A method of braking an electric or hybrid vehicle 7 is provided. The vehicle (7) has electric regenerative brakes and friction brakes (94). In a normal braking situation regenerative brakes are applied. If a wheel (42) slip condition is sensed, a selectively operable clutch (76) tortionally connects an undriven axle (60) to the driven axles (44, 45) to alleviate the slip condition. The alleviation of the slip condition prevents the electric regenerative brakes from being shut off in favor of an antilock friction brake application.

The present invention relates generally to electric or hybrid electric vehicles. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electric or hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) having regenerative and friction brakes that utilize wheel slip data of the regeneratively braked axle to selectively tortionally connect a second axle with the first axle to extend the range of regenerative braking.
The general principle of regenerative braking is recognized by manufacturers of electric and HEVs as a way to increase the overall efficiency of the vehicle. Regenerative braking seeks to recover the kinetic energy of the vehicle which is normally dissipated as heat through a normal hydraulic friction brake system, by operating the electric motor drive as a generator to restore the generated electricity to a battery or other energy storage device. However, regenerative braking has certain limitations. The maximum amount of regenerative braking torque available is not a constant, but is a function of a normal force at a tire""s patch and a rolling surface coefficient of friction. If the regenerative brake torque demand exceeds the physics of this interface, wheel slip will be triggered. Most antilock braking systems (ABS) require that the brakes be applied and released on a given wheel at a rate that exceeds the frequency response of the typical electric motor. Many ABS require that the friction brakes be applied and released on a given wheel approximately a minimum of seven times a second. Accordingly, during an ABS incident, most electric and HEVs are programmed to shut off the regenerative braking and begin the friction braking. Shutting off the regenerative braking causes energy losses and a lowering of overall fuel economy. It would therefore be advantageous to provide a method of braking for an electric or a HEV wherein the incidents which require a termination of regenerative braking during an ABS mode of operation be minimized. This and other issues related to electric and HEVs are the subject of the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,962,969; 5,269,390; 5,294,191; 5,358,084; 5,378,053; 5,421,643; 5,450,324; 5,551,764; 5,573,312; 5,615,933; 5,632,534; 5,895,100; 6,070,689; 6,076,899; 6,086,166; and 6,099,089.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, when a regenerative braking situation occurs such as in a lift throttle or operator-signaled brake command, a motor generator regeneratively brakes the driven wheels of a primary driving axle of the vehicle. If a slip condition occurs wherein the driven wheels are locked by application of the regenerative brakes, a clutch which torsionally connects the secondary axle to the primary axle is engaged. Regenerative braking will then occur over all four wheels of the vehicle, effectively cutting in half the friction requirement for the primary driven wheels. Accordingly, in many cases the primary driven wheels will become unlocked and the ABS operation will not be required. Not using the ABS mode of operation allows regenerative braking to be maintained and accordingly, the fuel economy of the vehicle is enhanced. When the regenerative braking operation is over, the clutch between the two axles may be opened and the vehicle can continue onward in a two-wheel drive mode of operation.
An advantage of the present invention is to provide a method of regenerative braking for a four-wheel drive electric or HEV which also has conventional brakes for an antilock mode of operation.
A further advantage of the present invention is to provide a four-wheel drive vehicle which can stay in a regenerative braking operation for longer periods of time than previously possible.
Other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to persons having ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Distribution of torque when driven wheels slip during regenerative braking


An apparatus capable of assisting in controlling an electrolyte flow and an electric field distribution used for processing a substrate is provided. It includes a rigid member having a top surface of a predetermined shape and a bottom surface. The rigid member contains a plurality of channels, each forming a passage from the top surface to the bottom surface, and each allowing the electrolyte and electric field flow therethrough. A pad is attached to the rigid member via a fastener. The pad also allows for electrolyte and electric field flow therethrough to the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a highly versatile apparatus for depositing, removing, modifying, or polishing a material on a workpiece, such as a substrate. More particularly, the present invention is directed to various pad designs and structures for depositing, removing, modifying and/or polishing a material on a suitable substrate.
2. Description of Related Art
There are numerous processing steps in the fabrication of high performance integrated circuits (ICs), packages, magnetic film heads, thin film display units, and the like. One important step is to deposit, remove, or planarize a conductive or insulative material on a workpiece, such as a semiconductor substrate. Deposition of conductive materials such as copper, gold, nickel, rhodium, and their various alloys may be performed, for example, by electrodeposition.
In inlaid metal technology, a workpiece, such as a substrate 10 shown in FIG. 1a, may consist of various topographical features such as channels 14 and vias 12 etched in a suitable dielectric material 16. The surface of the etched dielectric material 16 is generally coated with a suitable adhesion/barrier film layer 18. Over the barrier layer 18, a suitable plating base layer 20, often called a "seed layer", is deposited. A conductive layer 22 is then applied over the plating base layer to fill, and preferably over-fill, the vias 12 and channels 14 etched in the dielectric material 16 as shown in FIG. 1c.
The conductive material may be, for example, Cu deposited by way of a chamber-type device 100 (generally shown in FIG. 1b). The chamber device 100 includes a deposition chamber 102, which contains an anode 104 and electrolyte 106. The anode 104 may be attached to the bottom of the chamber 102.
A holder 108 holds the workpiece, such as the substrate 10. For a detailed description of the holder, reference can be made to the assignee's co-pending application Ser. No. 09/472,523, entitled "Work Piece Carrier Head For Plating and Polishing" filed Dec. 27, 1999, the specification of which is incorporated by reference herein as non-essential matter.
For the deposition process, the substrate 10 is typically immersed in the electrolyte 106 with the aid of the holder 108, which also provides a way of electrically contacting the substrate 10. By applying a potential difference between the anode 104 and the substrate 10 (i.e., the cathode), materials may be deposited on or removed from the substrate. For example, when the anode is more positive than the substrate, copper may be deposited on the substrate 10. If the anode is more negative than the substrate, however, copper may be etched or removed from the substrate. To aid electrolyte agitation and enhance mass transfer, the substrate holder 108 may include a rotatable shaft 112 such that the substrate holder 108 and the substrate 10 can be rotated. The substrate 10 is typically spaced apart from the anode 104 at a distance of at least about 10 mm; this distance may, however, be as great as about 300 mm. The surface of the substrate 10 may contain topographic features, such as the vias 12 and channels 14 illustrated in FIG. 1a. After performing material deposition to fill the various features/cavities using electrolyte containing leveling additives, a variation in the thickness of the deposited conductive material 22 inevitably occurs over the surface of the substrate. This variation in thickness is termed "overburden" and is shown in FIG. 1c with reference to portions 22a and 22b.
After depositing the conductive material 22 on the top surface of the substrate 10, the substrate 10 is typically transferred to a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) apparatus in order to polish, planarize, or both polish and planarize the same surface. FIG. 2a illustrates one possible version of a conventional CMP apparatus 200 used to polish/planarize the substrate 10 and/or electrically isolate the deposited conductive material within the particular features located thereon. The substrate holder 208, which may be similar to the holder 108 described above, holds and positions the substrate 10 in close proximity to a belt-shaped CMP pad 214. The belt-shaped pad 214 is adapted to rotate in an endless loop fashion about rollers 216. The polishing/planarizing process occurs when the rollers 216 rotate and the pad 214 is moved with a circular motion while making contact with the surface of the substrate 10. A conventional slurry may also be applied to the pad 214 while the substrate 10 is being polished. The substrate surface after polishing is shown in FIG. 2b.
The conventional method for depositing a conductive material produces large variations in material overburden across the substrate as shown in FIG. 1c. The conventional CMP of this large overburden causes defects on the substrate 10 such as dishing 22c and dielectric erosion 16c also shown in FIG. 2b. It also is responsible for low substrate processing throughput, which is a major source of manufacturing yield loss.

Pad designs and structures for a versatile materials processing apparatus


An implementation of a technology, described herein, for facilitating watermarking of digital goods. At least one implementation, described herein, performs quantization watermarking based upon semi-global characteristics of multiple regions of the digital good. Such regions are permissively overlapping. The scope of the present invention is pointed out in the appending claims.

Digital goods are often distributed to consumers over private and public networks—such as Intranets and the Internet. In addition, these goods are distributed to consumers via fixed computer readable media, such as a compact disc (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc (DVD), soft magnetic diskette, or hard magnetic disk (e.g., a preloaded hard drive).
Unfortunately, it is relatively easy for a person to pirate the pristine digital content of a digital good at the expense and harm of the content owners—which includes the content author, publisher, developer, distributor, etc. The content-based industries (e.g., entertainment, music, film, etc.) that produce and distribute content are plagued by lost revenues due to digital piracy.
Modern digital pirates effectively rob content owners of their lawful compensation. Unless technology provides a mechanism to protect the rights of content owners, the creative community and culture will be impoverished.
"Digital goods" is a generic label for electronically stored or transmitted content. Examples of digital goods include images, audio clips, video, multimedia, software, and data. Digital goods may also be called a "digital signal," "content signal," "digital bitstream," "media signal," "digital object," "object," and the like.
Watermarking
Watermarking is one of the most promising techniques for protecting the content owner's rights of a digital good. Generally, watermarking is a process of altering the digital good such that its perceptual characteristics are preserved. More specifically, a "watermark" is a pattern of bits inserted into a digital good that may be used to identify the content owners and/or the protected rights.
Generally, watermarks are designed to be invisible or, more precisely, to be imperceptible to humans and statistical analysis tools.
A watermark embedder (i.e., encoder) is used to embed a watermark into a digital good. A watermark detector is used to detect (or extract) the watermark in the watermarked digital good. Watermark detection is often performed in real-time even on small devices.
Blind Watermarking
To detect the watermark, some watermarking techniques require access to the original unmarked digital good or to a pristine specimen of the marked digital good. Of course, these techniques are not desirable when the watermark detector is available publicly. If publicly available, then a malicious attacker may get access to the original unmarked digital good or to a pristine specimen of the marked digital good. Consequently, these types of techniques are not used for public detectors.
Alternatively, watermarking techniques are "blind." This means that they do not require access to the original unmarked digital good or to a pristine specimen of the marked digital good. Of course, these "blind" watermarking techniques are desirable when the watermark detector is publicly available.
Conventional Watermarkinig Technology
Conventional technologies for watermarking media signals rely on the imperfections of human perceptions (e.g., the human auditory system (HAS) or the human visual system (HVS)). For example, in the realm of audio signals, several conventional secret hiding techniques explore the fact that the HAS is insensitive to small amplitude changes—either in the time or frequency domains—as well as insertion of low-amplitude time-domain echoes.
The watermark can be regarded as an additive signal w, which contains the encoded and modulated watermark message b under constraints on the introduced perceptible distortions given by a mask M so that:x=s+w(M).
Commonly-used conventional watermark embedding techniques can be classified into spread-spectrum (SS) (which is often implemented using additive or multiplicative techniques) and quantization-based watermarking schemes.
Those of ordinary skill in the art are familiar with conventional techniques and technology associated with watermarks, watermark embedding, and watermark detecting.
Robustness
In most watermarking applications, the marked goods are likely to be processed in some way before it reaches the receiver of the watermarked content. The processing could be lossy compression, signal enhancement, or digital-to-analog (D/A) and analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion. An embedded watermark may unintentionally or inadvertently be impaired by such processing. Other types of processing may be applied with the explicit goal of hindering watermark reception. This is an attack on the watermark (or the watermarked good) by a so-called adversary.
In watermarking terminology, an attack may be thought of as any processing that may impair detection of the watermark or communication of the information conveyed by the watermark or intends to do so. Also, an attack may create a false alarm on an un-watermarked content to appear as if it is watermarked. The processed watermarked goods may be then called attacked goods.
Of course, key aspect of a watermarking technology is its robustness against attacks. The notion of robustness is intuitively clear to those of ordinary skill in the art: A watermark is robust if it cannot be impaired without also rendering the attacked goods less useful.
Watermark impairment can be measured by several criteria, for example: miss probability, probability of bit error, or channel capacity. For multimedia, the usefulness of the attacked data can be gauged by considering its perceptual quality or distortion. Hence, robustness may be evaluated by simultaneously considering watermark impairment and the distortion of the attacked good.
False Alarms & Misses
When watermarking, one does not want a high probability of a false alarm. That is when a watermark is detected, but none was inserted into the content by the watermarking agent. This is something like finding evidence of a crime that did not happen. Someone may be falsely accused of wrongdoing.
As the probability of false alarms increases, the confidence in the watermarking technique decreases. For example, people often ignore car alarms because they know that more often than not it is a false alarm rather than an actual car theft.
Likewise, one does not want a high probability of a miss. An event of "miss" happens when watermark is not detected (i.e., declared to be not present) although it was supposed to be detected. This is something like being unable to detect the evidence in a crime scene either by oversight or inability to do so. Because of this, a wrongdoing may never be properly investigated. As the probability of misses increases, the confidence in the watermarking technique decreases.
Ideally, the probabilities of a false alarm and a miss are zero. In reality, a compromise is often made between them. Typically, a decrease in the probability of one increases the probability of the other. For example, as the probability of false alarm is decreased, the probability of a miss increases.
Consequently, it is desirable to minimizes both while finding a proper balance between them.

Watermarking via quantization of statistics of overlapping regions


This invention discloses an adaptive equalizer disposed on the front end of a receiver to improve the quality of a transmission signal comprising a data signal from a transmission cable. The signal compensation of the adaptive equalizer uses a long T as its observation unit when the transmission cable is idle, and uses a short T as its observation unit when the transmission cable is transmitting data signals. This invention further discloses a baseline wander compensator worked with the adaptive equalizer during the transmitting data period of the transmission cable. The disclosed adaptive equalizer can achieve its optimal processing effects.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a receiving structure of a data communication system. More particularly, the invention relates to an adaptive equalizer provided on the front end of a receiver that compensates for signal attenuation and signal degradation in the receiving end of a data communication system.
2. Related Art
Data communications refer to the information transmission on a communication medium. For example, the communication medium is air in a wireless communication system, optical fibers in an optical communication network, and coaxial cables in a wire communication system. The transmitted information on such communication media can be digital or analog data.
In a wire communication system, the data transmission of an ordinary wire communication device requires a transmitter 1. The transmitter 1 is connected to a receiver 2 through a transmission cable 3. As shown in FIG. 1, the Ethernet has a transmission cable 3 shorter than 100 m. In an equivalent circuit of FIG. 1, the transmission cable 3 can be viewed as a low-pass filter. Therefore, the low frequency threshold of the transmission cable 3 will lose data. For example, a long continuous and identical transmission signal is in fact a low frequency analog signal, which is cut off by transformers during transmissions. To alleviate this margin effect, the transmitted signal pulses should avoid low frequency components as possible. However, the transmitted signal on the transmission cable 3 still contain low frequency components actually, which results in low frequency degradation on the receiver 2, so that the received signals have the so-called baseline wander effect.
The baseline wander effect refers to the phenomenon that the ground level of the transmission cable 3 deviates from the ideal ground level. When the baseline wander effect happens, the data transmitted on the transmission cable 3 contains DC components. Therefore, the front end of the receiver 2 is further installed a baseline wander compensator to compensate for the signal losses. In the prior art, the baseline wander compensator always detects the incoming signal from the transmission cable 3 and performs baseline wander compensations.
Moreover, to couple different transmission cables 3 to the receiver 2, the front end of the receiver 2 also contains an equalizer with gain control to provide appropriate amplitude and/or phase compensations for the incoming signals. According to the prior art, the equalizer of the receiving end takes a long T period of time as its observation unit, which is usually 500 ns and the worst case is 57 bit time, as shown in FIG. 2. When the high frequency signal is not good, the equalizer still uses long T as its observation unit which is not able to effectively compensate for the high frequency component. The signal jitters become worse. Furthermore, the prior art simultaneously activates an equalizer and a baseline wander compensation circuit at the front end of the receiver 2. After the incoming signals are detected, the equalizer and the baseline wander compensation circuit are simultaneously enabled for operations, so that the two compensation devices work independently. Therefore, the gain control of the equalizer using long T as its observation unit and the compensation effects of the baseline wander compensator also using long T as its observation unit may cancel with each other and are thus unable to achieve the expected compensation effects.
Accordingly, the invention provides a receiver that determines when the equalizer and the baseline wander compensator should perform compensations for incoming signals by judging whether the incoming signal amplitude reaches a predetermined threshold and a compensation method used on the receiver. Thus, the invention can increase the efficiency of the equalizer and the baseline wander compensator.


A method for fabricating a semiconductor structure having selective dopant regions in a semiconductor substrate having trenches formed therein I disclosed. In one embodiment, by a dopant source of an auxiliary structure, parts of the semiconductor structure which lie within the trenches are doped by means of a drive-in. In one embodiment, the semiconductor structure is patterned in planar regions outside the trenches and selectively doped by an implantation process.

The invention relates to a method for fabricating a semiconductor structure having selective dopant regions.
Semiconductor technologies for applications appertaining to automotive, industrial and consumer electronics are distinguished by a multiplicity of semiconductor components for realizing different types of circuit blocks such as, for instance, analog, digital or power circuit blocks and are known as BCD, SPT or else SMART technology.
Some of these semiconductor technologies have only a single polysilicon layer having a specific layer conductivity for realizing components, in order not to drive up the costs of a mask set through additional masks for patterning further polysilicon layers. A polysilicon layer serves for example for forming gate electrode structures, capacitance electrode structures or else diode structures.
A technology with a single polysilicon layer having a specific conductivity entails the disadvantage, however, that it is not possible to form diodes insulated from the substrate and made from polysilicon. However, diodes of this type enable extensive advantages, for instance with regard to the design of charge pumps. With a single polysilicon layer having a specific conductivity it is likewise not possible to realize a broader range of resistances, e.g., resistances insulated from the substrate and made from polysilicon on a small area. However, flexibility with regard to the value of the conductivity and the conductivity type of polysilicon enables further advantages with regard to the match behavior of the threshold voltages of NMOS (n-type metal oxide semiconductor) and PMOS (p-type metal oxide semiconductor) field effect transistors without additional implantations (e.g., channel implantation). An implantation of dopants through a gate electrode structure right into a channel region of a planar MOSFET could likewise be avoided.
For these and other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.

Method for fabricating a semiconductor structure having selective dopant regions


Exemplary sanitary soap refilling systems and methods are disclosed herein. An exemplary refill refilling system includes a housing, a pump located within the housing, and a bulk storage tank connector. The bulk storage tank connector having a liquid outlet and an air inlet. A liquid inlet conduit is in fluid communication with the pump the liquid outlet. A refill connector is included. The refill connector has a liquid inlet and an air outlet. The refill connector air outlet and the bulk storage tank connector air inlet are in fluid communication with one another. The refill liquid inlet is in fluid communication with the pump.

Refillable dispensers are known and are commonly used. In such systems, a user typically opens up the reservoir, by, for example, removing the pumping mechanism and spout to expose an opening to the reservoir, opening up a bulk refill container and pouring fluid from the bulk refill container into the opening to fill the storage reservoir. These systems are often messy and in addition, provide pathways for germs, bacteria and mold to enter the dispenser systems. Accordingly, the refillable dispensers may inadvertently be dispense germs, bacteria and/or mold along with the soap or other fluid being dispensed.

Refilling systems, refillable containers and method for refilling containers


A navigation system is described which includes a navigation processor, an inertial navigation unit configured to provide a position solution to the navigation processor, and a digital elevation map. The described navigation system also includes a radar altimeter having a terrain correlation processor configured to receive map data from the digital elevation map and provide a position solution based on radar return data to the navigation processor. A map quality processor within the navigation system is configured to receive map data from the digital elevation map and provide a map quality factor to the navigation processor which weights the position solution from the terrain correlation processor according to the map quality factor and determines a position solution from the weighted terrain correlation processor position solution and the position solution from the inertial navigation unit.

This invention relates generally to navigation of air vehicles, and more specifically, to methods and systems for enhancing accuracy of terrain aided navigation systems.
Precision terrain aided navigation (PTAN) correlates interferometric Doppler radar ground return data with a digital elevation map (DEM), resulting in position updates that are provided to a navigation system. Typical navigation systems incorporate at least two sources of navigation data to provide a total position solution. For example, position data from an inertial navigation system (INS), can be combined with position data from PTAN to provide a total position solution. The radar updates from PTAN are utilized to subtract out drift errors that occur within inertial sensor systems like the INS.
Accuracy of the PTAN system relies somewhat on the type of terrain features over which the aircraft is flying. For example, PTAN provides a very low accuracy update over featureless terrain such as water, or flat desert since it is difficult to correlate the featureless terrain with the data stored in the DEM. Conversely, high levels of accuracy are provided over mountainous terrain by a PTAN system because of the ability to correlate the rapidly changing terrain features with the DEM data. Urban areas are similar to mountainous terrain with respect to accuracy of the PTAN system, specifically, the existence of terrain elevation changes as the aircraft moves along its flight path allows for easy correlation with data stored in the DEM.

Methods and systems for enhancing accuracy of terrain aided navigation systems


Various embodiments of an apparatus and method for lifting an imaging head are disclosed.

In some applications, print quality may be dependent upon the spacing between an imaging head and media being printed upon. In some instances, the media may be abnormally thick, may include multiple sheets or may be irregular or bent. This may result in the media crashing into the imaging head and potentially damaging the imaging head.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The present invention relates to a portable calf dryer apparatus comprising a wheeled container having two compartments, a calf-receiving compartment for drying and warming a calf and a heater unit-storing compartment separate from the calf-receiving compartment for housing either a battery-operated or electrically-powered heater unit means which generates heated air which passes through a vent into the calf-receiving compartment to dry and warm the calf therein and for separating the calf from the heater unit means so that the calf isn't burned by the heater unit means. The apparatus further comprises a removable bottom wall which functions as a tray to receive the dropping from the calf, which drops through a mesh-like platform removeably suspended inside the calf-receiving compartment, upon which a calf is placed for drying and warming to regain its energy, and also comprising a canvas hood removeably mounted above the calf-receiving compartment to retain the heated air inside the compartment and to shelter the calf from the elements of the environment while the calf dries and warms. The portable calf dryer apparatus can be operatively used at and conveniently moved to any located as desired by the user.

This invention relates to a portable calf dryer apparatus for drying in particular new-born calves and calves infected with disease which dehydrates the calves, to restore energy to the calves.
Veterinarians have documented that, to have healthy calves, new-born calves should be drinking milk from the mother cows within four hours of birth. New-born calves covered with their after-birth and wet from lying upon the snow-covered ground remain in fetal positions a lot longer than if they are dried after which they are more apt to stand on their legs and feed from the mother cows. The prior art describes mainly stationary structures which enclose about the animal causing anxiety to the animal and also describes apparatuses which need to be connected to an outside dryer units which are not conveniently contained within the dryer apparatuses.
One known prior art is a PET DRYING ENCLOSURE, U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,636, comprising a piped base member hingedly connected near a center thereof, a collapsible drying case connected to the piped base member and forming an enclosure in which the animal is placed for drying.
Another known prior art is an ANIMAL DRYER, U.S. Pat. No. 4,314,410, comprising an enclosure having a lower section having a floor and side walls and conduit means extending through a wall thereof, through which heated air is forced into the interior of the enclosure, and further having an upper cage-like section to enclose over the animal, and further having an inner housing having a plurality of perforations through a floor thereof, through which heated air enters the inner housing to dry the animal.
Another known prior art is a PET DRYER APPARATUS, U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,572, comprising a rigid planar platform and legs supporting said platform, and comprising a rigid framework extending above and over the platform, and comprising a transparent cover sheet surrounding and enclosing about the framework, and comprising a positioning seat and strap to effectively sedate the animal, and comprising a ventilation port extending upward through the platform, through which heated air is forced from an outside drying unit connected to the ventilation port via a tube.
As such, none of the prior art is portable, has animal droppings disposal means, is constructed to protect the animal from environmental conditions, necessarily contains a batterypowered or electrically-powered space heater contained therein, and has an easily removable cover, all of which describe the present invention. There is a definite need for a new and better dryer apparatus designed specifically for drying calves.


Herein described is a method and system for generating an improved video output when deinterlacing pull-down video. The improvement results from reducing cross-chroma artifacts. In a representative embodiment, the method comprises first computing an adjusted chroma of a present pixel from a present top field or present bottom field of film sourced video as a function of an execution stage field phase. The method further comprises second computing a chroma of an absent pixel vertically adjacent to the present pixel, wherein the second computing is performed as a function of the execution stage field phase. In a representative embodiment, a deinterlacer video engine and a local storage circuitry process the 3:2 pull-down video by applying various equations for performing the first computing and the second computing. An adjusted chroma and an absent pixel chroma is computed for each present pixel at each execution stage field phase.

When an analog video decoder decodes a composite video signal, the decoder may be unable to successfully determine whether the signal is luma or chroma. If the video decoder interprets the signal as chroma when in fact it was luma, an artifact known as cross-chroma results. Cross-chroma results in characteristic rainbow patterns on the screen. Given the alternating phase of a chroma subcarrier between subsequent fields, localized features on the screen can result in alternating and opposite cross-chroma colors.
If the source material is a movie, often 3:2 pulldown has been performed. If this is detected, it is known between which fields motion is possible. Between fields where it is known that no motion is possible, filtering may be used to cancel out the alternating opposite cross-chroma. However, cross-chroma may still be present.
The limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Method and system for reducing composite video cross-chroma artifacts in movie material for a deinterlacer


Composite film structures exhibit a predetermined finished color tone comprised of a transparent film layer which exhibits a color deficiency as compared to the finished color tone, and a pigment which is visually associated with, and satisfies the color deficiency of, the film layer. Most preferably, the pigment is provided as a homogenous dispersion in a transparent color-matching layer positioned adjacent to the film layer. Thus, when the film and color-matching layers are viewed collectively as a unit, the perceived color tone will be that of the finished predetermined color tone. That is, the color-matching layer provides visually an additive effect on the perceived color of the composite film structure.

Transparent colored films are employed in a number of end-use applications, for example, as window films, light filters and the like. When employed as window films in the building and automotive industries, the colored transparent window films are typically adhered to glass window surfaces via a suitable adhesive so as to reduce the amount of near infra-red, ultra-violet and/or visible radiation entering the building or automotive interior space. Such solar films therefore assist the occupants by providing less glare, reducing interior heating effects and the like.
Colored transparent films are typically provided by dyeing a suitable thermoplastic (preferably polyester) film substrate as is disclosed more completely in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,989,453; 3,943,105; 3,932,126; 4,050,892 and 4,047,889 (the entire content of each being incorporated expressly hereinto by reference). Thus, the thermoplastic film substrate may be preconditioned to enhance affinity to solvent or disperse dyes, followed by contacting the preconditioned film substrate with an organic dye-containing paste or solution.
Gray-toned (i.e., so-called "smoke-colored") transparent films are especially desirable in the market and are produced by suitable dyeing of the film substrates using the necessary proportions of red, blue and yellow organic dyes. One problem which these conventional gray-toned transparent films experience, however, is that the yellow dye component is more susceptible to light degradation as compared to the red and blue dye components. Thus, over prolonged exposure to light, the yellow dye component of the gray-toned dyed film tends to decompose (fade) thereby changing the visual appearance of the film undesirably to a more purple color tone due to the then more dominant presence of the red and blue dyes remaining in the dyed film.
It would therefore be especially desirable if colored (dyed) transparent thermoplastic films could be rendered more light stable thereby minimizing (or preventing entirely) fading and/or changing color tones over time. It is towards fulfilling such a need that the present invention is directed.
Broadly, the present invention is embodied in composite film structures exhibiting a predetermined finished color tone comprised of a transparent film layer which exhibits a color deficiency as compared to the finished color tone, and a pigment which is visually associated with, and satisfies the color deficiency of, the film layer. Most preferably, the pigment is provided as a homogenous dispersion in a transparent color-matching layer positioned adjacent to the film layer. Thus, when the film and color-matching layers are viewed collectively as a unit, the perceived color tone will be that of the finished predetermined color tone. In other words, the color-matching layer provides visually an additive effect on the perceived color of the composite film structure.
As a practical matter, therefore, the color deficiency of the film layer can be selected to be that particular dye which is more light unstable and thereby more likely to degrade over time when exposed to light. The pigment in the color-matching layer (which would inherently be more color stable as compared to the dye) may then be selected to satisfy the color deficiency in the film layer. As a result, a more light stable transparent color film composite structure ensues (i.e., due to the lesser amount (if any) of more light unstable dye(s) in the film and the greater amount of more light stable pigments in the adjacent color-matching layer).
These and other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more clear after careful consideration is given to the following detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments.

Light-stable colored transparent composite films


Anodic oxide coatings that provide corrosion resistance to parts having protruding features, such as edges, corners and convex-shaped features, are described. According to some embodiments, the anodic oxide coatings include an inner porous layer and an outer porous layer. The inner layer is adjacent to an underlying metal substrate and is formed under compressive stress anodizing conditions that allow the inner porous layer to be formed generally crack-free. In this way, the inner porous layer acts as a barrier that prevents water or other corrosion-inducing agents from reaching the underlying metal substrate. The outer porous layer can be thicker and harder than the inner porous layer, thereby increasing the overall hardness of the anodic oxide coating.

When a metal part having convex edges or protruding features is anodized, the resulting anodic oxide film can exhibit small cracks along the convex edges and protruding features. These cracks can compromise the protective nature of the oxide film by providing pathways for water or other corrosion-inducing agents to reach the underlying metal part, thereby leaving the metal part susceptible to corrosion.
Certain high-strength aluminum alloys suffer from poor oxide adhesion when anodized. Alloying elements such as zinc accumulate at the interface between the metal and the oxide, and when combined with sulfur from the anodizing electrolyte, the zinc weakens the adhesion of the oxide. Regions of the oxide coating thus chip off relatively easily when mechanical stress is applied through incidents such as surface impacts. These chips expose the substrate, compromising the protective nature of the oxide film by providing pathways for water or other corrosion-inducing agents to reach the underlying metal part, thereby leaving the metal part susceptible to corrosion. The chips also constitute obvious cosmetic defects. What are needed therefore are improved anodic oxide films and anodizing techniques.

Corrosion resistance for anodized parts having convex surface features


A processing apparatus comprises a resist coating machine for coating resist on the surface of a substrate, a resist removing machine for removing the unnecessary resist stuck to the peripheral portion of the substrate carried out of the resist coating machine, and a transport arm for transporting the substrate from the resist coating machine to the resist removing machine, wherein the resist removing machine comprises a substrate table on which the substrate brought in by the transport arm is placed, a nozzle for spraying a solvent on the peripheral portion to remove the unnecessary resist stuck to the peripheral portion of the substrate on the substrate table; a discharge machine for discharging the solvent used to dissolve and remove the unnecessary resist and the dissolved and removed resist, and an exhaust machine for exhausting the atmosphere under the substrate table downward.

This invention relates to a processing apparatus for removing a remaining processing agent from the edge portion of a substrate, such as an LCD substrate or a semiconductor wafer.
In the manufacture of liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) or semiconductors, lithography processing is carried out to form a resist film pattern on the top surface of an LCD substrate or a semiconductor wafer. The lithography processing includes various processing steps, including the washing of a substrate, the drying of the substrate, the application of resist to the surface of the substrate, the exposure of a photosensitive film, and development. For example, after a substrate has been washed, it is subjected to an adhesion process. After the resulting substrate has been cooled, photoresist, a type of resist, is applied to the substrate to form a photosensitive film on the surface of the substrate. After the substrate has been heated in a baking process, an exposure machine or optical stepper exposes the photosensitive film to form a specific pattern. After a developer has been applied to the exposed surface of the substrate and the pattern has been developed, the developer is rinsed in a rinse solution, which completes the developing process.
In such a lithography process, the process of applying resist uses a spin coating method or a spray method. When resist is applied by these methods, the film thickness immediately after the application is uniform. After the rotation has been stopped and centrifugal force has not been exerted, or as time passes, the effect of surface tension permits the resist to get thicker at the substrate peripheral portion. There may be a case where the resist shaken off by rotation will fly to the back of the substrate and stick to unexpected portions. Such a non-uniform film formed at the periphery of the substrate and the resist stuck to the back contribute to the generation of particles in subsequent processes, including the process of transporting the substrate. The resist stuck to the back of the substrate also contribute to soiling the substrate transporting machine.
To avoid these problems in the prior art, the process of removing the unnecessary resist stuck to the periphery and back of the substrate is carried out after resist has been applied to the surface of the substrate. The removal process is achieved by moving a nozzle along the periphery of the substrate, supplying a resist solvent from the nozzle, and simultaneously sucking the dissolved resist by the supply of the solvent, thereby removing the resist.
Since generally used solvents are highly volatile, removal of the unnecessary resist using a solvent causes the fear that the solvent will evaporate into the surrounding atmosphere and worsen the environment. There is a possibility that the solvent evaporated in the surrounding atmosphere will have an adverse effect on the substrate and related things in the remaining processes. With a processing system for subjecting a substrate to a lithography process, to prevent such a solvent vapor from leaking out into the surrounding atmosphere, a fan filter unit is provided in the upper part of the apparatus to form a down flow. Just providing such a fan filter unit cannot prevent the solvent vapor completely from leaking out.


Disclosed are a double water pipe manufactured via hydroforming and a method of manufacturing the same. The method includes: inserting an inner pipe into an outer pipe made of steel, the inner pipe being made of a corrosion resistant material selected from among stainless steel, titanium and aluminum, and having a smaller outer diameter than an inner diameter of the outer pipe; placing the outer pipe on a die unit and sealing opposite ends of the die unit with sealing members each having a through-hole connected to a fluid supply unit for supplying a fluid to the inner pipe; supplying the fluid to the inner pipe to perform plastic expansion of the inner pipe and elastic expansion of the outer pipe; and discharging the fluid from the inner pipe to allow frictional coupling between the inner pipe and the outer pipe through elastic restoration of the outer pipe.

Water pipes refer to pipes, such as pipes for waterworks, drainage, fire protection, and the like, through which water is transferred.
Typical water pipes are generally prepared using steel pipes. However, since water flows through the water pipe, a steel-based water pipe inevitably suffers from corrosion of an inner surface thereof.
To solve such a problem, highly corrosion-resistant materials, such as aluminum, stainless steel, and the like, are often used for water pipes but have problems in terms of high cost and low strength. Further, a pipe coated with a highly corrosion resistant material on an inner surface thereof can be used for water pipes but suffers from easy separation of the coated material according to use conditions.
Thus, in consideration of manufacturing cost, corrosion resistance, outer strength, and the like, there is a need for a double water pipe, in which an inner side of the water pipe is coated with a corrosion resistant material such as aluminum, stainless steel, or the like, and an outer side of the water pipe is formed of typical steel.
Generally, such a double water pipe may be manufactured using a bonding agent filling process or a shrink fitting process.
In the bonding agent filling process, a bonding agent or synthetic resin is provided to a space between the inner pipe and the outer pipe to couple the inner pipe to the outer pipe. This process has a problem in that performance of coupling the inner pipe and the outer pipe is deteriorated due to chemical variation of the bonding agent or synthetic resin according to temperature or other conditions.
Further, the shrink fitting process refers to a method of heating or cooling the inner pipe or the outer pipe. In the method of manufacturing a double pipe via the shrink fitting process, expensive heat treatment equipment is used and a long double pipe cannot be manufactured to have a uniform bonding surface only through heat treatment.
Therefore, there is a need for a technique for manufacturing a water pipe of a double-pipe structure while providing excellent coupling performance and ensuring uniform bonding at a bonded interface.

Water pipe for which hydroforming is employed, and a production method therefor


A charging device includes a charging member disposed opposite to a surface of an image carrier. The image carrier is charged by applying a voltage to the charging member, and the charging member includes a substrate and a resistor layer thereon. The resistor layer is disposed with two spacers contacting with the image carrier, so that a gap is created between the image carrier and the resistor layer between the two spacers, wherein width variation of the gap with time is prevented. The end portions of the resistor layer of the charging member protrude above the resistor layer between them, and the spacers are constituted by protrudent fractions of the end portions of the resistor layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charging device for charging an image carrier, a process cartridge incorporating the charging device, and an image forming apparatus incorporating the charging device.
2. Description of the Related Art
One type of image forming apparatus that charges an image carrier with a charging device, forms an electrostatic latent image on the charged image carrier and then visualizes the electrostatic latent image as a toner image is well known in the prior art. Such an image forming apparatus may constitute an electronic copy machine, a facsimile machine, a printer, or a composite machine that has at least two functions mentioned above. A well-known charging device used in such an image forming apparatus is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. Hei 5-27555, including a charging member that is disposed opposite to an image carrier and applied with a voltage for charging the latter. The charging operation is effected by a discharge between the charging member and the image carrier. A charging member used in such a charging device is disposed opposite to the image carrier, and generally comprises a conductive substrate and a resistor layer thereon. The end areas of the resistor layer are disposed with spacers contacting with the image carrier, so that a small gap is created between the image carrier and the resistor layer between the spacers. Since the portion of the resistor layer opposite to the image carrier is located apart from the surface of the image carrier with a small gap between them, it is possible to reduce contamination on the surface of the resistor layer that is conventionally caused by contact between the image carrier and said portion of the resistor layer. Meanwhile, the aforementioned charging device is advantageous over those using Corona dischargers because the former generate less ozone and allow the use of a lower voltage applied to the charging member.
In the charging device used in the prior art, the end areas of the resistor layer are adhered with gap tapes by means of an adhesive. The gap tapes contacting with the image carrier so that a small gap is created between the surface of the image carrier and the resistor layer between the gap tapes. Though the gap tapes can serve as spacers, it is noted that the use of gap tapes causes the following problems.
The width of the small gap between the surface of the image carrier and the resistor layer between the spacers is preferably held constant for a long time. For example, as the width of the small gap continuously decreases, the resistor layer between the spacers will come into contact with the surface of the image carrier. Therefore, some contaminants like toners are adhered to the resistor layer, and the charging member is contaminated. Consequently, the charging characteristics for the image carrier are altered to cause abnormal electrification, and the quality of the toner image formed on the image carrier is deteriorated. On the contrary, as the width of the small gap continuously increases, abnormal discharge will occur to cause poor electrification of the image carrier, and the quality of the toner image therefore is deteriorated.
Moreover, the gap tapes are easily peeled off and damaged as subjected to an external force because they are merely adhered on the surface of the resistor layer. As the gap tapes are damaged like this, the width of the small gap between the surface of the image carrier and the resistor layer between the gap tapes is changed, and abnormal electrification of the image carrier is caused deteriorating the image quality.
Furthermore, since the gap tapes adhered to the surface of the resistor layer of the charging member with an adhesive are pressed on the image carrier and the image carrier comprises a hard material, a large pressure is imposed on the adhesive. Therefore, the adhesive is easily extruded from between the resistor layer and the gap tapes. Consequently, a small portion of the extreme small amount of toner on the surface of the image carrier is adhered to the extruded adhesive, and the thickness of the toner adhered to the adhesive increases time by time. As the thickness is eventually larger than the total thickness of the gap tapes and the adhesive under it, the toner contacts with the image carrier. Therefore, the width of the small gap is affected by the adhered toners to be overly large, and poor electrification of the image carrier is caused deteriorating the image quality.

Charging device, process cartridge and image forming apparatus


An approximation of square root's reciprocal is indexed by a table information storing means taking high-order positions of a 2-bit normalized operand output from a normalizing circuit as an address. A 0th partial residue as being a normalized operand is multiplied by an output of a residue holding circuit by a multiplying circuit to find a partial square root value. The partial square root values obtained at each iteration and having no bit-overlap are held in a plurality of partial square root value holding circuits as a merged square root value. A residue at the next step in an iterative computation is obtained by subtracting a product of the merged square root value times the partial square root value from the residue by an inverting circuit, a multiplicand generator and a (R+S.times.T+T) operation unit.

This invention pertains to a square root operation device in a data processor.
Generally, the Newton-Raphson method is the basis of many of square root operation devices. The process of finding the square root of a numeric value A by this method is first to obtain 1/.sqroot.A, thereafter the obtained 1/.sqroot.A being multiplied by A to produce .sqroot.A. The Newton-Raphson method obtains 1/.sqroot.A through a converging calculation. In such a converging calculation, it is known that the closer the initial value of a reciprocal comes to a true value, the lower the number of iteration required to be carried out until a convergent condition has been reached is. Japanese Patent Pub. No. 2-25924 discloses a high-speed square root operation device, according to which a result can be reached after about three to four converging calculations.
However, in such a prior art square root operation device by the Newton-Raphson method, the significand part of a floating-point number input operand is supplied to a multiplying circuit and serves therein as a multiplicand and a multiplier. Because of this, a 53.times.53 bit multiplying circuit corresponding to the bit length of the significand part provided with a leading bit is required if the square root of an IEEE standard double-precision floating-point number is to be found. If multiplication instructions and square root operation instructions are not carried out together, no problems will arise, and even though a multiplying circuit for carrying out a multiplication instruction is used for carrying out a square root operation instruction, no difficulties will arise, either. If there is no data interdependence between multiplication and square root operation instructions, to carry out both of the instructions at the same time requires a 53.times.53 bit multiplying circuit used for square root operations, which cause such a problem that hardware materials greatly increase.
The present invention was made to provide a square root operation device which applies, as a bit length of a multiplier, an operand length for fixed-point numbers, or a multiplying circuit smaller than the bit length of a significand part for floating-point numbers.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A multi-party control unit (MCU) generates, based on audio data streams that represent sounds associated terminal devices, a mixed audio data stream. In addition, the MCU modifies the mixed mono audio data to steganographically embed sub-streams that include representations of the mono audio data streams. A terminal device receives the modified mixed audio data stream. When the terminal device is configured for stereo playback, the terminal device performs an inverse steganographic process to extract, from the mixed audio data stream, the sub-streams. The terminal device generates and outputs multi-channel audio data based on the extracted sub-streams and the mixed audio data stream. When the terminal device is not configured for stereo playback, the terminal device outputs sound based on the mixed audio data stream without extracting the embedded sub-streams.

A teleconference generally involves establishing telecommunications connections with three or more terminal devices used by participants of the teleconference. For ease of explanation, the terminal devices may be denoted as terminal devices A, B and C. Generally, one of the participants, such as the user of terminal device A, initiates the teleconference by conferencing in the other participants, e.g., users of terminal devices B and C. A conference management device manages the conference. The conference management device may also be referred to as a multiparty control unit (MCU) or, alternatively, as a mixing bridge. The MCU may be located in a service provider network hosting the teleconference.
The MCU may decode audio data streams received at the MCU from the terminal devices and sum audio waveforms represented by two of the three received audio data streams to generate mixed monoaural (i.e., mono) audio waveforms. The MCU may encode the mixed monoaural audio waveforms to generate mixed mono data streams, transmitting the mixed mono data streams to respective ones of the terminal devices.
For example, the MCU may receive and decode audio data streams from terminal devices A, B and C. The MCU generates three mixed audio data streams based on the received audio data streams. The first mixed audio data stream represents a monaural mix of sounds detected by terminal devices A and B (i.e., A+B). The second mixed audio data stream represents a monaural mix of sounds detected by terminal devices A and C (i.e., A+C). The third mixed audio data stream represents a monaural mix of sounds detected by terminal devices B and C (i.e., B+C). The MCU transmits the first mixed audio data stream to terminal device C, transmits the second mixed audio data stream to terminal device B, and transmits the third mixed audio data stream to terminal device A. Terminal devices A, B, and C decode the mixed audio data streams and generate sound based on (i.e., play back) the mixed audio data streams.
Recently, MCUs and terminal devices have been developed that support three-dimensional (3D) audio in teleconferencing. In 3D audio, the MCU processes the audio data streams received from the terminal devices to generate mixed stereo audio data streams. Each of the mixed audio stereo data streams may represent sound having two or more (e.g., a left and a right) channels. The MCU may transmit these mixed stereo audio data streams to appropriate one of the terminal devices. Each of the terminal devices may play back the mixed stereo audio data streams on two or more speakers. Because of head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) applied by the MCU to the stereo audio data streams, users of the terminal devices may perceive the speech of users of the other terminal devices to come from various points in space. For example, a user of terminal device A may perceive the speech of a user of terminal device B to come from a point in space to the left of the user of terminal device A and may perceive speech of a user of terminal device C to come from a point in space to the right of the user of terminal device A. Spatially separating the voices of users in this manner may help the users to determine who is speaking during the teleconference, thereby facilitating communication among the participants of the 3D audio teleconference.

Teleconferencing using steganographically-embedded audio data


An exoskeleton apparatus includes a base unit, a support unit, and upper and lower arm units. The support unit is rotatable about a vertical first axis relative to the base unit. The upper arm unit includes a linking axle, a main arm that has a connecting end rotatable about a horizontal second axis, and a linkage mechanism for rotating the linking axle relative to the main arm about a horizontal third axis. The lower arm unit is rotatable relative to the upper arm unit, and includes a lower arm set co-rotatably coupled to the linking axle, a hand-receiving seat rotatably connected to the lower arm set, and a lower arm receiving seat connected to the hand-receiving seat, and a drive member for rotating the hand-receiving seat about a horizontal fourth axis.

A conventional exoskeleton apparatus for limb rehabilitation, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,017,271 B2, includes a wall, a horizontally-extending beam mounted to the wall, a first motor disposed at an end of the beam, a horizontal rod driven by the first motor to rotate about a vertical first axis relative to the beam, a vertically-extending hinged element pivotally connected to an end of the horizontal rod, a second motor disposed at a bottom portion of the hinged element, a support member driven by the second motor to rotate relative to the hinged element about a horizontal second axis which is perpendicular to the first axis, a slide member disposed to be movable in a lengthwise direction of the support member, a C-shaped frame connected to the slide member, a third motor for driving rotation of the C-shaped frame, a lower arm positioning member pivotally connected to the C-shaped frame, and a fourth motor for driving rotation of the lower arm positioning member. The conventional exoskeleton apparatus is capable of providing a six-degree-of-freedom exoskeleton mechanism for rehabilitation purpose. However, since the beam, the horizontal rod, and the hinged element are disposed above the scapula, the humerous, and the shoulder joint of a user, the above-mentioned components of the conventional exoskeleton apparatus may undesirably obstruct arm movement of the user during rehabilitation. Moreover, the positions of the components of the conventional exoskeleton apparatus have to be precisely adjusted to suit users of different body sizes.
Another conventional exoskeleton apparatus, as disclosed in WO2013186705A2, is portable and can be worn by a user as a backpack. This conventional exoskeleton apparatus includes a multi-linkage mechanism that mimics shoulder joint, that is driven by a motor, and that provides a four-degree-of-freedom exoskeleton mechanism for rehabilitation purpose. However, the arm length of such conventional exoskeleton apparatus is fixed and cannot be adjusted for users of different body sizes, and the multi-linkage mechanism has a relatively complex structure and cannot be adjusted for both left arm use and right arm use.
Yet another conventional exoskeleton apparatus, as disclosed in WO2015048688 A1, includes amounting seat, a horizontal rod connected to the mounting seat, a first motor for driving rotation of the horizontal rod relative to the mounting seat, a vertical rod connected to the horizontal rod, a second motor for driving up-and-down swinging movement of the vertical rod relative to the horizontal rod, an inner linking rod connected to the vertical rod, and an outer linking rod pivotally connected to the inner linking rod. Even though such conventional exoskeleton apparatus can provide a three-degree-of-freedom exoskeleton mechanism, the conventional exoskeleton apparatus is relatively bulky in size since the distance between the center of rotation of the apparatus and the center of rotation of the shoulder joint of a user is relatively large. Moreover, the outer linking rod is provided with a handgrip that provides a two-degree-of-freedom mechanism at an end thereof, thus the exact position of the hand and arm of the user cannot be determined.

Exoskeleton apparatus for limb rehabilitation


Virtual channels are used to improve quality of service through a large port count switch. Data frames are sent from one small switch to another small switch within the large port count switch on virtual channels. The use of virtual channels helps prevent congestion caused by a first external source device sending data to a first external destination device from affecting a second external source device sending data to a second external destination device.

A. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to network switching devices and more particularly to Fibre Channel switching devices.
B. Background of the Invention
As the result of continuous advances in technology, particularly in the area of networking such as the Internet, there is an increasing demand for communications bandwidth. For example, the transmission of data over a telephone company's trunk lines, the transmission of images or video over the Internet, the transfer of large amounts of data as might be required in transaction processing, or videoconferencing implemented over a public telephone network typically require the high speed transmission of large amounts of data. Such applications create a need for data centers to be able to quickly provide their servers with large amounts of data from data storage. As such data transfer needs become more prevalent, the demand for high bandwidth and large capacity in data storage will only increase.
Fibre Channel is a transmission medium that is well-suited to meet this increasing demand, and the Fibre Channel family of standards (developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)) is one example of a standard which defines a high speed communications interface for the transfer of large amounts of data via connections between a variety of hardware devices, including devices such as personal computers, workstations, mainframes, supercomputers, and storage devices. The Fibre Channel family of standards includes FC-PH (ANSI X3.230-1994), FC-PH-Amendment 1 (ANSI X3.230-1994/AM 1-1996), FC-PH-2 (ANSI X3.297-1997), FC-PH-3 (ANSI X3.303-1998), FC-SW (ANSI NCITS 321-1998), and FC-FG (ANSI X3.289-1996), which are fully incorporated by reference. Use of Fibre Channel is proliferating in many applications, particularly client/server applications that demand high bandwidth and low latency I/O. Examples of such applications include mass storage, medical and scientific imaging, multimedia communications, transaction processing, distributed computing and distributed database processing applications.
In one aspect of the Fibre Channel standard, communication between devices occurs through one or more Fibre Channel switches. With Fibre Channel switches having large port counts, large amounts of data can pass through the switch and congestion can result. If congestion occurs within the Fibre Channel switch, communication slows and performance suffers.
Accordingly it is desirable to provide a large port count switch with little congestion.

Quality of service using virtual channel translation


A GTL facility for a fixed offshore hydrocarbon production platform which comprises a deck attached to a base that is secured to the sea floor. The GTL facility comprises a syngas reactor for converting natural gas into syngas and a liquids production unit for converting the syngas into a hydrocarbon liquid. Furthermore, at least one of the syngas reactor and the liquids production unit comprises a catalyst which is constructed using PI micro-reactor technology. As a result, the GTL unit is sufficiently small to be located on the deck of the platform.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for converting natural gas to liquid hydrocarbons for storage and transport. More specifically, the invention relates to such a method and apparatus which are especially suitable for fixed offshore hydrocarbon production platforms.
A large number of fixed offshore hydrocarbon production platforms are currently in operation, all of which produce various quantities of natural gas. At many such sites natural gas is produced in relatively small quantities as a byproduct to the production of oil. When the quantities of this "associated gas" are sufficiently large and the platform is sufficiently close to a gas transportation infrastructure, the gas can be transported to an off-site processing facility.
In the absence of a gas transportation infrastructure, the associated gas is typically disposed of using a variety of methods. One of these methods involves re-injecting the gas into the hydrocarbon formation via a gas injection module located on the platform. Another method entails burning, or flaring, the gas. However, these methods of disposing of the associated gas are wasteful and, in the case of flaring, environmentally unfriendly.
Also, a number of small to medium size gas fields exist which are currently considered "stranded". Stranded fields are those which are located too far from an existing gas transportation infrastructure to be economically feasible to produce.
As is readily apparent, unprocessed associated gas and stranded gas represent two considerable but untapped sources of hydrocarbons. These sources are not utilized because the transportation of the gas from remote fixed offshore platforms is presently uneconomical. However, the transportation of the gas would be more economically viable if it could first be converted into liquid hydrocarbons, because then it could be transported using the existing oil transportation infrastructure.
Gas-to-liquids ("GTL") technology is commonly employed to convert natural gas to liquid hydrocarbons. The most common GTL process is a two stage process in which the natural gas is first converted into a synthetic gas, or "syngas", and the syngas is then converted into liquid hydrocarbons using the Fisher-Tropsch process. The conversion of natural gas to syngas may be achieved by steam reforming, partial oxidation, or a combination of both. Steam reforming, which is an endothermic process that is performed in a catalytic reactor, typically produces syngas comprising a 3:1 ratio of hydrogen to carbon monoxide. In the Fisher-Tropsch process, which is also carried out in a catalytic reactor, the small hydrocarbon molecules are linked to form longer chain hydrocarbons that are primarily liquid at ambient temperature.
Although GTL technology has been in the public domain since the 1930's, current GTL technology is generally not considered economical at small scales, especially scales suitable for use on fixed offshore hydrocarbon production platforms. To date, reducing a GTL facility down to the size required to replace an existing gas processing facility and at the same time fit into the confined footprint available on a fixed offshore platform has not been feasible. Previously, any GTL facility which could fit into this limited space typically would not have sufficient processing capacity, that is, it could process only unfeasibly small quantities of natural gas into liquid hydrocarbons.

Gas-to-liquids facility for fixed offshore hydrocarbon production platforms


An integrated circuit is fabricated by forming first source and drain regions and contact regions which electrically contact respective first source and drain regions, for first field effect transistors in an integrated circuit. Then, second source and drain regions for second field effect transistors in the integrated circuit are formed. By simultaneously forming landing pads which electrically contact the integrated circuit substrate between first spaced apart gates, and doping the integrated circuit substrate which electrically contacts the landing pads, an additional protective layer may not be needed, thereby simplifying the fabrication process.

As the integration density of integrated circuits continues to increase, the size of the individual active devices such as field effect transistors, also generally continue to decrease. With the decreased feature size, it may become increasingly difficult to electrically contact the active device regions.
For example, a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) integrated circuit device generally includes contact windows which connect a cell transistor source region to a respective storage electrode of a cell capacitor. Contact windows are also included to connect the cell transistor drain regions to respective bit lines. In order to increase the device integration, the contact windows preferably should be small, preferably smaller than the resolution limits of the exposure tools which are used to form the device.
Self-aligned integrated circuit fabrication methods have been developed to form small contact windows. One example of a self-aligned method forms a self-aligned contact window which exposes the source and drain regions and forms a landing pad on the exposed source and drain regions to permit contact to a storage electrode or bit line as required. FIGS. 1A-1I are cross-sectional views which illustrate a method of fabricating field effect transistors in a conventional semiconductor memory device using self-aligned contact window formation and landing pad formation.
Referring now to FIG. 1A, an integrated circuit memory device includes a cell array portion which includes a plurality of memory cells therein, and a peripheral circuit portion which includes a plurality of peripheral circuit transistors. As shown in FIG. 1A, a plurality of spaced apart gates are formed on an integrated circuit substrate. In particular, a plurality of gate electrodes 12 are formed on an oxide layer 9 on a semiconductor substrate 10. The gate electrodes 12 are covered by a capping layer 11. A plurality of P-type source/drain regions 14 and N-type source/drain regions 16 having relatively low doping concentrations, are formed by implanting P- and N-type dopants into the PMOS and NMOS transistor regions respectively, using the gates as a mask. A first insulating layer 18 is then formed by coating the substrate with an insulating material such as silicon dioxide. A second insulating layer 20 is then formed by coating the first insulating layer 18 with a second insulating material such as silicon nitride.
Referring now to FIG. 1B, the substrate is then coated with a photoresist which is then patterned to form a first photoresist pattern 22 which exposes the peripheral circuit portion of the device. First spacers 24 are then formed on the sidewalls of the gate electrodes 12 of the peripheral circuit portion by anisotropically etching the exposed first insulating layer 18 using the first photoresist pattern 22 as an etch mask.
Then, in FIG. 1C, the first photoresist pattern 22 is removed. The surface of the substrate is coated with photoresist and patterned to form a second photoresist pattern 26 which exposes only the NMOS transistors of the peripheral circuit portion. The source/drain regions 17 of the NMOS transistors in the peripheral circuit portion are then formed by implanting high concentrations of N-type dopants.
Referring now to FIG. 1D, the second photoresist pattern 26 is removed and the substrate is again coated with photoresist and patterned to form a third photoresist pattern 28 which exposes only the PMOS transistors of the peripheral circuit portion. Source/drain regions 15 of the PMOS transistors of the peripheral circuit portion are then formed by doping P-type dopant at high concentration.
Referring now to FIG. 1E, the third photoresist pattern 28 is removed and an insulating layer 30 is formed on the substrate. A photoresist is formed on a substrate and patterned to form a fourth photoresist pattern 32 which exposes the cell array portion of the integrated circuit. Then, as shown in FIG. 1F, the fourth photoresist pattern 32 is used as an etch mask and the insulating layer 30 in the cell array portion is removed using dry or wet etching. The insulating layer 30 which protects the peripheral circuit portion, remains in the peripheral circuit portion.
Referring now to FIG. 1G, the second insulating layer 20 is removed by dry or wet etching. Second sidewall spacers 25 are then formed on the sidewalls of the gate electrodes 12 of the cell array portion by anisotropically etching the first insulating layer 18. The fourth photoresist pattern 32 is then removed.
Referring now to FIG. 1H, source/drain regions 19 having relatively high doping concentrations, are then formed in the cell array portion transistors by forming a polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) layer 34 on the surface of the substrate and doping the polysilicon layer with N-type impurities. A fifth photoresist pattern 36 is then formed on the polysilicon layer 34. The fifth photoresist pattern 36 is then patterned to permit forming of landing pads.
Finally, in FIG. 1I, a landing pad 35 which contacts the source/drain 19 of the transistors of the cell array portion is formed by anisotropically etching the polysilicon layer 34, using the fifth photoresist pattern as an etch mask.
Unfortunately, in the above-described method, the source/drain region 19 of the cell array transistors and the landing pads 35 therefor are formed after the source/drain regions 15 of the peripheral circuit portion transistors. This may complicate the fabrication process because of the insulating layer 30 which protects the peripheral circuit portion during landing pad fabrication. This process complexity may increase the manufacturing cost and decrease the device yields.

Selective landing pad fabricating methods for integrated circuits


Disclosed herein is a protective cuff guard for protecting the hem of a pants leg. In exemplary embodiments the cuff guard comprises a body comprising at least one layer of durable material such as neoprene or nylon; a first fastener element and a second fastener element, disposed such that when the body is folded around the hem of the pants leg, the first fastener element engages the second fastener element, detachably affixing the body to the pants leg. In further embodiments at least some of the fastener elements are magnets. In further embodiments the cuff guard may further comprise a decorative device affixed to the body of the cuff guard.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to the field of garments designed to protect a portion of the clothes of the wearer from tears, wear, dirt, or stains. More particularly, this disclosure relates to a protective cuff guard that may be detachably affixed to the hem of the pants of the wearer, thereby protecting the hem of the pants.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Detachable pant cuff attachments designed to allow easy alteration of the length of the pants leg are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,001 describes a variable length trousers construction in which a separate cuff portion is detachably secured to the bottom of the pants leg, allowing adjustment of the length as desired by varying the length of a folded portion of the cuff. Similarly U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,379 describes a cuff arrangement, attached to the pants leg by Velcro pads, buttons, or hooks and eyes, having a portion that may be lowered over the pants hem to lengthen the pants leg. U.S. Pat. No. 2,677,829 describes a detachable cuff, attached to the wearer's pants by snaps, designed to save the wearer the difficulty of folding a neat, uniform cuff in the bottom of the pants leg itself.
Though such detachable-cuff systems may be used to mask wear-and-tear that has occurred at the hem of a pair of pants, they are not designed to protect the pants from wear-and-tear damage in the first instance. Moreover, the attachment systems they disclose require some modification to the pants themselves, such as the attachment of Velcro pads, the addition of buttons or the cutting of button-holes, or the insertion of snaps.
Casual-style pants are often worn long, sometimes down to the bottom of the wearer's shoes. They are therefore susceptible to damage or soiling from contact with the ground at the wearer's feet. In wet weather, the dyes from casual pants can run, staining light-colored shoes or sneakers. Even for dress pants that are not often worn as long are vulnerable to dirt and moisture during inclement weather. Therefore there is a need in the art for a protective cuff guard that can protect the pants from wear-and-tear, rain or mud, dirt, or staining, which is also attachable and removable at the desire of the wearer, quickly and with little effort.

Detachable protective cuff guard for pants


A voice response unit (VRU) includes a silent prompt feature in the form of an intentional delay inserted after a message is given to a caller, during which delay the caller may invoke alternative processing or interrupt current processing. If appropriate alternative or interrupt commands are not received during the delay period, then processing continues as provided in accordance with the previously played message. The duration of this silent prompt delay is carefully selected to provide sufficient response time for the caller to request alternative processing, while avoiding a perceptible or objectionable delay to the average caller not requiring alternative processing. Optimally, this delay period should be within a range of one to two and one-half seconds and, preferably, within a range of 1.2 to 2.3 seconds, an optimal time being 1.8 seconds.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications and particularly to voice response platforms and methods.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Voice response units (VRUs) and systems are widely used to replace or supplement human operators and attendants. VRUs provide user access to information using a conventional telephone by providing voice prompts and information. The user accesses the platform using a conventional telephone and interacts using, typically, either the touch tone pad and DTMF signaling or by speaking requests and responses. The VRU, in response, greets callers and provides instructions, prompts, menus, and information to the user using prerecorded or synthesized speech. These voice response units are extensively used by service providers, such as banks, government offices, customer service organizations, etc. to automate telephone call answering, routing and responding to inquiries. VRUs are also used to interface users with other applications, such as voice mail systems and telephone directory services.
VRUs are programmed to provide set responses to particular events and requests. Thus, a VRU may answer an incoming telephone call with a standard greeting followed by a menu or other information describing available choices and sub-menus available to the user together with the appropriate access method. For example, the user may be prompted to enter the number "1" using the telephone touch tone pad to indicate that a first option is desired, the number "2" to select a second option, etc. Alternatively, if the VRU includes a speech recognition capability, the VRU may prompt the user to speak a desired option or to input other information such as the name of a called party. As the VRU interacts with the the user, it will provide information and prompting using appropriate prestored or synthesized voice messages.
As part of the scripting process, some VRUs take into account additional information in selecting an appropriate voice message. For example, some VRUs will greet a caller with a message appropriate to the time of day, day of week, etc. Certain VRUs also take into consideration information obtained about the caller to tailor an appropriate response. For example, once a caller has been identified either through the user entering identifying information such as a Social Security number or automatically through the use of automatic number identification (ANI), the VRU may tailor its scripts and messaging to that user by, for example, incorporating the user's name into the script as appropriate. Other VRUs allow the user to select the types of messages used or automatically attempt to select one of several available scripts appropriate to a particular user. For example, an inexperienced user may manually select detailed instructions for using an unfamiliar system while more experienced users may elect to receive more abbreviated prompts. Alternatively, the system may automatically select an appropriate level of detail based on user response time or the number of erroneous or incomplete responses received from the caller to prior prompts. However, while the system will adapt to a user by providing an appropriate script, the wording of each script is fixed and invariable.
While VRUs have consistently improved the speech quality of prompts and information provided to a user, present systems still fail to fully simulate typical human conversation modalities. For example, while VRUs are used to obtain telephone directory information and provide automatic dialing of telephone numbers, the scripting does not readily adapt to human conventions for handling alternative and exception processing. In particular, conventional VRUs include extensive prompts for a wide variety of processing options. However, before a user can select a desired option, he or she must first access the associated menu and, either wait for the corresponding message and prompts to be played, or manually bypass the announcements by entering a selection prior to completion of the announcements. In either case, the VRU does not provide the type and quality of interactivity expected of a human operator.
Accordingly, a need exists for a more user friendly VRU which provides an improved man-machine interface, enhances user interaction with the system and minimizes user frustration. A further need exists for a VRU which reduces the monotony characteristic of conventional automated response systems. A still further need exists for a VRU capable of simulating typical human conversation modalities and patterns and which can handle alternative processing without requiring the user to access additional menus. A still further need exists for a VRU that can handle normal system uses while accommodating exception processing. A still further need exists for a VRU that provides a wide variety options and alternative processes without impeding or burdening users of primary functionalities of the system.

Voice response apparatus and method of providing automated voice responses with silent prompting


An aft frame for a transition duct of a gas turbine combustor includes a main body having an outer rail, an inner rail, a first side rail circumferentially separated from an opposing second side rail, a forward portion, an aft portion and an outer surface. An inlet port extends through the outer surface and an exhaust port extends through the forward portion. A serpentine cooling passage is defined within the main body beneath the outer surface. The serpentine cooling passage is in fluid communication with the inlet port and the exhaust port. A conduit may be connected to the exhaust port for routing a compressed working fluid away from aft frame.

A turbomachine, such as a gas turbine, generally includes an inlet section, a compressor section, a combustion section that includes a plurality of combustors, a turbine section and an exhaust section. The inlet section cleans and conditions a working fluid (e.g., air) and supplies the working fluid to the compressor section. The compressor section progressively increases the pressure of the working fluid and supplies a high pressure compressed working fluid to a compressor discharge casing that at least partially surrounds each of the combustors.
A fuel is mixed with the high pressure compressed working fluid and the mixture is burned in a combustion chamber that is defined within each combustor to generate combustion gases having a high temperature and pressure. The combustion gases flow along a hot gas path defined within the compressor discharge casing and into the turbine section where they expand to produce work. For example, expansion of the combustion gases in the turbine section may rotate a shaft connected to a generator to produce electricity.
The hot gas path is at least partially defined by an annular combustion liner and/or a transition duct. The transition duct may be provided as part of a transition piece assembly. A conventional transition piece assembly includes an outer impingement sleeve that circumferentially surrounds the annular transition duct. A cooling annulus is defined between the outer impingement sleeve and the transition duct. A downstream end of the transition piece assembly terminates at an inlet port to the turbine.
An aft frame or support member extends generally radially outward and circumferentially around the downstream end of the transition piece assembly. Typically, the aft frame is mounted to a casing, an inner support ring and/or to the turbine so as to provide mounting support for the transition piece assembly and to reduce deformation of the transition duct. During operation, the aft frame is exposed directly to the hot combustion gases. As a result, various cooling schemes have been developed to enhance the thermal and mechanical performance of the aft frame.
One conventional cooling scheme includes routing a portion of the high pressure compressed working fluid from the compressor discharge casing through one or more cooling passages defined within the aft frame and exhausting the high pressure compressed working fluid into the hot gas path and/or into the cooling annulus. The exhausted compressed working fluid may then be used to cool the transition duct and/or the combustion liner. In addition, the compressed working fluid may be routed through the cooling annulus towards the combustion chamber for mixing with the fuel for combustion.
One limitation of conventional cooling schemes is that the shape and/or complexity of the internal cooling passages are limited to single pass or generally linear cooling channels within the aft frame. For example, conventional cooling passages a generally linear inlet port that feeds cooling air to a linearly cooling channel and out of the aft frame through an exhaust port. This linear or single run of the compressed working fluid through the cooling channel restricts the cooling capacity of each cooling channel. In addition, current manufacturing processes require expensive and time consuming secondary operations such as milling or electrical discharge machining to cut the cooling passages and/or the inlet ports and the outlet ports into the aft frame, thus increasing costs of manufacturing.
A second limitation of existing cooling schemes may be prevalent where there is an obstruction such as a fuel injector or other bluff body within the cooling annulus, thus resulting in measurable pressure losses of the high pressure compressed working fluid between the aft frame exhaust ports and the combustion chamber. Another potential limitation of existing cooling schemes may be that the location and orientation of the exhaust ports may not provide optimized cooling beyond the aft frame area. Therefore, an improved internally cooled aft frame for a combustor of a turbomachine, such as a gas turbine, would be useful.

Internally cooled transition duct aft frame with serpentine cooling passage and conduit


Aspects of the disclosure pertain to an apparatus for detecting timing errors including an analog to digital converter circuit, a diversity loop detector and a timing error calculation circuit. The analog to digital converter circuit is operable to convert an input signal into a series of digital samples. The diversity loop detector is operable to apply a data detection algorithm to a plurality of signals derived from the series of digital samples at different phase offsets, to select one of the phase offsets, and to yield a detected output with the selected phase offset. The timing error calculation circuit is operable to calculate a timing error of the analog to digital converter circuit based at least in part on the selected phase offset.

Some data processing systems that receive stored or transmitted electronic data use sampling circuits to generate a digital representation of the electronic data. To assist the data processing system to sample the electronic data at the correct frequency and phase. A timing error detector determines when the sampling is performed at an incorrect frequency or phase. In some instances, a preamble pattern is inserted into the electronic data, enabling the timing error detection. However, after the preamble pattern has ended, timing errors can reoccur due to intrinsic timing drift in the system, characteristics of the storage or transmission medium, and the environment of the data processing system.

Timing error detector with diversity loop detector decision feedback

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


An apparatus for transferring power includes a shaft, a pair of pawls, and an outer member. The shaft has a first end which is connected to an electric motor and a second end which is operatively associated with the pawls. As the shaft turns, the pawls are forced outwardly against a non-circular interior surface of the outer member. As the pawls contact the inner surface of the outer member, they transfer rotational energy from the rotating shaft to the outer member, causing it to also rotate. When power to the electric motor is shut off, the shaft stops turning. The pawls are spring biased inwardly toward the shaft. When the shaft stops turning, the pawls move inwardly toward the shaft and are not connected any longer to the interior surface of the outer member. The outer member is free to spin freely even though the motor is stopped.

1. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to the art of mechanisms for transferring power, and more specifically to mechanisms allowing a power producing source to be intermittently shut on and off while allowing energy generated by such power source to be stored in a rotating flywheel or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is not uncommon in the mechanical arts for one end of a shaft to be driven, such as by an electric motor while the other end is connected to a device which is freely rotating. For example, an automobile utilizes a clutch which allows a power source (the engine) to be selectively coupled or uncoupled from a second end of the shaft (the drive shaft). Another common example is the machining industry, wherein a machine uses an electric motor to start some rotational action, such as in a drill press. At different times during a machining process, the electric motor is shut off but it is desired that the rotating portions of the machining apparatus continue to rotate.
The present invention contemplates a new and improved power transferring apparatus which is simple in design, effective in use, and which overcomes some of the difficulties of the prior art while providing better and more advantageous overall results.


An anti-free-flow valve includes a tube and a membrane. The tube extends from a first end of the tube to a second end of the tube. The tube defines a hollow cavity. The membrane is attached to an interior surface of the tube and extends across the hollow cavity to obstruct fluid flow through the hollow cavity. The membrane is spaced apart from the first and second ends of the tube. The membrane defines a slit therethrough that is configured to transition from a closed state that restricts fluid flow to an open state that permits fluid flow through the slit responsive to compression or expansion of the tube proximate to the membrane.

Feeding sets can be used for enteral applications, and infusion sets can be used for parenteral applications. Enteral applications include using an enteral pump to administer nutrition (e.g., food, formula, medication, and the like) to a patient if the patient is unable to accept the nutrition without assistance. Parenteral applications include providing intravenous (IV) solutions to the patient to ensure adequate hydration and to provide needed nutrients, minerals, and/or medication. Often, the feeding or infusion set is placed in a free standing arrangement in which gravity causes the flow of formula or solution into the patient. The rate at which the formula or solution enters the patient can be generally controlled by various clamps, such as roller clamps.
In many applications, it is necessary to precisely control of the amount of solution or formula which enters the patient. A regulating device, such as an infusion pump, can be placed along the feeding or infusion set to control the rate at which the nutrition or solution is supplied to the patient. To avoid interference with the functioning of the regulating device, any clamps or valves that are present along the length of the tube may be opened to the fullest extent, with the expectation that the pump or other regulating device will control the flow through the tubing. However, emergencies and other distractions may prevent the medical personnel from properly setting up the feeding or infusion set with the automated regulating device. Furthermore, the feeding or infusion sets may be inadvertently dislodged from the regulating device during operation. In the unfortunate event that the regulating device is not properly connected to the feeding or infusion set due to negligent setup or unintentional dislodgement, an excessive flow of fluid may develop through the set under the force of gravity, which is a condition known as free-flow. During the free-flow condition, the patient may receive an excessive amount of nutrition, medication, and/or solution within a relatively short time period, which can be particularly dangerous if the medication is potent and/or the patient's body is not physically strong enough to adjust to the large inflow of nutrition (e.g., formula) or solution.