A system and method comprise a first buffer having a first capacity and a first threshold level adapted to store data frames having the lowest priority, a second buffer having a second capacity greater than the first capacity and a second threshold level greater than the first threshold level adapted to store data frames having a medium priority, a third buffer having a third capacity greater than the second capacity and a third threshold level greater than the second threshold level adapted to store data frames having the highest priority. The system further includes means for differentiating a data frame as having lowest, medium or highest priority and storing the data frame in the respective first, second or third buffer, and discarding the data frame in response to the first, second or third buffer reaching the respective threshold level.

Denial of service attacks are disruptive attempts on a computer system so that its resources become unavailable to its users. In one type of a denial of service attack, a computer server or network is flooded with illegitimate data traffic that overwhelms the capacity of its bandwidth and computation resources. As a result, data traffic are dropped and management and control traffic of the computer network are blocked.

System and method of defense against denial of service of attacks


An exercise bicycle has a main body, a sprocket wheel disposed in the main body, a chain surrounding the main body, a main shaft passing through the sprocket wheel, a fixed crank connected to the main shaft, an adjustable crank connected to the main shaft, a first pedal disposed on the adjustable crank, a second pedal disposed on the fixed crank, a seat post disposed on the main body, a seat disposed on the seat post, a head tube disposed on the main body, a front support rod supporting a front bottom of the main body, and a rear support rod supporting a rear bottom of the main body.

The present invention relates to an exercise bicycle. More particularly, the present invention relates to an exercise bicycle which has an adjustable crank.
A conventional exercise bicycle has two cranks which cannot be adjusted. Therefore, the pedals which are disposed on the cranks can be treaded to exercise the feet only. The conventional exercise bicycle has a main body, a sprocket wheel disposed in the main body, a main shaft passing through the sprocket wheel, two cranks connected to the main shaft, two pedals disposed on the cranks, a seat post disposed on the main body, a seat disposed on the seat post, a head tube disposed on the main body, a front support rod supporting a front bottom of the main body, and a rear support rod supporting a rear bottom of the main body.


This disclosure is directed to circuits and techniques for detecting or responding to temperature of a power switch based on paired measurements of current and voltage. A driver circuit for a power switch may be configured to perform a current measurement and a voltage measurement associated with a temperature-dependent circuit element and control the power switch based at least in part on the current measurement and the voltage measurement. In some examples, the current and voltage measurements may be used to determine the temperature of the power switch.

Power switches are used in a wide variety of applications in order to control power being delivered to a load. A power switch may comprise a Field Effect Transistor (FET), a bipolar junction transistor (BJT), a gallium nitride (GaN) switch, or possibly a silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR). Examples of FETs may include, but are not limited to, junction field-effect transistor (JFET), metal-oxide-semiconductor FET (MOSFET), dual-gate MOSFET, insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), any other type of FET, or any combination of the same. Examples of MOSFETS may include, but are not limited to, PMOS, NMOS, DMOS, or any other type of MOSFET, or any combination of the same. Examples of BJTs may include, but are not limited to, PNP, NPN, heterojunction, or any other type of BJT, or any combination of the same.
Power switches are typically controlled via a modulation control signal, such as pulse width modulation (PWM), pulse frequency modulation (PFM), pulse duration modulation, pulse density modulation, or another type of modulation control signal. Modulation control signals can be applied to a power switch so as to control on/off switching of the power switch, and thereby control the average amount of power delivered through the power switch to a load. The on/off switching of the power switch effectively chops its power delivery up into discrete parts. The average value of voltage and/or current fed to a load can be controlled by turning the switch on and off at a fast rate. The longer the switch is on compared to the off periods, the higher the total power supplied to the load. In many applications, two different power switches are configured in a high-side and low-side configuration, and the on/off switching of the two power switches is synchronized in order to deliver the desired power to a switch node positioned between the high-side and low-side switch.
The ability to detect temperature in a power switch is highly desirable. To do so, conventional techniques often use external components, such as negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistors or semiconductor-based temperature sensors (e.g., diodes) that are mounted close to the power switch. These external components may be galvanically isolated from the power switch in order to simplify measurements. Unfortunately, these conventional techniques can be imprecise and may result in delayed reactions to temperature-related problems with the switch. For example, external components may measure the temperature of the housing of the switch or a temperature close to the switch with a certain intrinsic delay, but these measurements are not always precisely indicative the temperature of the power switch itself.

Temperature detection of a power switch based on paired measurements of current and voltage


The present invention relates to use of a smart antenna for a RF reader on a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system to significantly increase the operating range of the RFID system. The smart antenna can be an adaptive antenna array. The smart antenna comprises a plurality of antenna elements and, by combining the signals from multiple antenna elements, significantly increases the received signal-to-noise ratio. In a noise limited environment, combining the signals to maximize the received signal-to-noise ratio can be based on the maximal ratio combining (MRC) principle. To achieve the best signal quality, the received signal from each antenna can be phase-shifted such that the resultant signals from all antennas are in phase. In addition, the signal from each antenna can be scaled in amplitude based on the square root of its received signal-to-noise ratio.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system. More particularly, it relates to an adaptive antenna array for a RF reader for increasing the operating range of the RFID system.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system consists of a reader and a plurality of RF tags. The RF reader transmits a radio signal containing a unique identification (ID) to poll one of a plurality of RF tags. The RF tag polled responds by sending back a radio signal. A variety of RFID systems have been used in different applications such as warehouse inventory control systems.
There are two types of conventional RFID systems: active and passive. The RF tag in the active RFID system requires power to operate. For the battery-powered active RF tag, it is desirable to have reduced power consumption so that the operating life can be extended. The RF tag in the passive RFID system derives and stores power from a RF signal transmitted by the RF reader and responds by transmitting back a signal by using the stored energy. Conventional RFID systems are limited to short range operation because of limited transmission power available on the return link from the RF tag to the RF reader. RFID systems typically contain a small number of RF readers and a large number of RF tags. The RF tags typically have limited complexity and low cost. Accordingly, the majority of the complex signal processing and the associated implementation are at the RF reader side. It is desirable to increase the operating range of the RFID system.

RFID system with an adaptive array antenna


A transaction method and system. The system comprises a computing apparatus, a plurality of transceivers connected to the computing apparatus, and a plurality of transponder devices. Each transponder device comprising a customer data segment associated with a different customer from a plurality of customers for an entity. The computing apparatus receives from a first transponder device through a first transceiver, a first customer data segment. The first customer data segment is associated with a first customer of the plurality of customers. The first transponder device is possessed by the first customer. The first customer is located within a specified proximity of the first transceiver. The computing apparatus performs a first specified function for the first customer. The first specified function is based on the first customer data segment and a location of the first transceiver.

Tracking a plurality of people and information associated with the people within a specified retail area typically requires a complicated process that is not efficient. Financial information associated with people wishing to make a purchase in a retail area is typically retrieved manually at specified locations. Manually retrieving the financial information associated with the people wishing to make a purchase is time consuming and requires a large workforce. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome at least some of the deficiencies and limitations described herein above.

International Business Machines Corporation


The device for protecting against accidental butterfly needle punctures has a hollow body which delimits an internal accommodation seat for a butterfly needle which is connected to a flexible duct for feeding or withdrawing fluid. The seat has a proximal terminal portion, provided with two longitudinal lateral slits in each of which a respective wing of a butterfly needle can slidingly engage. The seat also has a distal terminal portion provided with retention members for engaging a butterfly needle. A butterfly needle can slide along the seat from a removal start position in the proximal terminal portion toward an irreversible complete retraction position within the distal terminal portion.

The present invention relates to a device for protecting against accidental punctures caused by butterfly needles for phleboclysis, hemodialytic treatments, venous catheterizations and the like.
It is known that sanitary personnel assigned to hemodialytic treatment is exposed to the severe risk of being accidentally punctured by butterfly needles during and after removal thereof from the vein or arteriovenous fistula of a patient. If the needle is contaminated by infected blood, the operator can in fact be infected even in severe and irreversible form.

Device for protecting against accidental butterfly needle punctures

38049 Vigolo Vattaro (Provincia di Trento)


The present invention provides for flow and congestion control mechanisms in accordance with a Reliable Message protocol for Web Services (RM-WS). For flow control, one endpoint informs another endpoint of its available buffer size by including buffer size information in response messages. The response messages, typically RM-WS infrastructure messages, are then used to determine an upper limit on the number of messages that can be sent to the acceptor in order to prevent resending messages due to buffer overrun. In the case of congestion control, embodiments provide for increasing the number of in-flight messages until a failure point is found. The last successful rate below the failure point is the closest known point to the optimum point. Example embodiments then reset and try again raising the rate back to the last known good point and fine tuning from there using an algorithm that asymptotes the optimum rate.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to reliable messaging of Web Services. In particular, the present invention provides for an efficient transfer of messages in accordance with Reliable Messaging protocols for Web Services for flow control between two endpoints and congestion control across the network wire.
2. Background and Related Art
Computer networks have enhanced our ability to communicate and access information by allowing one computer or device (hereinafter referred to as a "computing device" or "computing system") to communicate over a network with another computing system using electronic messages. When transferring an electronic message between computing systems, the electronic message will often pass through a protocol stack that performs operations on the data within the electronic message (e.g., parsing, routing, flow control, etc.). The Open System Interconnect (OSI) model is an example of a network framework for implementing a protocol stack.
The OSI model breaks down the operations for transferring an electronic message into seven distinct layers, each designated to perform certain operations in the data transfer process. While protocol stacks can potentially implement each of the layers, many protocol stacks implement only selective layers for use in transferring data across a network. When data is transmitted from a computing system, it originates at the application layer and is passed down to intermediate lower layers and then onto a network. When data is received from a network it enters the physical layer and is passed up to the higher intermediate layers and then is eventually received at that application layer. The application layer—the upper most layer—is responsible for supporting application and end-user processing. Further, within the application layer there may reside several other layers (e.g., the Simple Open Access Protocol (SOAP) layer). Another layer incorporated by most protocol stacks is the transport layer. An example of a transport layer is the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).
Web Services (WS) have been a driving force in advancing communications between computing systems and are turning the way we build and use software inside-out. Web Services let applications share data and—more powerfully—invoke capabilities from other applications without regard to how these applications were built, what operating systems or platform they run on, or what devices are used to access them. Web Services are invoked over the Internet by means of industry-standard protocols including SOAP, XML (eXtensible Markup Language), UDDI (Universal, Description, Discovery and Integration), WSDL (Web Service Description Language), etc. Although Web Services remain independent of each other, they can loosely link themselves into a collaborating group that performs a particular task.
Current WS technologies offer direct SOAP-message communication between an initiator (e.g., a client) and an acceptor (e.g., a service). In the common bi-directional messaging case, a SOAP request message is sent from the initiator to the acceptor and a SOAP replay message is sent in response thereto. Another communication variant between endpoints is unidirectional message, where the initiator sends a message to the acceptor with no response.
A key benefit of the emerging WS architecture is the ability to deliver integrated, interoperable solutions. Because, however, Web Services provide various services from different business, originations, and other service providers via unreliable communication channels such as the Internet, reliability of WS becomes an increasing important factor. Reliability of WS is impacted by several factors including but not limited to, the reliability of the Web Service end points; reliability characteristics of the communication channel over which the Web Services are accessed; performance and fault-tolerance characteristics; and the extent to which Web Services can handle concurrent client access.
There have been attempts at accomplishing reliable messaging of Web Services by choosing a reliable transport protocol over which the messages (e.g., SOAP messages) are exchanged between endpoints. For example, a reliable messaging transport such as message-queues can be used to deliver messages reliably between initiators and acceptors. Message-queuing communication technologies enable applications on different systems to communicate with each other by sending messages to queues and reading messages from queues that are persisted across failures for reliability.
Although queuing systems offer a transport that can be used to carry SOAP messages reliably, there are several drawbacks to such systems. For instance, these systems offer solutions for an asynchronous operation where the requests (and possibly their responses) are transferred and processed with isolation. Accordingly, these systems are typically heavyweight in terms of resources; involving multiple intermediaries with durable transacted message stores and with considerably more complexity in deployment, programming model and management. All of this is unnecessary for reliable direct communication, and detracts from the goal of minimizing latency. Further, the program model does not directly support request-response style programming or sessions. Accordingly, the queued communication model is different from the current "interactive" Web Services model, and does not address critical "connected" scenarios and "interactive" applications. For example, it is not well suited for cases where a response is expected in a timely manner, or for cases where distributed-transaction-context need to be shared between initiator and acceptor.
There have also been attempts at defining reliable transfer layers over fundamentally unreliable transport protocols, e.g., reliable HTTP or HTTPR. A common problem, however, that plagues this solution—as well as the queuing solution—is that reliable messaging can be achieved only if the specific reliable transport protocol is used for communication between the initiator and the acceptor. The fundamental nature of Web Services calls for independence from specific vender platform, implementation languages and specific transport protocols. In a generic case, an initiator may not be able to transmit a message directly to an acceptor using a particular protocol (e.g., acceptor does not support the protocol) or the message may need to pass through multiple hops after leaving the sending node prior to arriving at that destination node. Depending on the nature of the connectivity between the two nodes involved in a particular hop, a suitable transport protocol that does not offer reliable messaging characteristics may have to be chosen.
Intermediaries may also exist at different levels in the protocol stack; and therefore not offer full end-to-end reliability. For example, transport protocols may offer reliability across lower level intermediaries (e.g., IP level intermediaries—e.g., IP routers). The transport protocol may end, however, at a SOAP intermediary or application layer. Accordingly, the transport protocol may not be able to offer reliability across that intermediary, i.e., no end-to-end reliability across the application layer.
More recently, various Reliable Messaging protocols for Web Services (hereinafter referred to as "RM-WS protocols"), e.g., WSReliableMessaging, offer solutions to the above identified-deficiencies of current reliable messaging systems. These protocols are transport agnostic connected protocols that allow messages to be delivered reliably between end-point applications in presences of software component, system or network failures. Accordingly, RM-WS protocols offer solutions for reliable, end-to-end, session-oriented communication between an initiator and an acceptor.
These RM-WS protocols are akin to TCP in that TCP offers reliable, exactly-once, in-order delivery of a stream of bytes from a TCP sender to TCP receiver across Internet Protocol (IP) routers and multiple networks. Reliable Messaging protocols for WS offer the same and more for messages (note: the unit of transfer is a message, not a byte) across multiple intermediaries (including SOAP level intermediaries), transports and connections. Although TCP and RM-WS protocols are both "reliable" protocols, because RM-WS resides at the application or SOAP layer in the OSI model, RM-WS protocols provide for reliable messaging regardless of the transport protocol used to transfer the data. Accordingly, RM-WS protocols are not tied to a particular transport or other protocol used to transfer message between endpoints.
Although a few RM-WS protocols have been around for some time there are still several drawbacks and deficiencies of these protocol specs. For example, there are currently no solutions defined by these protocols for flow control of messages between endpoints. Typically, an acceptor in a reliable message exchange has a buffer where received messages are stored for delivery to the processing application. This allows for the flexibility in the system since the processing application does not need to be available to process messages as soon as they are received. The buffer, however, is limited in capacity since any system has finite resources available to it (limited by hardware and/or software). As such, an issue may arise if the receiving application is processing the messages at a rate slower from which they are sent and/or received. In such case, the acceptor buffer will fill up and the received messages would not be read from the transport or may be dropped (which is the action of reading the message from the transport but not capturing it in the buffer for lack of space); and therefore not sending a receipt acknowledgment for that message.
Message dropping is permitted by typical RM-WS protocols and is not considered a fatal failure; since in the absence of a receipt acknowledgement from the acceptor, the initiator would retry the transfer. Retries, however, cause network and system resource waste; and therefore, a need arises for an efficient mechanism for an initiator to know how many messages it can send to the acceptor without them being dropped.
Similar to the flow control problem described above, congestion control over the network wire is also a concern. Typically, messages sent over a network are transferred over several transport connections bridged by various nodes, e.g., routers. The different transport connections may be of different speeds (e.g., a 100 mbps Ethernet connection from the initiator to a node and a 56 kbps dial-up connection from the node to the acceptor). Due to the speed differences of the transport connections, the connection from a node to an acceptor could get backed-up, meaning that the network cannot take any new content for delivery since some of the content needs to be taken off first. This means that the node has to slow down its relay transmission causing it to buffer incoming messages before it can send them to there destination. Similar to other computing resources, nodes can only buffer so many messages before they need to start dropping new incoming ones. Although buffering is an acceptable technique for handling transient's traffic spikes, to minimize latency the system should strive to minimize the amount of buffering occurring in the intermediaries. Further, other reasons for dropping messages include the number of incoming links to the node all vying for the same outgoing link, the receiver being slow in processing requests or a burst of activity at the node.
Regardless of the reason for the network dropping messages, as previously mentioned, in a reliable messaging system dropped messages need to be retried to ensure delivery. If in-order delivery is required, then processing of messages whose sequence number is higher then the dropped message would be delayed until the dropped message is received, resulting in processing inefficiency on the acceptor side. Further, retrying dropped messages results in even more messages on the link from the initiator to the node, which could ultimately result in even more dropped messages—i.e., congestion, performance hindrance and resource waste.
Accordingly, a need arises for a solution that will not only adjust for flow control but will also adapt to changes for congestion over the network wire. As can be recognized, the problem extends to scenarios where multiple nodes, e.g., routers, are employed on the path from the initiator to the acceptor. As such, the solution should not take into consideration the number of routers, since that number is unknown to the initiator and may in fact change in time. Further, the solution should also be able to adapt to changes in network bandwidth, performance and topology.

Efficient transfer of messages using reliable messaging protocols for web services


A thermoelectric power generation device including: a heating unit having a heat medium passage in which a heat medium flows, a cooling unit having a cooling liquid passage in which a cooling liquid flows, a thermoelectric element having the heating unit on one side and the cooling unit on another side, the thermoelectric element configured to generate power by utilizing a temperature difference between a condensation temperature of the heat medium that undergoes latent heat transfer in the heat medium passage and a temperature of the cooling liquid; and the thermoelectric power generation device further including a heat medium adjusting unit configured to adjust the pressure or the temperature of the heat medium.

An example of such a type of traditional thermoelectric power generation device is disclosed in Patent Literature 1 (hereinafter referred to as PTL 1). PTL 1 discloses a thermoelectric power generation device including a heating unit having a heat medium passage on one surface of a thermoelectric element and a cooling unit having a coolant passage on the other surface of the thermoelectric element, the device being configured to generate power by utilizing a temperature difference between a heat medium flowing in the heat medium passage and a coolant flowing in the coolant passage.


A vehicle LED lighting device includes a drive control means 51 includes an abnormality detection means 60 detecting a disconnection or short-circuit abnormality of the LED lamp, the abnormality detection means 60 includes a current detection unit 61 detecting the value of a current flowing through the LED lamps 20 and 30 when the LED lamps 20 and 30 are driven by the drive control means 51, a comparison unit 62 comparing the current value detected by the current detection unit 61 with a predetermined abnormality determination value, and a determination value switching unit 63 switching the abnormality determination value in accordance with variation of a power supply voltage of the vehicle, and whether or not there is the disconnection or short-circuit abnormality is judged based on the abnormality determination value switched by the determination value switching unit 63 and the detected current value.

As conventional fault detecting devices for detecting a disconnection abnormality or a short-circuit abnormality of a direction indicator lamp or other LED lamp installed in a vehicle, various structures have been proposed as exemplified by Patent Document 1. Such LED lamp fault detecting devices basically determine whether or not there is a disconnection or short-circuit abnormality by detecting a voltage across respective ends of the LED lamp.


On a production tubing positioned in a casing string, a bypass adapter is coupled to a packer tool. The bypass adapter comprises an inner mandrel positioned in an inner bore of the packer tool. Injection gas flows between the production tubing and the casing string, through a plurality of ports, in a space located inside the inner bore of the packer tool and outside of the inner mandrel, thus bypassing the packer tool. This injection gas then flows down the outside of a tailpipe located below the packer tool. Fluid produced by the well mixed with this injected gas flows inside the tailpipe, through the inner mandrel, and into the production tubing.

This disclosure relates generally to a bypass adapter for use with a packer tool on a production tubing positioned in a casing string.
Most Oil and Gas wells include a string of casing. The casing is cemented in the wellbore, thus making it very expensive to repair if it is affected by erosion or corrosion. In some cases, erosion or corrosion of the casing can even cause the well to be junked. In order to reduce erosion or corrosion, a production tubing and a packer tool are used to isolate the upper part of the casing from corrosive produced fluids or gases, such as H2S or CO2, that are produced by the reservoir. The packer tool has a packer element capable of sealing against the casing string. The packer tool forces all produced fluids inside the inner bore of the packer and up the production tubing and isolates the casing above it from the produced fluids.
Gas Lift is one of the most economical ways to artificially lift an Oil and Gas well once it dies and cannot flow on its own anymore. In Gas Lift Installations, gas is injected down between the production tubing and the casing. The injected gas is pressurized up to a point at which Gas Lift Valves, which have been run at predetermined depths on the production tubing and set at predetermined pressures, open. This gas enters the production tubing through the Gas Lift Valves and starts to aerate the fluid column of the dead well. This aeration lightens the fluid and allows it to, once again, reach the surface. The deeper gas is injected into the fluid column, the lighter the column becomes, therefore reducing the pressure inside the wellbore at the perforations into the reservoir. More fluid is able to enter the wellbore as this pressure is reduced.
Packer tools have been a limiting factor in how deep gas could be injected in a Gas Lift Installation. Originally, Gas Lift Valves have only been able to be run above the packer because the packer isolates the upper part of the casing from the lower part of the casing, preventing the gas injected between the production tubing and the casing from reaching the lower part of the casing. With the onset of Horizontal Drilling, limitations resulting from the packer became a more significant problem because the packer could not be set as close to the perforations as it could in vertical wells. Indeed, at high degrees of deviation, a packer becomes challenging to set and retrieve. Setting the packer in the vertical section of the well and running the Gas Lift Valves above the packer prevents the fluid column in the curved and horizontal sections of the well to be aerated, maintaining the weight of the fluid column in these sections and thus limiting production.
The problem of packers limiting how deep gas could be injected in a Gas Lift Installation was solved with the development of a Bypass Packer. There are a couple of types of By-Pass Packer tools available on the market now. One type uses a "Dip Tube" that extends from above the packer element, down through the mandrel of the packer, and back out into the casing below the packer element. The other type utilizes a "Capillary String" that runs from above the packer element, down through the mandrel and all the way to the end of the tailpipe. With a Bypass Packer, it is possible to inject the gas into the fluid column at the end of the tailpipe.
The problems encountered with these two types of By-Pass Packer tools are many. One problem is that the By-Pass Packer tools usually have one injection port, which often becomes plugged because of its small flow area of 0.077 sq. Inches. Another problem is that the Dip Tube or Capillary String becomes plugged because of the small ID: it has a maximum flow area of 0.196 sq. Inches. Yet another problem is the inability to run tools through the By-Pass Packer because it does not have a smooth inner bore. Instead, the inner bore is encumbered by the Dip Tube or Capillary String.
Thus, there is a continuing need in the art for methods and apparatus for bypass adapters for use with a packer tool on a production tubing positioned in a casing string.

Bypass adapter for use with a packer tool on a production tubing positioned in a casing string


A method of generating an embedded file involving embedding a plurality of probe calls into source code to obtain embedded source code, compiling the embedded source code to generate object code including a probe relocation for each of the plurality of probe calls, post processing the object code to obtain a plurality of modified object code, wherein the plurality of modified object code includes object code containing a no-operation instruction in place of the probe relocation and object code containing probe encoding, and linking the plurality of modified object code to obtain an embedded file, wherein the embedded file includes probe encoding.

A tracing framework is a collection of software routines and tools that permit a user to instrument and record the activity of one or more executing programs, including an operating system kernel. Tracing frameworks typically permit users to describe instrumentation requests by naming one or more probes, which are locations of interest that can be used as data-recording sites within an instrumented program. Tracing frameworks also permit users to associate these probes with one or more actions. The actions describe what tracing operations should be performed when the executing instrumented program passes through the probe site (i.e., when a probe triggers). Tracing frameworks typically provide either a defined set of actions at each probe, a set of user-selectable actions, or the ability to execute an essentially arbitrary set of actions composed in a programming language (such as C, C++, or Pascal).
In tracing frameworks that support a programming language for describing actions, tracing operations (in the form of language statements) are compiled into an intermediate form or directly into machine code. The tracing operations are executed when a probe triggers. In tracing frameworks that compile probe descriptions and actions from a programming language into an intermediate form, the compiler is typically implemented as a user application that then communicates the results of the compilation to the operating system kernel where the probe instrumentation is performed. Communication is typically performed using one or more system calls or device driver calls combined with a set of data structures that together form a binary interface between the trace program compiler and the tracing framework instrumentation service.
Because probes are locations of instrumentation within the executing instrumented program, the probes are associated with the implementation and an embodiment of the executing program. The tracing framework actions provide access to data memory associated with the instrumented program. The data memory is arranged into a set of implementation data structures associated with the internal implementation details and artifacts of the instrumented program.
A debugger is another tool that allows inspection of an instrumented program executing under complete or partial control of the debugger. A debugger is distinct from a tracing framework in that a debugger typically provides a mechanism whereby the instrumented program stops executing at instrumented locations of interest and then is inspected by a user of the debugger before subsequently continuing execution. In contrast, a tracing framework typically permits users to perform additional actions only while the instrumented program is executing. Examination of the results occurs after the execution is complete, or in parallel with execution of the instrumented program. Debuggers are similar to tracing frameworks in that both offer a facility whereby the user may view the data memory of the instrumented program and control the format and organization of the memory display.
Currently, any user may trace a program and gather information from the probes. The data traced at those probes may help the user understand the traced program's activity. Typically, probes are associated with specific points in the program's control flow (e.g., function entry, function return, individual machine instructions, etc.) or based on some asynchronous event stream (e.g., from a timer, other machine interrupts, etc.). Though these probes can provide extensive coverage of the traced program, effective use of them may require knowledge of the traced programs inner workings. Having a developer insert probes at specific locations in the traced program provides easily understood information to users tracing the program. The developer is in a unique position to decide the points of interest and their semantic meanings.

Method and system for creation and use of embedded trace description


A communication system provides communication over a serial bus between a microprocessor and an external device which includes a plurality of registers. The communication system includes a message generator within the microprocessor for generating unique register access messages which provide fast and efficient register access. The external device also includes a message generator which generates register access error messages and interrupt messages.

The present invention generally relates to a communication system to provide efficient communication between a microprocessor and an external device over a serial bus. The present invention still more particularly relates to such a system which is implemented in integrated circuit form and wherein, through a new and improved register access message and system architecture, register reads and writes, error messages, and interrupt messages can be conducted between the microprocessor and the external device in an expedited manner over the serial bus. The communication system of the present invention disclosed herein is incorporated into a hands-free, multiple feature telephone unit adapted for use in an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN).
Systems wherein microprocessors operate in association with and require access to external devices are well known in the art. Such external devices may include one or more registers which the microprocessor must read data from or write data into. Such internal devices may also be the source of error messages or interrupt messages. In order for the overall system to function properly, the microprocessor must therefore be able to communicate with the external device to access registers and receive error and interrupt messages from the external devices.
Register access, error, and interrupt messages generally require multiple-bit messages to be conveyed between the microprocessor and the external device. In most applications and especially where integrated circuits are employed, it is not economically prudent to convey the bits of these messages between the microprocessor and the external device in parallel. To do so would result in an inordinately high cost due to such factors as the required multiple wire interconnection and the large number of required integrated circuit device terminal pins. With respect to this last mentioned factor, it is well known in the integrated circuit industry that the cost of producing an integrated circuit device increases as the number of required device terminal pins increases. Also, the number of device terminal pins is also related to the number of different functions that a device is to provide. Hence, it is advantageous to maintain the number of device terminal pins to a minimum while still affording a device with its complete and desired functionality.
In view of the foregoing, in multi-feature integrated circuit devices which are to be external to and or utilized in association with a microprocessor, a serial bus is often employed to provide multiple-bit messages to be sent from and received by the external device with respect to the microprocessor. This results in just two terminal pins and bus conductors being required, one for outgoing messages and one for incoming messages.
Unfortunately, in the prior art, communication system architectures and protocols have not made communication over serial buses between microprocessors and external devices very efficient. Such systems generally require a full, eight-bit byte to be conveyed just to define a particular operation such as a register access operation or to define a message as an interrupt or error messenger. Further, such systems have generally not provided multi-byte data access.
The present invention overcomes these disadvantages in the use of a serial bus between a microprocessor and an external device by requiring only a portion of an eight-bit byte to define an operation such as a register access operation or a message as an error or interrupt message. In addition, the system of the present invention utilizes a single message generator in the external device to generate read response, error, and interrupt messages. All of these types of messages are similarly formatted and placed onto the serial bus within the same predetermined channel. As a result, fast and efficient message transfer is obtained with a minimum amount of hardware.

System for communicating with external device registers via two-byte data packets over a serial bus


A semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor chip, a wiring layer formed on the semiconductor chip, a column electrode connected at a first end to the wiring layer, and an encapsulation resin formed on the semiconductor chip. In the semiconductor device, the column electrode is provided with a second end, opposite to the first end, projecting from the encapsulation resin, and an external connection member is connected to the column electrode at the second end so that the external connection member is separate from a surface of the encapsulation resin.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a semiconductor device and method of manufacture thereof, and more particularly to a semiconductor device and method of manufacture thereof, which includes a column electrode having one end connected to a wiring layer on a semiconductor chip and having the other end connected to an external connection terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the CSP (chip size package) has come to be increasingly used as a semiconductor device mounted on a small-sized electronic device represented by a portable digital electronic device, such as a cellular phone.
Miniaturization and high density can be attained with the CSP type semiconductor device. However, in recent years, the pitch between the external connection terminals is in the tendency that it becomes narrower with the demand for further miniaturization of the semiconductor device.
Thus, since the bonding area of the electrode formed in the mounting substrate and the external connection terminal of the semiconductor device becomes small as the external connection terminal pitch becomes narrow, the mounting reliability of the semiconductor device on the mounting substrate will decline.
In order to avoid the problem, a semiconductor device in which the column electrode is formed between the semiconductor chip and the external connection terminal is devised (for example, see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-270721 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-291733).
It is known that, in the semiconductor device having the column electrode, the stress present in the column electrode and the surrounding resin layer at the time of mounting can be relaxed or absorbed, and the mounting reliability is excellent when compared with the semiconductor device having no column electrode.
FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show examples of the conventional semiconductor device having the column electrode.
The semiconductor device 1A shown in FIG. 1 includes the insulating film 3, such as polyimide, which is formed on the circuit formation surface of the semiconductor chip 2A, and the wiring layer 4 (re-wiring layer) which is formed on the insulating film 3.
The wiring layer 4 is electrically connected with the semiconductor chip 2A through the hole formed in the insulating film 3. The column electrode 5 is formed in the state where it is set on the wiring layer 4.
The column electrode 5 has the cylindrical configuration. In the composition of FIG. 1, the upper end of the column electrode 5 is bonded to the wiring layer 4, and the solder ball 7 which serves as the external connection terminal is arranged at the lower end through the barrier metal 6 (for example, Ni and Au plating).
Moreover, the encapsulation resin 8 is formed on the bottom of the semiconductor chip 2A. The encapsulation resin 8 functions to protect the wiring layer 4 and the column electrode 5, and is formed, in the composition of FIG. 1, to have a thickness that is large enough to encapsulate the whole column electrode 5 except for the lower end where the barrier metal 6 is formed.
For this reason, in the structure of the conventional semiconductor device 1A, the end of the column electrode 5 where the barrier metal 6 is formed is flush with the surface of the encapsulation resin 8, and it is the structure in which the solder ball 7 and the encapsulation resin 8 are not separate from each other.
On the other hand, the semiconductor device 1B shown in FIG. 2 is the semiconductor device which receives or outputs the high frequency signal.
In FIG. 2, the elements that are essentially the same as corresponding elements in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals and a description thereof will be omitted.
Moreover, shown in FIG. 2 is the condition in which the semiconductor device 1B is mounted on the mounting substrate 10, and, the column electrodes 5 and 5A are bonded to the connection electrodes 11 and 11A of the mounting substrate 10 through the solder balls 7.
As mentioned above, the semiconductor device 1B is provided for the high-frequency signal transmission, and the column electrode 5A and the connection electrode 11A with which the high-frequency signal is exchanged are smaller in size than the column electrode 5 and the connection electrode 11 for the parasitic-capacitance reduction between the semiconductor chip 2B and the wiring layer 4 (re-wiring). In FIG. 2, reference numeral 9 indicates the passivation film.
In the semiconductor devices 1A and 1B of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the stress present at the time of mounting can be relaxed or absorbed by the column electrodes 5 and 5A and the surrounding encapsulation resin 8, and the improvement in the mounting reliability can be aimed at.
However, in this connection, if the further miniaturization and high density of the semiconductor devices 1A and 1B progress and the adoption of smaller pitch of the solder balls 7 (external connection terminals) progresses further, the decline of the mounting reliability will be produced similarly even with the semiconductor devices 1A and 1B using the column electrodes 5 and 5A.
Moreover, the problem arises in that the reduction of the distance of the adjoining column electrodes 5 and 5A by the adoption of smaller pitch will easily cause the occurrence of the short circuiting (bridging) between the adjoining solder balls 7 at the time of arranging the solder balls 7 in the column electrodes 5 and 5A and at the time of bonding the column electrodes 5 and 5A to the connection electrodes 11 and 11A of the mounting substrate 10.
Especially when the solder is used as a material of the external connection terminal as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in the composition in which the tips of the column electrodes 5 and 5A and the surface of the encapsulation resin 8 are almost flush with each other, the solvent component in the solder flows on the surface of the encapsulation resin 8 at the time of heating, and it is easily in contact with the adjacent column electrodes 5 and 5A. Since the solvent component have good wettability to the solder, the short circuiting of the adjoining column electrodes 5 and 5A with the solder balls 7 will be caused by the contact of the solvent component as a result.
Furthermore, in the composition in which the encapsulation resin 8 encapsulates the whole column electrodes 5 and 5A (except for the tips thereof), the thickness of the semiconductor devices 1A and 1B of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 is comparatively large.
For this reason, there is the problem in that the difference of the thermal expansion occurs between the silicon of the semiconductor chips 2A and 2B and the encapsulation resin 8 having a coefficient of thermal expansion different from that of the silicon, and the occurrence of the curvature will be easily produced in the semiconductor devices 1A and 1B.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the semiconductor device


Methods and systems for resource allocation using data from a variety of systems are described herein. A plurality of periods of time for using one or more resources may be identified based on a user request. Data indicative of locations of one or more users over one or more time periods may be received. Such data may be from an application other than a calendar application. Anticipated locations of the one or more users may be determined based on the data received. A resource of the one or more resources may be selected based on a distance between the resource and the anticipated locations of the one or more users. Based on detecting a change to the data, a new resource may be selected.

Enterprises may maintain a variety of resources which may be time- and occupancy-limited. For example, an enterprise may own a 3D printer which may be used by only one user at a time, and that 3D printer may take an average of one hour to complete a particular task. In such a situation, the enterprise may maintain resources—for example, hour-long blocks of time during which the 3D printer may be used by a single user—for allocation among a wide variety of individuals. Such enterprises may task individuals with maintaining a schedule or using some other method to try to allocate the one or more resources; however, such methods lack contextual information which may impact the accuracy and efficiency of allocation determinations. For example, scheduling 3D printer time on a shared calendar might be convenient, but might not account for sudden changes in users' schedules and other external factors which might make previously-made allocations no longer efficient.


There is provided a display device in a viewfinder, including a diffraction grating whose shape is determined at an interface between first and second materials, at least one of the first and second materials being adapted to have a variable refractive index for light reflected by an object to be photographed, and control means for changing the refractive index of the first and/or second materials, wherein the control means causes the light from the object to substantially pass through the diffraction grating in a first state and causes the diffraction grating to partially diffract the light from the object to display a pattern in a second state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device and, more particularly, to a display device in a viewfinder for displaying various types of photographing information within the viewfinder in a photographing apparatus such as a camera and a video tape recorder.
2. Related Background Art
In order to display predetermined photographing information in a viewfinder in a photographing apparatus such as a camera and a VTR, LEDs and liquid crystal elements are arranged outside of the viewing frame. However, a user may miss an alarm display of overexposure or underexposure with this display mechanism. In addition, it is impossible to display an in-focus range and an optimal exposure range.
Although electronic cameras and VTRs and other "intelligent" apparatuses have been developed, novel information display devices in viewfinders have been rarely proposed. Demand has thus arisen for developing intelligent display devices which satisfy the user's needs. In association with the drawbacks of the conventional display devices in viewfinders, the present applicant proposes an overlying display arrangement wherein a liquid crystal display element is arranged in a field of view, i.e., the optical path of light reflected from an object to be photographed. For example, Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) No. 52-110626 describes a display device in a viewfinder utilizing a TN (Twisted Nematic) liquid crystal display element. Since this display element normally uses a polarizing plate, the maximum light utilization efficiency obtainable is 50% so that the viewfinder is undesirably darkened. Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) No. 58-62626 describes a display device in a viewfinder utilizing a GH (Guest-Host) liquid crystal display element. Although a polarizing plate can be eliminated from this display element, pigment molecules always absorb light. As a result, light utilization efficiency is degraded again, as in Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) No. 52-110626, thus darkening the viewfinder. A hologram display device is also proposed. This display device is arranged in the optical path of light from an object to be photographed and is illuminated by an LED or the like. A shadow is formed by the hologram even in the nondisplay mode. Therefore, the hologram display device is not suitable for use as a display device in a viewfinder. In addition, it is impossible to perform versatile display of any numerical values by using the so-called 7-segment display elements.
The conventional display devices in viewfinders darken the viewfinders and form shadows therein, though such display devices can be conveniently used to display information in the field of view.

Diffraction grating type liquid crystal display device in viewfinder


Apparatus are provided for PTO related engine control having improved failure modes and communication with PCM or ECM independent of input architecture. The apparatus includes a control module for a vehicle powertrain having an input circuit receiving signals corresponding to a four-bit code, and a processor connected to the input circuit and outputting a control signal corresponding to one of a plurality of four-bit coded engine control states. The engine control states are coded such that potential errors in communication between the control module and powertrain, and their resulting effects on powertrain operation, are minimized. For example, a single bit change during communication does not result in a transition from one engine control state to another engine control state.

Power take-off (PTO) may be a common function used in vehicle powertrain management. PTO may provide power to up-fitter installed accessories such as a bucket lift, also referred to as a "cherry picker", a snow plow, a dump body, etc. PTO is a mechanism or technique, such as using a gearbox or bolt-on attachment, of driving a pump to supply power necessary to provide a function, such as lifting or manipulating the dump body, bucket lift, or snow plow. PTO may be enabled through conventional switching of a single polarity change, such as between an unasserted low, or inactive state, and an asserted high, or active state. Common switching arrangements for PTO enable function, Tap-up function, and Tap-down function include the use of 0 Volts for the unasserted low state and a battery voltage for the asserted high state for each of those functions.
A concern with control of engine operation is with failure modes of communication between various engine components. Compliance with probability of occurrence metrics is generally required to meet safety and performance requirements of various motor vehicle components. A rolling count or other similar failure checking mechanism is currently used to monitor PTO states, but these mechanisms generally require complex software operations. Additionally, failure modes of various conventional PTO states are generally undesirable operating states. For example, the single function switch for cruise enable and PTO enable, previously mentioned hereinabove, defaults to one of the unasserted low state or asserted high state to produce an undesirable condition.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an engine management system for motor vehicle powertrain applications that has improved failure modes. In addition, it is desirable to provide a control module that communicates with the vehicle powertrain that is simple to implement, accepts multiple input options, and accounts for a variety of communication errors. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.

Power take-off state and engine speed request


A cell cultivation carrier implantable in vivo having independent pore with opening of 100 μm-1000 μm on the surface thereof produced by neutralization•gellation of collagen acidic solution, said collagen acidic solution is preliminary prepared by passing through a filter of 10 μm or less pore size by 5-20 mg/mL concentration. Especially, a cell cultivation carrier implantable in vivo having sufficiently self-organized accumulation shape•structure obtained by carrying out said neutralization under directionally supplying of alkali.

As a method for cultivation, there are several methods such as to cultivate by adhering a cell to a carrier or to cultivate a cell by floating in medium. In the case to culture a cell by adhering to a carrier, a material of carrier is an important factor to improve the usefulness for high density and efficient culture regenerative medicine.
As a material for a culture carrier, gelatin, cellulose, hydroxy apatite or collagen are known, however from the view point of practical use for regenerative medicine, it is desirable that a compound is easily absorbed in vivo after embedded. In the case of cellulose, it has a problem that it can not be absorbed in vivo, and from this point of view, collagen attracts attention. Further, as a material of carrier, it is necessary to be investigated from adhering ability of cell and efficiency, and collagen is attracted attention from this point of view.
As a shape of carrier, it is necessary to investigate from macroscopic view point such as stable preservative ability when the carrier is embedded in vivo, or from bioactivity view point such as adhering ability of cell, bioabsorption•effective bio tissue replacement are important factors. As a beads shape carrier, for example, a carrier of agarose beads to which collagen is coated is known, however, it has a problem that the holding of carrier to embedded part is difficult and abilities of absorbable•effective tissue replacement in vivo are not so good. In addition, as a carrier for adhering cell, micro carrier, hollow fiber, membrane or nonwoven cloth are known, and these subjects are improved from holding ability of carrier, however, is not sufficient from said bio activity view point.
In the meanwhile, in recent development of regenerative medicine, it becomes popular to use auto or allo cell or cell of other person for medical treatment. For example, cultivated skin or cultivated cartilage to which only epithelium cell in vitro cultivated or fibroblast cell in vitro that produces interstitial compound in vivo are introduced are developed and is the stage of practical use.
In these regenerative medicines, after cells are cultivated by suitable carrier, it is clearly understood that the use of a cultivated cell which can be put back in vivo together with the carrier is desirable.
Further, as a carrier having said desired characteristic for regenerative medicine, it is considered that such subject can be accomplished by combining a cell, a carrier for cell and an activated factor to promote effective cultivation of cell. For example, in a case of bone or cartilage transplantation, it is important that it further contains sufficiently a matrix component (interstitial compound), such as, apatite, collagen or mucopolysaccharide and others. Bone or cartilage is composed of apatite, collagen, mucopolysaccharide or others which is produced by cell, and as a transplantation fragment for these tissue, it is necessary to contain sufficient amount of matrix component and to have physical characteristics similar in vivo.
Furthermore, because it replaces with own tissue in vivo, matrix components become very important for the purpose to act as an excellent scaffold for cultivation of own cell. In such a requirement, a spongy carrier is proposed (JP62-502936 publication; WO86/05811, document 1), because a spongy carrier of collagen having average pore size of approximately 1 μm to 150 μm improves cultivation efficiency. And, the invention of transplantable transplantation fragment, comprising a carrier with stable three dimensional structure having inner pore which can pass through nutrient liquid and containing cell in it is proposed (JPH8-511679 publication; WO94/20151, document 2), invention of an implantable material produced from a polymer filament having good shape holding ability (JPH9-182784 publication, document 3), further, the invention of matrix for reproduction of cartilage tissue containing collagen II fiber that composes extraceller matrix having good reproduction ability of cartilage tissue when embedded in vivo (JPH11-503338 publication; WO96/25962, document 4) are proposed.
Further, as a collagen carrier for cell cultivation that can cultivate cells by high density and a method for production thereof, a method for production of cell cultivation collagen carrier comprising, having pore size controlled in 50-2000 μm range, said pore is penetrating straightly from one surface to another surface and forming collagen fibrils arranged straightly from one surface to another surface by exposing cell cultivation collagen in which each pores are substantially and independently existing, and by exposing acidic solution to ammonia gas, forming collagen fiber sequenced from one surface to another surface and simultaneously forms straight water pole from one surface to another surface, then evaporate water in gel by freeze dry method is proposed (Japanese Patent 3170693 registered on Mar. 23, 2001, published on May 28, 2001, document 5). And as the effect thereof, following point is mentioned. That is, pore size can be controlled by concentration of ammonia gas and collagen carrier having most suitable pore size and structure to a cell to be cultivated and said pores are controlled along with supplying direction of ammonia gas can be obtained, further surface area of it can be enhanced, therefore, a cell cultivation collagen carrier that can cultivate cells by high density.
Up to this time, an investigation of a carrier as a scaffold of cell was carried out, however, a report of real carrier for regenerative medicine aiming self accumulation of matrix component produced from one's own cell is not found out.
Further, as a factor for activation of cell to said regenerative medicine, factors such as BMP (Bone Morphogeneic Protein), β FGF (β fibroblast growth factor) are known, and recently, recombinant human these factors can use. Further, these factors can be extracted from animal's bone such as bovine and can be used. However, any kind of activation factor, it is important for formation of tissue based on said activation factor to maintain said activation factor by certain concentration at surrounding part.
Recently, big expectation is loaded on regenerative medicine, and development relating to regenerative medicine is becoming an important target, and many firms are joining to the development, however, desired carrier for regenerative medicine is not developed yet, and it is a realistic current problem.
The subject of the present invention is to provide a carrier characterizing, after adhering removed cell or tissue thereof to a carrier and cultivating said removed cell or tissue thereof, transforming the carrier to have figure•structure that is possible to be transplanted in vivo without anaplasia of cell and so as the matrix produced by cell to be accumulated sufficiently in own tissue.
For the purpose to dissolve said subject, the inventors of the present invention basically investigated collagen itself, and considered the development of collagen that can form a cell cultivation carrier, and said collagen can form a carrier having figure•structure possible to accumulate matrix sufficiently in own tissue in vivo, namely, collagen having fine pore structure of figure•structure controlled to thickness direction. Based on said consideration, many experiments were carried out by trial and error, and the inventors of the present invention found out that the neutralization-gellation can be more effectively advanced by controlling fine pore size and progressing direction, and, good effect can be accomplished by transforming soluble collagen to a collagen from which aggregated collagen is removed. For example, the inventors of the present invention found out that by progressing to thickness direction by controlling diffusion, a carrier having figure•structure characterizing that fine pores having uniform fine pore diameter are uniformly sequenced can be obtained, and in said figure•structure, matrix can be sufficiently accumulated in own tissue in vivo, and accomplished to dissolve above mentioned subject.

Cell culture carrier implantable in vivo


According to one embodiment, an image display apparatus includes a position specifying unit, a first display control unit, and a second display control unit. The position specifying unit specifies a retrieval start position indicating an arbitrary place within a predetermined order of images based on a user operation. The first display control unit controls displaying an image corresponding to the retrieval start position. The second display control unit changes the displayed image in the predetermined order.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display apparatus and an image display method of displaying an image, and a computer-readable medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a display device for a large number of images is disclosed (see Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2006-268010). The above display device manages the large number of images based on groups of images, classifies the images by the groups, displays images for each group simultaneously, and scrolls the displayed images for each group. According to this display device, a target image may be efficiently retrieved from the large number of images.
However, in the aforementioned conventional display device, when scrolling and displaying the images belonging to each group, the display device firstly displays an image positioned at the head of each group. That is, when retrieving the images belonging to each group, the display device is made to start to retrieve with the image positioned at the head of each group. Therefore, a problem, such that it still takes a long period of time to retrieve the target image, is posed in the conventional display device, for example, when the number of images belonging to each group is large.
To prevent such a problem, it is required to increase the number of the groups. However, the number of images to be simultaneously displayed on a screen, that is, the number of images to be recognized at once by a user is also increased. If the number of images to be simultaneously displayed on a screen is increased, the target image is difficult to recognize, which is similar to a case when images to be retrieved are displayed on the screen as a list of small-sized thumbnail images. Thus, the retrieval efficiency deteriorates if the number of the groups is increased.

Image display apparatus, image display method, and computer-readable medium


The capture and alignment of multiple 3D scenes is disclosed. Three dimensional capture device data from different locations is received thereby allowing for different perspectives of 3D scenes. An algorithm uses the data to determine potential alignments between different 3D scenes via coordinate transformations. Potential alignments are evaluated for quality and subsequently aligned subject to the existence of sufficiently high relative or absolute quality. A global alignment of all or most of the input 3D scenes into a single coordinate frame may be achieved. The presentation of areas around a particular hole or holes takes place thereby allowing the user to capture the requisite 3D scene containing areas within the hole or holes as well as part of the surrounding area using, for example, the 3D capture device. The new 3D captured scene is aligned with existing 3D scenes and/or 3D composite scenes.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of 3-Dimensional (3D) capture of the physical world. More specifically, the present invention relates to capturing and aligning multiple 3D scenes with one another as well as extrapolating missing 3D scenes.
2. Description of the Related Art
While methods for capturing 3D information have existed for over a decade, known methods are typically expensive and require complex hardware such as light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensors.
The emergence of 3D capture devices that not only capture color but that are also inexpensive, such as the PrimeSense Ltd. hardware in Microsoft Corporation's Kinect™, has made it possible for 3D scenes and objects to automatically be reconstructed from multiple 3D captures by non-technical users. Current alignment software, however, is limited in its capabilities and ease of use. Existing alignment methods, such as the Iterative Closest Point algorithm (ICP), require users to manually input an initial rough alignment, which exceeds the capabilities of most nontechnical users.
As a matter of context, 3D reconstruction technology should be distinguished from 3D filming techniques. 3D filming techniques do not perform any 3D reconstruction. 3D filming techniques instead capture a scene from two different points of view so that those scenes may later be shown to a viewer via a 3D display. The 3D geometry of the captured scene in the context of 3D filming is never calculated by a computer; the raw stereo image is simply passed on to the viewer for perception.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Identifying and filling holes across multiple aligned three-dimensional scenes


A feed device for a distillation tower has an annular, open-bottomed channel located around the periphery of the feed zone of the tower with an inner wall spaced from the inner curved wall of the tower and a top covering the channel to confer a generally inverted-U shape to the cross section of the channel. One or more tangential feed inlets are provided to admit a heated, mixed phase feed to the tower and direct the feed into and along the channel. One or more vapor scoops are provided for each feed inlet with the scoop(s) located on the inner wall of the channel at a sufficient distance along the channel from the inlet to permit cyclonic separation of vapor and liquid before the vapor in the feed from the inlet enters the scoop(s) and passes through a vapor exit port into the central core of the tower.

Separation units, such as atmospheric distillation units, vacuum distillation units, and product strippers, are major processing units in a refinery. Atmospheric or vacuum distillation units separate crude oil into fractions according to boiling point so downstream processing units, such as catalytic cracking, hydrogen treating or reforming units, will have feedstocks that meet particular specifications. Crude oil separation is accomplished by fractionating the total crude oil at essentially atmospheric pressure and then feeding a bottoms stream of high boiling hydrocarbons, also known as topped crude or long resid, from the atmospheric distillation unit to a second distillation unit operating at a reduced pressure (vacuum).
The vacuum distillation unit typically separates the atmospheric unit bottoms into gas oil vapors based on boiling point, including light vacuum gas oil, heavy vacuum gas oil, lube oil distillates, and vacuum reduced crude. The non-distillable residual fraction from the vacuum tower also known as "vac resid" or "short resid", leaves the vacuum distillation unit as a heavy, viscous, liquid bottoms stream. The bottoms fraction separated from crude oil in the atmospheric distillation unit is fed to a flash zone in the lower portion of the vacuum tower. Although the heavier hydrocarbons do not vaporize, they may be carried into the lighter hydrocarbons due to entrainment in the vapors which ascend into the rectification zone above the flash zone of the tower. The entrained heavier hydrocarbons are typically contaminated with metals, such as vanadium or nickel, which can poison the downstream catalytic processing, such as hydrotreating, hydrocracking, or fluid catalytic cracking.
If the entrainment of the heavier components can be significantly reduced or eliminated, a significant improvement in the quality of the gas oil product can be realized in both yield and quantity with consequential improvements in the feed for hydroconversion units, catalytic cracking units, as well as in gas oil distillates, or lube oil distillates.
Various methods of reducing entrainment of residuum from the flash zone have been developed. Many distillation towers, especially petroleum vacuum towers, use feed inlet devices, usually known as feed horns, for introducing the feed stream to the flash zone. One type of feed horn uses a tangential entry for the vapor-liquid feed that opens into a peripheral open bottomed horn. The horn can be an annular or arcuate channel defined by an outer peripheral wall defined by the inside wall of the tower shell and an internal arcuate wall spaced from the peripheral wall of the tower with a closed top. The stream of heated feed enters the horn from the inlet and the liquid and vapor components pass along the channel between the walls while the liquid and vapor components separate from centrifugal force since the force on the denser liquid is substantially greater than the force acting on the vapor. The separated liquid flows downward due to gravity into the lower portion of the tower and eventually towards the stripping zone for collection at the bottom of the tower. The vapor component also flows downwardly and then out of the horn into the lower pressure flash zone and is swept upwardly through the hollow central core of the tower towards the wash zone.
One example of a peripheral horn is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,747 which, in this case, has angularly disposed vanes connected between the walls of the channel so that vapor-liquid separation takes place evenly along the arc length of the horn. Another example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,815 in which corrugated vanes are disposed in the horn for utilizing the centrifugal motion to create turbulence in the stream in the inlet horn. In this case, the turbulence causes a portion of the fine particle size bituminous material to impinge on the surfaces of the inlet horn and recombine with the fluid so that vaporized solvent and steam can be withdrawn.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,465 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,654 describe feed horns which are intended to increase the horizontal distribution of the vapor so that enhanced vapor/liquid interaction in the tower above the feed zone is achieved. One form of vapor distributor comprises an annular wall which is spaced inwardly from the shell of the tower to form a feed channel and which is built up from a number of circumferential segments which are radially staggered to form outlet ports along the circumference of the wall. Each outlet allows a portion of the vapor stream flowing through the distributor to leave the channel and flow into the central core of the tower.
Another form of feed horn is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,889,961; this uses guide vanes in the annular channel which extend across the channel and upwards through its open bottom to direct the mixed phase feed in a downward direction into the open core of the tower. The vanes are positioned at gradually increasing heights in the direction of stream flow in the channel so that they progressively pare off a portion of the total liquid/vapor flow in the channel and direct it into the lower portion of the tower.
The problem with the known feed horn devices is that they still allow an amount of vapor with entrained liquid to move up through the core of the tower into the upper wash zone. In a typical tower, it will be found that the overflash, which includes vacuum gas oils from the wash oil, which will be collected in the overflash collection tray, typically has a high percentage of resid and is not suitable for certain feed applications, especially for fluid catalytic cracking (FCC). In order to use the overflash more effectively, especially for FCC feed, it is desirable to reduce the entrainment of resid further. Additionally, more effective de-entrainment will improve the reliability of the wash zone. Excessive resid entrainment in the wash zone accelerates formation of coke, forcing sub optimal operation and premature shutdown. Higher quality overflash, such as would be acceptable for FCC, can increase wash oil rates and virtually eliminate the risk of coking, allowing units to operate at higher temperatures and higher efficiencies.
Experience and testing has shown that the conventional types of feed horn such as those described in the patents noted above inherently direct vapor into the zone below the inlet device, increasing the flow strength or creating localized interference with liquid collected on the wall of the flash zone above the stripping section. Thus, there is a need for a separation device in which entrainment of liquid resid by the vapor flow can be significantly reduced.

EXXONMOBIL RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING COMPANY


A door hinged to a structure has a latch mechanism holding the door in a closed locked position. The latch mechanism has spring biased bolt units secured to opposite sides of the door connected with a single cable. A handle and lock assembly located in a recess in the outside of the door between the bolt units and mounted on the door has a hook with a groove accommodating the cable. When the handle is moved from its locked position cable is pulled to release the bolts allowing the door to be moved to its open position.

Door lock mechanisms are used with sliding, swinging and overhead doors to close doorways and openings in structures, such as building and vehicles. One type of door lock mechanism has spring biased bolt units that are normally in the lock position to keep the door closed. A rotatable bell crank and rods connected to the bolt units are used to release the bolts to allow the door to be moved to an open position. The bell crank and rods are positioned adjacent the outside of the door. In some installations, the rods are located within the door between the bell crank and bolt units. The areas within the door surrounding the rods have little or no insulation which results in heat loss through the door from heated spaces, such as vehicle compartments. J. V. Gompel in U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,160 discloses a bell crank and rod assembly for actuating spring biased bolt units for a door and an alternative bolt unit release mechanism. This mechanism uses a cable connected to bolt units mounted on opposite sides of a door. A handle pivotally mounted on a frame attached to the outside of the door is connected to the cable. A key lock on the handle retains the handle in a closed locked position. When the lock is allowing the handle to be pivoted upwardly to pull cable to release the bolt units. The mount for the handle requires an opening through the door and an interior member located in the opening.


An image sensor bridge interface is provided. The interface is situated between an image sensor and a processor. The interface comprises an integrated circuit. The integrated circuit comprises a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) decoupled from both image signals provided from the image sensor and a processor connected to the integrated circuit. The FPGA separates Ultraviolet (UV) and Infrared (IR) data values from image sensor-provided image data and embeds the UV and IR data values within the horizontal blanking, vertical blanking, and/or active video components of a video feed. The video feed provided from the integrated circuit to the processor using a standard video interface, and the processor providing the video feed or providing UV images, IR images, and Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) images separated from the video feed to a computing core of a host device.

Image capturing is one of the fundamental functions of media handling devices (e.g., Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Self-Service Terminals (SSTs), kiosks, etc.). Image sensors capture images in analogue format, which are then converted to digital formats and made available for further downstream processing on the media handling devices. Typically, because media handling devices need to evaluate image data provided as output from the image sensors in Ultraviolet (UV) and Infrared (IR) values in addition to standard Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) values (or standard YUV values), media handling devices require customized Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs).
A customized FPGA is provided on an integrated circuit board that sits between an image sensor and a Central Processing Units (CPU) of the media handling device. This serves as a bridge, which allows the CPU to evaluate the image data associated with RGB values (or YUV values) and also evaluate the image data for UV and IR values. However, this customization also makes the architecture of a media handling device non-portable and specific to each type media handling device.
As a result, if a different processor is desired for an integrated circuit of a customized FPGA to improve processor throughput, the FPGA's logic has to be updated to accommodate UV and IR values from the image data provided by the image sensor. The customized FPGAs have to be modified when improved processors are desired. Furthermore, the media handling device vendors do not control manufacture of the image sensors (manufactured independently from media handling device).
Typically, processor manufacturers only provide non-standard input and output interfaces for processors that provide UR and IR image values with customized FPGAs, this makes the FPGAs dependent on the processors that support handling UR and IR image values. Consequently, media handling device vendors continue to produce customized FPGAs on customized integrated circuit boards requiring processors with non-standard interfaces. These FPGAs are therefore not usable between different types of media handling devices and require processors with non-standard interfaces, such that the manufacturer-supplied processors for the FPGAs cannot be swapped out or upgraded.


A combination packer/safety valve assembly is connectable to the bottom end of a tubing string and lowerable therewith into the casing string portion of a gas storage well to control the upward flow through the casing string of pressurized gas stored in a subterranean cavern below the casing string. In response to the delivery through the tubing string to the interior of the assembly of control fluid at a first predetermined pressure a normally closed, axially extending interior passage of the assembly is opened to permit upward flow therethrough of pressurized gas for delivery to the well surface through the casing string. An increase of the control fluid pressure to a higher, predetermined second magnitude radially extends an anchor slip and packer structure externally carried by the assembly body into an anchored, sealing engagement with the interior surface of the casing string, and a locking structure automatically functions to hold the anchor slip and packer structure in this radially extended orientation. A subsequent increase of the control fluid pressure to a still higher, predetermined third magnitude causes the anchor slip and packer structure to be driven back to a radially retracted position, thereby releasing the assembly for upward retrieval movement with the tubing string through the casing string.

The present invention generally relates to flow control apparatus for subterranean wells and, in a preferred embodiment thereof, more particularly relates to packer and safety valve apparatus used to shut-in a subterranean gas storage well.
Previously retrieved natural gas is often stored in underground cavern structures, such as salt caverns or abandoned mine shafts, for later use. To effect such storage a gas storage well is constructed by extending a casing string from a surface wellhead structure downwardly through the earth to the subterranean cavern, and then pumping the gas downwardly through the casing string into the cavern. To keep the pressurized gas delivered to the cavern from simply forcing its way up the casing string when the pumping pressure is terminated, it is necessary to "shut-in" the well until retrieval of some or all of the stored gas is needed.
To effect this well shut-in a normally closed safety valve is typically installed in the casing string and sealed therein using a packing structure. When it is desired to retrieve some of the pressurized gas stored in the cavern, the valve is simply opened to allow the pressurized gas to flow upwardly through the temporarily opened valve, into the wellhead structure through the casing string portion above the opened valve, and to a suitable receiving structure through an outlet pipe connected to the wellhead. To terminate upward flow of the stored gas, the safety valve is returned to its normally closed position.
Conventional safety valves, and their associated packer structures, used to shut-in gas storage wells in the manner generally described above are subject to several well known problems, limitations and disadvantages. For example, the opening of the casing-installed safety valve is typically effected using a vertical valve opening rod extending through the casing string, connected at its lower end to the movable valve closure element, and connected at its upper end to a pressure-actuated piston disposed in the wellhead structure and used to downwardly drive the rod to open the safety valve.
The use of this conventional piston/rod mechanical valve operating structure has two primary limitations. First, the movable valve element in the safety valve is typically spring-biased upwardly toward its normally closed position. When it is desired to permit this movable valve element to return to its normally closed position, its biasing spring must move not only the valve element upwardly, but the actuating rod member as well. Since the weight of the rod is directly proportional to its length, and the required size and force of the valve biasing spring are proportional to the weight of the rod, the maximum depth at which the safety valve may be installed in the casing string is often undesirably limited.
Additionally, the necessity of positioning the rod-driving piston structure renders this mechanical opening portion of the overall safety valve system susceptible to damage from vandalism and motor vehicles or other heavy equipment striking the wellhead structure.
Another limitation associated with safety valve systems of this general type is related to their related anchor and packer structures used to lock and seal them within the casing string to prevent stored gas from flowing upwardly through the casing string externally around the installed safety valve. This packer-related limitation comes in several varieties. For example, in one conventional type of shut-in application, the safety valve and its associated packer structure must be separately installed within the casing, using mechanical tools to set and later release the packer structure. In another type of valve and packer system, the packer portion of the shut-in system may be hydraulically set, but must be mechanically released using a suitable wireline tool.
In view of the foregoing it can be readily seen that it would be desirable to provide improved safety valve and packer apparatus, for use in shutting-in gas storage wells, which eliminates or at least substantially minimizes the above-mentioned problems, limitations and disadvantages associated with conventional valve and packer shut-in apparatus of the general type described. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide such improved safety valve and packer apparatus.

Combination packer/safety valve assembly for gas storage wells


A diversity reception device which weights in proportion to the reception level and combines a plurality of reception signals, includes a phase demodulator for demodulating the phase of the reception signal, a converter to output the sine and cosine elements of the reception signal, a sine element adder to add up sine element of each reception signal, and a cosine element adder to add up cosine element of each reception signal. The converter fetches and outputs predetermined values on sine and cosine elements of the reception signal upon input of the reception signal's reception level and phase data that is sent from phase demodulator. Therefore, the present device does not require expensive electronic circuits and can be made of small digital circuits suitable for IC including a memory.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a diversity reception device attached to radio transmission equipment, specifically to a diversity reception device that weights and combines a plurality of reception signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, digital transmission equipment transmits the carrier signal modulated by the digital data signal (baseband signal) for effective data transmission. In modulating the carrier signal, several methods have been adopted such as: Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) for varying the amplitude of the carrier signal according to the digital baseband signal (modulation signal); Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) for displacing the frequency of the carrier according to the modulation signal; Phase Shift Keying (PSK) for varying the phase of the carrier according to the modulation signal; and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) for varying the amplitude and phase of the carrier independently according to the modulation signal.
It is well known that these digital modulation methods applied to mobile radio communication are affected by fading, a phenomenon caused by reflection or scattering of the electromagnetic wave, which seriously degrades the quality of the received signal. An effective method for supplementing reception level deterioration is the diversity reception which receives the signal over a plurality of lines.
Diversity reception is divided into the following types: Selection Combiner (SC) for selecting a signal with the highest reception level among the signals received in the plurality of lines before decoding; Equal-Gain Combiner (EGC) for combining all the received signals with equal level before decoding; and Maximal-Ratio Combiner (MRC) for weighting the received signals in proportion to each reception level and combining the signals before decoding.
Among the above three types, MRC most effectively combines the signals because the higher the reception level of the signal is, or the less noise-affected the signal is, the more weighted the signal is.
A conventional MRC is explained below.
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of conventional diversity reception equipment with MRC with four lines for receiving signals. In the device, input terminals 101 to 104 receive the signals and phase shifters 105 to 108 equally arrange the phases of the carriers. Adder 109 then combines the signals and decoder 110 decodes the combined signal. In the above process, adder 109 combines the signals in linear form because each signal has been amplified in linear form.
FIG. 2 shows an Inphase Quadrature plane figure representing how current transmission equipment combines signals. For the sake of convenience it shows the case of combining two lines of signals.
S1 and S2 represent reception signals. S1S and S1N respectively represent a signal element and a noise element of S1. S2S and S2N respectively represent a signal element and a noise element of S2.
Generally, the level of each noise element is equal despite the size of received signal and the difference of receiving lines (hereinafter "branches"). That is why the reception signal in each branch is drawn as a point on the circumference with the same radius from signal elements S1S and S2S respectively (as .vertline.S1N.vertline.=.vertline.S2N.vertline.). In the diversity reception device with MRC in FIG. 1, signals received from each branch are combined in linear form, that is, S1 and S2 are combined as vectors, and the combined signal is input in the decoder.
However, since MRC requires a very high accuracy in synchronizing the carrier phases when combining the signals, convention reception devices with MRC tends to use an expensive Digital Signal Processor (DSP) to provide A/D conversion of the received signal for digital processing. Also, for combining the signal in linear form, an A/D converter with a wide dynamic range is required. In short, a reception device with MRC has problems in its size and cost.
Although MRC may be a most preferable combiner under propagation conditions when there are only random disturbances, like thermal noise, since it merely combines the received signals in linear form, MRC has a defect in that it receives interference waves such as delay waves, without processing. In particular, when a large incidence of such waves is included in the signal received in a branch with high reception level, the signal is heavily weighted despite its bad quality, decreasing the receiving performance.


An automatic dishwasher with a treating chamber, at least one dish holder, and a sprayer. The sprayer can be coupled to the dish holder and include a set of fan spray nozzles or a set of jet nozzles. The set of fan spray nozzles or the set of jet nozzles fluidly connect the sprayer and treating chamber. One or more angles in which fluid flows from the set of fan spray nozzles or the set of jet nozzles into the treating chamber can be adjusted.

Contemporary automatic dishwashers for use in a typical household include a tub and upper, lower, and third level racks or baskets for supporting soiled dishes within the tub. A spray system is provided for re-circulating wash liquid throughout the tub to remove soils from the dishes. The spray system can include a variety of sprayers to address different wash zones. The dishwasher can also include a controller that implements a number of pre-programmed cycles of operation to wash dishes contained in the tub.


A compensation plate used in a film coating device includes a main body defining a plurality of guiding holes, a plurality of moveable blades connected to the main body, and a plurality of connectors. Each of the plurality of moveable blades defines two through holes corresponding to one of the plurality of guiding holes. The plurality of connectors engage in the through holes and the guiding holes, fix each of the plurality of moveable blades to the main body when each of the plurality of connectors is fastened, and slide in each of the plurality of guiding holes with each of the moveable blades when each of the plurality of connectors releases.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compensation plate used in a film coating device.
2. Description of Related Art
Referring to FIG. 4, a film coating device 200 includes film coating sources 10, compensation plates 11, and an umbrella-like canopy 12. Rings of substrates 13 are formed on a surface of the umbrella-like canopy 12 facing the film coating sources 10. Each film coating source 10 includes a heater 101 and raw material 102. The raw material 102 is heated and evaporated by the heater 101. The evaporated raw material 102 then travels to the substrates 13 and forms films thereon. Since distances and angles between the substrates 13 and the raw material 102 are not uniform, thickness of film deposited on the different substrates 13 may not be uniform. Therefore, to ensure uniformity of thickness for the films deposited on the different substrates 13, the compensation plates 11 are used.
Typically, manufacture of the compensation plates 11, begins with simulation in a personal computer, after which the compensation plate 11 is physically manufactured according to the simulation, and is tested in the film coating device 200 to qualify the compensation plate 11. If the compensation plate 11 does not pass qualification, another compensation plate 11 is produced and tested, until the compensation plate 11 is made that qualifies. Therefore, efficiency of manufacturing the typical compensation plate 11 is low, and material is wasted, which results in high manufacturing cost.
What is need, therefore, is to provide a compensation plate used in a film coating device, in which the above problems are eliminated or at least alleviated

Compensation plate used in a film coating device