Aspects of the invention include compositions and methods for inhibiting the interaction between scaffold proteins and kinases. These compositions and methods find a number of uses including, for example, suppressing tumor growth and metastasis and reducing tumor size and number in a mammal with cancer.

Cancer is a worldwide epidemic claiming over 7.6 million lives per year and is the leading cause of death in developed countries (International Agency for Research on Cancer. Cancer Mondial 2010. Lyon, France: World Health Organization; Jemal, A., et al. Global cancer statistics. CA Cancer J Clin 61, 69-90 (2011)). In the US alone, current statistics estimate that over the course of a lifetime 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will develop some form of cancer (American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2010. Atlanta, Ga.: American Cancer Society (2010); International Agency for Research on Cancer. Cancer Mondial 2010. Lyon, France: World Health Organization (2010)). While cancer can be characterized by persistent cell proliferation, inhibition of apoptosis, and altered cell migratory behavior, cancer is, at its core, a disease of dysregulated signal transduction (Hanahan, D. and Weinberg, R. A. The hallmarks of cancer. Cell 100, 57-70 (2000); Dhillon, A. S., et al. MAP kinase signaling pathways in cancer. Oncogene 26, 3279-3290 (2007)). Targeting key signaling cascades that regulate these processes will lead to the development of efficacious therapeutics.
Mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are evolutionarily conserved three-tier phosphorylation relays. A MAPK kinase kinase (MAPKKK) phosphorylates and activates downstream target MAPK kinase (MAPKK), which in turn phosphorylates and activates downstream target MAPK (Dhillon, A. S., et al. MAP kinase signaling pathways in cancer. Oncogene 26, 3279-3290 (2007)). The extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) MAPK pathway is probably the most well-known MAPK cascade (Kolch, W., et al. The role of RAF kinases in malignant transformation. Expert Rev Mol Med 4, 1-18 (2002)). In this pathway, the MAPKKK are C-RAF-1, A-RAF, and B-RAF with MEK1 and MEK2 acting as MAPKK and ERK1 and ERK2 denoted as MAPK. This cascade is initiated by activation of RAS, the first identified human oncogene (Tabin, C. J., et al. Mechanism of activation of a human oncogene. Nature 300, 143-149 (1982)). As this pathway is capable of regulating proliferation, differentiation, migration, and survival, it is not surprising that more than one-third of all human cancers are characterized by pathologic activation of this pathway, most often as a result of constitutive activation of core kinases (FIG. 1A) (Kolch, W., et al. The role of RAF kinases in malignant transformation. Expert Rev Mol Med 4, 1-18 (2002); Hoshino, R., et al. Constitutive activation of the 41-/43-kDa mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway in human tumors. Oncogene 18, 813-22 (1999); Schubbert, S., et al. Hyperactive RAS in developmental disorders and cancer. Nature Rev. Cancer 7, 295-308 (2007); Dhillon, A. S., et al. MAP kinase signaling pathways in cancer. Oncogene 26, 3279-3290 (2007); Reddy, K. B., et al. Role of MAP kinase in tumor progression and invasion. Cancer Metastasis Rev 22, 395-403 (2003)). Targeting this pathway may prove efficacious in treating cancer (FIG. 1B).

Scaffold-kinase interaction blockades and uses thereof in treating cancer

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY


The present invention relates inter alia to a compound of formula (I)

Lipid kinases catalyse the phosphorylation of lipids to produce species involved in the regulation of a wide range of physiological processes, including cellular migration and adhesion. The PI3 kinases (PI3K) are membrane associated proteins and belong to the class of enzymes which catalyse the phosphorylation of lipids which are themselves associated with cell membranes. The PI3K delta isozyme (PI3K δ) is one of four isoforms of type I PI3K kinases responsible for generating various 3′-phosphorylated phosphoinositides, that mediate cellular signalling and have been implicated in inflammation, growth factor signalling, malignant transformation and immunity [See Review by Rameh, L. E. and Cantley, L. C. J. Biol. Chem., 1999, 274:8347-8350.].
The involvement of PI3K in controlling inflammation has been confirmed in several models using pan-active PI3K inhibitors, such as LY-294002 and Wortmannin [Ito, K. et al., J Pharmacol. Exp. Ther., 2007, 321:1-8.]. Recent studies have been conducted using either selective PI3K inhibitors or in knock-out mice lacking a specific enzyme isoform as described below. These studies have demonstrated the role of pathways controlled by PI3K enzymes in inflammation. The PI3K δ selective inhibitor IC-87114 was found to inhibit airways hyper-responsiveness, IgE release, pro-inflammatory cytokine expression, inflammatory cell accumulation into the lung and vascular permeability in ovalbumin-sensitized, ovalbumin-challenged mice [Lee, K. S. et al., J. Allergy Clin. Immunol., 2006, 118:403-409 and Lee, K. S. et al., FASEB J., 2006, 20:455-65.]. In addition, IC-87114 lowered neutrophil accumulation in the lungs of mice and neutrophil function, stimulated by TNFα [Sadhu, C. et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 2003, 308:764-9].
The PI3K δ isoform is activated by insulin and other growth factors, as well as by G-protein coupled protein signaling and inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, studies using knockout mice revealed that activation of PI3K γ may be important in the pathogenesis of asthma. For example, murine mast cell responses are exacerbated in vitro and in vivo by autocrine signals which require functional PI3K γ. Mice that lacked PI3K γ did not exhibit edema when challenged by passive systemic anaphylaxis [Wymann M. P. et al., Biochem. Soc. Trans., 2003, 31:275-80.]. Thus PI3K γ relays inflammatory signals through various G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), especially by controlling mast cell function. Eosinophil accumulation in ovalbumin sensitised and challenged mice was also reported to be inhibited in these PI3K γ-deficient mice, as compared with wild-type animals [Lim D. H. et al., Am. J. Physiol. Lung Cell. Mol. Physiol., 2009, 296(2):L210-L219]. Finally, treatment with a PI3K γ inhibitor attenuated IL-13-augmented airway contractility of lung slices [Jiang H. et al., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther., 2012, 342(2):305-11.].
Recently the PI3K dual δ/γ inhibitor TG100-115 was reported to inhibit pulmonary eosinophilia and decrease interleukin-13 levels, mucin accumulation and airways hyper-responsiveness in a murine model, when administered by aerosolisation. The same authors also reported that the compound was able to inhibit pulmonary neutrophilia elicited by either LPS or cigarette smoke [Doukas, J. et al., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther., 2009, 328:758-765.]. Other small molecule inhibitors of PI3K δ and γ were reported to produce superior inhibition of LPS induced TNFα production and T cell activation when compared with PI3K δ selective inhibitors [Williams O. et al., Chem Biol., 2010, 17(2):123-34.].
Since it is also activated by oxidative stress, the PI3K δ isoform is likely to be relevant as a target for therapeutic intervention in those diseases where a high level of oxidative stress is implicated. Downstream mediators of the PI3K signal transduction pathway include Akt (a serine/threonine protein kinase) and the mammalian target of rapamycin, the enzyme mTOR. Recent work has suggested that activation of PI3K δ, leading to phosphorylation of Akt, is able to induce a state of corticosteroid resistance in otherwise corticosteroid-sensitive cells [To, Y. et al., Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., 2010, 182:897-904.]. These observations have led to the hypothesis that this signalling cascade could be one mechanism responsible for the corticosteroid-insensitivity of inflammation observed in the lungs of patients suffering from COPD, as well as in those asthmatics who smoke, thereby subjecting their lungs to increased oxidative stress. Indeed, theophylline, a compound used in the treatment of both COPD and asthma, has been suggested to reverse steroid insensitivity through mechanisms involving interaction with pathways controlled by PI3 kinase δ [To, Y. et al., Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., 2010, 182:897-904.].
At present the mainstay of treatment for both asthma and COPD is inhaled therapy, using a combination of corticosteroids, muscarinic antagonists and β2-agonists, as judged clinically appropriate. One way of addressing the unmet medical needs in COPD and asthma is to identify new inhaled medicines, which have the potential to provide significant benefit when used either as a monotherapy or in combination with one or more medicaments from these three pharmacological classes. Therefore, there remains a need to identify and develop isoform selective PI3K inhibitors which have the potential to provide enhanced therapeutic efficacy in asthma, COPD and other inflammatory diseases.
WO 2012/052753 discloses: 6-(2-((4-amino-3-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidin-1-yl)methyl)-3-(2-chlorobenzyl)-4-oxo-3,4-dihydroquinazolin-5-yl)-N,N-bis(2-methoxyethyl) hex-5-ynamide, referred to herein as prior art Compound A.
WO 2011/048111 discloses certain 3-benzyl-5-alkynyl-quinazolin-4(3H)-ones
A compound example disclosed therein is 2-((4-amino-3-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidin-1-yl)methyl)-3-(2-fluorobenzyl)-5-(3-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)prop-1-ynyl) quinazolin-4(3H)-one, referred to herein as Example 50.
Neither of these prior art compounds possess the same advantageous profile of the compound of formula (I) described herein.

Abstract: and to compositions comprising the same and to the use of the compounds and to compositions of the compounds in treatment, for example in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, in particular respiratory inflammatory disease. The invention also extends to methods of making the said compounds.


Disclosed is an apparatus for separating legs from poultry carcasses having a saddle-shaped carcass section with a pelvis, a lower portion of a vertebral column, and hip joints connecting the legs to the pelvis. The apparatus comprises a main conveyor defining a conveyance path and having shackles configured to hold the poultry carcasses by the legs to convey the carcasses along the path with the vertebral column in longitudinal direction. A guide member runs along the conveyance path between the main conveyor and the vertebral column and is configured to engage an inside contour of the pelvis and both legs along a substantial length of the legs. A support conveyor is positioned below the main conveyor and has a surface to engage the carcasses and move them along the conveyance path. A set of cutting devices is located above the support conveyor and on opposing sides of the conveyance path and orientated along the path of the hip joint to cut the connective tissue in an area of the bend of each hip joint and to cut a leg tendon adjacent each hip joint. Restraining means which are also comprised in the apparatus engage the pelvis for restraining movement of the pelvis relative to the first conveyor to separate the legs from the pelvis at the hip joint.

The invention is based on an apparatus to separate the legs of poultry carcasses, predominantly present in the form of so-called "back halves"--that is, a caracas portion in which the breast portion (front half) is separated by a transverse incision conducted between the upper and lower extremities, leaving the so-called "oyster meat" on the back half, and consists of a saddle-shaped carcass section with the pelvis, the lower portion of the vertebral column, the hip joints with the legs, and the tail portion, comprising the main conveyor, which determines the conveyance path, with holders to hold the poultry carcasses by the legs in a suspended arrangement and the conveyance of the carcasses with the vertebral column in the longitudinal direction, processing devices disposed along the conveyance path to detach and to separate the legs in the area of the hip joints, and devices correlated with the processing devices for guiding and for the supporting conveyance of the back halves.
Such an apparatus is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,559. In this apparatus, a processing tool is used which has the task of separating the legs from the poultry back halves, comprising the legs and the pelvis, in the area of the hip joints. To this end, the back halves are moved forward by a conveyor with suspended shackles on the foot joints, suspended along a horizontal conveyance path, wherein a preliminary separation from the inside of the pelvis takes place in the area of the hip joints. Subsequently, the pelvis portion is turned by rotating the hip joints 180.degree. and by means of a conveyance disk acting on the inside of the pelvis, conducted out of the conveyance path, wherein a separation of the legs from the pelvis is carried out by tearing.
With such devices, the important thing is that the meat yield be as high as possible, which for the processing under discussion means that care must be taken that as little mat as possible is lost with the separated pelvis. An inevitable prerequisite for this is that the "oyster meat" reliably remain on the leg portions obtained. At ale same time, it should also be ensured that the joint balls not be damaged; a harming of the balls can produce, among other things, the undesired effect that bone marrow leaks from the upper thigh bone and is spread of the product. Finally, the leg portions obtained should have an appropriate appearance--that is, have as smooth as possible a contour and surface in the separation area
There is therefore a need to provide a comparatively simple apparatus for separating legs from poultry backs, which ensures an optimal meat yield and produces a qualitatively optimized product.

Apparatus and method for separating legs from poultry carcasses

Nordischer Maschinenbau Rud. Baader GmbH & Co. KG


The invention includes apparatus and methods that allow a data storage device perform an enhanced data recovery procedure (DRP) that includes obtaining a new digital sampling of the voltages for the failing unit of data by re-reading the analog signal and converting it to digital form using an analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) using a fixed phase clock signal. The data samples are re-interpolated using a programmable delay line. The digital values representing the voltages are stored a buffer so that the data can be processed repeatedly using varying parameters as part of the data recovery procedure. Optionally the samples stored in the buffer can be processed in the reverse direction (from end of sector to beginning of sector) without requiring modification of the standard Viterbi detector since it inherently works on data processed in either direction.

Data storage devices used with computers use various techniques for storing the data including optical, magnetic and optomagnetic methods. The following will focus on magnetic disk drives for simplicity, but the invention is not limited to use with magnetically stored data.
Data in magnetic disk drives is recorded in concentric, radially spaced tracks arranged on the planar surfaces of one or more disks. Magnetic films on the disks are used to record bits of information in the form of magnetic domains. When operating the disks are rotated on a spindle and magnetic heads are mechanically positioned over the tracks to read and write data from the disks. Permanent servo information is typically written on the disk at the time of manufacture that allows the system to ascertain the radial and circumferential position of the head within certain limits. The tracks are typically subdivided into many sectors that can be read and written independently.
In addition to the permanent servo information, magnetic signals are written on the disk to record various information for users. Special sync fields are included with the data to aid detecting the starting positions. A sync field typically is architected at the start of the sector. The data is recorded in special patterns that aid in the detection and recovery from errors caused by noise, magnetic defects, and so forth. For example, channel codes are mappings of data bits into symbols that avoid certain characteristics in the bit-stream of symbols that make recovery of the data bits more difficult. In addition, parity frames and error correction code (ECC) blocks are used to detect and correct various bit errors. When errors are encountered that cannot be corrected by these initial error correction techniques, a more extensive data recovery procedure (DRP) is invoked.
In a magnetic data recording device the data channel is the portion of the system responsible for decoding the information recorded in the signals read from the disk. The analog signal is first converted into digital form before being fed through the channel detector. The detector typically uses Partial Response Maximum Likelihood (PRML) principle to convert the string of digitized voltage values into binary data bits. The typical channel hardware can accept variables or parameters that act to modify the way the raw data stream is decoded. Unwanted variations in the amplitude, frequency, phase, resolution and overwrite properties can result in corruption of the written data. Some errors are permanent while others are transient. Re-reading a sector during data recovery procedure (DRP) requires a relatively large amount of time because a full rotation of the disk is needed before the sector comes back around under the head. Although a sector may be re-read many times during DRP, minimizing the number of re-reads is clearly desirable.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,937,415 (Aug. 30, 2005) to Galbraith, et al. describes the use of a sample buffer to store problem data for analysis during a data recovery procedure (DRP). The data in the buffer can be repeatedly processed during the DRP without having to re-read the sector a third time. However, the data in the buffer can be used for characterization of error information for the purpose of enhancing the effectiveness of a subsequent third (or more) re-readings. Using the data stored in the buffer enables data recovery without identification of a sync field and enables DRP to use changed channel data detection settings to aid in recovering the data. Adaptive equalization is used to enhance recovery during a subsequent re-read of the data sector; and extraction of timing information to allow introduction of timing loop changes during a re-read to offset phase or frequency related timing errors. A procedure involving movement of a pointer into the buffer to allow the data to be correctly framed and read with ECC is described. The '415 patent also notes that the buffer can be used to accumulate data from several different readings of the problem sector in effect averaging the data from multiple reads. By accumulating the results of more than one read operation some or all of the noise can be averaged out.

Data storage device with data recovery process using fixed phase clocking for analog-to-digital conversion

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


A multiple energy x-ray source capable of rapidly generating and delivering x-rays in the form of successive pulses that alternate between at least two different energy levels, as well as a multiple energy x-ray inspection apparatus for inspecting moving objects that employs such a multiple energy x-ray source, are provided. The inventive x-ray source facilitates the use of differential absorption characteristics as a means for distinguishing materials contained within objects during a moving inspection.

X-ray inspection methods use x-rays to penetrate an object to reveal its contents. In the past, these methods have relied upon differential absorption ratios (i.e., the ratio of absorption by a material of x-rays of two different energies) to accentuate different materials inside an object. This technique is useful with a video or "real time" inspection. Two images can be taken and one image "subtracted" from the other, thereby accentuating the difference. This technique usually requires an operator to take a video exposure, store it, change the x-ray source energy, take another exposure, and subtract. This can take several seconds. If the subject is moving, the operator may miss some of the inspection. Alternatively, the object to be inspected can be scanned twice at different energies. This requires the object to be rescanned and the two scans to be aligned perfectly.
The drawbacks inherent in these prior art x-ray inspection methods or techniques are overcome by the present invention, which provides a method of changing the energy of x-rays produced by a pulsed x-ray source so that successive x-ray pulses alternate between at least two different energy levels. The pulsed x-ray source basically comprises: an electron accelerator structure defining an electron flow path having an electron injection end; an electron gun having an electron source, a control grid, and optionally a feedback resistor connected to the electron source, wherein the electron gun is located at the injection end of the electron accelerator structure; and a microwave system connected to the electron accelerator structure, which includes a microwave power source and a pulse generator with a pulse-forming network, while the inventive method comprises:                selecting at least two different voltage levels; and between pulses generated by the pulsed x-ray source, alternating the voltage applied or delivered to the pulse-forming network of the pulse generator between the selected voltage levels; and                    (i) alternating the voltage applied or delivered to the control grid of the electron gun between the selected voltage levels, and/or            (ii) selecting at least two different resistance levels; and between pulses generated by the pulsed x-ray source, alternating the resistance through a feedback resistor on the electron gun between the selected resistance levels.
The present invention also provides a multiple energy x-ray source capable of rapidly generating and delivering x-rays in the form of successive pulses that alternate between at least two different energy levels, which comprises:                (a) an electron accelerator structure defining an electron flow path having an electron injection end;        (b) an electron gun having an electron source and a control grid and optionally a feedback resistor connected to the electron source, wherein the electron gun is located at the injection end of the electron accelerator structure for producing and delivering a stream of electrons to the electron injection end of the accelerator structure during pulses of predetermined length and of predetermined repetition rates;        (c) a microwave system connected to the electron accelerator structure that comprises: (i) a microwave power source; and (ii) a pulse generator with a pulse-forming network that is connected to the microwave power source;        (d) means for alternating the voltage applied or delivered to the pulse-forming network of the pulse generator between at least two different voltage levels; and        (e) means for alternating the voltage applied or delivered to the control grid of the electron gun, between at least two different voltage levels, and/or means for alternating the resistance through a feedback resistor on the electron gun between at least two different resistance levels.
Further to the above, a method for inspecting moving objects is provided, which comprises:                (a) generating successive pulses of x-rays which alternate between at least a first and a second energy level, thereby forming a pulsed, multiple energy, x-ray beam;        (b) directing the pulsed, multiple energy, x-ray beam toward a moving object to be inspected;        (c) intercepting the pulsed, multiple energy, x-ray beam leaving the object and generating at least a first and a second signal or image therefrom; and        (d) processing the at least first and second signals or images generated for each inspected object, thereby allowing or permitting detection of different materials present therein.
Also provided by way of the present invention is a multiple energy x-ray inspection apparatus for inspecting moving objects, which comprises:                (a) transport means for transporting objects for inspection through the apparatus;        (b) a multiple energy x-ray source for: generating successive pulses of x-rays which alternate between at least a first and a second energy level, thereby forming a pulsed, multiple energy, x-ray beam; and for directing same toward each object for inspection;        (c) sensor means for intercepting the pulsed, multiple energy, x-ray beam leaving each object and generating at least a first and a second signal or image therefrom; and        (d) processing means for processing the at least first and second signals or images generated for each inspected object (e.g., subtracting the signals or images to accentuate absorption differences), thereby allowing or permitting detection of different materials present therein.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent to one of ordinary skill from the following detailed description and drawings. Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. All publications, patent applications, patents and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. In case of conflict, the present specification, including definitions, will control. In addition, the materials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

Multiple energy x-ray source and inspection apparatus employing same


The present invention provides a storage device including a first electrode, a plurality of second electrodes arranged opposite the first electrode across a gap, and a particle which is selectively placed in one of the gaps between the first electrode and the second electrodes and which is movable between the first electrode and the second electrode and between the adjacent second electrodes. A stored state is determined utilizing the presence of the particle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage device utilizing movement of particles between electrodes.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the recent increase in the degree of integration of semiconductor devices, continuous effort has been made to reduce the sizes of circuit patterns of the LSIs constituting semiconductor devices. For a reduction in the size of the pattern, it is necessary not only to reduce line width but also to improve the dimensional and positional accuracies of the pattern. This also applies to memories, for which there has been a continuous requirement that a specified number of charges required for storage be retained in a smaller area in a cell formed using an accurate patterning technique.
Various semiconductor memories such as DRAMs, SRAMs, and flash memories have hitherto been manufactured. However, these memories employ MOSFETs as memory cells, so that the reduction in the size of the pattern is accompanied by a demand for an increase in dimensional accuracy by a percentage larger than that by which the size of the pattern is reduced. Thus, a heavy burden has also been imposed on a lithography technique for forming these patterns. This in turn has increased the cost of a lithography process accounting for the major part of the present mass production cost, that is, the product cost (OYO BUTURI, Vol. 69, No. 10, pp. 1233 to 1240, 2000, "Semiconductor memory; DRAM", OYO BUTURI, Vol. 69, No. 12, pp. 1462 to 1466, 2000, "Flash Memory, recent Topics").
On the other hand, techniques for fundamentally solving these problems with fine patterning include an attempt to artificially synthesize desired molecular structures and utilize the uniformity of synthesized molecules to obtain elements with uniform properties. However, serious problems remain to be solved which relate to techniques for arranging the synthesized molecules at desired positions and bringing the molecules into electrical contact with arranged electrodes. Moreover, disadvantageously, the elements use a very small number of charges for storage, so that disturbance such as natural radiation sharply increases the probability of malfunction of the elements.
As described above, for conventional memories using MOSFETs as their cells, with the reduction in the size of the pattern, very high dimensional and positional accuracies have been requested for the pattern. It is technically difficult to meet this demand while satisfying the request to avoid increasing the manufacture cost. On the other hand, memories utilizing molecular structures have problems with the manipulation of molecules and contact with the electrodes. Disturbance is also likely to cause these memories to malfunction.


The present invention provides techniques for managing, supporting and empowering Independent Agents to offer a method for enabling expert Service Providers to deliver, and charge for, advice to consumers, by connecting two parties in real time. The present invention also provides the method and techniques for expert Service Providers, in turn, to provide their service through a multiplicity of Independent Agent channels without the potential for communication device conflict; thereby ensuring successful connections for consumers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for managing, supporting and empowering Independent Agents to offer a method for enabling expert Service Providers to deliver, and charge for, advice to consumers, by connecting two parties in real time. Further, the present invention provides the method and techniques for expert Service Providers, in turn, to provide their service through a multiplicity of Independent Agent channels without potential communication device conflict for consumers.
2. Description of Prior Art
Advice services are currently offered through a variety of methods and techniques utilizing the telephone and/or the Internet. A consumer seeking advice on any number of various topics can search in a telephone book's yellow pages, for example, and make a basic telephone call. But advice service providers are not able to effectively or efficiently charge time-based fees for their service in this model, nor are consumers guaranteed that the service provider will be available. Further, Internet searching is steadily replacing traditional yellow pages searches by consumers.
1-900 phone systems do enable service providers to charge for their services on a time-elapsed model. However, 1-900 systems also are not able to take advantage of the massive trend of consumers increasingly using the Internet to search for what they want and need, including advice on various topics. Further, single 1-900 numbers have restricted scope and flexibility with regard to service and price, as well as limited consumer trust with regards to billing and quality of service provided.
Currently, there are systems available that facilitate the delivery of advice to consumers in real-time via the Internet utilizing telecommunications systems. However, such systems have created such a massive directory with thousands upon thousands of individual listings in any given category that it has become overwhelming for consumers to determine their choice. Likewise, it has become near impossible for the large majority of individual service providers to attract any interested consumers, as the rigid nature of the directory listing system allows extremely limited opportunities for a particular service provider to differentiate their service among the thousands of others in the same list.
Consequently, there is a need for a system to enable the provision of advice service through both the Internet and telecommunications that can overcome all of the limitations described above. Such a system, which empowers and utilizes independent Agents within its inventive framework and creative methods, is hereinafter described.

System and method for expert service providers to provide advice services through unique, empowered independent agents to consumers


An adaptive contrast enhancement method, the steps include: calculating a probability density function based on pixel values of a plurality of pixels of an input image signal; dividing the plurality of pixels into one of a plurality of low-brightness sets and high-brightness sets according to the pixel values of the plurality of pixels, wherein a part of the plurality of pixels with pixel values below one of a plurality of delimiting values are allocated to the low-brightness set and a part of the plurality of pixels with pixel values above the delimiting value are allocated to the high-brightness set; determining a mapping function according to the probability of the plurality of pixels in the low-brightness set and the probability of the plurality of pixels in the high-brightness set; and mapping the input image signal to an output image signal according to the mapping function.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an adaptive contrast enhancement apparatus and method, and more particularly, to an adaptive contrast enhancement apparatus and method that adaptively assign steep mapping functions to darker images and moderate mapping functions to brighter images so that all kinds of images may be properly adjusted to enhance contrast.
Description of the Related Art
In conventional contrast enhancement methods, an input image signal is mapped to an output image signal according to a mapping function (e.g., a gamma correction curve) that adjusts the relative brightness of low-brightness regions and high-brightness regions so that the contrast of the image may be adjusted. However, it is impossible for conventional gamma correction curves with simple and fixed function values to properly enhance contrasts of various images which may have strikingly different distributions of low-brightness and high-brightness pixels; therefore, an improved contrast enhancement method adaptive to all kinds of images with different brightness distributions is required.

Adaptive contrast enhancement apparatus and method


The present invention relates to a method of producing a chip block for wireless transmission in a Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (DS-CDMA) communication system. The method comprises spreading a symbol over at least one chip block (17). The method also comprises segmenting the chip block to form a first sub-block (a0) of the chip block. The method also comprises segmenting the chip block to form a second sub-block (a15) of the chip block. The method also comprises arranging a first sub-sequence (18) of chips furthest to a first end of the chip block in the first sub-block. The first sub-sequence is identical to a second sub-sequence (19) furthest to a second end of the chip block in the second sub-block. The method also comprises modifying at least one chip contained in the first sub-block and not being part of the first sub-sequence. The modifying is dependent on said first sub-sequence such that the symbol can be at least partially despread from the chip block.

In a DS-CDMA system data that is to be transmitted is first modulated into symbols. Then each symbol is spread using a spreading code where the spreading codes are orthogonal to each other. By this spreading several symbols can be transmitted simultaneously, and the sum of all spread symbols is a sequence of chips. If the spreading codes are orthogonal and if the radio channel is non-dispersive, there will be no interference between the symbols when the despreading is performed in the receiver. However, if the channel is dispersive, there will be interference between the symbols at the despreading even if the codes are orthogonal. This is because the codes are orthogonal only when they are time-aligned, and due to the time dispersiveness of the channel, several non-time-aligned copies of the transmitted signal arrive at the receiver at the same time.
A cyclic prefix is a number of samples or chips, in a DS-CDMA system, attached to the beginning of a block of a signal that is to be transmitted. The samples are copies of the last samples of the block.
By adding a cyclic prefix that is at least as long as the channel impulse response, the received signal appears to be a cyclic convolution of the original block, without inter-block interference. Cyclic convolution in time domain is equivalent to element-wise multiplication in frequency domain. Two advantages of having a cyclic prefix in the transmitted signal are:                In the received signal, the interference induced by a time-dispersive multi-path channel will only be intra-block interference, not inter-block interference.        A cyclic prefix facilitates frequency domain processing.
However, a cyclic prefix cannot be used for mobile communication standards already in use, such as Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA)/High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), since terminals and base stations already in use (legacy devices) are not equipped to handle a cyclic prefix.
US2007201408 discloses selecting either a first transport format or a second transport format to transmit information corresponding to an input symbol sequence. The transport formats fit information into a timeslot having a predetermined duration. Based upon the selected transport format, either the information is created from the input symbol sequence using the first transport format or is created from the input symbol sequence using the second transport format. Creating the information for transmission using the first transport format applies a spreading code to the input symbol sequence. The information for transmission is transmitted in a selected timeslot having the predetermined duration. Creating and transmitting the information using the first transport format causes the transmitted information to occupy a first frequency band. Creating and transmitting the information using the second transport format causes the transmitted information to occupy a second frequency band that partially overlaps the first frequency band. US2007201408 describes transmitting with WCDMA and Interleaved Frequency Division Multiple Access (IFDMA) with cyclic prefix in parallel in uplink (UL). The base station transmitted to is aware of the transmission format and equipped to handle it.

Method, devices and chip block for DS-CDMA


The relations in phase between first and second phase regions which are disposed on both sides of light-blocking regions interposing between them are arranged that there is a phase difference between the lights transmitted by the first and second phase regions enough to cancel with each other because of the interference, while the relations in phase between the first and second phase regions and third phase region disposed adjacent to them are arranged that between the lights transmitted by them there is a phase difference about a half of the phase difference between the lights transmitted by the first and second phase regions. Thus, the lights transmitted by the first and second phase regions and prevailing in the back sides of the light-blocking regions cancel with each other because of the interference to enchance the accuracy of the transfer at the edge portions of the light-blocking regions. Moreover, the cancellation of the lights caused by the interference at the boundaries separating the third phase region from the first and second phase regions is weakened to an extent that it exerts no effect on the transference of the pattern. As a result, the mask pattern can be transferred with high resolution without any effect of the configurations of the light-blocking regions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photomask employed for a lithography process in manufacturing a semiconductor device, and to a method of manufacturing the photomask.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, in the lithography process, a photomask with a particular transfer pattern formed of regions transparent to light and regions opaque to block the light is employed. The photomask is projected through a lens system onto a processed substrate having a photosensitive material layer, in order to transfer the pattern.
A sectional view of a prior art photomask is shown in (a) of FIG. 21. On the surface of a transparent substrate 1 of glass or the like, light-blocking regions 2 of Cr, MoSi or the like are formed. Because of the light-blocking regions 2, a transfer pattern is defined.
In the projected image of the photomask manufactured as mentioned above, as shown in a distribution diagram of amplitude in (b) of FIG. 21, the light transmitted by the transparent substrate 1 prevails even in the light-blocking regions 2 because of the diffraction. Since the practical light intensity is obtained as the amplitude raised to the second power, the prevalence of the light in the light-blocking regions 2 is observed, as shown in a distribution diagram of the intensity of light in (c) of FIG. 21. Thus, the resolution on the pattern transference is reduced, and there is difficulty in transferring a minute pattern with high accuracy.
As a method of preventing the reduction of the resolution caused by the diffraction, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 50811/1987 discloses a phase shift technique. According to this method, when transparent portions T1, T2 and so forth and light-blocking portions S1, S2, S3 and so forth of a photomask are alternately arranged as shown in (a) of FIG. 22, phase regions 3 are formed in every other one of the transparent portions T1, T2 and so forth along the direction of arrays of them. For example, in the transparent portion T2, one of the phase region 3 is formed on the transparent substrate 1 between the adjacent light-blocking regions 2. The phase region 3 has a thickness which makes a phase difference of 180.degree. between the lights transmitted and not transmitted by the phase region 3.
Thus, the lights prevailing in the light-blocking portions after transmitted by the adjacent transparent portions, as shown in (b) and (c) of FIG. 22, cancel with each other because of the interference. For example, the lights transmitted by the transparent portions T1, T2 and prevailing in the light-blocking portions S2 interfere to cancel with each other in the light-blocking portion S2. As a result, the resolution of the photomask is improved.
In FIG. 23, (a) shows a plan view of another embodiment of the photomask employing a structure shown in (a) of FIG. 22; wherein there are three of the light-blocking regions 2 of the same dimensions, disposed in parallel at the same interval. In FIG. 23, (b) shows a distribution diagram of the amplitude of the light transmitted by the area along the line I--I of FIG. 23, (a), while (c) shows a distribution diagram of the intensity of the light transmitted by the area along the line I--I; and (d) shows a distribution diagram of the amplitude of the light transmitted by the area along the line II--II of FIG. 23, (a), while (e) shows a distribution diagram of the intensity of the light transmitted by the area along the line II--II.
As will be recognized in (a) of FIG. 23, the photomask employing the above-mentioned structure is provided with a part 3a which is in the peripheral portion of the phase region 3 and is contiguous to the transparent substrate 1. As shown in (b) and (d) of FIG. 23, the light transmitted by the phase region 3 and the light transmitted by the transparent substrate 1 are out of phase by 180.degree., and in the boundary part 3a both the transmitted lights cancel with each other because of the interference. Consequently, as shown in (c) and (e) of FIG. 23, the intensity of light in the boundary 3a declines to naught.
As a result, when a photoresist layer on a processed substrate is developed with a mask pattern of the above-mentioned photomask transferred, if a photoresist layer 5 on the processed substrate 4 is of positive-type as shown in FIG. 24, the resist is left in an area encircled by a dash-dot line 6 in FIG. 24 from which the resist should have been removed. Contrarily, if the photoresist layer 5 is of negative-type, the resist is removed from an area in which the resist should have been left. The mask pattern practically employed in manufacturing a semiconductor device has the light-blocking regions 2 which are generally configured like isolated islands as shown in (a) of FIG. 23, and hence, there arises the problem that the phase region 3 as mentioned above can not be provided in some case or other.

Photomask and method of manufacturing the same


A capacitive sensor and a method of making it with a substrate having a diaphragm forming a first plate of a capacitor; a second fixed plate of the capacitor spaced from the diaphragm and defining a predetermined dielectric gap; a plurality of conductor elements interconnecting the substrate and fixed plate; and an edge lock supporting the fixed plate and the substrate relative to each other for maintaining the dimension of the defined gap independent of the conductor elements.

In a capacitive sensor the dielectric gap between the fixed plate and the diaphragm must be strictly maintained if the sensing of the external pressure is to be accurate. Typically the fixed plate may be silicon with signal processing circuits on one side and conductor elements such as solder balls on the other. This fixed silicon plate may be flip chip bonded to a substrate, typically a ceramic material, which contains a diaphragm. External pressure changes on the diaphragm are reflected in changes in the dielectric gap dimension which translates into a change in capacitance. One problem with this construction is that the conductive elements, such a, the solder balls, which contain substantial lead, are susceptible to creep over time and temperature which will change the dimension of the dielectric gap. The stress and strain endured by the capacitive sensor during fabrication and in use can exacerbate this problem and sometimes cause failure of the solder balls resulting in an open circuit. Under filling, a technique used to seal and strengthen integrated circuits, is not applicable because it would fill and rigidify the dielectric gap and diaphragm destroying the fundamental capacitive function and because it uses an organic filler which cannot withstand the high temperatures encountered in fabrication and in some applications of the capacitive sensor, e.g., engine oil, tires. The organic fillers also tend to be more flexible and not suitable for rigidifying a structure.

Capacitive sensor and method of fabricating


The invention includes an electrical connection system utilizing a terminal/cavity combination. The system includes a connector housing having a bay for receiving a plurality of the terminal/cavity combination units in a stacked relationship. The terminal/cavity combination unit includes a metal terminal, preferably having a tuning fork configuration, that is received in an electrically insulative carrier. The insulative carrier has a terminal cavity defined in part by two spaced apart side walls and a floor extending between the side walls for supporting the terminal. The carrier also includes a front wall having an opening for receiving a portion of a second terminal therethrough and so that the second terminal makes electrical contact with the terminal in the carrier. At least one indexing rail extends downwardly from a portion of the floor. Carriers can be stacked one on top of the other wherein the rail or rails are received between the two spaced apart walls of the carrier below. A plurality of terminal/cavity combination units in the stacked relationship are then inserted into the bay of the connector housing. Simple mating lock features on the terminal/cavity combination unit and the housing keep the units in place.

Current electrical connection systems have many disadvantages. These types of systems are known to include first and second connector housings having a plurality of terminal cavities formed therein. The connector housings have an opening in a rear face for insertion of a metal terminal with a wire attached. The housing usually includes complicated locking mechanisms for securing to mating lock features on the metal terminal. The housings are molded utilizing complicated and expensive tooling and the metal terminals are formed with equally complex stamping and folding operations. Further, insertion of individual terminals into such housing cavities is a tedious and expensive task.
The present invention provides advantages over and alternatives to the prior art.

Connection system with terminal/cavity combination


A voltage controlled oscillator with bias current calibration includes a voltage controlled oscillator 1504. A tuning current source 1510 is coupled to oscillator 1504 in parallel with bias current source 1512 for providing a tuning current to oscillator 1504. A selected control voltage is provided by oscillator 1504 for setting an oscillator output frequency. Control circuitry 1513, 1514 allows adjusting of the tuning current source to optimize bias current.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to audio data processing and in particular, to digital audio decoding circuitry and methods and systems using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
The ability to process audio information has become increasingly important in the personal computer (PC) environment. Among other things, audio is important in many multimedia applications, such as gaming and telecommunications. Audio functionality is therefore typically available on most conventional PCs, either in the form of an add-on audio board or as a standard feature provided on the motherboard itself. In fact, PC users increasingly expect not only audio functionality but high quality sound capability. Additionally, digital audio plays a significant role outside the traditional PC realm, such as in compact disk players, VCRs and televisions. As the audio technology progresses, digital applications are increasingly sophisticated as improvements in sound quality and sound effects are sought.
One of the key components in many digital audio information processing systems is the decoder. Generally, the decoder receives data in a compressed form and converts that data into a decompressed digital form. The decompressed digital data is then passed on for further processing, such as filtering, expansion or mixing, conversion into analog form, and eventually conversion into audible tones. In other words the decoder must provide the proper hardware and software interfaces to communicate with the possible compressed (and decompressed) data sources, as well as the destination digital and/or audio devices. In addition, the decoder must have the proper interfaces required for overall control and debugging by a host microprocessor or microcontroller. Since, there are a number of different audio compression/decompression formats and interface definitions, such as Dolby AC-3 and S/PDIF (Sony/Phillips Digital Interface), a state of the art digital audio decoder should at least be capable of supporting multiple compression/decompression formats.
Digital systems normally require a voltage controlled oscillator or similar clock generation circuitry for establishing the operating time base. To maximize system flexibility, it is desirable to have a variable or tunable clock generator capable of providing variable frequency clocks. This is especially true for devices and systems such as audio decoders which must be adaptable to several operating environments. Since tuning of the clock frequency must be done with some degree of accuracy, the need has arisen for techniques precisely calibrating a voltage controlled oscillator circuitry, particular for those incorporated in audio processing devices.

Bias current calibration of voltage controlled oscillator


A system, apparatus, and method for performing terminal address translation, and more particularly for identifying addresses of mobile terminals in a mobile network in order to communicate messages with the mobile terminals. Messages are received from a service consumer at a pseudonymity proxy operable within the mobile network, where the message includes an information exchange message including a pseudonym locally identifying a target mobile terminal. The pseudonym is translated into an address of the target mobile terminal unknown to the service consumer. The information exchange message is forwarded from the pseudonymity proxy to the address of the target mobile terminal.

Advances in communication infrastructures and protocols have turned standard computing devices into valuable communication tools. Computers communicate with each other, and with other electronic devices, over networks ranging from Local Area Networks (LANs) to wide reaching Global Area Networks (GANs) such as the Internet.
Other electronic devices have experienced similar transformations, such as mobile phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and the like. Today, these wireless devices are being used for a variety of different types of communication. For example, current and anticipated mobile phone technologies have transformed these wireless devices into powerful communication tools capable of communicating voice, data, images, video, and other multimedia content. PDAs, once the portable calendaring and organizational tool, now often include network communication capabilities such as e-mail, Internet access, etc. With the integration of wireless and landline network infrastructures, a multitude of new services are arising, and various information types can be conveniently communicated between wireless and/or landline terminals.
Services available over the Internet are referred to as "Web Services." In a particular case, "Web Services" refer to such Internet-available services when utilizing a standardized platform-independent messaging system such XML. The Web Services roles of the Web Services architecture include service providers, service requesters, and a service registry or broker. The service broker provides a registry and discovery mechanism for such services provided by service providers. While the Web Services protocol stack is evolving and may include many variations, XML-based Web Services include a number of layers including the service transport, XML messaging, service description, and service discovery layers. Each layer has different responsibilities to ultimately facilitate the communication of services over the Internet.
There are some Web Services that are intended to be offered by terminals, such that the terminals will behave as a Web Service Providers ("servers" in the classic terminology). An example of such a service is the Location service being defined by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). There are also Web Services that are to be directly used by terminals as Web Service Consumers ("client" in the classic terminology). An example of such a service may be an e-mail client embedded into the terminal using Web Service Protocols to connect to the mailing server.
There are at least two basic problems regarding Web Services offered or directly used by mobile terminals. First, the terminal needs to be addressed in both cases. The need for addressing may be trivial if the terminal operates as a server, but may also be needed if the terminal acts as a client. Even in the latter case there may be individual Web Service requests initiated by the server on the Internet, as there are, for example, in MM7 which is an OMA Web Service interface. In this case the HTTP doesn't solve the problem alone, but the terminal must be explicitly addressed.
A second basic problem is that the terminal owner's privacy should be protected. However, even the Mobile Station Integrated Services Digital Network (MSISDN) or the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) address associated with the terminal is considered to be a personal data, as the user's behavior can easily be traced on the Internet with these identifiers. Therefore, for user privacy, third parties on the Internet should not know the mobile user's SIP address, MSISDN number, or other globally unique identifier.
These two issues are contradictory. Currently, the MSISDN number, SIP address, or other global identifier of the terminal would be used for terminal addressing associated with Web Services. A Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) push could be used to "wake up" the terminal, and the global identifier then used to address the terminal. However, user privacy is compromised in such situations.
Accordingly, there is a need in the telecommunications industry for a manner for addressing terminals without divulging private information of the terminal or terminal user. The present invention fulfills these and other needs, and offers other advantages over the prior art addressing approaches.

System and method for addressing networked terminals via pseudonym translation


Methods for tuning at least a region of a tunable frequency selective surface. The methods disclosed how to achieve an opaque or absorptive state in at least a region of tunable frequency selective surface.

Antennas 100 may be hidden behind a radome 110, see FIG. 1, particularly if they are being used in an application where they could be exposed to the environment. The radome protects the antenna from both the natural environment such as rain and snow, and the man-made environment such as jamming signals. Often, the radome is made so that it transmits electromagnetic energy within a narrow band centered around the operating frequency of the antenna, so as to deflect or reflect jamming signals at other frequencies. This is done using a frequency selective surface (FSS), having a grid or lattice of metal patterns or holes in a metal sheet. The design and construction of FSSs is well known to those skilled in the art of radome design and electromagnetic material design.
Two surfaces are commonly used in FSS design, the "Jerusalem cross" structure 200, shown in FIG. 2a, and its "Inverse structure" 300, shown in FIG. 3a. A unit cell equivalent circuit 201 of the Jerusalem cross 200, FSS can be viewed as a lattice of capacitors 210 and inductors 220 in series, shown in FIG. 2b. The capacitors 210 and inductors 220 are oriented in two orthogonal directions so that the surface can affect both polarizations. Near the LC resonance frequency, the series LC circuit has low impedance, and shorts out the incoming electromagnetic wave, thereby deflecting it off the surface. At other frequencies, the LC circuit is primarily transmitting, although it does provide a phase shift for frequencies near the stop band, shown in FIG. 2c.
The Inverse structure 300, shown in FIG. 3a, has opposite characteristics. A unit cell equivalent circuit 301 of the Inverse structure 300, FSS can be viewed as a lattice of capacitors 310 and inductors 320 in parallel, shown in FIG. 3b. It is transmissive near LC resonance frequency and reflective at other frequencies, shown in FIG. 3c.
The radome typically transmits RF energy through the radome only at the operating frequency of the antenna, and reflects or deflects at other frequencies. In some applications, it may be desirable to tune the radome, particularly when a tunable antenna is used inside the radome. It may also be desirable to set the radome to an entirely opaque (off) state, so that it is deflective or reflective over a broad range of frequencies. It may also be desirable to program the radome so that different regions have different properties, either transmitting within a frequency band, or opaque as desired. To achieve these requirements the FSS needs to be tunable.
Throughout the years, different techniques have been implemented to achieve the tuning of the FSS. The tuning has been achieved by: varying the resistance, see Chambers, B., Ford, K. L., "Tunable radar absorbers using frequency selective surfaces", Antennas and Propagation, 2001. Eleventh International Conference on (IEEE Conf. Publ. No. 480), vol. 2, pp. 593-597, 2001; pumping liquids that act as dielectric loading, see Lima, A. C. deC., Parker, E. A., Langley, R. J., "Tunable frequency selective surface using liquid substrates", Electronics Letters, vol. 30, issue 4, pp. 281-282, 1994; rotating metal elements, see Gianvittorio, J. P., Zendejas, J., Rahmat-Sami, Y., Judy, J., "Reconfigurable MEMS-enabled frequency selective surfaces", Electronics Letters, vol. 38, issue 25, pp. 1627-1628, 2002; using a ferrite substrate, see Chang, T. K., Langley, R. J., Parker, E. A., "Frequency selective surfaces on biased ferrite substrates", Electronics Letters, vol. 30, issue 15, pp. 1193-1194, 1994; pressurizing a fluid, see Bushbeck, M. D., Chan, C. H., "A tunable, switchable dielectric grating", IEEE Microwave and Guided Wave Letters, vol. 3, issue 9, pp. 296-298, 1993; using a varactor tuned grid array that is a kind of quasi-optic oscillator, see Oak, A. C., Weikle, R. M. Jr., "A varactor tuned 16-element MESFET grid oscilator", Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, 1995; using an electro-optic layer, see Rhoads' patent (U.S. Pat. No. 6,028,692); using transistors, see Rhoads' patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,366); using ferroelectrics between an absorptive state and a transmissive state, see Whelan's patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,325).
Although the above-mentioned methods are used to tune the FSS, these methods are not ideal for use with a tunable antenna. Many of the above methods are not practical for rapid tuning because they use moving metal parts, or pumping dielectric liquids. Some of them include switching between discrete states using transistors, which is less useful than a continuous tunable surface. Others include only on and off states, and cannot be tuned in frequency. Others require bulk ferrite, ferroelectric, or electrooptic materials, which can be lossy and expensive. None of the prior art achieves the capabilities of the presently disclosed Tunable FSS (TFSS) technology, even though a need exists for those capabilities.
The present TFFS is able to pass electromagnetic energy in a particular frequency band through the radome, and deflect or reflect electromagnetic energy in other frequency bands, as shown, for example, in FIG. 4. It can also be tuned to an off state where it is deflective or reflective, or an on state where it is absorptive over a broad range of frequencies. Also some regions of the surface can be tuned to different frequencies while other regions of the surface can be set to an opaque state, shown in FIG. 4.

Method of achieving an opaque or absorption state in a tunable frequency selective surface


The present invention provides a method of forming a nano-pattern on a surface of a lens, which comprises steps of: (i) filling a conductive material in an space between a lens and a substrate; (ii) applying a first coating solution to the surface of the lens filled with the conductive material by to a wet process; (iii) forming a nano-pattern on the surface of the lens on which the first coating solution is applied by performing a reactive ion etching process; and (iv) removing the first coating solution remaining on the lens surface and the conductive material filling in the space between the lens and the substrate.

Although about 4% of light is reflected from one surface of a common glass, a severe obstacle may be caused during use of an optical component which requires high light transmittance. Therefore, an anti-reflective coating which reduces the loss of reflected light has been widely applied to both surfaces of a conventionally produced rear-view camera lens. The anti-reflective coating may be applied by vacuum deposition, but its manufacturing apparatus may be complicated and manufacturing cost thereof may be high.
Particularly, for the conventionally produced rear-view camera lens, the surface has been coated with an anti-reflective coating to improve transmittance by reducing light reflection. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, when the anti-reflective coating is performed on both surfaces of the lens, scattered reflection of light which is entered into the lens may be reduced and transmittance thereof may increase. The anti-reflective coating typically has a structure in which aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and magnesium fluoride (MgF2) are deposited as an anti-reflective material, and the entire thickness of the coating layer is about 120 nm. FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a conventional lens on which an anti-reflective coating is applied.
The conventional anti-reflective coating techniques may simply improve transmittance through the reduction of reflection, and when a functional coating layer such as a water-repellent coating, a hydrophilic coating and an anti-fogging coating is applied thereto additionally, adhesion between the anti-reflective coating layer and the anti-fouling coating layer may be very weak, which may result in deteriorating adhesive strength, and the coating process may not be efficient.
In such conventional anti-reflective techniques, Al2O3 is coated on the inside while MgF2 is coated on the outside. When a water-repellent coating is applied, weak durability and weather resistance may deteriorate due to repelling force between the fluorine functional groups located at the outside of the anti-reflective coating layer and the fluorine functional groups of the water-repellent coating. In the case of other functional coatings, binding strength may be reduced due to the fluorine functional group of the low reflective coating layer. Accordingly, it is difficult to apply such a functional coating to the anti-reflective coating.
In the related art, a method for manufacturing a lens having a functional nano-pattern has been developed. The method includes forming a photonic crystal pattern on a molded member and pressurizing the molded member on a curved unit of the lens, thereby forming the photonic crystal pattern on the surface of the lens. The above method may be useful for manufacturing a lens having a functional nano-pattern which improves light transmittance by minimizing the loss of reflection. However, the manufacturing process of the lens having such a pattern may be complicated. Furthermore, when the lens is used as a rear-view camera lens for vehicles, its transmittance may be significantly reduced due to light reflection.
Thus, in order to overcome above problems of the anti-reflective coated lens in the related art, a lens with improved coating properties, such as high transmittance by reducing of light reflection, super-water repellency, weather resistance and maximized durability, is strongly desired.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Method of forming nano-pattern on surface of lens and lens having nano-pattern on surface thereof

Abstract: The lens of the present invention is a functional lens with low reflectance, high transmittance and super water-repellency owing to a functional coating layer, thereby replacing the conventional lens on which an anti-reflective coating is formed. Thus, the lens manufactured by the method of the present invention may be widely used in the fields where low reflectance and high transmittance are requires, such as a rear camera lens for vehicles.


A method for detecting inequality in path balance in a cellular telephone system including the steps of providing data describing measured signal strength of signals received at a mobile unit and at a cell site in the absence of interference at a plurality of points describing the entire system; providing data describing measured signal strength of signals transmitted from each cell and from the mobile unit in the cellular telephone system; accumulating and averaging the data describing measured signal strength of signals received at the mobile unit and at the cell site to eliminate path loss variances between points and the cell site; selecting data describing measured signal strength of signals received at a mobile unit with path loss variances eliminated, data describing measured signal strength of signals transmitted from the mobile unit, data describing measured signal strength of signals received at a cell with path loss variances eliminated, data describing signal strength of signals transmitted from each cell for each point of the system; utilizing the selected data for each point to provide measures of the difference between the strength of signals on each path between each point and each cell; comparing the difference on each path between a point and a cell to other differences between the point and the cell; and changing cell characteristics where a difference on any path between a point and a cell is significantly different than any other difference between the point and the cell.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cellular telephone systems and, more particularly, to processes for detecting facilities which are providing degraded performance in cellular telephone systems.
2. History of the Prior Art
Presently available commercial mobile communication systems typically include a plurality of fixed base stations (cells) each of which transmits signals to and receives signals from mobile units within its communication area. Each base station is assigned a plurality of channels over which it can communicate with mobile units. A mobile unit within range of the base station communicates with the external world through the base station using these channels. Typically, the channels used by a base station are separated from one another in some manner sufficiently that signals on any channel do not interfere with signals on another channel used by that base station. To accomplish this, an operator typically allots to a base station a group of channels each of which is widely separated from the next. So long as a mobile unit is within the area in which the signal from a base station is strong enough and is communicating with only that base station, there is no interference with the communication.
In order to allow mobile units to transmit and receive telephone communications as the units travel over a wide geographic area, each cell is normally physically positioned so that its area of coverage is adjacent to and overlaps the areas of coverage of a number of other cells. When a mobile unit moves from an area covered by one base station to an area covered by another base station, communications with the mobile unit are transferred (handed off) from one base station to another in an area where the coverage from the adjoining cells overlaps. Because of this overlapping coverage, the channels allotted to the individual cells are carefully selected so that adjoining cells do not transmit or receive on the same channels. The channels used by adjoining base stations are also theoretically separated from the channels of each adjoining base station sufficiently that signals from any base station do not interfere with signals from another adjoining base station. This separation is typically accomplished by assigning a group of widely separated non-interfering channels to some central cell and then assigning other groups of widely separated non-interfering channels to the cells surrounding that central cell using a pattern which does not reuse the same channels for the cells surrounding the central cell. The pattern of channel assignments continues similarly with the other cells adjoining the first group of cells. The pattern is often called a channel reuse pattern.
There are a number of different types of mobile communications systems. Channels are defined in different manners in each of the different systems. In the most prevalent American Mobile Phone System (AMPS) system, channels are defined by frequency. A frequency band of 25 MHz providing approximately four hundred different adjoining FM frequency channels is allotted by the federal government to each cellular operator. In a typical AMPS system, each channel uses a fixed FM frequency band width of 30 KHz. for downlink transmission from a base station to a mobile unit and another fixed FM frequency band width of 30 KHz. for uplink transmission from a mobile unit to a cell. Typically, the frequencies assigned to the downlink transmissions for an entire cellular system immediately adjoin one another and are widely separated from the frequencies assigned to the uplink transmissions which also immediately adjoin one another.
Since channels are defined by frequency in an AMPS system, an operator typically allots to any single base station a set of channels with frequencies which are each separated from one another sufficiently to eliminate interference between those channels. In some AMPS systems, especially those with cells in urban areas carrying heavy traffic, each cell may be further divided into two or three sectors each of which may include channels having the above-described frequency allotment of channels. The antennas of each sector are typically arranged to provide 120 degree coverage. When cells are discussed herein, sectors are normally meant as well unless the context indicates otherwise.
Although the channels allotted to the individual cells are carefully selected so that adjoining cells do not transmit or receive on the same frequencies, it is very difficult to eliminate all interference in a system where channels are based on differences in frequencies. Antenna patterns, power levels, scattering, and wave diffraction differ from cell to cell. Buildings, various other structures, hills, mountains, foliage, and other physical objects cause signal strength to vary over the region covered by a cell. Consequently, the boundaries at which the signal strength of a channel falls below a level sufficient to support communications with a mobile unit vary widely within a cell and from cell to cell. For this reason, cells adjacent one another do not, in fact, typically form precise geometric boundaries. Because the boundaries of cells are imprecisely defined, signals will often interfere with one another even though they are generated by cells which are at distances theoretically sufficient to eliminate interference. This is especially true when a sectored cell pattern is used because the cells are much closer to one another than in a simple cell pattern.
Because of this interference, other types of mobile systems have been devised.
In one type of mobile system called Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital signals are used to transmit data. All of the base stations of a CDMA system use the same "spread spectrum" frequency band of 1.25 megacycles to transmit the digital signals. The transmissions are combined with redundant channel coding information to allow error correction. The encoded signals are then multiplied by one of sixty-four Walsh codes which establish individual channels and increase the bandwidth to 1.25 megacycles. Because of the redundancy of the encoded signals, a receiver may decode a signal from the plethora of coded channels carrying data on the broad frequency band. Since the Walsh codes establish a number of individual channels and the pseudo-noise code assigned to each base station differs from those of other surrounding base stations, adjacent and remote cells may reuse the same frequency bands.
In another common type of mobile system called Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), frequencies are assigned to the entire system in groups much like those of an AMPS system. However, within any frequency, each base station sends and receives in bursts during some number of different intervals or time slots. These time intervals within frequency bands then effectively constitute the individual channels. By assuring that the group of frequencies assigned to any individual base station differ from one another and from the frequencies assigned to base stations surrounding each individual base station, a channel reuse pattern is established which allows substantially greater use of the frequency spectrum because of the time division process.
In theory, these forms of cell arrangement and channel assignments allows channel reuse patterns to be repeated at distances separated sufficiently to negate interference between mobile units on the same and adjacent channels. They also allow signals used by the different cells in a particular system to be strong enough to provide complete coverage of the system area. In fact, interference and insufficient coverage do occur.
One reason that interference and insufficient coverage occur in the various mobile systems is that the various components of the system deteriorate or fail in some way so that cells operate at less than optimum. This may reduce the signal strength provided by certain cells thereby changing the patterns from those originally planned for the system. Such pattern changes reduce coverage in some areas and may cause undesired overlap of signals from remote cells. Component failures may be rapid or slow. Antennas are often physically damaged. This can cause a lower level response or actually shift the antenna pattern. Connections loosen or otherwise become less than optimum so that lower levels of current are transferred. Any number of other causes may affect the level at which a cell transmits, the direction of that transmission, or other characteristics of the transmission. When a cell is transmitting or receiving at less than optimum, the tolerances expected in the system may no longer exist thereby causing spurious signals to reach the same level as desired signals.
Isolating a cell which is experiencing reduced functionality is very difficult because of the interaction of the signals over an entire cellular system. Heretofore, it has been necessary to physically visit and inspect each cell which might provide signals to an area where difficulty is being experienced in order to determine whether damage has occurred to the components of the individual cells. Such visits require the physical inspection of the cell components and the measurement of the various characteristics of the cell. Usually the measurement of the various characteristics of the cell must be performed by a skilled technician. Testing a system to determine what is causing interference or coverage reduction is extremely labor intensive and time consuming. Testing a system is consequently expensive.
It is desirable to provide a process by which the deterioration and failure of components of cells in a mobile telephone system may be detected rapidly, inexpensively, and without the investment of substantial amounts of expensive labor.

Method of detecting damaged cellular telephone facilities


A computer-implemented method for processing a seismic trace of a subterranean region comprising: (a) deriving a seismic wavelet for a time-window of seismic trace; (b) generating a model for the subterranean region corresponding to that time-window comprising a plurality of seismic reflectors by comparing the seismic wavelet with the time-window of the seismic trace to identify locations for the seismic reflectors, wherein the locations of the seismic reflectors are subject to a separation constraint requiring neighboring seismic reflectors to be separated by at least a minimum separation threshold which is greater than a separation corresponding to a sampling interval for the seismic trace; (c) defining a model seismic wavelet having a model seismic wavelet amplitude spectrum with a frequency bandwidth which is greater than that of the seismic wavelet amplitude spectrum determined for the time-window of the seismic trace; and (d) generating a model of the time-window of the seismic trace for the subterranean region based on the plurality of seismic reflectors of the model for the subterranean region corresponding to that time window and the model seismic wavelet.

The invention relates to geophysical surveying, and in particular to seismic surveying, and more particularly still to methods and apparatus for processing a seismic trace from a subterranean region.
Seismic techniques are frequently used for geophysical surveying with a view to characterizing structures in the subterranean strata. For example, such techniques are sometimes used to seek to identify the existence, location and extent of potential hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs in subterranean rock strata.
In simple terms a seismic survey involves directing sound waves into the Earth, e.g. using an air gun array, and recording the sound energy that is reflected back to the Earth's surface as a function of time using a geophone (or hydrophone). The timings and strengths of features in the recorded sound energy can be used to calculate the locations and characteristics of subterranean structures/interfaces giving rise to sound reflection within the Earth. Accordingly, one fundamental output from a seismic survey is a so-called seismic trace which provides a representation of recorded sound energy as a function of time following an air gun induced event. There are many well understood techniques for obtaining seismic traces and these are not described here in the interest of brevity.
As is well known, an aspect of seismic surveying which impacts the ability to resolve subterranean structure is the frequency content of the recorded seismic data. The frequency content of seismic data is a function of many things, for example, the frequency content of the originating trigger event (e.g. air gun array), the frequency-dependent attenuation within the Earth (so-called Q-filtering), the frequency response of the recording system, and the frequency characteristics of any pre-processing of the data, such as various noise-reducing filtering methods. It is generally the case that seismic data having a frequency content associated with a relatively high frequency bandwidth will allow for improved stratigraphic and lithographic interpretation as compared to seismic data with relatively low frequency content.
A simple but widely used description of a seismic trace is that it consists of a reflection series convolved with a seismic wavelet plus data noise (i.e. d=w*r+n, where "d" is the seismic trace, "w" is the seismic wavelet, "r" is a reflection series that represents the reflection from different layers in the subterranean region, "n" is noise and "*" is the convolution operator symbol). Given this description of the trace, various studies (e.g. Kallweit and Wood, 1982 [1]) have related the degree to which nearby reflection events in seismic data can be resolved to the time-duration of the wavelet and its equivalent wavelet frequency content. Such studies show that the resolving power can increase if the wavelet bandwidth and/or its upper cut-off frequency (according to different studies) increases, if the wavelet spectrum is flat from lower to upper cut-off frequencies and if the wavelet is zero phase.
Standard seismic data processing such as deconvolution, spectral whitening or inverse Q-filtering can be applied to recorded data with the objective of increasing the data resolving power. A starting point for these or equivalent techniques is modeling or estimation of the wavelet amplitude and (possibly) the wavelet phase spectrum. In the case of spectral whitening this is via explicit estimation of the amplitude spectrum; in deconvolution the amplitude is implicit in the autocorrelation input and phase is estimated via the minimum phase assumption; in inverse Q-filtering an assumed physical model is used to describe the earth filtering. A general assumption often made in statistical processes is that the amplitude spectrum of the seismic reflectivity is equal at all frequencies—i.e. the reflectivity is assumed to have a "white", or flat, amplitude spectrum—so that data derived estimates of the amplitude spectrum are equal to the amplitude spectrum of the seismic wavelet.
In each case a subsequent step in the process is the design of an inverse operator that aims to flatten the wavelet amplitude spectrum, in addition to possibly treating the wavelet phase spectrum. The general term used to describe this step is "wavelet inverse processing". After such processing, the degree to which nearby events can be resolved is then characterized by the time duration of the processed version of the wavelet and its frequency content, for example according to the criteria given by Kallweit and Wood, 1982 [1].
If there were zero data noise, it would in principle be possible to flatten the wavelet amplitude spectrum over any desired frequency range and hence fully resolve the seismic reflectivity. In the presence of the inevitable data noise, however, the frequency range over which it is possible to flatten the wavelet amplitude spectrum is restricted by the noise. This is because at frequencies where the wavelet amplitude is near to the noise level applying relatively high amplification to seek to flatten the wavelet amplitude spectrum will result in the noise also being amplified.
The level and type of noise present in recorded seismic data may vary considerably from dataset to dataset, depending primarily on acquisition conditions; land seismic data generally contains a wider variety and greater levels of noise than marine seismic data. An approximate rule of thumb is that the dynamic range of unprocessed seismic data, defined as the range from the peak of the data amplitude spectrum to the average noise amplitude, is of the order of 40 dB for adequate quality marine seismic data, and is less, typically 30 dB or below, for land seismic data.
The low frequency spectrum of the wavelet is primarily a function of the acquisition parameters—the low frequency response of the seismic source, detector and recording instruments, plus, in marine seismic, the "ghost" effect related to the depth of the marine seismic source and streamer. Taken together these effects constitute a low cut filter with a cut-off point that is typically in the region of 5 to 15 Hz and a low frequency roll-off of 20 to 30 dB/octave.
The high frequency spectrum, on the other hand, is primarily determined by the loss of high frequency energy caused by scattering or absorption on propagation, collectively referred to as the "earth Q-filter". Typical recorded data, before processing, exhibits a linear logarithmic decay of amplitude versus frequency at a particular travel time, with the slope of the decay characterized by the seismic quality factor Q. Average Q values for two-way propagation from the surface to reflector are usually between 100 to 200, varying primarily with the geographical location of the survey.
In typical quality marine data with a dynamic range of 40 dB and a Q value of 150, the signal amplitude at high frequencies reaches the noise level at approximately 110 Hz for a reflection time of 1 s, and at approximately 37 Hz for a reflection time of 3 s. The high frequency cut-off occurs at a lower frequency at higher time delays in the seismic trace because these times correspond to signals that have propagated further in the Earth, and hence are relatively more significantly attenuated at the higher frequencies. In poorer quality data or for lower Q values these frequency cut-off values may be significantly reduced with an associated reduction in interpretation resolution.
The level of the data noise and the low and high frequency spectra of the wavelet are the primary factors that determine the useable range of frequencies over which wavelet inverse processing is able to flatten the wavelet amplitude spectrum. Since these properties of the recorded data may vary in an unknown manner from survey to survey, and also from trace to trace throughout a survey area, typically processing tests must be used to establish the degree of spectral flattening that is possible before the noise amplification becomes unacceptable.
It is the noise content of the data in particular that is the limiting constraint on the improvement in resolution which is achievable by wavelet inverse processing. Resolution can be further enhanced when using this approach only by processes such as common mid-point (CMP) stacking that seek to improve the relative signal to noise level of the data using well known statistical summing techniques.
There has, however, been a significant amount of research into alternative methods for extending the usable frequency range of data over the last decade or so in areas such as speech and music reproduction, telephony, loudspeaker design and audio data compression. General references for this are, for example, Aarts et al (2003) [12] and Larsen and Aarts (2004) [13]. The techniques that have been developed in those fields do however often rely on specific statistical and/or physical properties of the input and as such do not necessarily have direct applicability to seismic data; speech and music have a harmonic structure, for example, which has been exploited for bandwidth extension on both the low and high end of the input spectrum.
Mpeg decompression exploits this harmonic structure to recreate higher frequencies from low frequencies by a wavelet transform ("filterbank") method (Dietz et al, 2002 [14], Hsu et al 2006 [15]). Mpeg decompression, unlike the equivalent seismic problem, is not a "blind" technique, since information extracted during the compression phase can be used during decompression. Related wavelet transform methods have, however, been proposed for seismic bandwidth extension. Smith et al (2008) [16] seek to exploit a purported harmonic structure in seismic data caused by thin-bed interference by a wavelet transform-based generation of high frequencies; Devi and Schwab (2009) [17] similarly exploit the scaling behavior of the wavelet transform to derive higher frequency information from band-limited data. A related approach is described by Puryear and Castagna (2008) [18], who present an algorithm for calculation of bed thickness and reflection coefficients from amplitude spectra, and use this to invert wavelet transform data for layer thickness.
A different approach has been described by Portniaguine and Castagna et al (2005) [24] and Chopra et al (2006) [25] which the authors call "spectral inversion" or "thin-bed reflectivity inversion". Although not directly addressing the issue of bandwidth extension of the seismic trace as such, this derives what are termed high resolution estimates of seismic reflectivity. The authors describe their approach as "a form of sparse-spike inversion in that it outputs a sparse reflectivity series", or "a post-stack spectral inversion method". The approach appears to be a type of matching pursuits decomposition ("exponential pursuit decomposition") in which the basis functions for the decomposition are a set of positive and negative thin-layer dipoles, convolved with the seismic wavelet.
Their method is derived from earlier work by Castagna et al (2003) [19] and Portniaguine and Castagna (2004) [20], as originally proposed by Chakraborty and Okaya (1995) [21], wherein a form of high resolution spectral decomposition ("instantaneous spectral analysis") is performed using a variant of a matching pursuits algorithm; this is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,985,815 [22] and also dealt with in Castagna and Sun (2006) [23]. Several other authors have also suggested matching pursuits and related algorithms for the derivation of high resolution seismic reflectivity estimates. These include Herrmann (2003) [26], Wang (2007) [27], Broadhead and Tonellot (2010) [28] and Zhang and Castagna (2011) [29].
Although these techniques aim to derive a high resolution version of a reflectivity series they do not directly address the question of increasing the frequency content of the data itself. There therefore remains a need for new techniques for processing seismic survey data with a view to increasing the frequency content/bandwidth of the data in order to enhance the resolution of events on the seismic trace.


A tool combination includes a chamber for slidably receiving a slide, and a driving stem secured to the slide for allowing the driving stem to be received in the chamber and to be extended outward of the chamber. A securing member is pivotally coupled to the slide for moving the slide along the chamber and for securing the slide in place. The securing member includes a casing for receiving tool bits and includes a cover having a catch for securing the securing member in place. The tool combination includes a side groove for slidably receiving a knife.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tool, and more particularly to a tool combination including both screw driver and knife.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typical screw drivers include a driving stem that should be disengaged from the handle for allowing the driving stem to be engaged in the handle and for storing purposes. The knife may not be directly received in the handle. Typical screw drivers and knifes are two different tools that may not be combined together and that have never been combined together in a single tool, such that the users have to buy each of the tools.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional tools.

Tool combination having screw driver and knife