the burden of using external test equipment and time for testing since the chip will have the necessary test circuits implemented thereon.
However, there are no known BIST schemes adapted for self-testing IIP2 and auto calibration in response to the measured IIP2. For self-contained test and IIP2 calibration, a test signal must be generated, in the same way that a test signal is applied in the testing scheme shown in FIG. 5. However, the addition of test signal generator circuits onto a wireless transceiver can consume substantial silicon area of the chip. Because the area of wireless transceiver devices should be minimized to make them attractive for high system integration in portable applications, such as mobile phones, the increase in chip area is undesired. Furthermore, as those skilled in the art will understand, an increased chip size will directly increase the cost for manufacturing the chip.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a IIP2 calibration scheme that reduces testing time while minimizing the amount of additional on-chip circuits.


Businesses typically have large amounts of data about customer transactions and other customer information which is not fully utilized. The present invention provides a means of using this information to make predictions about future customer behavior, for example by estimating the probability that a customer will leave a bank. Using these predictions the business is able to take action in order to improve its performance. Using customer data a Bayesian statistical model is generated and this model used to generate statistical estimators of customer behavior. The statistical model is formed using hidden Markov model techniques by clustering customer data and attributes (e.g. Age, sex, salary) into a finite number of states. The number of states is unobserved and considered random. Bayesian prior probability distributions are specified and combined with the data to produce Bayesian posterior probability distributions. Using these Bayesian posterior probability distributions the statistical estimators are obtained. For example, Monte Carlo sampling techniques are used or alternatively the posterior distributions are calculated numerically or analytically.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining one or more statistical estimators of customer behavior. The invention is particularly related to, but in no way limited to, modeling customer behavior using a Bayesian statistical hidden Markov model technique.
Businesses typically have records of customer transaction histories. These records contain information that is potentially very valuable to the business because it enables the business to analyze customer behavior and use this "feedback" to help plan the future of the business. However, assessments of the available data only provide information about customer behavior that has already occurred. This is a drawback because behavior patterns typically change over time. For example, a customer who is at present not very profitable could become more profitable in the future. There is thus a need to predict the future behavior of customers.
One particular example concerns a business such as a bank which wishes to predict when a customer is likely to leave the bank. In that case such a prediction would be extremely advantageous because it allows the bank to take action such as to give incentives to the customer to prevent them from leaving.
Bayesian statistical techniques have been used to "learn" or make predictions on the basis of a historical data set. Bayes' theorem is a fundamental tool for a learning process that allows one to answer questions such as "How likely is my hypothesis in view of these data?" For example, such a question could be "How likely is a particular future event to occur in view of these data?"
Bayes theorem is written as:       P              (              H        /        data            )        =                    P                          (                      data            /            H                    )                                  P                          (          H          )                            P                    (        data        )
Which can also be written as:P(H/data)∝P(data/H)·P(H)
Because P(data) is unconditional and thus does not depend on H.
The probability of H given the data, P(H/data) is called the posterior probability of H. The unconditional probability of H, P(H) is called the prior probability of H and the probability of the data given H, P(data/H) is called the likelihood of H. By using knowledge and experience about past data an assessment of the prior probability can be made. New data is then collected and used to update the prior probability following Bayes theorem to produce a posterior probability. This posterior probability is then a prediction in the sense that it is a statement about the likelihood of a particular event occurring in the future. However, it is not simple to design and implement such Bayesian statistical methods in ways that are suited to particular practical applications.

Method and apparatus for determining one or more statistical estimators of customer behavior


There is provided a method of establishing voice communications over a packet network using a first computer having a first VoIP application, a first modem, a first modem audio subsystem, a microphone and a speaker. The method comprises establishing a VoIP connection with a second VoIP application using the first VoIP application; making a phone connection over a phone line using the first modem; placing the first modem in an audio mode; enabling the first modem audio subsystem to provide a voice communication path between the first modem and the first VoIP application; mixing an audio stream received from the first modem with an audio stream received from the microphone to generate a first mix; and sending the first mix to the first VoIP application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to voice over packet network. More particularly, the present invention relates to utilizing modems to implement call forwarding and three-way calling features for VoIP applications.
2. Background Art
Voice over Internet Protocol (or VoIP), also known as IP Telephony, Internet telephony and Digital Phone, is a technology for the routing of voice conversations over the Internet or any other packet-based network. The voice data flows over a general-purpose packet-switched network, instead of traditional dedicated, circuit-switched voice transmission lines. In addition to providing an alternative for voice conversations over the traditional phone networks, VoIP can also facilitate tasks that are difficult to achieve using the traditional phone networks. For example, incoming phone calls can be automatically routed to VoIP applications or phones, irrespective of where the user is connected to the network. As another example, VoIP applications or phones can integrate with other services available over the Internet, such as video conversation, message or data file exchange in parallel with the conversation, audio conferencing, managing address books and passing information about whether others (e.g. friends or colleagues) are available online to interested parties.
Today, VoIP providers are increasingly taking market shares away from the providers of traditional circuit-switched voice transmission lines. For example, standalone VoIP phone service providers, such as Vonage Corporation use an existing high-speed Internet connection to make and receive phone calls worldwide with a touch-tone telephone as a feature-rich and cost effective alternative to traditional telephony services. Also, PC-centric VoIP providers, such as Skype Technologies, enable PC users to make and receive telephone calls through their PCs.
FIG. 1 illustrates conventional VoIP system 100, which includes packet network 130 at its core for facilitating communications between first computer 110 and second computer 150, where the computers can be standalone VoIP devices or PC-centric VoIP applications, and the like. As shown, first speech encoder/decoder 120 is located in first computer 110 and interposed between first VoIP application 115 and packet network 130, and second speech encoder/decoder 140 is located in second computer 150 and interposed between second VoIP application 155 and packet network 130. Each of first speech encoder/decoder 120 and second speech encoder/decoder 140 performs the tasks of receiving a speech signal from its corresponding user device, digitizing the speech signal, encoding or compressing the digitized speech signal, packetizing the compressed speech signal and transmitting speech packets over packet network 130 in one direction, and in the other direction, receiving speech packets over packet network 130, depacketizing the compressed speech signal, decoding or decompressing the depacketized speech signal to retrieve the digitized speech signal to regenerate the speech signal and transmitting the speech signal to its corresponding user device.
Conventionally, first computer 110 and second computer 150 also include first VoIP application 115 and second VoIP application 155, respectively. For example, first VoIP application 115 is loaded into a memory of first computer 110 and is used as an interface to first speech encoder/decoder 120 and first computer audio subsystem 116, where first computer audio subsystem 116 communicates with first computer microphone 101 and first computer speaker 102. Similarly, second VoIP application 155 is loaded into a memory of second computer 150 and is used as an interface to second speech encoder/decoder 140 and second computer audio subsystem 156, where second computer audio subsystem 156 communicates with second computer microphone 151 and first computer speaker 152. First VoIP application 115 may include (a) a voice processing module, which prepares voice samples for transmission over packet network 130, which may run on a DSP; (b) a call processing (or signaling) module, which allows calls to be established across packet network 130; (c) a packet processing module, which processes voice and signaling packets, adding the appropriate transport headers prior to submitting the packets to packet network 130; and (d) a network management module, which provides management agent functionality, allowing remote fault, accounting, and configuration management to be performed from standard management systems, and may include ancillary services such as support for security features, access to dialing directories, and remote access support.
Today, conventional VoIP applications provide a call forwarding feature to forward a VoIP call to a user's phone, such as a cell phone, over a PSTN phone line, when the user is unable to answer the VoIP call using its VoIP terminal. However, the VoIP providers offer such call forwarding feature to their users at an additional charge, since the VoIP providers incur additional costs for use of the PSTN phone line.
Further, today, conventional VoIP applications provide a three-way calling feature, such that more than two VoIP users can participate during a VoIP call. However, such three-way calling feature requires that all participants to join the VoIP call through their VoIP applications. The conventional VoIP applications offer no solution for a three-way calling when a user has no access to a VoIP terminal. In addition, the three-way calling feature offered by PSTN phone line providers also fails to offer a solution when the participants desire to join a third participant that does not have an access to a PSTN phone line through a cell phone or a wireline phone.
In addition, today, a VoIP application may be used to forward a call originating from a PSTN phone line over the VoIP network. However, in order to connect to a remote VoIP user, the originating user must dial the PSTN phone number for the VoIP application and upon receiving a prompt, send DTMF digits indicative of the remote user's identification number in the VoIP application. However, it is very difficult and impractical for the originating user to memorize each and every identification number associated with remote users in the VoIP application.
Accordingly, there is a strong need in the art to remedy the aforementioned shortcomings, and further facilitate an interconnection between the VoIP network and the PSTN network to provide more features and transparency for the users.

Modem call forwarding and three-way calling features for VoIP applications


The present invention belongs to the technical field of metallurgical solid waste resource utilization, and particularly relates to acidification and carbonization coupling modified steel slag as well as a preparation process and an application thereof. The process specifically includes the following steps of adopting acetic acid, tributyl phosphate, ethanolamine and a NaOH and Ca(OH)2 emulsion as reaction reinforcing agents, and modifying the steel slag together with CO2-rich lime kiln flue gas. The process for modifying the steel slag through acidification and carbonization coupling provided in the present invention has the advantages of simple reaction conditions and no need of high-pressure CO2, additionally, the carbonation reaction rate can be greatly increased, and f-CaO and f-MgO in the steel slag can be effectively eliminated.

The disclosure of the information in the background only aims to increase understanding of the general background of the present invention, but does not need to be deemed to acknowledge or imply in any form that the information structure has become the well-known prior art to general technicians in the field.
Steel production is one of the main industries emitting CO2, according to the principle of mineral carbonation, steel slag is subjected to carbonation pretreatment by using CO2-rich flue gas of a lime kiln, not only is the carbon sequestration effect achieved, but also the performance of the steel slag is improved. The direct carbonation reaction of the steel slag is mainly adopted in current research and has the following problems: (1) reaction conditions are strict, and a high CO2 pressure is required; and (2) the carbonation reaction rate is low, f-CaO and f-MgO in the steel slag cannot be effectively eliminated through the carbonation reaction, thus, the carbonation technique of the steel slag is not popularized or applied, and the comprehensive treatment problem of the steel slag becomes more and more serious.

Process for modifying steel slag through acidification and carbonization coupling

QINGDAO DANENG ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION EQUIPMENT CO., LTD.

QINGDAO HAITAI ENERGY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


One disclosed embodiment may comprise a design method for a dynamic circuit system. The method may include providing a design for a single stage network comprising a pull-down network that is configured to perform a desired logic function according to a plurality of inputs. The method may also include designing a multi-stage network that includes at least two stages, each of the at least two stages including a pull-down network that receives a respective portion of the plurality of inputs and each of the at least two stages cooperating to perform the desired logic function.

With integrated circuit (IC) technology being scaled to ever smaller dimensions to achieve higher performance and integration levels, power dissipation has become an important consideration in modern VLSI (very large scale integrated) circuit designs. In one type of circuit design, for example, sets of transistors (e.g., field effect transistors (FETs)) are arranged in a pull-down and pull-up relationship, such as for implementing dynamic circuits that perform logic functions.
As transistor sizes scale down in such circuits, however, there tends to be increased leakage through pull-down transistors. The pull-down network includes transistors arranged to pull an output node from a first voltage to a second, lower voltage. A pull-up network is designed to maintain the output node at the first voltage by compensating for the leakage through the pull-down network. The increased leakage through the pull-down network generally requires an increase in the size of the pull-up transistor(s), which results in increased power consumption and reduced operating performance.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


In a laminated heat exchanger constituted by using tube elements each having a heat exchanging medium passage and tanks formed as an integrated unit, the wall surfaces between a plurality of shoal-like beads formed in heat exchanging medium passage of the tube element at the boundary between the heat exchanging medium passage and the tank and between the shoal-like beads and the side edges of the tube element are made to incline to gradually widen in the direction of the lamination as they approach the tanks. With this, the flow area at the boundary between the heat exchanging medium passage and the tank is increased compared to that in a tube element in the prior art, and moreover, since the angle at which heat exchanging medium flows from the tanks into heat exchanging medium passage is wider, the resistance that heat exchanging medium is subject to when it flows from the tanks into heat exchanging medium passage becomes reduced. This results in the heat exchanging medium flowing in sufficient quantity in all areas from the tanks into heat exchanging medium passages, thereby achieving a higher degree of consistency in the distribution of the heat exchanging medium.

The present invention relates to a laminated heat exchanger which may be employed as an evaporator, an oil cooler or the like in an air conditioning system for vehicles, and more specifically, it relates to a laminated heat exchanger that employs tube elements each having tanks and a heat exchanging medium passage formed as an integrated unit.
A laminated heat exchanger proposed by the applicant of the present invention, which is constituted by laminating over a plurality of levels tube elements each having a pair of tanks and a heat exchanging medium passage communicating between the tanks formed as an integrated unit is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H 4-356690.
To explain the structure of the main tube elements that may constitute this heat exchanger in reference to FIG. 13, a tube element 100 is provided with a pair of tanks 101 and 101 and a U-shaped heat exchanging medium passage 102 communicating between the tanks 101, with communicating holes 103 for communicating with adjacent tanks 101 formed at the two sides of the tanks 101. In each of formed plates 104 that constitute the tube elements 100, as shown in FIG. 14, two bowl-like distended portions for tank formation 105 and 105 are formed at one end in its lengthwise direction and a distended portion for passage formation 106 is formed continuous thereto, although the distended portion for passage formation 106 is only partially shown in the figure. A projection 107 extends out from the area between the two distended portions for tank formation 105 and 105 toward the distended portion for passage formation 106. Although not shown in the figure, the projection 107 extends to the vicinity of the other end of the formed plate 104. In addition, an indented portion 108 for mounting a communicating pipe (not shown) is provided between the two distended portions for tank formation 105 and 105. In the distended portion for passage formation 106, a plurality of shoal-like beads 109 are formed as extended protuberances near the distended portions for tank formation 105 and 105.
Thus, when such tube elements 100 are laminated over a plurality of levels with corrugated fins 111 provided in between them, the direction in which the heat exchanging medium passage 102 communicating between a pair of tanks 101 and 101 in each tube element 100 and the direction that the heat exchanging medium takes when flowing through the tanks 101 and the communicating holes 103 of adjacent tube elements 100, i.e., the direction of the lamination of the tube elements 100, are perpendicular to each other.
However, in the heat exchanger disclosed in the publication mentioned above, the heat exchanging medium passage 102 maintains an almost consistent flow area from the side opposite from the tanks through the side where the tanks 101 are provided. In other words, since the heat exchanging medium passage 102 is formed linearly, wall surfaces 110 at the two sides of the shoal-like beads 109 located near the tanks 101 in the heat exchanging medium passage 102 are continuous to and in contact with the walls at the tanks 101 toward heat exchanging medium side approximately at a right angle. In addition, the flow area of the heat exchanging medium passage 102 at the point where it communicates with the tank 101 is normally smaller than the opening area of the communicating holes 103 that communicate between the tanks in tank groups, since, at that point, the heat exchanging medium flows past the two sides of the shoal-like beads.
Because of this, when a portion of the heat exchanging medium flowing through the tanks 101 in the direction of the lamination via the communicating holes 103 flows into the heat exchanging medium passages 102, the heat exchanging medium must make a right-angle turn, as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 13. Moreover, since the flow area of the heat exchanging medium passage 102 at the boundary between the heat exchanging medium passage and the tanks 101 is considerably smaller than the opening area of the communicating holes 103 at the tanks 101, the heat exchanging medium encounters a large resistance when it flows into the heat exchanging medium passages 102 from the tanks 101. Consequently, at locations where the heat exchanging medium flows at high speed, in particular, heat exchanging medium does not readily flow into the heat exchanging medium passages 102 from the tanks 101 due to the increased resistance, resulting in inconsistency in the distribution of the heat exchange which, in turn, leads to a concern that the heat exchanger does not perform to its full capacity.


In a system for non-contact transmission of electrical energy to a mobile part movably arranged on a facility floor, a charge unit is situated in a recess of the floor, the charge unit has a receiving part having upper and lower cover parts, a primary winding is accommodated in the upper cover part, the receiving part at least partially restricts a space region that accommodates an electronic circuit, a bore penetrates the lower cover part, and terminates via its first end region in the space region and terminates via its other end region in a further space region which is at least partially restricted by a dome wall provided on the lower cover part, and a diaphragm is situated on the bore.

German Published Patent Application No. 10 2009 057 437 describes that energy can be transmitted in a non-contact manner via inductive coupling.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0237295 describes a system for a non-contact transmission of electrical energy.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0361635 describes a system for a non-contact transmission of electrical energy.
PCT Patent Application Publication No. WO 2013/125556 describes a system for a non-contact transmission of electrical energy.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0055089 describes a system for a non-contact transmission of electrical energy.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0224725 describes a system for a non-contact transmission of energy to aviation objects.

System for non-contact transmission of electrical energy to a mobile part movably arranged on the floor of a facility


A printer with paper stacker activation. A platen is mounted on the drive roller for both rotation and translation. When fully to the right end of its travel, the platen is engaged with rotation stops which position the platen a fixed distance from the print cartridge, and disengaged from the roller, which can rotate for paper advancement during printing. When translated to the left, the platen is disengaged from the rotation stops and allowed to rotate. A clockwise rotation of the drive roller brings a roller shoulder into contact with a platen tab, urging the platen downwardly, clearing the way for the paper to fall into the output tray. Platen translation from right to left is driven by the carriage. A flag and a key are mounted on the roller, and engage the platen by the pen carriage. The key has a friction pinch on the roller, such that a torque is produced when the roller turns. The flag is adjacent the key, and the torque produced by the key urges rotation of the flag. The flag and key are constrained in rotation; when the roller rotates forward, the flag is lowered and will not engage the carriage. When the roller reverses, the flag is constrained to stop in a position which interferes with the carriage. Platen engagement occurs by driving the roller in reverse, rotating the flag into the pen carriage path, which then moves left, moving the platen.

The Hewlett-Packard "DeskJet" family of printers have used end affected engagement of the paper drop system at the output of the printer. Activation occurs by moving the pen carriage to the extreme end of its travel where it pushes on a lever which causes the drive roller to engage with a rotatable platen. The drive roller then rotates forward, taking the platen with it, and rotating the platen down under the drive roller so that the paper can fall into the output tray. A key disadvantage of this system is the extra pen carriage travel which is needed to engage the platen with the drive roller. This travel adds to the overall width of the printer.

Paper stacker activation for printer input/output


A semiconductor device in the form of a resin sealed semiconductor package is disclosed, wherein a gate terminal connected to a gate pad electrode formed on a surface of a semiconductor chip and a source terminal connected to a source pad electrode formed on the chip surface exposed to a back surface of a sealing resin portion, a first portion of a drain terminal connected to a back-surface drain electrode of the semiconductor chip is exposed to an upper surface of the sealing resin portion, and a second portion of the drain terminal formed integrally with the first portion of the drain terminal is exposed to the back surface of the sealing resin portion. When forming the sealing resin portion in such a semiconductor device, first the sealing resin portion is formed so as to also cover an upper surface of the first portion of the drain terminal and thereafter the upper surface side of the sealing resin portion is polished by liquid honing, thereby allowing the upper surface of the first portion of the drain terminal to be exposed on the upper surface of the sealing resin portion. Both heat dissipating property and production yield of the semiconductor device are improved.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device and more particularly to a technique applicable effectively to the manufacture of a semiconductor device which is in the form of a resin sealed semiconductor package.
Various semiconductor packages are in use, among which there is known a resin sealed semiconductor package including a semiconductor chip sealed with a resin sealing portion. In the resin sealed semiconductor package, a semiconductor chip is sealed within the resin sealing portion, so that the reliability of the semiconductor chip can be improved. Besides, by exposing terminals on a back surface of the resin sealing portion it becomes possible to effect surface-mounting of the resin sealed semiconductor package.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-86737 (Patent Literature 1) there is disclosed a technique for providing a semiconductor device of a surface mounting type having a mounting surface to be joined to a mounting substrate, which semiconductor device includes a lead frame, a semiconductor chip and resin provided so as to cover the semiconductor chip and wherein front end faces of electrode terminals drawn out through the lead frame from the semiconductor chip and surfaces of two or more electrodes disposed on the semiconductor chip are exposed in a generally planar shape onto the mounting surface.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-243880 (Patent Literature 2) there is disclosed a technique wherein a semiconductor pellet is fixed onto an island, a first post electrode is bonded to an electrode pad on the semiconductor pellet, a second post electrode is fixed to an extending portion of the island, and then the whole is coated with a resin layer, thereby allowing head portions of the first and second post electrodes to be exposed to the surface of the resin layer and serve as terminals for external connection.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-243887 (Patent Literature 3) there is disclosed a technique wherein a semiconductor pellet is fixed onto an island, a post electrode is bonded to an electrode pad on the semiconductor pellet, an extending portion of the island is bent to about the same degree of height as the post electrode, and then the whole is coated with a resin layer, thereby allowing a head portion of the post electrode and that of the extending portion to be exposed to the surface of the resin layer and serve as terminals for external connection.
[Patent Literature 1]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-86737
[Patent Literature 2]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-243880
[Patent Literature 3]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-243887

Manufacturing method of semiconductor device


A method for removing VOCs from a gas stream comprising irradiating the gas stream in intimate contact with a semiconductor catalyst under laminar flow conditions. The catalyst can be chosen from a wide range of semiconductor materials, including naturally occurring chalcopyrites, synthetic chalcopyrites, CdTe, CdS, CuInSe.sub.2, CuS, FeS.sub.2, CuFeS.sub.2, Si, GaAs, GaSb, GaPS, ZnS, GaInP, and As.sub.2 S.sub.3. This process can be performed in a fluidized bed, in a tube reactor or in an irradiated reactor packed with catalyst adhering to a light conducting fibrous substrate. The method is capable of being practiced in a passive manner in a module have no moving parts and no requirement for routine maintenance or replenishment of reagents.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a method to remove volatile organic carbons from gas streams.
2. Description of Prior Art
Industrial operations emit an enormous amount of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) into the atmosphere each year. A large fraction of these HAPs are volatile organic carbons (VOCs) required for emission control by Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and state regulations. VOCs are also referred to as volatile organic compounds, volatile organic chemicals, or volatile oxidizable carbons. VOCs have gained prominence in air and water pollution control practice over the past decade as a result of heightened environmental and health concerns and the introduction of new regulations. VOCs are precursors of ground-level ozone, which contributes to smog formation. The overall chemistry is a complex interaction between VOCs, NOx and ozone which results in the formation of photochemical smog. Conventional technologies such as incineration and thermocatalytic oxidation are usually found to be expensive to implement and have a tendency to result in secondary pollution. Small emitters of VOCs such as dry cleaners, bakeries, restaurants and microbreweries are also coming under environmental scrutiny, especially in such environmentally sensitive areas as the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Southern California. Other sources of VOCs can include waste water treatment plants, light manufacturing and small businesses using solvents such as cabinet makers and musical instrument repair shops. Even an artist studio is a potential point source of VOCs due to the solvents used in paint, shellac, etc. The result is an urgent need to develop small and relatively inexpensive methods to eliminate VOCs from these point sources.
Different types of industrial operations and small businesses emit different types of VOCs. A bakery or brewery will emit ethanol. A dry cleaner will emit halogenated compounds such as terachloroethylene or clear petroleum distillate (Stoddard Solvent). Light manufacturing will emit solvent fumes such as methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) or toluene. Even a seemingly environmentally benign business as a greenhouse can emit a significant amount of terpenes, which can function as a greenhouse gas. Paint spray booths and adhesive tape manufacturers can emit significant amounts of aromatic solvents. A robust method to eliminate VOCs will also have military uses such as being mounted on the air inlet vents of a naval vessel to destroy nerve gas or biological agents during an attack.


The present invention provides a Group III nitride semiconductor light-emitting device having a flat semiconductor layer, in which the stress applied to the light-emitting layer is relaxed. The light-emitting layer of the light-emitting device includes a well layer and a barrier layer comprising an AlGaN layer containing In. The light-emitting device has a pit extending from an n-type semiconductor layer to layers above the light-emitting layer. A pit diameter at an interface between the light-emitting layer and the n-type semiconductor layer is 120 nm to 200 nm. The barrier layer has an In concentration of 6.0×1019 cm−3.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a Group III nitride semiconductor light-emitting device in which the stress applied to a light-emitting layer is relaxed.
Background Art
A Group III nitride semiconductor light-emitting device includes a light-emitting layer which emits light through recombination of electrons and holes. The light-emitting layer includes a well layer and a barrier layer. The barrier layer has a larger bandgap than that of the well layer. Some of the semiconductor light-emitting devices have a multi-quantum well structure (MQW structure) in which well layers and barrier layers are repeatedly deposited. An AlGaN layer may be used as a barrier layer. However, the crystal quality of the AlGaN layer is not so high. The degradation of crystal quality causes the reduction of light output efficiency.
Therefore, various techniques for improving the crystal quality have been developed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2002-64249 describes that a semiconductor layer having excellent crystal quality and less lattice defects is obtained by adding In to the AlGaN layer as a barrier layer and doping donor impurities to the AlGaN layer (refer to paragraph [0020]). In that case, the In concentration preferably falls within a range of 1×1017 cm−3 to 7×1022 cm−3 (refer to paragraph [0009]).
A flatter semiconductor layer is obtained by adding In to the AlGaN layer as a barrier layer. The studies of the present inventors and other researchers have gradually revealed that the pit induced by a threading dislocation can reduce the stress applied to the light-emitting layer. As a result of intensive studies of the present inventors, it was found that when In is added to the AlGaN layer while forming this pit, the AlGaN layer containing In fills the pit. Therefore, the effect of relaxing the stress applied to the light-emitting layer by the pit decreases, and thus, the light output efficiency of the semiconductor light-emitting device is reduced.