A construction system includes an elongated connection stem with a central member having a uniform first transverse dimension and opposed integral end members, each having a uniform second transverse dimension greater than the first, each end member having a longitudinal slot extending from a tip end to the central member and an attachment member having a central through bore slightly smaller than the second transverse dimension. A cross section of each end member is similarly shaped to the central through bore and slightly larger than the central through bore and a cross section of the central member is similarly shaped to the central through bore but of smaller size than the central through bore. In one instance, the attachment member is fittingly received on either of the opposed end members and, in another instance, the attachment member is slidably received on the central member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a toy construction system, and more particularly, to such a system in which components are uniquely formed and can be assembled in a unique manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Over the years, many structural toys have been devised and marketed comprising elongated elements connected by joint elements in the form of cubes, spheres, disks, or other appropriate compact components to produce an architectural structure or a replica of a machine or vehicle. The elements and components of such toys have been of great variety, some of simple design and others of fairly complex design. When of complex design, they have been expensive to manufacture. Some of these toys suffer from the fault of rapid wear so that after moderate use, the parts are no longer friction tight and no longer capable of maintaining necessary connections.
In contrast, the present invention provides components of exceedingly simple design, easy and inexpensive to manufacture, and adapted to be used by young children as well as by the older set. Further, while the components are to be fastened and held together by friction, by their,inherent design, wear is minimal and the life of the components and resulting structures and vehicles is maximized.
There are numerous examples of toy construction sets exemplified by patents. A very early example is U.S. Pat. No. 853,756 to Bétis which discloses an educational appliance for kindergarten work in the form of a counting frame in which is arranged a plurality of units in the form of cubes or blocks of any shape, each bearing a plurality of letters, figures, colors or other differentiated faces, susceptible of the various groupings or arrangements required by such work, Toy construction sets using, as a primary component, rods with bifurcated or slotted ends for fitting reception in other components with bored openings are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,113,371 and 2,208,049 to Pajeau, and 3,698,123 to Heldt. U.S. Pat. No. 2,662,335 to Caverley discloses a set of toy or doll building pieces comprising bodies, heads, limbs, feet, and connecting elements which may be interchangeably interconnected. Apparatus for constructing molecular models may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,851,159 to Dodge, U.S. Pat. No. 2,962,820 to Petersen, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,939,581 to Clarke, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,404 to Fischer discloses a technique of constructing an assembly by connecting hollow structural elements with specially formed connecting elements. A construction toy system which comprises a variety of molded plastic connector elements arranged to be joined with rod-like struts to form complex structural units is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,919 to Glickman. A variety of other toy structural construction sets and techniques are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,255 to Warehime, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,120,253 and 5,282,767 to Gelardi. U.S. Pat. No. 6,461,215 to Kunz et al. discloses toy building sets in the form of box-shaped building blocks provided with coupling studs on one side and complementary coupling holes on an opposite side further provided with a tubular, elongated, flexible, corrugated building element to produce a unique structure.
It was in light of the foregoing that the present invention was conceived and has now been reduced to practice.


This superconducting coil apparatus includes: a cylindrical coil container which has an inner circumferential surface and an outer circumferential surface; a superconducting coil which is stored in the coil container to be cooled so that a superconducting member is wound on the inner circumferential surface; and a columnar magnetic body which is fitted to the inner circumferential surface of the coil container.

When a current flows through a superconducting coil around which a superconducting member is wound, magnetic flux lines of a magnetic field generated in the superconducting coil pass through the superconducting coil itself. For this reason, particularly, if a bismuth-based superconducting member is used, the amount of the flowing current is reduced as a magnetic flux density increases, and the current is difficult to flow. Accordingly, in view of the fact that, at a cryogenic temperature (liquid helium temperature), since the bismuth-based superconducting member has a much higher critical magnetic field than a metal-based material, it is proposed that the whole superconducting coil is cooled to the cryogenic temperature by liquid neon or liquid helium (for example, see Patent Document 1).
In such a superconducting coil apparatus, the amount of the current flowing through the superconducting coil can be maintained even when the magnetic flux density increases.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 2000-323321

Superconducting coil apparatus and inductor-type synchronous machine


A stacked semiconductor device is constructed by stacking in two levels: a lower semiconductor device having a wiring board, at least one semiconductor chip mounted on a first surface of the wiring board and having electrodes electrically connected to wiring by way of a connection means, an encapsulant composed of insulating plastic that covers the semiconductor chip and the connection means, a plurality of electrodes formed overlying the wiring of a second surface of the wiring board, and a plurality of linking interconnects each having a portion connected to the wiring of the first surface of the wiring board and another portion exposed on the surface of the encapsulant; and an upper semiconductor device in which each electrode overlies and is electrically connected to the exposed portions of each of the linking interconnects of the lower semiconductor device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of fabricating the device. In particular, the present invention relates to a technology effective for application to the fabrication technology of stacked semiconductor devices in which a semiconductor device is stacked on the upper surface of a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Surface-mount semiconductor devices referred to as BGA (Ball Grid Array) constructions and LGA (Land Grid Array) are known in the art as package configurations for realizing semiconductor devices of greater integration as well as smaller size and lighter weight.
In this type of semiconductor device, semiconductor elements (semiconductor chips) are affixed to a wiring board. In this type of semiconductor device, the electrodes of semiconductor chips and connection pads that are formed by the wiring of the wiring board are connected by conductive wires (connection means). The semiconductor device is further of a configuration in which the semiconductor chips and wiring are covered by an encapsulant composed of insulating plastic.
To improve productivity, a fabrication method is adopted that employs the so-called blanket molding. In this fabrication method, a wiring mother board is prepared in which product formation areas for fabricating semiconductor devices are aligned horizontally and vertically. In this fabrication method, a semiconductor chip is affixed to each product forming part and wire connections then constructed. In this fabrication method, the entire wiring mother board is covered by an insulating plastic, following which the wiring motherboard is cut vertically and horizontally together with the plastic to produce a plurality of semiconductor devices. As the connection means, a method also exists in which each electrode of a semiconductor chip is flip-chip connected to connection pads of the wiring board.
As another method for realizing semiconductor devices of greater integration and smaller size, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 172157/2004 or Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 273938/2004 adopt methods of stacking semiconductor chips on which, for example, ICs have been formed, or stacking semiconductor devices that have been packaged.
The present inventors have investigated the fabrication of the so-called "package-on-package" stacked semiconductor devices that employ solder balls (external electrode terminals) that are provided on the lower surface of a wiring board to stack packaged semiconductor devices.
Plastic-encapsulated semiconductor devices are typical well-known semiconductor devices. Semiconductor chips are mounted on these semiconductor devices on the upper surface of a wiring board having external electrode terminals on its lower surface. In these semiconductor devices, moreover, the electrodes of the semiconductor chips are electrically connected to the wiring of the wiring board by way of a connection means. The semiconductor devices are further of a configuration in which the semiconductor chip and the connection means are covered by an encapsulant (package) composed of insulating plastic.
When semiconductor devices of this type are stacked, the peripheral portion of the wiring board is caused to protrude to expose a portion of the wiring outside of the encapsulant. A method of fabricating a stacked semiconductor device can then be considered in which these exposed portions of wiring connect with the external electrode terminals (solder bumps) of the semiconductor device (upper semiconductor device) that is stacked on this exposed portion of wiring.
Arranging and stacking two levels of semiconductor chips on the package of the lower semiconductor device in this type of configuration increases the height of the package, and as a result, a bump electrode formed by one solder ball no longer has sufficient height. However, a method can be considered in which a substrate for stacking is arranged in between and solder balls then attached to the upper and lower sides of this substrate to electrically connect the upper and lower semiconductor devices.
However, in a stacked semiconductor device having this type of construction, the height of the stacked semiconductor devices increases and thus complicates the realization of thinner stacked semiconductor devices. In addition, the need for the portion of the wiring board outside of the package for connecting bump electrodes further complicates the realization of smaller stacked semiconductor devices.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Stacked semiconductor device and fabrication method for same


A device may include a memory and logic. The logic may be configured to monitor a number of computer devices associated with a service, identify, based on the monitoring, whether any of the computer devices is experiencing a problem or is unavailable, and store, in the memory, information identifying each of the computer devices that is experiencing a problem or is unavailable. The logic may also be configured to receive a client request for the service, the client request being directed to a virtual Internet protocol (VIP) address associated with the device. The logic may be further configured to identify one of the computer devices to which the request is to be forwarded, and forward the request to the identified computer device.

Service providers often attempt to balance the processing load associated with providing their services. One drawback with conventional load balancing is that the load balancing is typically performed across multiple layers and platforms. As a result, there are multiple levels of failure associated with the load balancing.
For example, in conventional network architectures, a client device may connect with a router to attempt to access a service. The router may interact with one or more domain name systems (DNSs) and global load balancing platforms to identify an Internet protocol (IP) address associated with the desired service. Once an IP address is identified, the router may forward the request to a local load balancing platform that will attempt to forward the request to an available server. Such an approach has many drawbacks. For example, the client may receive an initially valid IP address from a DNS resolver, but accessing the desired service may fail at any point in time thereafter. In such instances, the client will not know whether there is an alternate IP address for the service. Therefore, the client will try to connect to the IP address, wait a period of time and retry to establish a connection one or more times. During this period of time, the DNS entry in the client may expire based on a time-to-live (TTL) value and the DNS server will have to be queried again for a new valid IP address. Such processing consumes time and significant network resources.
Another problem with conventional architectures is the requirement for multiple layers of load balancers. For example, conventional architectures include a global server load balancing layer/platform, as well as a local server load balancing layer/platform. Each load balancing layer/platform contributes to packet latencies and adds devices to the service provider's facilities. These devices consume rack space, power and cooling resources.


A digital content creation device includes a processor and a storage device. The storage device stores a content database including digital content sets. The processor selects a target digital content set for processing; determines, based on a template, a layout for more than one target selected digital content sets; detects, based on processor generated overlap information, an overlapping region of the more than one target selected digital content sets; determines, based on processor generator importance information, at least one target selected digital content set for moving; determines a move direction parallel to a line connecting an overlapping region centroid and a move-target digital content set centroid allowing the centroids to be separated; calculates a move-distance to remove the overlap between the move-target digital content set and a quadrangle circumscribed on the overlapping region; and moves the move-target digital content set in the move direction by the move distance.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to technology for generating digital content output. In particular, the invention relates to technology for removing overlap of digital content generally set out on a layout to create digital content having good visibility.
2. Related Art
There are digital content distribution systems which provide users with digital content such as news, etc. Digital content distribution systems commonly employ content registration databases ("database" will be hereinafter referred to as DB) which stores content. In one known kind of digital content distribution system, one or a plurality of sets of digital content provided by a content registration DB is read, edited, and provided to users. When editing digital content, the content is laid out in such a way as to be easily viewed by a user. Such a layout can be achieved, for example, by providing plural information frames within a layout region, and including in such frames digital content (information) such as text or images.
However, in using such frames, if plural digital content sets are laid out such that they overlap, the result is unattractive to a user and may be difficult to view. Therefore when editing, it is necessary to avoid such overlap. For example, JP-A-2004-046858 discloses a technique for removing overlap of digital content. In this related art, if two sets of digital content overlap, a technique is employed whereby one set of digital content is moved in a predetermined direction by a minimum distance necessary to resolve the overlap.
However, the technique disclosed in the related art mentioned above suffers from a problem in that overlap of digital content cannot be resolved in a case that it is not possible to move overlapping content in a predetermined direction, as is the case when another set of digital content already exists in the path of the predetermined direction of the data to be moved.

Digital content creation system, digital content creation method, and program product


A communicating apparatus which stores communication obstacle information in the case where a communication obstacle occurs. The apparatus comprises a memory to store communication information and a managing unit to manage the information stored in the memory in accordance with information stored in a communication partner, wherein the managing unit processes the information stored in the memory in accordance with the recovery of the communication obstacle or the number of communication obstacles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communicating apparatus in which communication obstacle information is stored in the case where a communication obstacle occurs.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, an information processing equipment having a radio communicating function is used in a distribution industry or the like, thereby enabling works to be efficiently executed. As shown in FIG. 9, for example, in such a system, an information processing equipment A having a radio communicating function transmits and receives data to/from an information processing equipment B having a radio communicating function in a wireless manner.
In those information processing equipment, the base station side (information processing equipment A here) is constructed by a desk top type radio equipment, an information processing equipment, and the like as shown in FIG. 14. In many cases, the terminal station side (information processing equipment B here) has a portable structure of a light weight and a small size or an integrated type structure as shown in FIG. 8.
On the other hand, in the case where it is necessary to further efficiently execute radio data communication due to an increase in radio data communication amount or an enlargement of a range which needs the communication, as shown in FIG. 10, there is also a system such that one or more information processing equipment B.sub.1 to B.sub.N each having a radio communicating function are connected to a base station A and the (1-to-N) data communication is executed.
An example of a style which is actually used will now be described. In case of managing the stocks of various kinds of articles in a warehouse of the distribution industry, a manager of the base station A requests a specific operator who carries the information processing equipment B having the radio communicating function and who exists in the warehouse to report a situation such as the number of stocks of the designated article or the like. On the other hand, the operator moves to the location of the designated article and confirms the number of stocks or the like and transmits data to the base station A.
There is a case where during the execution of the data transmission and reception between the information processing equipment B having the radio communicating function and the base station A, an obstacle such that the transmission and reception are suddenly stopped or the like occurs due to the movement of the information processing equipment B, a topographical reason of the transmitting location, or the like.
In this instance, in the information processing equipment B and the base station A, the obstacle information which is generated during the communication is recorded by a process prepared in an operating system (OS) as a fundamental software for control of each equipment or the application program.
Ordinarily, as for the communication obstacle information, in both of the information processing equipment B and the base station A, the time-elapsed changes of the operation, state, and operating situation of a computer (CPU) at that time point are held in a memory device and are used as information of the management and operation situations of a system constructed by those equipment.
In the above conventional apparatus, however, there is a limitation in the communication obstacle information which can be held because of a limitation of the memory size of the above information processing equipment.
As an application program to use the information processing equipment, a complicated program which can manage and process the communication obstacle information must be prepared.
In case of performing the data communication in a wireless manner between the host computer and the terminal, as shown in FIG. 17, there is also a system such that by connecting a plurality of base stations to the host computer, the host computer and the plurality of terminals can simultaneously communicate in a wireless manner. As a method of connecting them, the terminal transmits a connection request to an arbitrary base station and the base station responds to the connection request by a confirmation of the connection.
However, in the case where the terminal generated the connection request to an arbitrary base station so as to be connected to the host computer, when the base station is communicating with the other terminal, there is no response. In this case, the terminal times out and generates the connection request to another base station. Now, even if the connection succeeds, since the connection with the first base station has failed, there is a drawback such that it takes an additional time which is needed for connection by only the time which was required for the time-out. If the connection at the second and subsequent times also fails, it takes a further time.

Communicating apparatus with communication obstacle management


In a method for determining concentration of an optically active substance in a medium, a laser beam with two eigen modes of two different temporal frequencies and two orthogonal linear polarized states is generated and passed through the medium. Then, the laser beam that exits the medium is passed through an analyzing polarizer so as to generate an optical heterodyne of the orthogonal linear polarized states. The amplitude of the optical heterodyne from the analyzing polarizer is detected, and the detected amplitude of the optical heterodyne is converted into the concentration of the optically active substance in the medium. An optical heterodyne-based apparatus for performing the above method is also disclosed. The method and apparatus are suitable for noninvasive in vivo glucose, monitoring of the aqueous humor in an eye of an animal.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining the concentration of optically active substances, more particularly to an optical heterodyne-based method and apparatus which is suitable for noninvasive in vivo glucose monitoring of the aqueous humor in an eye of an animal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical noninvasive in vivo glucose monitoring using the aqueous humor glucose in an eye of an animal as a measure of the blood glucose concentration is known in the art. Rabinovitch, B., March, W. F., and Adams, R. L., have described an optical glucose monitoring scheme in "Noninvasive Glucose Monitoring of the Aqueous Humor of the Eye: Part I. Measurement of Very Small Optical Rotations", Diabetes Care, Vol. 5, No. 3; pp. 254-258, May-June 1982, and in "Noninvasive Glucose Monitoring of the Aqueous Humor of the Eye: Part II. Animal Studies and the Scleral Lens", Diabetes Care, Vol. 5, No. 3; pp. 259-265, May-June 1982. In the proposed scheme, a polarized incident light beam is modulated by a Faraday day effect modulator before being directed laterally through the anterior chamber of the eye. The light beam through the anterior chamber then passes through a Faraday effect path-length compensator, a crossed analyzing polarizer; and to a light detector. The output of the detector is received by a frequency-selective amplifier, which generates an amplified voltage that is a direct measure of the optical activity of the glucose in the aqueous humor present in the anterior chamber for use in determining the glucose concentration. A feedback mechanism may be included for increased sensitivity.
It is noted that the aforementioned glucose monitoring scheme has a complex construction due to its use of a Faraday affect modulator and path-length compensator, and a feedback mechanism for reducing system instability of the modulator. In addition, noise susceptibility limits the accuracy of the aforementioned scheme.

Optical heterodyne-based method and apparatus for determining the concentration of optically active substances

5F, No. 37-3, Chuan-Yuan Rd., Pei-Tou Dist.


An apparatus for handling waste such as animal feces to be removed from a ground surface includes an actuator unit and a disposable receptacle. The receptacle includes a jaw portion having hinged jaw members, lower extremities thereof forming respective blade portions, one of the jaw members being movable relative to the other jaw member between an open position for receiving the waste into the receptacle, and a closed position, each of the jaw members having an engagement member for actuation by the actuator unit. A bag of the receptacle is sealingly connected to the jaw portion for holding the waste material in a bag cavity that joins the jaw cavity proximate a partition member that retains the waste in the bag and separate from the jaw cavity, a jaw holder yieldably holding the jaw members in the closed position. The actuator unit includes a handle, a pair of actuator members for supportively connecting the engagement members of the receptacle, and a first actuator for operating the jaw members between the open and closed positions, and a second actuator for tilting the receptacle for moving the waste from the jaw cavity into the bag. The apparatus is operable for positioning the receptacle in contact with the ground surface with the blade members on opposite sides of the waste material by manipulation of the handle and the first actuator; moving the jaw members into the closed position; tilting the receptacle whereby waste material is confined within the bag for permitting multiple pick-ups using a single receptacle; and disconnecting the receptacle from the actuator unit for convenient and sanitary disposal of the waste together with the receptacle.

The present invention relates to pickup devices, and more particularly to devices for the sanitary disposal of animal excrement and the like.
Numerous devices have been used for clearing animal excrement from fouled surfaces, including a long-handled scoop implement that is used in combination with a long-handled scraper. Other devices of the prior art include implements that load disposable bags and implements that load disposable receptacles. Implements that load disposable receptacles are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,929,363 to Kahan and 4,247,139 to Grieb. These devices are typically subject to the following disadvantages:
1. They are expensive to produce, being relatively complex;
2. They are likely to become contaminated with waste, subjecting users to contact with the contamination when loading receptacles subsequent to the contamination; and
3. They are ineffective for multiple pick-ups into a single receptacle, because the receptacle is latched closed as the waste is being received therein.
Implements that load disposable bags are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,446,525 to Jones, 4,210,351 to Orofino, and 4,323,272 to Portier. While affording some advantages over the devices having disposable receptacles, these devices are nevertheless subject to one or more of the following disadvantages:
1. They are difficult to use in that the bag is difficult to install on the device;
2. They are ineffective in that the bag is not reliably closed following pick-up, and exposed surfaces of the bag are likely to be contaminated by contact with the ground;
3. While in some cases it is possible to make multiple pick-ups into a single bag, it is done with considerable difficulty and uncertainty; and
4. The device is complex and expensive to produce in that it must support a bag that provides no support apart from permanent portions of the device.
Thus, there is a need for a pickup device that overcomes the above disadvantages.


This invention is directed to a vascular access needle (20) for insertion of a sharpened end of a needle (28) into the lumen of a blood vessel. The vascular access needle (20) includes both a hollow needle (28) and an elongated cylindrical body (22) having respective central passageway lumen (27) and capillary lumen (26) extending through the entire vascular access needle (20). The elongated cylindrical body includes a planar angled surface (21) which plane is oriented parallel to the plane of the needle distal opening (29), which provides the capability for proper orientation of the needle (28) for insertion into the blood vessel lumen. The elongated cylindrical body (22) further includes a pair of parallel flat surfaces (23) for stabilization and proper orientation of the needle distal opening (29) when inserting into the blood vessel lumen. Further, the elongated cylindrical body (22) is formed of a substantially transparent material composition in order to allow the user to view the displacement of the blood therein subsequent to insertion within the blood vessel lumen.

Interventional cardiologists and radiologists currently practice a wide range of procedures that require percutaneous access to the human vascular system. In many of these procedures, percutaneous access occurs at the site of the common femoral artery or vein at the groin for the purpose of passing guide wires and introducer sheaths. Catheters can then be advanced through these sheaths to many places within the human vascular system. One method for performing this procedure utilizes a hollow steel cannula with a separate sharpened stylet needle through its center which is pushed through skin and then completely through the common femoral artery. The stylet is then removed and the steel cannula is pulled back slowly until blood under arterial pressure squirts vigorously in a pulsatile manner out of the cannula's proximal end thus indicating that the cannula's distal end is properly placed within the artery. A guide wire is then placed through the cannula and advanced into the artery, and then the cannula is pulled out. A variety of introducer sheaths and/or catheters can then be advanced over the guide wire and into the arterial system.
Another method for accessing arteries is by means of an introducer needle with a sharpened distal end that does not use a stylet needle. This introducer needle is placed through the skin at the groin and advanced until the opening of its sharpened distal end lies within the arterial lumen. When this occurs, blood squirts forcibly in a pulsatile manner out of the needle's proximal end. The pulsatile blood flow indicates that the introducer needle is properly located in the artery so that a guide wire can be inserted through the introducer needle.
One disadvantage of existing needles is that they have a short, square cross section, optically opaque, plastic handle (or body) which is not comfortable to hold when pushing the needle's sharpened distal end through skin and tissue at the groin. In fact, a typical plastic handle would be approximately 0.8 inches long and would have sharp corners molded into the plastic which are not comfortable to hold while applying considerable squeezing force between the thumb and forefinger while inserting the needle.
Furthermore, because of their short length and opaque body, one cannot see the blood before it squirts out of the needle (when the tip is placed in an artery) until the blood is actually squirting out. The blood squirting out of the cannula at arterial pressure results in a considerable release of blood which can find its way into the eyes, nose, or other mucosal membranes of health care workers in close proximity to the patient. Besides being messy and causing unnecessary blood loss to the patient, the squirted out blood represents a risk to the health care workers who could be exposed to infectious diseases such as HIV carried in the patients blood. Thus minimizing the blood squirting out of the proximal end is highly desirable.
Furthermore, no existing vascular access needles have an indicator as to the angle of the plane of the opening at the needle's distal end.

Vascular access needle having an extended length body


A method and system for a delta page protocol for caching, replication, and client/server networking. Measurement data may be received by a logger application on a first computer, and written to shared memory sections in a modular fashion, including creating one or more header records to indicate a changed status. Each shared memory section may be independently accessible by a trender application executing in a second computer. In response to a query from the trender, the first computer may send a single message, a delta page. The header record may be used to determine the changed status of data sections. A single write operation may store the data values in a memory of the second computer. The trender may then read the first plurality of data values. The trender may present the retrieved data or requested data on a display. The logging and trending may be performed substantially concurrently.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer software, and more particularly to a protocol for storing, replicating, and retrieving data over a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various measurement devices may provide different measurement streams (e.g., value-time pairs, data acquisition (DAQ) data). Typically, separate software application programs are required to process different types of measurement data (e.g., different measurement streams). Conventional database configuration typically implies that certain characteristics (e.g., persistence (storage on disk), caching, replication, networking, security) are dependent upon the type of data stored in the database. It is desirable to have robust software application programs that are able to process multiple types of measurement data using a shared code base. Benefits of a shared code base may include a smaller footprint (i.e., code size) and ease of maintenance.
Database replication may be a time consuming process, especially in the case of large amounts of data being replicated. For example, consider a logger application program on a first computer system writing a series of readings (e.g., time-value pairs) from one or more measurement devices to a local database. Current implementations of trender application programs on a second computer system, connected to the first computer system over a network, require that each reading or transaction be processed individually. As the number of transactions increases, the time necessary to complete the database replication increases. Thus, a larger and larger time delay is experienced by a user, as the amount of data or transactions increases.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a system and method for a faster protocol for storing, replicating, and retrieving data over a network.

System and method for a delta page protocol for caching, replication, and client/server networking


A gearshift mechanism has at least two sprocket wheels on a set of driving sprocket wheels or a set of driven sprocket wheels, having shifting aids to facilitate shifting a chain up and down, it being possible for the shifting to take place under load. The shifting aids include cone rivets, which project axially out of the sprocket wheel plane and are arranged beneath the toothing of the larger one of the at least two sprocket wheels. The at least two sprocket wheels have different numbers of teeth which are selected for having the highest common divisor possible, the purpose of which is to provide as many shifting aids as possible. The positions of the sprocket wheels with respect to one another in the circumferential direction and the position of the shifting aids with respect to the teeth of the larger one of the at least two sprocket wheels are also optimized to ensure a smooth transfer of the chain from one sprocket to another.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a gearshift mechanism for bicycles having a shifting aid which facilitates shifting a chain from a larger to a smaller sprocket and shifting back to the larger sprocket.
2. Description of the Related Art
German reference DE 44 45 035 C1 discloses a gearshift mechanism for a bicycle with a set of driving sprocket wheels, the larger sprocket wheel of which has shifting aids on its side facing the smaller sprocket wheel. The shifting aids, which are in the form of cone rivets, facilitate shifting from the smaller sprocket wheel to the larger sprocket wheel. These cone rivets project from the side of the larger sprocket, but are out of the running plane of the chain. If the chain is moved axially towards these aids by a shifting device, the cone rivets pick up the chain, thus facilitating shifting the chain onto the respectively larger sprocket wheel. On the other hand, although shifting the chain from the larger sprocket wheel to the smaller sprocket wheel is simpler, the cone rivets are not involved in controlled deflection of the chain during that process. Therefore, the chain can be shifted even at transfer areas of the sprocket which were not designed for that purpose.

Multiple sprocket for a bicycle gear shifting mechanism


Herein disclosed a liquid crystal panel, including: a plurality of liquid crystal cells each serving as a pixel and disposed in a matrix of N horizontal lines and M vertical lines, each of N and M being an integral value equal to or greater than 1; a switching element provided for each of said pixels and configured to provide a driving voltage to the pixel; the M switching elements which are included in one vertical line having a common source line; and a vertical activation section configured to render gate lines of α ones of the M switching elements included in one vertical line active simultaneously, α being an integral value equal to or greater than 1 but equal to or smaller than M.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a liquid crystal panel, a driving method for a liquid crystal panel, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the improvement in resolution of a liquid crystal panel (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-029220) has proceeded to such a degree that a liquid crystal panel which is ready for an image signal having a resolution of approximately 2,048×1,080 pixels is popularized. The image signal is a high-definition signal and is hereinafter referred to as 2K signal. Further, in order to make it possible to utilize a liquid crystal panel in the field of digital cinemas and so forth, also a liquid crystal panel has been developed which is ready for an image signal of a resolution of approximately 4,096×2,160 pixels. The video signal mentioned has a resolution equal to approximately four times that of the 2K signal and is hereinafter referred to as 4K signal.

Liquid crystal panel, driving method for liquid crystal panel, and program


The wafer inspection device carries out inspection of a plurality of integrated circuits provided with a plurality of electrode pads, respectively, in a condition where the integrated circuits are formed on a wafer. The wafer inspection device is provided with a test head for outputting a test pattern from a plurality of tester pogo pins, a test board to which the tester pogo pins are connected, and a substrate. A plurality of contact pins that correspond to the tester pogo pins, respectively, and are arranged in a matrix form are provided on the test board. A plurality of first terminals, which are connected, respectively, to the plurality of electrode pads, are provided on a first main surface of the substrate. A plurality of second terminals, which comprise terminal groups for each integrated circuit, are provided on a second main surface of the substrate. The terminal groups are arranged in a matrix form, and the second terminals are connected to the contact pins for each terminal group. Furthermore, inner wiring that connects the first and second terminals is provided in the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wafer inspection device and a wafer inspection method to be used for inspection of an integrated circuit mounted on a wafer, more particularly, a wafer inspection device and a wafer inspection method in which measuring efficiency is improved.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, to manufacture a semiconductor device, a process of inspection of operation of integrated circuits (ICs) formed on an Si wafer exists. FIG. 1A is a schematic view showing the arrangement of the ICs formed on an Si wafer, and FIG. 1B is a schematic view showing the positions of electrode pads provided on four ICs.
Generally, in a typical memory product, approximately 500 ICs are formed on an 8-inch wafer, however, for convenience, 108 ICs are shown in FIG. 1A. Also, approximately 60 electrode pads are provided on one IC, however, only 12 electrode pads 402 are shown in FIG. 1B.
Conventionally, on such a wafer 401, for example, 4 probes are arranged each horizontally and vertically, and 16 probe cards for measurement are used to output a test pattern from a test head to the ICs via a test board, and the results are detected by the test head, whereby the ICs are inspected one by one.
However, in such an inspection method, the probes are arranged horizontally and vertically in a square or rectangular matrix form, however, the ICs are closely provided as much as possible within the disk-shaped wafer 401 and arranged so as to be along the outer circumference of the wafer. Therefore, when ICs formed on one wafer 401 are inspected, all probes in the matrix arrangement cannot be contacted with the ICs. For example, in FIG. 1A, the probes come into contact with only the arrangement of indexes 1, 7, 8, 15, 16, 17, 25, 26, 27, and 28 of ICs, that is, the matrix of 16 probes comes into contact with 10 ICs, so that probes at positions where ICs do not exist are not used and remain unused. Such a loss frequently occurs at the outer circumferential portions of the wafer, so that a great loss occurs in the wafer measuring time, and reduction in the measuring time has been demanded.
Therefore, a device and a method by which all ICs formed on one wafer are collectively inspected have been disclosed (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H10-223704).
FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view showing the conventional collective inspection device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H10-223704. FIG. 3A is a sectional view showing the peripheral portion of projecting terminal 306 of FIG. 2, and FIG. 3B is a sectional view showing the peripheral portion of O-ring 325 of FIG. 2.
In this conventional collective inspection device, a chamber 300 into which a wafer 302 to be inspected is sealed and an arm 301 for conveying the wafer 302 into the chamber 300 are provided. In addition, a gate valve 304 is provided at the gateway of the arm 301 of the chamber 300, and gas a supply port 310 and a gas exhaust port 311 are provided at the upper part of the chamber 300.
Furthermore, at a lower part of the chamber 300, a ring-shaped position adjusting mechanism 305 is provided. An O-ring 325 is attached onto the position adjusting mechanism 305, and at the side more inner than the O-ring, a transparent contactor 307 is provided. As shown in FIG. 3A, projecting terminals 306 equal in number to the electrode pads 331 formed on the wafer 302 are formed on the upper surface of the contactor 307. On the other hand, connection terminals (not shown) equal in number to the projecting terminals 306 are formed on the lower surface of the contactor 307.
As shown in FIG. 3B, an exhaust passage making communication between the inside and the outside of the O-ring 325 is formed immediately under the O-ring 325 of the position adjusting mechanism 305, and is connected to tube 326 outside the O-ring 325. The tube 326 is connected to a vacuum pump (not shown) provided outside the chamber 300 via the exhaust passage formed in the chamber 300.
Furthermore, a test head 318 is disposed below the chamber 300, and on the test head 318, a connection ring 303 is connected via pogo pins 320. Connection terminals (not shown) equal in number to the connection terminals formed at the contactor 307 are formed on the upper part of the connection ring 303, however, the number of pogo pins 320 is approximately one tenth of the number of the connection terminals. Furthermore, a multiplexer (not shown) is installed inside the connection ring 303, and by this multiplexer, connection terminals from which signals inputted into the pogo pins 320 are outputted are switched.
In the conventional collective inspection device thus constructed, the wafer 302 is vacuum-adsorbed by the arm 301 and conveyed into the chamber 300. Then, when the center of the wafer 302 and the center of the contactor 307 almost coincide with each other in plane view, the arm 301 lowers until the wafer 302 comes into contact with the O-ring 325. When the wafer 302 comes into contact with the O-ring 325, the gate valve 304 is closed. Thereafter, heating or cooling gas is supplied from the gas supply port 310 into the chamber 300, and unnecessary gases are exhausted from the gas exhaust port 311. When the temperature inside the chamber 300 reaches a desired temperature, XY coordinates of the projecting terminal 306 and the electrode pad 331 are read through the transparent contactor 307 by an alignment mechanism (not shown), and based on this read data, the position of the contactor 307 is finely adjusted so as to coincide with the projecting terminal 306 by the position adjusting mechanism 305. After completing alignment, the space surrounded by the O-ring 325 via the exhaust passage and the like provided at the position adjusting mechanism 305 and chamber 300 is decompressed. Thereby, the O-ring 325 is collapsed, and the projecting terminal 306 comes into contact with the electrode pad 331. Thereafter, the chamber 300 is lowered, and the connection terminals formed on the lower surface of the contactor 307 and the connection terminals provided on the connection ring 303 are connected to each other.
Then, a test pattern is outputted from the test head 318 to the connection ring 303, is inputted into all electrode pads 331 of the wafer 302 from the predetermined connection terminals in order via the multiplexer, whereby inspection of each IC is conducted.
After completing the inspection, the chamber 300 rises to disconnect the connection terminals of the contactor 307 and the connection terminals of the connection ring 303, and then, the gate valve 304 is opened and the wafer 302 is carried out from the chamber 300 by the arm 301.
By such a conventional collective inspection device, theoretically, only switchover of signal lines by the multiplexer makes it possible to inspect all ICs.
However, the concrete construction of the multiplexer is not disclosed in the abovementioned patent publication, and at present, it is considered that production of the abovementioned multiplexers for thirty thousands electrode pads cannot be realized. Therefore, theoretically, inspection efficiency is improved by using the device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H10-223704, however, in actuality, the problem of low inspection efficiency still remains, and the problem that unused contact pins exist also remains.
The object of the invention is to provide a wafer inspection device and a wafer inspection method by which inspection efficiency can be improved.
A wafer inspection device according to the present invention conducts inspection of a plurality of integrated circuits provided with a plurality of electrode pads respectively. The wafer inspection device comprises: a test head which outputs a test pattern from a plurality of tester pogo pins; a test board to which the tester pogo pins are connected, the test board having a plurality of contact pins that correspond to the tester pogo pins, respectively, and are arranged in a matrix form; and a substrate. The substrate has: a plurality of first terminals which are provided on a first main surface and are connected to the electrode pads, respectively; a plurality of second terminals which are provided on a second main surface and compose terminal groups for each of the integrated circuits, the terminal groups being arranged in a matrix form, and the second terminals are connected to the contact pins for each terminal group; and an inner wiring which connects the first terminals and second terminals.
In the present invention, all electrode pads provided on one integrated circuit are extended by the wiring provided in a substrate via the first terminals and connected to the second terminals having one terminal group. Therefore, when one contact pin is connected to one terminal group, inspection of one integrated circuit becomes possible. At this time, since the terminal groups are arranged in a matrix form on the second surface of the substrate, even in a case where an existing test board on which contact pins are provided in a matrix form is used, the contact pins can be connected to the terminal groups without leaving the pins unused, whereby inspection efficiency is improved. Furthermore, since it is not necessary that the coarse portion of the arrangement of the second terminals be provided on the second surface, by closely arranging the second terminals, the substrate can be made smaller than the wafer.
Moreover, by providing: a wafer holder on which the wafer is placed; a stage on which the wafer holder is placed; and a moving mechanism which moves the stage and the substrate independently of each other, to change the terminal groups connected to the contact pins, only the substrate made smaller than the wafer may be moved by a necessary amount, so that the moving time can be shortened.
In addition, by providing: a supporting member which surrounds and supports the substrate; an airtight mechanism provided below the supporting member and forming an airtight chamber between the substrate, supporting member, and wafer holder when being contacted with the wafer holder; and a decompressing apparatus which decompresses the air pressure inside the airtight chamber to contact the wafer holder to the supporting member, independent movements of the stage and the substrate can be easily realized.
The wafer inspection device may further comprise an evacuating apparatus which fixes the wafer to the wafer holder until the decompressing apparatus operates.
According to the present invention, capital investment can be suppressed. Furthermore, by moving the substrate, inspection of all integrated circuits can be carried out. Therefore, the time to switch the integrated circuits to be inspected can also be shortened.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a wafer inspection method using the above-described wafer inspection device comprises the step of carrying out repeatedly replacement of terminal groups to be connected to the contact pins.

Wafer inspection device and wafer inspection method


A security device includes an attack detection part, a security risk state determination part, and an execution environment controller. The attack detection part detects a cyber attack on an embedded device controlled by an embedded control device. The security risk state determination part determines a security risk state indicating at least one of a type and degree of risk of threat in a security caused by the cyber attack based on a result of the detection. The execution environment controller is included in the embedded control device, determines a security function against the cyber attack in accordance with the security risk state, and constitutes an execution environment of the security function in the embedded control device so that the embedded control device can execute the security function.

An embedded device is mounted on a device of a moving body such as an automobile, a household appliance, and a factory automation (FA) apparatus. The embedded device is controlled by the embedded control device. For example, an in-vehicle device is mounted on an automobile. The in-vehicle device is controlled by a vehicle engine control unit (ECU).
Conventionally, the embedded device has been used in stand-alone form. However, in recent years, the embedded device is increasingly used in a state of being connected to an external network in response to a trend for Internet of things (IoT).
The embedded device used in the state of being connected to the external network has a possibility of being exposed to the cyber attack. Thus, required in recent years is that a security function for protecting the embedded device from the cyber attack is mounted on the embedded control device. For example, an authentication system of authenticating an information processing device which is not mounted on a vehicle by sharing a shared key between an embedded control device mounted on the vehicle and the information processing device, and exchanging a coded message authentication code and response code therebetween in communication. A technique described in Patent Document 1 is an example thereof.


This device relates to a pneumatic control system and more particularly to an annular slit restrictor in connection therewith and a method for precisely centering an annular plug within an accurately formed annular hole in a flow control body in a shrink fit operation to cause the plug and hole to be co-axial.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to annular slit restrictors in connection with pneumatic control systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of different forms of fluid restrictors are used in fluid control systems. They are usually described as turbulent or laminar. The invention herein relates to laminar flow restrictors. Laminar flow restrictors are used when it is desired to have the flow coefficient proportional to the pressure differential across the restrictor over the whole range of useful pressure differentials.
Capillary tubes, flat or planar slits and annular slits are generally considered to be in the class of laminar restrictors. Annular slits remain laminar over a much larger pressure differential across the restrictors than capillary tubes do.
In summary, annular slit restrictors are the preferred form of a laminar restrictor. However the flow coefficient of an annular restrictor can vary by a factor of 2.4 due to the eccentricity of the central annular plug with respect to the defining annular hole. Further, the flow coefficient varies with the cube of the clearance within the annular slit.
The manufacture of precisely centered annular plugs of precise radial differences with respect to the annular hole has been so expensive that precise annular restrictors have been used sparingly in the past.
It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide a novel means of making precisely centered annular plugs which are then inserted into defining annular holes and thereby produce precise annular slit restrictors.
It is desirable to have precisely centered annular slit restrictors with precisely controlled annular slit clearances that do not require machining capabilities that are better than are commercially available.

Method of manufacturing an annular slit restrictor using a shrink fit operation


In a briquetting press, the delivery end of a compressing cylinder is closed by a swivellable cylinder bottom which can be displaced between a working position which is in alignment with the axis of the compressing cylinder and an unblocking position which unblocks the end of the compressing cylinder.

Presses of this kind are obtainable on the market. They serve primarily for compressing waste in the form of chips, such as is produced during the machining of wood and plastics by cutting, or materials similar to granulate or powder, to form compact briquettes which can be easily handled and can be stored in a space-saving manner.
Such a press is described, for example, in DE 10 2010 012 300A1.
In the case of this press, the relative movement between the cylinder bottom and the compressing cylinder takes place as a result of the fact that a drum, which comprises a plurality of compressing cylinders distributed in the peripheral direction, is turned over above a stationary plate which, at the same time, constitutes the cylinder bottoms for the various compressing cylinders.
This arrangement takes up a relatively large amount of space. A lot of material has to be used for producing it, and the press is correspondingly heavy.
The intention is to provide, by means of the present invention, a briquetting press of the kind initially provided, which takes up less space and can be produced using less material.


Benzimidazole compounds represented by the formula set out below and analogs thereof, wherein Y represents a single bond or sulfur atom; Z represents oxygen atom, sulfur atom, or N--R.sup.4 ; R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 independently represent hydrogen, a halogen atom, alkyl group or other; R.sup.1 and R.sup.4 independently represent hydrogen, alkyl group, acyl group or other; n and m independently represent an integer of 1, 2, or 3; and L represents a linking group such as C.sub.2-12 alkylene group or an alkylene group containing one or more phenylene groups or ether groups. The compounds are useful as an active ingredient of a medicament such as a preventive and therapeutic medicament for hyperlipemia or arterial sclerosis. ##STR1##

In recent years, patients with so-called adult diseases such as arterial sclerosis, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus have been continuously increasing with prolongation of life expectancy. In particular, patients with hyperlipemia and arterial sclerosis derived therefrom have been remarkably increasing due to excessive intake of high calorie and high cholesterol food, which have become a serious social problem. Medicaments currently used for drug therapy of hyperlipemia and arterial sclerosis are those symptomatically lower cholesterol in blood, and therefore, they cannot be expected to have potency in retracting arterial sclerosis lesions, per se. Arterial sclerosis is characterized by lesions of intimal hyperplasia and lipid accumulation in blood vessels, and it has been elucidated from recent biochemical findings that foaming of macrophages plays a main role in the formation of arterial sclerosis lesions. Accordingly, suppression of the foaming of macrophages may possibly prevent arterial sclerosis by inhibiting formation of arterial sclerosis lesions, or achieve radicular treatment of arterial sclerosis by retraction of arterial sclerosis lesions. However, no medicament having such activity has been known.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a compound having activity of suppressing the foaming of macrophages, and is useful as an active ingredient of a medicament for preventive and/or therapeutic treatment of arterial sclerosis. Another object of the present invention is to provide a compound having the aforementioned activity, and is useful as an active ingredient of medicament for preventive and/or therapeutic treatment of hyperlipemia.

Benzimidazole compounds containing 1,2,4-triazole ring, and compositions and methods of use containing the same


There is provided a sample processing cartridge comprising a. a sample entry location; b. a closed sample processing chamber; c. a sample analysis location comprising a sample analysis well; d. a first channel fluidly connecting the sample entry location and the sample processing chamber; e. a second channel connecting the sample analysis location and the sample processing chamber, the second channel comprising a closed or closable second channel valve; wherein the sample processing chamber comprises a second channel port providing fluid connection between the second channel and the sample processing chamber, the second channel port being positioned in a sample accumulating region of the sample processing chamber. There is also provided a sample processing system comprising the cartridge, and methods of use of the cartridge and processing system in a sample processing assay.

The current inventor is co-inventor of a simple device, described in WO2011/051735 consisting of a disposable test cartridge for use with a control unit in performing a molecular DNA test. That device is designed to be cheap, simple and easy to use with little or no training. However, it requires the user to perform some preparatory sample manipulation steps, which would require some expertise on the user's part and certain modest laboratory facilities.
It is clearly advantageous if these sample preparation steps can be incorporated on the test cartridge itself, without complicating the device unnecessarily or significantly increasing its manufacturing cost.
An example of a disposable test cartridge that incorporates a sample preparation and molecular diagnostic test is provided in WO2015/015176, WO2015/015180 and WO2015/015181. These documents disclose various devices including various valves and fluid reservoirs. These are designed to be operated in certain specific ways involving, for example, mechanical actuators and the use of compressed air.
The inventor has also filed GB2512141 that discloses an encapsulation system specifically intended to protect moisture sensitive reagents that may be used in devices such as those described. The present invention incorporates and builds upon the features there disclosed.

Fluid manipulation cartridge and controller mechanism


Method and system for providing device-specific operator data for an automation device in an automation installation, which automation device authenticates itself to an authentication server in the automation installation via at least one authentication credential, wherein if up-to-date device-specific operator data from the installation operator of the automation installation are available for the automation device, then the up-to-date device-specific operator data are tied to the authentication credential of the authentication device.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and a system for providing device-specific operator data for an automation device in an automation installation and, more particularly, to a method and system for providing device-specific operator data for an automation controller, particularly a PLC controller or a field device, that is connected to a field bus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automation devices need to be configured before they can be used in conjunction with other automation devices in an automation installation. In conventional automation installations or automation systems, parameterization of the automation devices is therefore performed before the devices are actually used. This parameterization may contain general configuration data, for example, an IP address or else use-specific configuration data, for example, switching times for the automation device. In addition, it is possible for the automation devices to be reconfigured during operation. Security against manipulations is becoming more and more of an integral part of such automation devices. As a result, automation devices are increasingly being delivered with security features or authentication credentials. In conventional automation installations, device-specific operator data from an installation operator of the automation installation are provided for the automation devices in unprotected form, which means that third parties are able to manipulate these data so long as they gain access to the automation installation.


It is required that setting information and mechanical correction information of a preceding device can be automatically carried over only by replacing a unit, to implement reduction in the maintenance cost and prevention of human operational mistakes. Library device control firmware 11 updates, if drive identification information kept in a library control unit 10 differs from drive identification information kept in two other units on the basis of logic of decision by majority, a drive serial number 4A and device setting information 2A kept in the library control unit 10 based on a drive serial number 4B and device setting information 2B kept in an accessor control unit 20.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique to automatically carry over, in a library device, setting information and mechanical correction information of a preceding device.
2. Description of the Related Art
When replacing a unit in a library device, a maintenance operator manually collects device setting information and mechanical correction information from the device before replacement, and sets the collected information to the device after replacement of a maintenance unit.
In this regard, there has been proposed a technique wherein a package name, a production number, and a revision are beforehand written in a storage of a package such that when the package is installed in the device, a reader section reads data from the storage and sends the data to a data collecting section to thereby collect the data, and a control section compares by a comparator section the collected data with the data stored in the storage, and updates if the data differs therebetween, the data in the storage, to thereby save the managing operation and to thereby prevent operation errors when the maintenance operator replaces the package (reference is to be made to, for example, Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Ser. No. Hei 6-176035


A hydraulic brake device includes a hydraulic pressure supply passage for reducing the output hydraulic pressure by a first proportional solenoid valve and supplying it to a hydraulic passage leading from a pressure adjusting valve to the wheel cylinders, a second proportional solenoid valve disposed between the hydraulic pressure supply passage and the pressure adjusting valve for reducing the hydraulic pressure supplied from the hydraulic pressure supply passage, and a check valve parallel to the second proportional solenoid valve. Hydraulic pressure control during automatic brake control is carried out by the first and second proportional solenoid valves. When the brake pedal is operated during automatic brake control and output hydraulic pressure of the pressure adjusting valve exceeds hydraulic pressure in the hydraulic pressure supply passage by automatic brake control, the output hydraulic pressure of the pressure adjusting valve flows toward the hydraulic pressure supply passage through the check valve.

This invention relates to a vehicle hydraulic brake device which permits automatic brake control, particularly to a vehicle hydraulic brake device which can reduce any change in deceleration when shifting from automatic brake control to normal braking without any reduction in safety.
A conventional vehicle hydraulic brake device which makes automatic brake control possible is disclosed in JP patent publication 11-139279.
The vehicle hydraulic brake device includes a hydraulic pressure source for generating a predetermined hydraulic pressure, a pressure adjusting valve for adjusting the output hydraulic pressure of the hydraulic pressure source to a value corresponding to the brake operating force, a master cylinder for producing brake hydraulic pressure by activating a master piston with the output hydraulic pressure of the pressure adjusting valve introduced into a pressure chamber, and the brake operating force, and wheel cylinders activated under the output hydraulic pressure from the master cylinder and imparting braking force to the respective vehicle wheels.
It further includes a solenoid valve for supplying the output hydraulic pressure of the pressure adjusting valve to hydraulic lines extending from the master cylinder to the wheel cylinders, a hydraulic pressure supply passage connected to a hydraulic passage connecting the pressure adjusting valve to the solenoid valve for supplying the output hydraulic pressure of the hydraulic pressure source to the hydraulic passage after reducing it by a first proportional solenoid valve, and a second proportional solenoid valve disposed between the hydraulic pressure supply passage and a reservoir to reduce the hydraulic pressure supplied from the hydraulic pressure supply passage, thereby carrying out automatic brake control.
In the vehicle hydraulic brake device as disclosed in JP patent publication 11-139279, if brake operation is performed by the driver during automatic brake control, it is necessary to detect the brake operating amount by means of a hydraulic pressure sensor for detecting the output hydraulic pressure of the master cylinder to change over from automatic brake control to normal braking. But it is difficult to change over to normal braking the moment the control hydraulic pressure by automatic brake control (hydraulic pressure of the wheel cylinders) becomes equal to the output hydraulic pressure of the master cylinder. There is some time lag in the changeover timing. As a result, deceleration may suddenly increase or decrease during such changeover, producing uncomfortable feeling during driving.
Also, if the hydraulic pressure sensor fails, even if the brake is operated, braking force will not increase because the output hydraulic pressure supply passage from the master cylinder will not open, so that braking force will be insufficient.
An object of this invention is to reduce any change in deceleration during changeover from automatic brake control to normal braking and to maintain high safety even if the hydraulic pressure sensor fails.


Allergen contact with a person's allergen-responsive tissues is reduced by removing airborne allergens from body surfaces adjacent the person's eyes. Airborne allergens may be removed from body surfaces adjacent the person's eyes by irrigating such areas with an irrigating fluid or by wiping such areas with a pad. Preferably the irrigating fluid or the pad is treated to augment its effectiveness in removing airborne allergens or otherwise preventing them from entering the eye, and/or to reduce allergy symptoms in the eye area caused by airborne allergens that enter the eye.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and apparatus for inhibiting the occurrence of and/or reducing the extent of allergic responses to airborne allergens. More particularly, this invention relates to methods and apparatus for reducing allergen contact with a person's allergen-responsive tissues.
2. Description of Related Art
A significant number of people suffer from allergies. According to some estimates, tens of millions of Americans suffer from allergies to airborne particles such as pollen, animal dander, dust, or mold. One method that people have used to address their allergy problems is oral ingestion of antihistamines. While oral antihistamines can be effective in mitigating allergy symptoms, their use entails exposing the entire body to a pharmaceutical product, and they may produce unpleasant or harmful side effects. Another method that people have used to address their allergy problems is to control their environment in an attempt to reduce their exposure to airborne allergens. For instance, they may try to stay in air-conditioned buildings as much as possible when the air contains a large amount of pollen, or they may try to avoid places where cats or other animals are or have been. This method may be quite inconvenient, and may be of limited effectiveness because it is difficult to avoid at least some contact with airborne allergens.


A jet propulsion system for a small watercraft including an arrangement for isolating the sound of water flowing through the water inlet portion of the jet propulsion unit from the occupants of the watercraft. This silencing is provided by providing a double wall on at least the portion of the jet propulsion unit water inlet portion juxtaposed to the passenger compartment to provide an insulating jacket. Water may be filled in the insulating jacket and this water can be derived by filling it with the coolant which is circulated through the engine.

This invention relates to a jet propulsion system for a watercraft and more particularly to an improved sound deadening arrangement for watercraft jet propulsion units.
Jet propulsion units are becoming particularly popular as propulsion units for watercraft, Jet propulsion units are quite desirable for use in a particular type of small watercraft that is designed to be operated by only one rider either alone or with a small number of passengers. With such watercraft, the jet propulsion unit is normally positioned in a tunnel formed beneath the hull and which tunnel is juxtaposed to the passenger compartment.
As is well known, jet propulsion units for watercraft include a water inlet portion that forms a duct through which water is drawn from the body of water in which the watercraft is operating. This water is drawn by an impeller which is positioned to the rear of the water inlet duct and which is driven by a powering internal combustion engine. The water is then discharged rearwardly through a discharge nozzle under the action of the impeller for propelling the associated watercraft.
Although this type of propulsion unit has a number of advantages, the flow of water through the inlet duct is not uniform and pulsations occur due to the fact that the impeller has a number of individual blades, Although the effects of pulsations can be reduced by increasing the number of blades, an increasing number of blades can reduce the pumping efficiency. The pulsations which occur in the water in the inlet portion are transmitted through the housing of the jet propulsion unit to the passenger compartment of the associated vehicle and this is obviously objectionable.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved jet propulsion unit for a watercraft that will reduce the sound transmission.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved arrangement for deadening the sound in the water inlet portion of a watercraft jet propulsion unit.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved sound deadening arrangement for the water inlet portion of such a jet propulsion unit.


Described are methods of treating and preventing conditions associated with a loss of elastic fibers. Also provided herein are methods of screening for agents useful in treating such conditions, and animal models of conditions associated with a loss of elastic fibers.

The major component of elastic fibers is an amorphous polymer composed of the polypeptide elastin (known as tropoelastin when in monomeric form). Polymerization of elastic fibers requires an initial step of oxidative deamination of lysine residues, which is catalyzed by a lysyl oxidase (Kagan et al., J. Cell. Biochem. 88, 660-672 (2003)). The resulting aldehyde groups condense spontaneously with adjacent aldehydes or ε-amino groups of peptidyl lysine to form covalent cross-linkages. Lysyl oxidases are copper-dependent monoamine oxidases secreted by fibrogenic cells including fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells. Mammalian genomes have up to five potential LOX family members coding for the prototypic LOX and LOX-like polypeptides 1 through 4 (LOXL1-4) (Kagan et al., supra). Their individual roles in elastogenesis was unclear.
Elastogenesis also requires a scaffolding structure onto which elastin is deposited. Microfibrils, made up of fibrillins and microfibril-associated glycoproteins, are thought to serve as a scaffold which guides elastin deposition (Kielty et al., J. Cell. Sci. 115, 2817-2828 (2002)). However, inactivation of fibrillin 1 and 2 genes individually suggests that each is dispensable for elastogenesis (Pereira et al., Nat. Genet. 17, 218-222 (1997); Chaudhry et al., Hum. Mol. Genet. 10, 835-843 (2001)). Elastin binding protein (EBP) (Hinek et al., J. Cell. Biol. 126, 563-574 (1994)), fibulin-5 (Yanagisawa et al., Nature 415, 168-171 (2002)) and an unspecified lysyl oxidase (Kagan et al., J. Cell. Biol. 103, 1121-1128 (1986)) were also reported to associate with elastic fibers. Gene targeting studies show that fibulin-5 is required for elastic fiber development (Yanagisawa et al., Nature 415, 168-171 (2002); Nakamura et al., Nature 415, 171-175 (2002)). Disruption of the Lox gene leads to a reduction in collagen and elastin cross-links and perinatal lethality (Maki et al., Circulation 106, 2503-2509 (2002); Hornstra et al., J. Biol. Chem. 278, 14387-14393 (2003)), suggesting a role in cross-linking both fibrillar collagens and elastin during development.

Lysyl oxidase-like 1 (LOXL1) and elastogenesis


In an efficient ion source BF.sub.3 gas is first passed over solid boron heated in an oven to at least 1100.degree. C. to reduce the BF.sub.3 to BF molecules. It is also proposed to use solid boron as feed stock by heating this in an oven to at least 1800.degree. C. to produce boron vapour. Either a reactive gas such as fluorine or an inert gas such as Argon is also introduced into the arc chamber to react with or sputter off boron condensing on the arc chamber walls.

In the manufacture of semiconductor devices and integrated circuits it is necessary to modify the semiconductor substrate material (particularly silicon) by diffusing or implanting therein atoms or molecules of selected dopants to produce regions in the semiconductor substrate of selected varying conductivity and having majority charge carriers of different polarities. Typical dopant materials used in this process are boron, phosphorus, arsenic and antimony.
Doping the semiconductor substrate using ion implantation has become increasingly important with the continuing reduction in feature sizes on integrated circuit structures.
When implantation apparatus is arranged to implant boron ions, the standard prior art arrangement for generating these ions is to feed boron trifluoride (BF.sub.3) gas as a feedstock into an arc chamber. In the arc chamber, a plasma is produced in which the BF.sub.3 molecules are cracked and ionised to produce B.sup.+, BF.sup.+ and BF.sub.2.sup.+ ions. These ions are extracted from the arc chamber and accelerated to a predetermined energy at which they are passed through a mass selection arrangement. The mass selection arrangement typically comprises a magnetic field in which the radius of curvature of the flight path of the ions from the source will be dependent upon the mass/charge ratio of the individual ions. A mass selection slit at the exit of the magnetic field region allows ions of a selected mass/charge ratio to pass through to the target substrate.
Prior to implantation, the semiconductor substrate i.e. typically a silicon or gallium arsenide wafer, is prepared with a required pattern of photoresist, so that the ions will be implanted only in selected regions of the wafer as required. The depth to which ions are implanted in the wafer is dependent upon the energy of the ions as they impinge upon the wafer surface. With the increasing demand for smaller and faster semiconductor devices, there is an increasing need for the production of very shallow structures in the wafer requiring the use of ions of relatively low energy at the point of implantation.
On the other hand, there is still a need for the flux of ions impinging upon the wafer (at the desirable low energies) to be as high as possible, implying a relatively high beam current density of the ions. This is required in order to provide high wafer processing speeds.
The requirements of high ionic beam current density and low energy at the point of implantation are conflicting. With very low implant energies, it becomes increasingly difficult to control the ion beam and avoid a substantial loss of ions from the beam, for example because of dissipation through space charge effects.
In prior art boron ion sources the ion current extracted from the source is directly proportional to the extraction energy up to a saturation energy of about 40 keV. For implantation energies below 10 keV, it has been proposed to extract ions from the source at 10 keV or higher and then decelerate the ions further down the beam line before the ions impinge upon the target. However, even when operating the implantation apparatus with the ion source at saturation extraction energy, the net current of mass selected, ions impinging upon the wafer may be less than desirable.
It should be understood here that when using BF.sub.3 as the feedstock gas for the ion source, not only B.sup.+ ions but also BF.sub.2.sup.+, BF.sup.+, and F.sup.+ are produced in the source and duly extracted. The mass selection arrangement ensures only the desired ions, usually B.sup.+, are fed onto the target, so that the part of the extracted beam current represented by the non-desired ions is lost. In general, there is a need to maximise the beam current impinging on the wafer at all implantation energies.
Boron halides, in particular BF.sub.3, are very poisonous and United Kingdom Patent No. 1442586 discloses the use of boron oxide as an alternative non-poisonous feed material for boron ion sources. However, the presence of oxygen in the ion source is highly undesirable as it severely limits cathode life. This United Kingdom patent also states that elemental boron is unsuitable as a feed stock since it provides insufficient vapour pressure at conventional oven temperatures.
International Patent Publication WO93/23869 discloses the use of boron powder in a special arrangement of ion source in which the boron powder is directly exposed to the plasma in the arc chamber. The boron powder is biased more negatively than the cathode in the source to promote an intense secondary discharge at the surface of the boron powder. In addition BF.sub.3 gas is bled through the powder into the arc chamber. The International Publication teaches that the use of boron vapour from elemental boron in a conventional arc chamber is not suitable as the arc chamber itself then has to be maintained at about 2000.degree. C. to prevent condensation of boron on the walls of the arc chamber.

Boron ion sources for ion implantation apparatus


A bad weather judgment apparatus and a bad weather judgment method thereof are disclosed. The apparatus includes a target recognizer configured to recognize targets in detection areas of a plurality of heterogeneous sensors based on sensor recognition information received from the heterogeneous sensors, a counter configured to count the number of cases based on detection states of the heterogeneous sensors about a same target among the targets, and a bad weather judger configured to determine whether the same target is present in bad weather judgment zones of the detection areas of the heterogeneous sensors, control the counter to increment or decrement the number of the cases based on detection states of the heterogeneous sensors about whether the same target is present in the bad weather judgment zones, and judge current weather to be bad weather when the number of the cases is greater than a threshold value.

In general, an autonomous driving system may obtain more secure autonomous driving sensor information by fusing information of heterogeneous sensors to overcome the performance limitations of each sensor.
However, the sensor performance limitations still remain in spite of such an effort, and a representative thereof is degradation in sensor performance due to bad weather.
In bad weather, although more or less every sensor, detection distance/detection accuracy performance of each sensor may be degraded and the possibility of misrecognition or erroneous sensing of each sensor may be increased.
Because degradation in recognition performance of the autonomous driving system affects reliability of the autonomous driving system, it may be safer according to a given situation in bad weather that a driver personally drives a vehicle rather than that the autonomous driving system controls the vehicle.
Hence, the autonomous driving system should perceive and prepare for bad weather and let the driver recognize the bad weather by warning the driver of the limit situation of the autonomous driving system.
A camera, a radar and a lidar may be currently regarded as representative sensors taking charge of recognition in the autonomous driving system. However, such sensors cannot recognize degradation in performance thereof resulting from bad weather by themselves.
The reason is that each sensor cannot discriminate between a situation in which each sensor fails to recognize a target due to reduction in detection distance resulting from the bad weather and a situation in which a target is not actually present.
That is, because there may be non-detection/erroneous sensing in a single sensor irrespective of bad weather, it is difficult to judge degradation in performance (detection distance/detection accuracy performance) resulting from the bad weather by means of only the single sensor.
Accordingly, there is, in future, a need for development of a bad weather judgment apparatus which is capable of, during autonomous driving, accurately recognizing a bad weather situation and judging sensor performance degradation resulting from bad weather.

Bad weather judgment apparatus and bad weather judgment method thereof


Techniques for transmitting data from a transmitter unit to a receiver unit in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system. In one method, at the receiver unit, a number of signals are received via a number of receive antennas, with the received signal from each receive antenna comprising a combination of one or more signals transmitted from the transmitter unit. The received signals are processed to derive channel state information (CSI) indicative of characteristics of a number of transmission channels used for data transmission. The CSI is transmitted back to the transmitter unit. At the transmitter unit, the CSI from the receiver unit is received and data for transmission to the receiver unit is processed based on the received CSI.

1. Field
The present invention relates generally to data communication, and more specifically to a novel and improved method and apparatus for utilizing (full or partial) channel state information to provide improved performance for a wireless communication system.
2. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication such as voice, data, and so on. These systems may be based on code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), orthogonal frequency division modulation (OFDM), or some other modulation techniques. OFDM systems can provide high performance for some channel environments.
In a terrestrial communication system (e.g., a cellular system, a broadcast system, a multi-channel multi-point distribution system (MMDS), and others), an RF modulated signal from a transmitter unit may reach a receiver unit via a number of transmission paths. The characteristics of the transmission paths typically vary over time due to a number of factors such as fading and multipath.
To provide diversity against deleterious path effects and improve performance, multiple transmit and receive antennas may be used. If the transmission paths between the transmit and receive antennas are linearly independent (i.e., a transmission on one path is not formed as a linear combination of the transmissions on other paths), which is generally true to some extent, then the likelihood of correctly receiving a transmitted signal increases as the number of antennas increases. Generally, diversity increases and performance improves as the number of transmit and receive antennas increases.
A multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system employs multiple (NT) transmit antennas and multiple (NR) receive antennas for data transmission. A MIMO channel may be decomposed into NC independent channels, with NC≦min {NT, NR}. Each of the NC independent channels is also referred to as a spatial subchannel of the MIMO channel and corresponds to a dimension. The MIMO system can provide improved performance if the additional dimensionalities created by the multiple transmit and receive antennas are utilized.
There is therefore a need in the art for techniques to utilize channel state information (CSI) to take advantage of the additional dimensionalities created by a MIMO system to provide improved system performance.

Method and apparatus for utilizing channel state information in a wireless communication system


A system and method for preventing a computer system from overheating when a processor or software controlling the processor which controls the cooling system fails. The apparatus utilizes a watchdog timer which receives periodic signals confirming proper operation of the processor. When these status signals are not received, the watchdog timer transmits signals causing the cooling system that prevents overheating of the computer system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of computer systems. More specifically, the invention relates to an apparatus and method for preventing overheating of a computer system.
2. Background
Modern day computer systems place increasingly powerful central processing units (CPUs) in small enclosed structures or packages. The increased speed of the CPUs often results in generation of heat in the enclosed structure which requires a cooling system, usually a cooling fan, to keep the computer system from overheating. A failure of the fan may result in overheating of this computer system and damage to the circuitry within the computer. Such damage can be extremely expensive.
In order to minimize costs and to fully utilize the excess power provided by powerful CPUs, modern computer systems increasingly integrate as many functions as possible into the central processing unit. Operating system software controls operation of the central processing unit. Thus, in many designs, operating systems or other software controls a CPU which controls the fans that cool the computer system. As the computer system gets hotter, the cooling fans typically run faster increasing the rate of airflow and cooling the computer system to prevent overheating.
One problem with integration of cooling functions into the CPU is that when the CPU fails or the software controlling the CPU fails, the cooling system controlled by the CPU also fails. Cooling system failure may result in overheating of circuitry, and expensive damage to computer system circuits.
Thus, an apparatus or method is needed which will prevent the system from overheating in the event that the software or circuitry controlling the cooling system fails.

Watchdog timer for controlling a cooling system


A method for multiple-label data analysis includes: obtaining labeled data points from more than one labeler; building a classifier that maximizes a measure relating the data points, labels on the data points and a predicted output label; and assigning an output label to an input data point by using the classifier.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to multiple-label data analysis.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In data analysis, it is usually the case that data points are labeled by one labeler (e.g., an expert in the task/data domain), or they are not labeled at all. In general, data points can be any representation of information such as database records, image/text features, documents, biological sequences, etc. A great number of data analysis tasks have been proposed for these situations (e.g., most supervised and unsupervised machine learning algorithms). However, a much less explored area of data analysis involves labels that are provided by multiple labelers, including the case where certain labelers only label some or different data points. Accordingly, there exists a need for providing a data analysis formulation for this situation.

Learning classifiers for multiple-label data analysis


An apparatus for testing a plurality of fluid samples at elevated temperatures or pressures, while providing for simultaneous stirring of the fluid samples to simulate desired fluid flow regimes. The apparatus comprises a stirrer compartment disposed within an adjustable temperature controlled and insulated enclosure. A plurality of magnetic stirring shaft assemblies are rotatably disposed within the temperature controlled and insulated enclosure in close proximity to the stirrer compartment. A plurality of pressurized sample cells containing fluid samples to be tested and magnetic stir bars can be placed on the test platform. The fluid samples can be continuously stirred in synchronized fashion by motivating the magnetic stir bars by means of synchronized rotation of the magnetic stirring shaft assemblies. Various flow regimes can be simulated by adjusting the rotational speed of the stirring shaft assemblies.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for testing a plurality of fluid samples at elevated temperatures and/or pressures, while providing for simultaneous stirring of said samples to simulate desired fluid flow regimes. More specifically, the present invention relates to a temperature controlled enclosure containing multiple synchronized magnetic stirring assemblies which allow for synchronized stirring and simultaneous thermostating of one or more pressurized sample cells containing fluid samples to be tested.
2. Description of Related Art
Stirring apparatuses have been known in the art for some time. One recent example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,280 to Wanninger et al., which describes a magnetic stirrer wherein a drive motor with controlling means and an electrical connection are placed in a lower part, and a glass mounting surface, which is largely impervious to aggressive liquids and vapors, comprises a top part. Said top part forms a mounting surface for a stirring container which holds a stirring magnet. The invention disclosed in Wanninger, et al, is easily distinguishable from the invention disclosed herein because it has no means to control the temperature of the samples to be tested.
An apparatus with a temperature control device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,069 to Jochimsen. The Jochimsen patent discloses a blood clotting time measuring apparatus having a temperature controlled cabinet with at least one measuring port for receiving sample cells containing blood. A magnetic stirrer is mounted in the cabinet proximate to the measuring port to enable stirring of a metal ball placed inside the sample cell. However, unlike the invention disclosed herein, the Jochimsen patent does not disclose means for enclosing the entire sample to be tested. Furthermore, the Jochimsen patent does not disclose means to analyze the subject sample at elevated pressures, and envisions use of relatively small-volume samples.
Another magnetic stirring device with a temperature control mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,391 to Kindman, et al. The invention disclosed in Kindman relates to a magnetic stirring and heating/cooling apparatus that provides simultaneous stirring and thermostating of multiple, yet relatively small, biological samples. The apparatus disclosed in Kindman utilizes a heat conducting block which provides thermostatic temperature control. Liquid samples contained in vessels can be inserted into multiple sample wells which are bored into said heat conducting block. Multiple coils surround the lower portion of each of the multiple sample wells to provide rotating magnetic fields that motivate magnetic stirring bars which are positioned inside the sample vessels. Unlike the invention disclosed herein, the Kindman patent does not disclose means for applying pressure to the samples being tested.
Other patents of interest which disclose magnetic stirrers include U.S. Pat. No. 3,784,170 to Petersen et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,973 to Maaz et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,138 to Rufer; U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,635 to MacMichael et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,511 to Smazik. However, none of these references disclose applicant's novel inventive apparatus which provides for simultaneous synchronized stirring and thermostating of multiple samples contained in pressurized sample cells.

Magnetic synchronized stirring and heating test apparatus