A connector is provided having functions for sensing the half-fitted state and improved compactness and workability through a simple construction with few components. The connector includes: a first connector part (2) having a first housing fitted with a contact pin; a second part (21) having a second housing with a contact pin connecting with the aforesaid one; and a rotating ring (15) fitted rotatably to the first or second housing and having locking legs (161) that lock coupling of the two parts. On rotating ring (15), a latching section (181) that inhibits the rotation of the rotating ring and housing where the rotating ring is fitted is provided. Prior to coupling of the two parts, the rotating ring (15) is latched to the housing by the latching sections. During mating-coupling, anti-rotation is terminated by the other part being pushed in, the rotating ring (15) is free to rotate, and coupling of the two parts is locked by the locking legs (161).

Various connectors have been devised that are equipped with a sensing function that can sense whether the connector, constituted of a pair of parts that are mated and coupled with each other, has been completely mated and coupled, that is, whether it has not been coupled in a half-fitted state (see for example JP-4-132178-A and JP-2001-57271-A).
The connector disclosed in JP-4-132178-A, for example, has male and female connector housings that are mated with each other, being so structured that a follower pin is provided on the inner periphery of a manipulation ring fitted, so as to be freely rotatable, on the outer periphery of the male housing, while on the outer periphery of the other, female housing there is provided a cam groove. The follower pin is engaged into the cam groove so as to mate the male and female housings, and by rotating the manipulation ring in one direction, a lever effect between the cam groove and follower pin is utilized so that the male and female housings can be coupled with a small force.
FIG. 9 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the connector set forth in JP-2001-57271-A, in the locked state.
The connector shown in FIG. 9 is composed of a male and a female connector part that are mated and coupled with each other. It has a structure such that a manipulation ring 31 is fitted, so as to be freely rotatable, to the outer periphery of the female connector part's female housing 30, with a cam mechanism interposed between such and the counterpart male housing; and a spring receiving slot 32 formed on the outer periphery of the female housing 30 holds a coil spring 45, and there is provided on the outer side thereof a manipulation ring 33 provided with a pressing portion 34. When the manipulation ring 31 is rotated in the mating direction, part-way through such rotation the manipulation ring 33 will rotate in an integrated manner, and the coil spring 45 will be compressed by the pressing portion 34. If the rotation is stopped before reaching the locking position where the locking arm 46 latches onto the locking protuberance 47, the manipulation ring 31 will rotate in the reverse direction due to the resilient force of the coil spring 45, and the two housings will be moved apart. Thus, the male and female housings are mated via rotational manipulation of the manipulation ring 31, and if the rotation is stopped before the manipulation ring 31 is locked, then due to the spring force stored in the coil spring 45, the manipulation ring 31 will be returned, while the two housings will be drawn apart. By means of this it can be sensed reliably whether the two housings have been regularly mated.
In the connector disclosed in JP-4-132178-A, the mating condition is sensed after the manipulation ring has been rotated to a particular position and locked during mating-coupling. In other words, a half-fitted state cannot be sensed unless the manipulation ring is turned to a certain position and locked, and this means that there is difficulty with operability. Also, with the connector set forth in JP-2001-57271-A, the mechanism for sensing the mating condition requires a coil spring or similar, which means that the connector's structure is complex. This sensing mechanism too has the operability problem that it cannot sense a half-fitted state until the manipulation ring has been turned to a certain position.

Connector with anti-rotation and anti-return mechanisms


A method, terminal, backend network entity, and system for discovering a network element in a communication system for a terminal, wherein the terminal is establishing a connection to a first part of the communication system, the discovering of the network element comprising a step of retrieving a network address of the network element from a backend network entity of the communication system, wherein the step of retrieving constitutes a part of an authentication of the terminal at the first part of the communication system by means of the backend network entity. Further, the retrieving can be based on a subscription profile of the terminal and/or a database at the backend network entity.

In recent years, communication technology has widely spread in terms of the number of users and amount of use of the telecommunication services by the users. This also led to an increase in the number of different technologies and technological concepts in use. In particular, two main areas of communication experienced overly large increases in the past years.
One of these areas is mobile communications and mobile communication networks. In this connection, the evolution from Second Generation (2G) mobile communication systems towards Third Generation (3G) mobile communication systems is particularly worth mentioning. Among others, this includes the development of systems such as the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and cdma2000 as an example of a system being based on a code division multiple access (CDMA) radio technology. The term cdma2000 is to be understood to represent a family of standards describing the use of CDMA in a way to meet the requirements of 3G communication systems as defined in IMT-2000, for example.
The other area comprises Internet communications, which includes communications being based on the Internet Protocol (IP) as a communication protocol used and/or being accomplished in networks being based on the Internet Protocol. Thereby, the Internet Protocol being specified by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) proved to be seminal, especially in wired and fixed-line communications. In this regard, IP is mentioned only as an example of packet-based communication protocols, and of course others are also conceivable.
Further, there can be observed a trend in merging of different technologies and technological concepts, which have been previously used separately. For example, IP is one of the proposed and favored communication protocols for future mobile communication systems.
Thus, two of the main areas of communication, i.e. mobile communications and Internet communications, are about to grow together. Therewith, new chances and prospects arise for future services. However, since the single technologies in both areas are not designed to comply with each other for a seamless cooperation, a multitude of problems and requirements will also arise.
The Internet Protocol deployed globally today is primarily Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). In IPv4, the address space of available network addresses for the participating communication entities is relatively limited. In more detail, since the IP address field of IP version 4 has a length of 32 bits, there exist 232 available IP addresses. With the above-mentioned rapid growth and expansion of the Internet and the number of hosts connected to the Internet, the addresses available in IPv4 have been depleted significantly, i.e. by more than 50%.
Additionally, an increasing interconnection of previously not interconnected devices of all kinds can be expected for the near future. For example, sensor networks consisting of hundreds of sensor devices are expected to be built up. In this connection, one vision resides in that all electronic devices will sometime be interconnected with each other worldwide. For the communication between these devices, IP is the favorite choice of communication protocol. With such prospects, the shortage of IP addresses will become even more urgent within the next few years.
In order to overcome the problem of the current address space running out, a new version of the Internet Protocol called Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) has been standardized in the IETF. In IPv6, the address space of available network addresses for the participating communication entities is much larger. In more detail, since the IP address field of IP version 6 has a length of 128 bits, there exist 2128 available IP addresses. Furthermore, IPv6 has advantages in e.g. auto-configuration, mobile IP applications and automatic renumbering.
The limited availability of IPv4 addresses and the increasing growth of IP capable mobile devices makes the problem of assigning globally routable IPv4 addresses challenging if not impossible. The only solution today is to assign private IP addresses which are defined in RFC1918. Hence, Network Address Translators (NATs) would have to be used for mapping private and public IP addresses with each other in order to overcome the shortage problems. However, this brings in a multitude of problems. While it is possible to overcome the issues that NATs present, it does require additional equipment, modifications to applications, gateways etc. To the contrary, as mentioned above, IPv6 does not have the address shortage problem that IPv4 presents and hence is the more favorable approach as a long-term solution.
An end-to-end IPv6 connectivity enables a deployment of services based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) as well as peer-to-peer applications in a much easier manner since issues associated with Network Address Translators (NATs) would not have to be dealt with. This is why the present application emphasizes the focus on the usage of IPv6. However, other protocols may still comply with the idea as conceived with the present invention. That is, the present invention is not limited to be applied to IPv6.
For transition from the current IPv4-based networks and hosts to such based on IPv6 there are a number of mechanisms and means to be introduced, some of which have already been developed. Further, it is unavoidable that both protocols are being used in parallel for some time. In the following, an example scenario for problems occurring by a simultaneous usage of Internet Protocol applications of different versions will be outlined.
In the Third Generation Partnership Projects 3GPP and 3GPP2, there is specified a so-called IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). The IMS essentially creates a SIP infrastructure for packet networks such as GPRS/UMTS and cdma2000. The IMS enables the creation and deployment of various types of applications and services that use SIP. These applications can be realtime, non-realtime, multimedia and others. The IMS is the service core of the 3G packet networks. Therewith, operators of Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMNs) such as UMTS or cdma2000 can offer their subscribers services based on and built upon packet data networks that are primarily based on IP. IMS deployments are expected to occur in the near future. This implies that terminals will need to connect and communicate with the IMS network elements via IPv6 protocols.
However, mobile communication systems such as cdma2000 networks that are currently deployed in many countries primarily (or even exclusively) support IPv4 as well as IPv6 as the communication protocol. Terminals such as mobile stations will be dual-stack (DS) capable, i.e. they will have both an IPv4 protocol stack and an IPv6 protocol stack built in for being able to communicate via IPv4 and IPv6. As a result it is possible that the access network to which the terminal connects can be based on IPv4 only. However, it is still possible to establish an IPv6 session with an IPv6-based IMS. This would be enabled by encapsulating (tunneling) IPv6 packets as IPv4 payload in IPv4 packets, transmitting these IPv4 packets through the access network, and subsequently decapsulating the IPv6 packets out of the IPv4 packets at a DS router in the network.
In order to enable this, a dual-stack router is needed, which supports both IPv4 and IPv6 and is capable of encapsulation and decapsulation of IPv6 packets. Such a dual-stack router can be arranged somewhere in the core network and may not necessarily be "visible" to the access network and, thus, to a terminal being connected to the access network. In many instances the dual-stack router may be in the home network of the operator and the visited or foreign network even may not have any such router.
The terminal needs to be aware of a dual-stack (DS) router in the network, which dual-stack router is capable of encapsulation and decapsulation of IPv6 packets transmitted to and from the terminal. Thus, the host or terminal needs to discover the network address of this dual stack router in order to use IPv6 via encapsulation over an IPv4 network such as a conventional radio access network.
In prior art, the discovery of a dual-stack router has already been addressed previously, e.g. by the IETF.
Current solutions involve the use of multicast or configuring of the dual-stack (DS) router with an anycast address. Solutions based on Domain Name System (DNS) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) are also found to be possible.
However, a mobile communication network, e.g. the cdma2000 packet data network, presents a different architecture as compared to standard IP networks. Since the hosts are connected over an air interface that is operated in the licensed bandwidth spectrum, it is critical that discovery and configuration of such servers is done as optimally as possible e.g. as regards bandwidth efficiency. Yet, the proposed solutions can not fulfill these requirements and, therefore, are unfavorable in this connection.
It is also possible that a preconfigured address of the dual-stack router can be used. However this does not provide an optimal solution since the operator would have to deploy a certain number of dual-stack routers based on the number of subscribers rather than the number of active users at any given time. Also a load-balancing and an optimal location of the router cannot be achieved this way.
Solutions to the problem of discovering a dual-stack router, e.g. a DS IPv4/v6 transition router, have also been presented in the IETF, However, without a focus on the special requirements and needs of mobile communication systems.

Discovering a network element in a communication system


A circuit is provided for controlling the set up of a memory address. The circuit includes a first latch circuit for latching a first memory address in response to a first simultaneous occurrence of a predetermined value for an output enable signal and a predetermined value for a row address strobe signal. A second latch circuit is coupled to the first latch circuit. The second latch circuit receives the first memory address from the first latch circuit and latches the first row address thereafter for decoding. The first latch circuit can latch a second memory address in response to a second simultaneous occurrence of the predetermined value for the output enable signal and the predetermined value for the row address strobe signal, the second simultaneous occurrence occurring while the first row address is being decoded.

Integrated circuit (IC) memory devices allow large amounts of data to be stored in relatively small physical packages. A typical IC memory device comprises a plurality of memory cells. Separate bits of data may written into, stored, and read out of each of these memory cells. Memory cells can be organized in rows, each of which may be identified by a respective address. A respective row line or "word line" provides access to each row of memory cells. For this access, each word line is "enabled" by latching and decoding the address for the respective row.
According to a previously developed technique, a row address strobe (RAS) signal is exclusively used to set up each row address so that such address can be latched for decoding. With such prior technique, a new row address cannot be set up until a previous row address has been completely decoded. This limits the speed at which an IC memory device can be operated. An ongoing challenge for IC devices in general, however, is to increase performance by providing more rapid operation. Thus, it is desirable that the addressing of a row be made more rapid.

Controlling the set up of a memory address


A fan containment casing includes a core comprising a number of tows. The core has a central region and two end regions. The tows are grouped into a number of bands and form a number of filament-wound radially disposed layers. The bands of tows are interleaved as a number of direct bands and indirect bands along at least a portion of one or more of the layers. A method of forming a fan containment casing includes winding a number of tows on a liner to form a number of radially disposed layers, where each of the layers is continuously connected to at least one adjacent one of the layers across one of the end regions via at least one of the tows.

The invention relates generally to gas turbine engines and, more particularly, to fan containment casings for gas turbine engines.
Gas turbine engines typically include high and low pressure compressors, a combustor, and at least one turbine. The compressors compress air, which is mixed with fuel and channeled to the combustor. The mixture is then ignited for generating hot combustion gases, and the combustion gases are channeled to the turbine, which extracts energy from the combustion gases for powering the compressor, as well as producing useful work to propel an aircraft in flight or to power a load, such as an electrical generator.
When engines operate in various conditions, foreign objects may be ingested into the engine. More specifically, various types of foreign objects may be entrained in the inlet of a gas turbine engine, ranging from large birds, to hailstones, sand and rain. The foreign objects may impact a blade resulting in a portion of the impacted blade being torn loose from a rotor. Such a condition, known as foreign object damage, may cause the rotor blade to pierce an engine casing resulting in cracks along an exterior surface of the engine casing. Additionally, foreign object damage may cause a portion of the engine to bulge or deflect resulting in increased stresses along the entire engine casing.
At least some known engines include a metallic casing shell to prevent foreign objects and engine fragments from escaping the engine and to increase the radial and axial stiffness of the engine. Casing shells are typically fabricated from a metallic material and are one of the heaviest components in a gas turbine engine. It is highly desirable to reduce the weight of such shells through the use of less dense materials. U.S. patent Ser. No. 11/020,483, entitled "Composite fan containment case for turbine engines," discloses a composite fan containment case that combines exceptional impact resistance and damage tolerance properties with significant weight reduction relative to metal casings. However, it would be desirable to provide a relatively low-cost, light-weight fan casing with high-impact resistance. It would further be desirable to provide a method of manufacture for the fan casing that does not require a subsequent infusion of resin. It would further be desirable for the method of manufacture to avoid a secondary bonding process.

Fan containment casings and methods of manufacture


An electric supplying holder includes a first cover, a second cover, a flexible battery unit and a third cover. The second cover has at least one first contact point. The first cover is disposed at a first side of the second cover. The flexible battery unit has at least one conducting part and is placed between the first cover and the second cover. The first contact point is electrically connected with the conducting part. The third cover is disposed at a second side of the second cover, and a first accommodating space is formed between the second cover and the third cover.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a card holder with the electric supplying function.
2. Related Art
Recently, the radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is gradually developed. The RFID system has the non-contact property, wide-directional property, long lifetime and strong weather-resistant property, so the application fields thereof are getting wider and wider. For example, the RFID system may be applied to an identification card for entrance security control, a stored-value card for a metro system, or tickets for various games.
The RFID system may be divided into a reader and a tag. The tag may be applied in the form of a card, and does not have any electric power stored. Thus, the tag is induced by an electromagnetic wave signal, which is outputted by the reader, to generate the electric power and thus transfer the stored information back to the reader. Then, the reader generates the identification function. The RFID system serving as the identification card or the stored-value card mainly utilizes the low frequency band. Thus, the effective distance from the card to the reader is shorter (usually shorter than 1 meter). That is, the card cannot work with the reader if they are too far away from each other or the card is not located within the transmission range of the electromagnetic wave signal of the reader, and the function of the card is thus limited.
In addition, if the RFID system is applied to the stored-value card, the card serving as the RFID tag does not have the displaying function. If the residual value of the card has to be inspected, the reader has to be provided to read the card and display the residual value of the card. Thus, the convenience in use is deteriorated, and the user may have risks in using the card because he or she does not know the residual value of the card.
Therefore, it is an important subject to design an additional part to enhance the convenience of using the RFID card.


During the growth and study of NSCs, a range of molecules present on the surface of multipotent neural stem and progenitor cells (NSCs) were identified. These markers were identified using a number of human and murine neural stem cell lines, including retinal stem cells (RSCs). The NSC-specific markers identified included gene products as well as non-protein molecules and sugar epitopes not directly coded in the genome. Together with surface markers which were determined to be absent from the surface of hNSCs, the molecules described herein provide a means to enrich for neural stem cells, or neural progenitor subpopulations, particularly using combinatorial cell sorting strategies. These same molecules also represent targets for pharmacological manipulation of NSC populations and subpopulations, both in vivo and ex vivo. Furthermore, these molecules provide potential targets for therapeutic manipulation of other neural precursor-related cell types including malignant cell types as well as diseases originating from, or preferentially affecting, various uncommitted or replication-competent cell types.

Cell transplantation has over the last two decades emerged as a promising approach for restoration of function in neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Parkinson's and Huntington's disease. Clinical trials have so far focused on the use of implants of embryonic mesencephalic tissue containing already fate-committed dopaminergic neuroblasts with the capacity to develop into fully mature dopamine neurons in their new location in the host brain. A major limitation of the fetal cell transplantation procedure is the low survival rate of the grafted neurons (in the range of 5-20%) which makes it difficult to obtain sufficient cells for grafting in patients. Currently, mesencephalic fragments from at least 6-8 embryos are needed for transplantation in one Parkinson's disease patient. Moreover, the ethical, practical and safety issues associated with the use of tissue from aborted human fetuses are problematic, and severely restrict the possibility for applying the procedure outside highly specialized centers.
It was recently demonstrated that immature neural progenitor cells with multipotent properties, called neural stem cells (NSCs), can be isolated from both the developing and adult CNS. Neural stem cells are multipotent cells which can be differentiated into any type of neural cell, including neurons, astrocytes, glia and oligodendrocytes. The successful propagation of mammalian neural stem cells (NSC) in culture, first reported by Reynolds and Weiss (1992), has opened up hitherto unforeseen opportunities in the field of neural transplantation and, therefore, harvesting these cells from donated adult human tissue is of great interest.
However, it would be advantageous to isolate the NSCs from the other cells in the brain or enrich them such that the purest population of multipotent cells possible can be obtained. One favored strategy for cell isolation is the identification of target epitopes on the surface of NSCs accessible to monoclonal antibodies. These antibodies can then be selectively tagged, e.g., with a fluorescent label, whereupon selecting for the tagged antibody results in selection of the cell on which it is bound. If the target molecule is expressed only by the desired cell type, very high levels of enrichment are possible. The problem with this strategy is that of identifying the target epitopes which will isolate the NSCs, allow for specificity of attachment and will not activate cellular processes.
The identification and enrichment using specific cell surface markers has been used previously in the isolation of another type of stem cell, neural crest stem cells (NCSC's) (Anderson and Stemple, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,489). However, the use of the method in the isolation of neural stem cells (NSCs) has been slow to develop, possibly due to the difficulty in identifying NSC-specific markers. Uchida et al., 2000, describes a method for the isolation of NSCs using a specific epitope. In this work, the authors restrict their definition of human neural stem cells to those cells within the human brain which are CD133+/CD34− (and CD24−/lo) and describe the use of this marker profile to isolate NSCs. They also state that the CD133+/CD34− (and CD24−/lo) fraction alone contains neural stem cells because neurospheres could not be generated from the CD133− fraction. However, there are a number of problems and inconsistencies with this method. For example, the authors state that neurospheres could not be generated from the CD133− population. However, the population and method of enriching may have produced variability in frequency of neurosphere initiating cells resulting from such manipulation. It is likely that the process of mincing, enzymatically-dissociating, and sorting the cells twice, increased levels of damage to constituent cells, leaving a number of the cells non-viable.
Embryonic stem cells have been shown to be useful for transplantation treatment of a number of diseases. Since 1987, about 250 patients with advanced Parkinson's Disease have received transplants of mesencephalic dopamine neurons, obtained from 6-9 week old cadaver embryos at several centers in Europe and America. There is now convincing data to show that embryonic human nigral neurons, taken at a stage of development when they have started to express their dopaminergic phenotype, can survive, integrate and function over a long time in the human brain (i.e. in a tissue environment with an ongoing disease process). Embryonic stem cells are very primitive, non-neuronal cells which can be induced to differentiate into neural progenitor cells by the treatment with specific morphogens. Thus, there is reason to believe that neural progenitors or neural stem cells (NSCs) could be used for the same purpose. For example, neural stem cells were shown to be useful for the treatment of hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain injury (stroke). When NSCs were injected into mice brains subjected to focal HI injury, they appeared to integrate appropriately into the degenerating central nervous system (CNS), and showed robust engraftment and foreign gene expression within the region of HI injury. They also appeared to have migrated preferentially to the site of ischemia, experienced limited proliferation, and differentiated into the neural cells that were lost to injury, trying to repopulate the damaged brain area. Therefore, the transplantation of exogenous NSCs may, in fact, augment a natural self repair process in which the damaged CNS "attempts" to mobilize its own pool of stem cells. Providing additional NSCs and trophic factors may optimize this response (Park, KI; 2000, Yonsei Med J, Dec;41(6):825-35). Therefore, NSCs may provide a novel approach to reconstituting brains damaged by HI brain injury as well as Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
Because NSCs appear to be excellent candidates for restorative cell replacement and gene transfer therapies, and could eventually offer a powerful alternative to primary fetal CNS tissue in clinical transplantation protocols, methods for the successful isolation from adult brain are needed.

Isolation of neural stem cells using gangliosides and other surface markers


In one aspect, a method for controlling the operation of a power generation system configured to supply power to an electrical grid may generally include monitoring a rotor speed of a generator of the power generation system and determining a gain scaling factor based on the rotor speed, wherein the gain scaling factor increases with decreases in the rotor speed across a range of rotor speeds. In addition, the method may include adjusting a regulator gain to be applied within a current regulator of the power generation system based on the gain scaling factor and applying the adjusted regulator gain within the current regulator in order to generate a voltage command signal for controlling a power converter of the power generation system.

Power generation systems often include a power converter that is configured to convert an input power into a suitable power for application to a load, such as a generator, motor, electrical grid, or other suitable load. For instance, a power generation system, such as a wind turbine system, may include a power converter for converting variable frequency alternating current power generated at the generator into alternating current power at a grid frequency (e.g. 50Hz or 60 Hz) for application to a utility grid. An exemplary power generation system may generate AC power using a wind-driven doubly fed induction generator (DFIG). A power converter can regulate the flow of electrical power between the DFIG and the grid.
In many instances, power generation systems may be located in remote areas far from the loads they serve. This is particularly true for renewable energy sources, such as wind turbine systems, solar/photovoltaic systems, hydroelectric systems and/or the like. Typically, such power generation systems are connected to the electrical grid through an electrical system including long transmission lines connected to the grid using one or more breakers. Often such transmission lines include one or more series compensation elements (e.g., one or more capacitors) to facilitate reducing reactive power losses within the transmission lines, thereby increasing the power transfer capacity of the lines.
Unfortunately, when a power generation system is coupled to a series compensated transmission line, the system may experience sub-synchronous instability and may often trip unintentionally. This is a particularly true for wind-driven DFIG systems due to the DFIG exhibiting negative equivalent resistance in the frequency range below its nominal frequency. In such instance, the electrical system control components typically do not provide sufficient damping at such low frequency ranges, thereby resulting in system instability.
Accordingly, a system and method for controlling aspects of the operation of a power generation system that allow for enhanced system stability would be welcomed in the technology. In particular, a system and method for controlling aspects of the operation of a power generation system that allow for enhanced sub-synchronous stability when the system is connected to a series compensated transmission line would be welcomed in the technology.

System and method for adjusting current regulator gains applied within a power generation system


A spin injection device capable of spin injection magnetization reversal at low current density, a magnetic apparatus using the same, and magnetic thin film using the same, whereby the spin injection device (14) including a spin injection part (1) comprising a spin polarization part (9) including a ferromagnetic fixed layer (26) and an injection junction part (7) of nonmagnetic layer, and a ferromagnetic free layer (27) provided in contact with the spin injection part (1) is such that in which the nonmagnetic layer (7) is made of either an insulator (12) or a conductor (25), a nonmagnetic layer (28) is provided on the surface of the ferromagnetic free layer (27), electric current is flown in the direction perpendicular to the film surface of the spin injection device (14), and the magnetization of the ferromagnetic free layer (27) is reversed. This is applicable to such various magnetic apparatuses and magnetic memory devices as super gigabit large capacity, high speed, non-volatile MRAM and the like.

In recent years, giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect devices consisting of ferromagnetic layer/nonmagnetic metal layer/ferromagnetic layer and ferromagnetic spin tunnel junction (MTJ) devices consisting of ferromagnetic layer/insulating layer/ferromagnetic layer have been developed, and are expected for application to new magnetic field sensors and magnetic memories (MRAM).
GMR can bring about giant magnetoresistance effect by controlling magnetization of two ferromagnetic layers mutually parallel or antiparallel by external magnetic field, due to the fact that resistances differ from each other by spin dependent scattering at an interface. On the other hand, MTJ can bring about so-called tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) effect, such that the magnitudes of tunnel currents in the direction perpendicular to layer surface differ from each other by controlling magnetization of two ferromagnetic layers mutually parallel or antiparallel by external magnetic field (Refer, for example, to T. Miyazaki and N. Tezuka, "Spin polarized tunneling in ferromagnet/insulator/ferromagnet junctions", (1995), J. Magn. Magn. Mater., L39, p. 1231).
Tunnel magnetoresistance TMR depends upon spin polarizability P at the interface of the ferromagnet and the insulator that are used, and is known to be expressed in general by Equation (1), assuming the spin polarizabilities of two ferromagnets as P1 and P2, respectively.TMR=2P1P2/(1−P1P2)  (1),where spin polarizability P of a ferromagnet has a value 0<P≦1. The highest tunnel magnetoresistance TMR at room temperature so far obtained is about 50% in case of CoFe alloy of P˜0.5.
GMR devices are already in practical use for magnetic heads of hard discs. MTJ devices are presently expected for application to magnetic heads of hard discs and non-volatile magnetic memories (MRAM). In MRAM, "1" and "0" are recorded by controlling two magnetic layers mutually parallel and antiparallel which make up each MTJ device by arranging MTJ devices in matrix, and applying magnetic field by flowing electric current in the interconnection provided separately. The readout is conducted utilizing TMR effect. However, MRAM has such a problem to be solved that, when a device size is made small for large capacity, the electric current needed for magnetization reversal increases due to the increase of demagnetizing field, thereby the power consumption increases.
As a method to solve such a problem, the triple layer structure is proposed in which two magnetic layers combined mutually antiparallel via nonmagnetic metal layer (Synthetic Antiferromagnet, hereinafter referred to as "SyAF". Refer, for example, to the Japanese Patent Laid Application H9-251621A (1997)). By using such SyAF structure, the magnetic field needed for magnetization reversal is reduced even if a device size is made small, because of decrease of demagnetizing field.
On the other hand, a new spin reversal method not using current magnetic field is recently theoretically proposed, as disclosed by J. C. Slonczewski, "Current-driven excitation of magnetic multilayers", (1996), J. Magn. Magn. Mater., 159, L1-L7, and was also realized experimentally (Refer, for example, to J. A. Katine, F. J. Albert, R. A. Ruhman, E. B. Myers and D. C. Ralph, "Current-Driven Magnetization Reversal and Spin-Wave Excitations in Co/Cu/Co Pillars", (2000), Phy. Rev. Lett., 84, pp. 3149-3152).
Said spin reversal method is such that, in a triple layer structure consisting of the first ferromagnetic layer 101/nonmagnetic metal layer 103/the second ferromagnetic layer 105 as its principle is illustrated in FIG. 25, if the electric current flows from the second ferromagnetic layer 103 to the first ferromagnetic layer 101, spin polarized electrons are injected from the first ferromagnetic layer 101 via nonmagnetic metal layer 103 to the second ferromagnetic layer 105, and the spin of the second ferromagnetic layer 105 is reversed. It is called magnetization reversal by spin injection.
In said spin injection magnetization reversal of triple layer structure, if the spin of the first ferromagnetic layer 101 is assumed to be fixed, and if the spin is injected from the first ferromagnetic layer 101 via nonmagnetic metal layer 103, then the injected upward spin (majority spin) gives torque to the spin of the second ferromagnetic layer 105, and arranges said spin in one direction. Therefore, the spins of the first and the second ferromagnetic layer 101 and 105 become parallel. On the other hand, if the electric current flows in reverse direction, and the spin is injected from the second ferromagnetic layer 105 to the first ferromagnetic layer 101, then the downward spin (minority spin) is reflected at the interface between the first ferromagnetic layer 101 and nonmagnetic metal layer 103, the reflected spin gives torque to the spin of the second ferromagnetic layer 105, and tends to arrange said spin in one direction, namely, downward. As a result, the spins of the first and the second ferromagnetic layer 101 and 105 become antiparallel. Consequently, in said spin injection magnetization reversal of triple layer structure, the spins of the first and the second ferromagnetic layer can be made parallel or antiparallel by switching the direction of current.
In recent years, giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect devices consisting of multiplayer film of ferromagnetic layer/nonmagnetic metal layer, tunnel magnetoresistance effect devices consisting of ferromagnetic layer/insulating layer/ferromagnetic layer, and ferromagnetic spin tunnel junction (MTJ) devices have been drawing attentions as new magnetic field sensors and non-volatile magnetic random access memory (MRAM) devices.
As giant magnetoresistance effect devices, that of CIP (Current In Plane) structure of the type to flow electric current in film plane and that of CPP (Current Perpendicular to the Plane) structure of the type to flow electric current in the direction perpendicular to film plane are known. The principle of a giant magnetoresistance effect device is a spin dependent scattering at the interface of a magnetic and a nonmagnetic layers, and, in general, GMR is larger in a giant magnetoresistance effect device of CPP structure than in that of CIP structure.
In such a giant magnetoresistance effect device, a spin valve type is used which inserts an antiferromagnetic layer near one side of ferromagnetic layer, and fix the spin of the ferromagnetic layer. In case of the spin valve type giant magnetoresistance effect device of CPP structure, since the electric resistance of antiferromagnetic layer is higher than GMR film by about two orders as 200 μΩcm, GMR effect is diluted, and the magnetoresistance of a spin valve type giant magnetoresistance effect device of CPP structure is as small as 1% or lower. Thereby, although a giant magnetoresistance effect device of CIP structure is already in practical use for a play back head of a hard disc, a giant magnetoresistance effect device of CPP structure is not yet practically used.
On the other hand, tunnel magnetoresistance effect devices and MTJ can exhibit so-called tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) effect at room temperature, such that the magnitudes of tunnel currents in the direction perpendicular to layer surface differ from each other by controlling magnetization of two ferromagnetic layers mutually parallel or antiparallel by the external magnetic field (Refer, for example, to T. Miyazaki and N. Tezuka, "Spin polarized tunneling in ferromagnet/insulator/ferromagnet junctions", (1995), J. Magn. Magn. Mater., L39, p. 1231).
TMR devices are presently expected for application to magnetic heads of hard discs and non-volatile magnetic random access memories (MRAM). In MRAM, "1" and "0" are recorded by controlling two magnetic layers mutually parallel and antiparallel which make up each MTJ device by arranging MTJ devices in matrix, and applying magnetic field by flowing electric current in the interconnection provided separately. The readout is conducted utilizing TMR effect. However, MRAM has such a problem that, when a device size is made small for high density, the noise accompanying fluctuation of device's quality increases, and the value of TMR is so far insufficient. Therefore, the development of devices having larger TMR is required. As is seen from the Equation (1) above, by using a magnetic material of P=1, infinitely large TMR can be expected. A magnetic material of P=1 is called a half metal.
Such half metals are so far known from band structure calculation as such oxides as Fe3O4, CrO2, (La—Sr) MnO3, Th2MnO7, and Sr2FeMoO6, such half Heusler alloys as NiMnSb and others, and such full Heusler alloys with L21 structure as Co2MnGe, Co2MnSi, and Co2CrAl. For example, it was reported that such conventional full Heusler alloys with L21 structure as Co2MnGe or others can be manufactured by heating a substrate to about 200° C., and making its film thickness to, in general, 25 nm or more by T. Ambrose, J. J. Crebs and G. A. Prinz, "Magnetic properties of single crystal Co2MnGe Heusler alloy films", (2000), Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 87, p. 5463.
It was recently reported that, according to the theoretical calculation of band structure, Co2Fe0.4Cr0.6Al in which a part of Cr as a constituting element of a half metal Co2CrAl is substituted with Fe is also a half metal of L21 type by T. Block, C. Felser, and J. Windeln, "Spin Polarized Tunneling at Room temperature in a Heusler Compound—a non-oxide Materials with a Large Negative Magnetoresistance Effect in Low Magnetic Fields", Apr. 28, 2002, Intermag Digest, EE01. But its thin film and tunnel junction have not been fabricated. Consequently, like conventional other L21 type compounds, it is not known experimentally at all whether its thin film shows half metal characteristics or large TMR properties.
However, though such a spin injection method is hopeful as a spin reversal method of nano-structure magnetic material in future, the current density required for magnetization reversal by spin injection is as quite high as 107A/cm2 or higher, and this aspect was a practical problem to be solved.
Here, the present inventors discovered that magnetization reversal by spin injection can be obtained at lower current density by flowing electric current from a ferromagnetic layer via a nonmagnetic metal layer or an insulating layer provided separately to the triple layer structure in which two ferromagnetic layers are mutually connected antiparalel via a nonmagnetic metal layer.
Further, the present inventors also discovered that the functional effect similar to that mentioned above can be obtained by using, in place of the above-mentioned triple layer structure, a double layer structure consisting of a ferromagnetic free layer and a nonmagnetic layer, and a triple layer structure consisting of a ferromagnetic free layer, a nonmagnetic layer, and ferromagnetic layer.
Also, though giant magnetoresistance effect devices of CIP structure practically used at present for play back heads of conventional hard discs are being made microfabrication for high record density, insufficiency of signal voltage is predicted as a device is micro-fabricated, and higher quality of giant magnetoresistance effect devices of CPP structure is demanded instead of giant magnetoresistance effect devices of CIP structure, which so far has not been realized.
Except for the above-mentioned half metal Co2CrAl, half metal thin films are fabricated, but it needs for it to heat a substrate at 300° C. or higher, or to anneal at 300° C. or higher after film forming at room temperature, but there have been no reports that the so far fabricated thin film is a half metal. The fabrication of tunnel junction devices using these half metals has been partly attempted, but TMR at room temperature is in all cases unexpectedly low, such that its maximum value is at most between 10 and 20% of the case using Fe3O4. As has been seen, the conventional half metal thin film requires the substrate heating or thermal treatment to attain its structure, and surface roughness increase or oxidation thereby may be considered as one of the causes for no large TMR attained. On the other hand, the thin film differs from bulk material in that it may not show half metal characteristics on the surface, and the half metal characteristics is sensitive to composition and the regularity of atomic alignment. The tunnel junction in particular has difficulty to attain the half metal electronic state at its interface. This is regarded as the cause for large TMR not attained. From the above, there remains a problem that the fabrication of half metal thin film is actually very difficult, and the half metal thin film good enough to be used for various magnetoresistance effect devices has so far not been obtained.
Co2CrAl and Co2Fe0.4Cr0.6Al thin film, which are predicted to be half metal from theoretical calculation of band structure, and the tunnel junction using said thin film have not been fabricated. In magnetic thin film material in general, a thin film and bulk material are particularly different in electronic state on their surface. Therefore, a half metal as bulk material is not guaranteed to be half metal as thin film. Even more, if the theoretical calculation of band structure shows a half metal, a half metal is not guaranteed to be obtained as an actual thin film. This is proved by the fact that the above-mentioned various half metals, so far indicated theoretically, have not been experimentally obtained. Therefore, like conventional full Heusler alloy as L21 type compound, it is totally unknown whether Co2CrAl and Co2Fe0.4Cr0.6Al thin film show experimentally half metal characteristics and large TMR property.
As mentioned above, there are many materials that are theoretically pointed out as a half metal, but none of them made into thin film have not shown half metal characteristics at room temperature. Therefore, there is a problem that large GMR from giant magnetoresistance effect devices of CPP structure at room temperature and large TMR from MTJ devices, which might be expected from half metal, have not been attained.

Spin injection device, magnetic device using the same, magnetic thin film used in the same


An antenna device includes an antenna main body having at least three electricity feeding points and a feeder circuit for feeding an electrical signal to the antenna main body. The feeder circuit feeds electrical signals different in at least one of amplitude and phase to the electricity feeding points. The device enables to control the directivity with the use of a single antenna.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna device, and more particularly to an antenna device capable of controlling its directivity, and a radio communication apparatus using the antenna device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most mobile communication terminals use a nondirectional antenna as an antenna device, because the direction toward a base station to be communicated with always changes. Meanwhile, in recent years, cellular phones, as an example of mobile communication terminals, have come to have a large number of functions. Those functions include website browsing, video telephone, photographing still images or moving images, navigation using the global positioning system, and authentication and checkout using a radio frequency identification technique. In order to implement such various functions, excellent antenna characteristics must be maintained irrespective of the use states of the cellular phones.
Known as antennas for improving antenna characteristics are diversity antennas, array antennas, Yagi-Uda antennas, patch antennas, and the like. In particular, as disclosed in JP 2000-312112A, a single patch antenna can form a desired radiation area. The patch antenna has a first electricity feeding point and a second electricity feeding point on an X-axis and a Y-axis, respectively, the X-axis and the Y-axis being orthogonal to each other on a conductor patch. Electrical signals fed to these electricity feeding points are different in at least one of amplitude and phase. The patch antenna resonates in directions parallel to the X-axis and also parallel to the Y-axis. As a result, the radio wave of a radio signal, which includes two types of linear polarization orthogonal to each other having the same resonance frequency, is radiated in a Z-axis direction which is opposite to a grounded conductor.
In the patch antenna, vertical polarization and horizontal polarization are always orthogonal to each other, and the direction of the directivity is always in the vertical direction (z-axis direction). Accordingly, in the patch antenna, only the polarization planes change, and the direction of the directivity does not change. In the case of patch antenna, plural patch antennas are arranged in an array in order to incline the direction of the directivity from the vertical direction to the horizontal direction. It is difficult to change the direction of the directivity with the use of only a single patch antenna.
On the other hand, a compact patch antenna having one electricity feeding point is disclosed in the following document: "Compact WLAN Disc Antennas" written by Neil J. McEwan, Raed A. Abd-Alhameed, Embarak M. Ibrahim, Peter S. Excell, and Nazar T. Ali, IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation, vol. 50, No. 12, December 2002. It is also difficult for this antenna to change the directivity.

Antenna device and radio communication apparatus


A patient monitoring and/or therapy delivery system and method employing an implantable medical device for sensing absolute physiologic signal values within the body of a patient, e.g., absolute blood pressure, temperature, etc., and an external monitoring device for monitoring and conveying ambient signal values to the implantable medical device, wherein the absolute physiologic signal values and the ambient signal values are combined to derive relative physiologic signal values for storage and/or control of a therapy provided by the implantable medical device. In the context of an implantable physiologic monitor, the relative and optionally, the absolute and/or ambient physiologic signal values are stored in memory for telemetry out to an external programmer in an uplink RF telemetry transmission initiated by medical personnel operating the external programmer. In the context of an implantable therapy delivery device, the relative physiologic signal values are also employed in therapy delivery algorithms.

A great many implantable systems for cardiac monitoring and/or therapy comprising sensors located in a blood vessel or heart chamber coupled with an implantable monitor or therapy delivery device have been proposed or implemented. For example, such cardiac systems include implantable heart monitors and therapy delivery devices including pacemakers, cardioverter/defibrillators, cardiomyostimulators, and drug delivery devices. All of these systems include electrodes for sensing and sense amplifiers for recording and/or deriving sense event signals from the intracardiac or remote electrogram (EGM). In current implantable cardiac devices providing a therapy, the sense event signals are utilized to control the delivery of the therapy in accordance with an operating algorithm and at least selected EGM signal segments and sense event histogram data or the like are stored in internal RAM for telemetry out to an external programmer at a later time. In implantable cardiac monitors, e.g., the MEDTRONIC.RTM. Reveal implantable heart monitor, a 42 minute segment of EGM is recorded when the patient activates it, by applying a magnet over the site of implantation, in response to feeling the effects of an arrhythmic episode.
Such implantable medical devices that provide a therapy and/or monitor a physiologic condition or state are programmable and/or can be interrogated by an external programmer through the use of bidirectional RF telemetry that exchanges data and commands via uplink and downlink RF telemetry transmissions through the patient's skin. A great many telemetry schemes have been employed and proposed by the assignee, Medtronic, Inc., that typically involve short range telemetry transmissions employing a 175 kHz RF carrier and close physical coupling of magnetic fields encompassing the RF telemetry antenna coils of the implanted medical device and a programming head placed against the patient's skin. A great many other telemetry systems have been proposed to achieve longer range, yet secure, RF telemetry between implantable and external monitoring devices as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,869 and in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/900,624 filed Jul. 25, 1997, for IMPLANTABLE MEDICAL DEVICE MICROSTRIP TELEMETRY ANTENNA in the names of Weimin Sun et al., both incorporated herein by reference.
In addition, various other communication systems have been proposed to effect communication of data and commands between external, body worn, medical devices and implantable medical devices. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,487,752 and 5,540,727, assigned to Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc., systems are disclosed for optimizing the function of an implantable medical device by employing remote sensor modules for measuring parameters related to cardiac performance and deriving programming commands for optimizing the operating modes and parameters of the implantable medical device using a telemetry system providing uplink and downlink RF telemetry transmissions therebetween and through the patient's skin.
Moreover, several systems are disclosed for communicating between primary implantable or skin contacting devices and secondary implantable or skin contacting devices using the body as a communication medium as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,524,773, 4,494,950, 4,987,897, and 5,113,859, all incorporated herein by reference. In certain of these patents, secondary remotely implanted or skin worn physiologic sensor modules are described for sensing particular physiologic conditions or states to derive remote sense signals representative thereof. The sensor modules encode the remote sense signals for transmission and transmit the encoded remote sense signals to the primary implantable medical device for processing and use in an algorithm controlling the delivery of a therapy either by the primary implantable medical device or another secondary, therapy delivery, implantable medical device.
Efforts have also been underway for many years to develop implantable physiologic signal transducers and sensors for temporary or chronic use in a body organ or vessel usable with such implantable medical devices for monitoring a physiologic condition other than or in addition to the EGM to derive and store data and/or to control a therapy delivered by the implantable medical device. In respect to cardiac monitoring, it has been proposed to sense and record such additional physiologic signals including blood pressure in or adjoining blood vessels and heart chambers during the cardiac cycle, blood temperature, pH, and a variety of blood gases. Implantable heart monitors and blood pressure and temperature sensors that derive absolute blood pressure signals and temperature signals are disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,368,040, 5,535,752 and 5,564,434, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,931, all incorporated by reference herein. A comprehensive listing of implantable therapy delivery devices are disclosed in conjunction with implantable sensors for sensing a wide variety of cardiac physiologic signals in U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,505, incorporated herein by reference. Numerous attempts have been made over the years to refine implantable blood pressure sensors that accurately reflect the actual changes in cardiac blood pressure as set forth in the above-incorporated, commonly assigned, '752 and '434 patents.
Blood pressure and temperature signal values respond to changes in cardiac output that may be caused by a cardiac failure, e.g., fibrillation or high rate tachycardia, or that may reflect a change in the body's need for oxygenated blood. In the former case, monitoring of a substantial drop in blood pressure in a heart chamber, particularly the right ventricle, alone or in conjunction with an accelerated or chaotic EGM, was proposed more than 30 years ago as an indicia of fibrillation or tachycardia sufficient to trigger automatic delivery of defibrillation or cardioversion shock. More recently, it has been proposed to monitor the changes in blood pressure (dP/dt) that accompany normal heart contraction and relaxation and blood pressure changes that occur during high rate tachycardia and fibrillation or flutter.
A number of cardiac pacing systems and algorithms for processing the monitored mean and dP/dt blood pressure have been proposed and, in some instances employed clinically, for treating bradycardia. Such systems and algorithms are designed to sense and respond to mean or dP/dt changes in blood pressure to change the cardiac pacing rate in a rate range between an upper and a lower pacing rate limit in order to control cardiac output. Similarly, a number of cardiac pacing systems have been proposed, e.g., the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,092, incorporated herein by reference, and, in some instances employed clinically, that sense and respond to changes in blood temperature to change the cardiac pacing rate in a rate range between an upper and a lower pacing rate limit in order to control cardiac output.
Certain of the measured physiologic signals derived from the heart or blood in the circulatory system are affected by ambient conditions that cannot be separately measured by the implantable medical device. Specifically, blood pressure and temperature signal values derived by a wholly implantable system are affected by atmospheric pressure acting on the patient and ambient temperature or by a fever afflicting the patient, respectively. In addition, certain implantable blood pressure sensors, e.g., those disclosed in the above-incorporated, commonly assigned '434 and '752 patents, are also affected by blood temperature changes.
In commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,296, a pressure sensing lead is disclosed that attempts to account for the affect of atmospheric pressure by providing an air chamber behind the sensor diaphragm exposed to blood pressure that is either sealed at a known average atmospheric pressure or leads to a further membrane or diaphragm near the proximal end of the lead body that is to be positioned in the abdominal cavity where the implantable monitor or pulse generator is implanted. In practice, this approach has proven to be inadequate because the known pressure cannot account for changes in barometric pressure and renders the blood pressure measurements ambiguous and the membrane on the lead body is difficult to manufacture, fragile and can become obstructed in chronic implantation.
In the above referenced '505 patent and in the related U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,751 and other patents by the same patentee, long term and short term mean blood pressure values are derived from the same implantable sensor and combined in an attempt to predict the onset of a cardiac arrhythmia or to provide an indication of the patient's requirements for cardiac output. This approach has not proven to be capable of negating the effects of barometric pressure on the long term and short term mean blood pressure values.
The absolute blood pressure changes, including both mean or average blood pressure and dP/dt pressure changes that are sensed by the implantable pressure sensors are influenced by barometric pressure changes. For example, when a patient such an implantable blood pressure sensing medical device changes elevation by ascending or descending in an elevator in a tall building or in an airplane, the change in barometric pressure changes the absolute blood pressure sensed in the body by an amount that can mask changes that are sought to be measured. In the context of an implantable rate responsive pacemaker operating under a rate control algorithm, the pressure change caused by the elevation change itself may exceed the blood pressure change that reflects a change in exercise level of the patient and be mis-interpreted as meriting a change in pacing rate to the upper or lower pacing rate limit, which can, at least, be uncomfortable to the patient. The barometric pressure effect can similarly have a negative effect on operating and detection functions of other implantable medical devices reliant on accurately sensing cardiac blood pressure changes that truly reflect a cardiac function or requirement for cardiac output.
Barometric pressure acting on the body can also affect the operation of other implanted sensors, e.g., respiration sensors relying on the use of impedance plethysmography. A number of cardiac pacing systems have been proposed and, in some instances employed clinically, for treating bradycardia that sense and respond to changes in respiration as measured by impedance changes between electrodes spaced across the patient's thorax from which minute ventilation is derived. The impedance changes are quantified in time to derive a control signal for increasing or decreasing the cardiac pacing rate in a rate range between an upper and a lower pacing rate limit in order to control cardiac output. The impedance signal baseline and rate of change can be affected by the barometric pressure reflected in the patient's lungs which changes with weather and elevation changes made by the patient.
It has also been proposed to monitor respiration induced pressure waves from sampled absolute blood pressure values and to derive respiration rate therefrom. The sampled absolute pressure signal baseline and rate of change can be affected by the barometric pressure reflected in the patient's heart which also changes with weather and elevation changes made by the patient.
Conceptually, similar problems can accompany the reliance on blood temperature as an indicia of patient activity level, for example. A fever or a high ambient air temperature raising the blood temperature can be mis-interpreted as an indicia of elevated patient activity and be mis-interpreted by a therapy delivery device, e.g., a rate responsive cardiac pacemaker.
At this time, I am not aware of any practical way to measure the ambient air pressure affecting the sensed blood pressure or the ambient temperature affecting the sensed blood temperature and separate it from the internally sensed absolute pressure and temperature. In the context of implantable heart monitors of the type described above for measuring absolute blood pressure, the resulting data may be misleading or inconvenient to interpret by the physician. Physicians are accustomed to taking and interpreting external readings of blood pressure using apparatus that takes barometric pressure into account. For this reason, it is suggested in the above-incorporated, commonly assigned, '752 and '434 patents that the patient may be provided with a belt worn external pressure recorder that records and time stamps recordings of barometric pressure that can be retrieved and used for comparison with the internally recorded absolute blood pressure data.
Despite the considerable effort that has been expended in designing such implantable medical devices and associated sensors for sensing such physiologic signals, a need exists for a system and method for accounting for ambient conditions surrounding the patient that affect the sensed and measured physiologic signal values, particularly in the case of blood pressure and temperature.

System and method for deriving relative physiologic signals


First threshold voltages of one or more memory cells in a memory array are obtained. For each memory cell in the one or more memory cells, a target threshold voltage for the memory cell is identified. A number of programming shots to reach the target threshold voltage of the memory cell is determined based on the first threshold voltage of the memory cell. Respective number of programming shots, which are determined for the one or more memory cells, are applied to the one or more memory cells. Whether respective target threshold voltages for the one or more memory cells are reached is verified upon applying the respective number of programming shots to the one or more memory cells.

Memory arrays can be programmed by applying a set of voltage pulses to the memory cells in a programming cycle. A voltage pulse is accompanied by a program verify operation to determine whether the memory cells are correctly programmed. In some memory arrays, e.g., high-density NAND flash memory chips, the aggregate time required to perform multiple program verify operations can be a large percentage of the overall memory programming time.


A rehabilitation training and exercise chair where the user can sit comfortably for long periods of time is provided. The chair is comprised of a base having wheels and is coupled to a shaft on one end. The shaft is coupled to a seat on its top end. The seat has an adjustable inclination so the correct ergonomics may be realized for the pelvis and lower spine. A front support bar with an adjustable length is connected to the seat and can be pivoted back or forward. The front support bar has a cushioned front support which rests against a user's abdomen. Furthermore, abductor and adductor extensions are attached to the seat, and foot extensions attached to the base for isometric exercises.

This invention relates to an ergonomically correct rehabilitation training and exercise chair. Specifically it relates to a chair that provides proper pelvis and lower spine support while also enabling the exercise of leg, abdominal, and hip muscles for rehabilitation and exercise purposes.
In many activities and occupations where sitting is required, one must often lean forward or take uncomfortable positions for prolonged periods of time to engage in the desired activity. This is especially true for dentists and doctors while performing medical procedures. Furthermore, today's society is such that many do not have the time or inclination to engage in sufficient exercise. This inactivity in combination with sitting in standard chairs for prolonged periods can cause muscle atrophy and improper blood flow. Furthermore, the poor posture from sitting in standard chairs can negatively effect the vertebrae and cause stress and strain on back muscles that can be not only uncomfortable but also ergonomically unhealthful. Moreover, those with joint or muscle impairment may be susceptible to even greater pain or further degradation of their condition.
To remedy such difficulty and potential discomfort, seats were developed where one sits in a reverse position with respect to otherwise standard seats. Such seats have a forward portion which would give support to the upper body as one leaned over. This therefore relieves stress and strain thereby giving greater comfort to those in a seated position.
Different approaches to meet such designs were taken. Such a device is displayed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,590 issued to Haynes. This device is a chair used to facilitate therapy, where a patient sits facing the back support of the chair, resting his face and chest against pads. However, because the chair is for therapy and the placement of the arm and face pads, it is impractical for use by dentists and doctors, or for exercise.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,882 to Opsvik discloses a chair in which the user has the option of facing toward or away from the back rest. The device disclosed by Opsvik is intended to provide a comfortable, supportive chair, which can be used in either of these two sitting positions. However, the disclosed device does not enable any rehabilitation treatment or exercise.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,754,787 to Garber discloses a surgeon's chair for use in the operating room where the user sits facing the back of the chair. The device disclosed by Garber is intended to provide a comfortable way to sit/stand for a prolonged period of time while performing surgery. However, a user of such a device lets their legs hang down and rest on the floor. In order to reach forward, the user must maintain contact with the floor and push upon it to retain stability and adjust position.
Therefore, none of these disclosed devices enable someone to overcome the detrimental causes and effects that result from general inactivity and remaining seated for long periods of time.
Thus, what is needed is a chair that provides a more ergonomically correct positioning for the pelvis and lower spine, and at the same time enables muscle and joint training and exercise for the improvement of any impairments and the overall health of an individual.

Rehabilitation training and exercise chair


In one example, a conveyance system comprises a conveyance mechanism and a linkage configured to movably couple the conveyance mechanism to a vehicle, wherein the conveyance mechanism is coupled to the linkage at a first connection mechanism and configured to pivot about a pivot point. The conveyance system comprises a vertical movement mechanism configured to move the first connection mechanism in a substantially vertical direction, and a tilt movement mechanism comprising a tilt actuator configured to pivot the conveyance mechanism about the pivot point. A second connection mechanism couples the tilt actuator to one of the conveyance mechanism or the linkage and allows a defined range of tilt movement of the conveyance mechanism that is independent of actuation of the tilt actuator.

An agriculture commodity cart, or any other agricultural or other vehicle, includes one or more tanks that carry a commodity or agricultural product, such as seed and/or fertilizer. An agricultural commodity cart also has a conveyor mounted somewhere along the cart for transferring agricultural product, for example, between transport vehicles and storage vessels. It can be more convenient to mount a conveyor on the cart directly, rather than on a transport vehicle or maneuvering a portable conveyor as a separate implement.
A conveyor is typically installed with a deployment mechanism that allows it to be moved from a transport position to an operating position. The deployment mechanism also allows the conveyor to be maneuvered so that a spout or an upper discharge end of the conveyor can be maneuvered to direct the product from the conveyor into a receiving vessel (e.g., a tank on the cart, a storage tank, etc.). Such conveyors commonly include a hopper at an intake end.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.


A determination unit of a transmission apparatus determines a transmission timing of notice data (SR) for informing a reception apparatus that the event data has been transmitted according to a transmission state of the event data. An transmission unit transmits the SR at the timing determined by the determination unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmission method of notice data indicating that event data to be transmitted corresponding to an occurrence of the event has been transmitted.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a packet loss determination method of a periodic packet (e.g., video data packet) that is periodically transmitted, a method is known for checking a sequence number applied to the packet. A reception apparatus can detect a packet loss by finding a loss of the sequence number.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-328131 discusses a method for determining a packet loss of an event packet transmitted corresponding to an occurrence of an event. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-328131, a transmission apparatus applies different marker bits to a leading packet and an ending packet of a packet group corresponding to subtitles that are irregularly transmitted.
The reception apparatus determines that the ending packet is lost when the ending packet is not received within a predetermined time since the leading packet has been received. However, with respect to some event data, it takes time to detect the loss of the event data.
An example of an aforementioned case includes a case where the number of packets of the event data to be transmitted is changed corresponding to the occurring event. Particularly, when the event having the small number of packets of the event data to be transmitted occurs, a predicted time since the leading packet has been received until the ending packet is received is longer than an actual time. Accordingly, when the predicted time has elapsed, a longer than actual time for detecting the loss of the ending packet has elapsed.
Further, when one packet of the event data is transmitted according to the occurrence of the event, the different marker bits cannot be applied to the leading packet and the ending packet. Thus, until the packet of the next event data is received, the packet loss of the event data may not be detected.

Transmission apparatus and transmission method


In a multimedia recording and playback network for receiving from a content server a service package of multimedia content, the network including a media server in communication with the content server, a method of securely transmitting a master encryption key from the content server to the media server, including the steps downloading a service package certificate from the content server to the media server, authenticating, in the media server, the received service package certificate, the content server providing to the media server a key server certificate, a public key of the content server, and a client certificate request, the media server authenticating the key server certificate, providing to the content server, upon authentication of the key server certificate by the media server, a client certificate including a challenge signature, and a public key of the media server, the content server authenticating the client certificate including the challenge signature received from the media server, the media server requesting the master encryption key from the content server, and the content server responding by transmitting the master encryption key to media server.

Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) are entering the market as a replacement for tape-based systems such as Video Cassette Recorders (VCR). These systems provide the functionality of allowing a consumer to create digital recordings of television broadcast content, including terrestrial open-air broadcast, Community Access TeleVision (CATV), and satellite. As with earlier tape-based systems, DVR products allow recording of television programs in their entirety for later viewing. It is also common for these products to support time delayed concurrent playback, also known as "elastic" playback or "Live-Pause" playback. Elastic playback allows users to watch television content in real-time as it is being recorded. It also supports "trick play" functions such as Rewind and Pause.
Conventional DVR products are designed to work with a single TV. There are several drawbacks to this approach. For one thing, a DVR requires costly components such as a video encoder (e.g. MPEG-2) and hard drive device (HDD). Another drawback to this approach is that a program recorded local to one TV cannot be played back on another TV. For example, consider a house where a DVR is connected to a television in the living room, and another is connected to a television in the bedroom. A user could record the program in the living room, but the recorded program will reside on the DVR in the living room and cannot be played back in the bedroom.
In contrast to local DVR products, networked DVR systems are described in the patent applications listed above and incorporated herein by reference. One challenge to implementing networked DVR products is to provide a secure mechanism to preventing unauthorized copying of digital video and audio. A content provider, for example, may wish to provide access to recent movie titles on a temporary basis. The content provider may wish to charge a fixed rate for access to this title for 24 hours, using a pricing scheme analogous to movie rental outlets such as Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. A content provider may also wish to provide unlimited access to certain content only to subscribers of that premium content. This content provider may wish to allow a user to record and playback content received from their premium channel, but may not wish to allow this user to share this content in its digital format. With access to broadband Internet connections becoming commonplace, one threat is that a user could disseminate content world-wide by uploading this content to a Web-server.
Conditional access and random access techniques have been proposed or developed. For example, Scientific Atlanta has developed a PowerKey system, and General Instruments (a Motorola company) has developed the Digicipher system. These are methods for encrypting MPEG-2 data on a digital cable TV, providing encrypted keys to that content embedded in the video data stream (ECM or Entitlement Control Message) and providing access control to those encrypted keys using Out Of Band (OOB) channel messages (EMM or Entitlement Management Messages). Neither of these conditional access methods supports persistent storage or time-shifted playing of content.
In addition to the foregoing, NDS Group, PLC has developed a system known as RASP, or Random Access to Scrambled content Process, a mechanism to insert tags in encrypted media files to aid in random access of that media content. This technology is limited to data tagging and is not, by itself, capable of handling networked personal video recording.
While a number of content protection schemes may allow secure storage of media, most, if not all, would interfere with desirable PVR functions such as fast-forward, rewind, and the ability to skip to any position in the program. For example, one approach would be to encrypt an entire MPEG-2 stream without regard to the structure of the data. During playback, the stream could be decrypted as it is decoded/decompressed. This might be adequate for standard play, but consider 15× Fast-Forward where you wish to drop all frames but MPEG-2 I-frames. In this case, one would like to be able to locate and decrypt each I-frame without reading through and decrypting the rest of the data.
Another function made difficult by this approach is random access such as skip-forward 30 seconds, or jump to a specific time-code. Without knowledge of where a restart point is, and what restart point relates to what timecode, the player would be forced to decrypt the stream and parse it.
Therefore, the need exists for a networked DVR system that allows video to be distributed to any television in the home. Further, the need exists for that networked DVR system to provide secure content protection for persistent storage of digital media while still allowing trick-play functionality.

Networked digital video recording system with copy protection and random access playback


A hyperelastic, soft microfluidic film measures bending curvature using a novel non-differential mechanism. Disclosed embodiments of the elastomer-based solution allows for curvature sensing directly on a bending plane and thus eliminates limitations imposed by strain gauge factor (GF) and sensor thickness (Z). Due to soft lithography microfabrication and design methods the disclosed curvature sensors are elastically soft (modulus 0.1-1 MPa) and stretchable (100-1000% strain). In contrast to existing curvature sensors that measure differential strain, embodiments of the present invention measures curvature directly and allows for arbitrary gauge factor and film thickness. Moreover, the sensor is composed entirely of soft elastomer (PDMS or Ecoflex® and conductive liquid (eutectic gallium indium, (eGaIn)) and thus remains functional even when stretched to several times its natural length. Electrical resistance in the embedded eGaIn microchannel is measured as a function of bending curvature for a variety of sensor designs.

Whitney first proposed embedding an elastomer with a conductive liquid for strain sensing. See, Whitney, R. J. "The measurement of changes in human limb-volume by means of a mercury-in-rubber strain gauge," Proceedings of the Physiological Society 109 5P-6P (1949). Whitney filled a rubber tube with mercury to measure the change in circumferential girth of a human limb. Sixteen years later, Rastrelli, Anderson, and Michie filed a patent application, that issued as U.S. Pat. No. 3,304,528, for a more general design for an elastomeric strain gauge that included a broad range of materials. In 2007, Cheng, Chao, and Cheung filed a patent application, that issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,500,399, for a strain gauge containing doped polymeric fluid. A recent embodiment of the "Whitney" strain gauge is polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) rubber embedded with a microchannel of eutectic, gallium indium (eGaIn) conductive liquid. See, Dickey, M. D., Chiechi, R. C., Larsen, R. J., Weiss, E. A., Weitz, D. A., and Whitesides, G. M. "Eutectic Gallium-Indium (EGaIn): A Liquid Metal Alloy for the Formation of Stable Structures in Microchannels at Room Temperature," Advanced Functional Materials 2008 1097-1104. See, also, Kim, H. J., Son, C., and Ziaie, B. "A multiaxial stretchable interconnect using liquid alloy-filled elastomeric microchannels," Applied Physics Letters 92 011904 (2008).
These strain gauges, however, can only sense extensional stretch, not transverse pressure or bending curvature. Additionally, existing pressure sensors and touch screens are composed of stiff, inorganic materials and polymers that limit flexibility and/or stretch, thus preventing biomechanical compatibility.
Emerging technologies, for example wearable computing, flexible tactile displays, and soft orthotics, can depend on stretchable sensors that register the location and intensity of pressure over a broad area. These "second skin" sensors are ideally conceived to maintain functionality even when stretched to several times their natural length. Additionally, they should also be soft enough to prevent significant interference with mechanics of human motion. Lastly, the sensors should be elastic and function repeatedly without hysteresis or permanent deformation.
Elastomer-based sensors, microelectronics, and artificial skin represent the next stage in a technological progression from rigid microelectronics to MEMS to soft microfluidics. While some emerging technologies have developed limited capabilities, many existing thin-film solutions are flexible but not stretchable. In addition, the next generation of sensor and circuits should preferably be able to conform to dramatic but reversible changes in shape and rigidity without interfering with the natural mechanics of a host.

Non-differential elastomer curvature sensor

President and Fellows of Harvard College


For determination of the bandwidth of optical fibers, the invention proposes a method which comprises the injection of light at a first optical power level and at a first frequency into an optical fiber, as well as the measurement of a first signal level as a function of the optical power level of the light passing through the fiber at the first frequency, the injection of light at the second optical power level and at a second frequency into the optical fiber, the measurement of a second signal level as a function of the optical power level of the light passing through the fiber at the second frequency, and the determination of the bandwidth of the fiber as a function of the first and second optical power levels and/or of the measured first and second signal levels using a predetermined rule which describes the frequency-dependant attenuation response of the fiber.

Wiring systems based on optical cables are becoming of ever greater interest for backbone wiring systems and in conjunction with Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet. Signals are transmitted in optical fibers, which are also referred to as optical waveguides, uni-directionally by means of light pulses, that is to say in only one direction, for which reason at least two optical fibers are typically used per cable. The light pulses are generally injected into the fiber by means of a laser diode or a light-emitting diode.
The advantages of optical data transmission are the high achievable transmission rate and the long range, as well as the insensitivity to electromagnetic radiation, security against eavesdropping and resistance to heat and weather influences. Because the inner conductors are thin, optical cables can also be laid flexibly.
In addition to pure glass fibers, optical fibers composed of polymers have also been widely used, because their costs are lower. Optical fibers composed of polymers are referred to as POFs (Plastic Optical Fibers), and are pure plastic fibers which are composed of a transparent core and sheath, with the sheath having a lower refractive index than the core material. Polymers such as polymethylmethacrylate or polycarbonate are used as the core material. In addition to the purely polymer fibers, polymer optical fibers also include hybrid fibers which have a combination of glass fiber and plastic sheathing, for example HCS (Hard Polymer Cladded Silica) fibers.
The distance which can be bridged directly by optical waveguides is limited by various dispersion and scatter effects. The distance is a function of the bandwidth to be transmitted and is thus typically quoted as the bandwidth/length product. In comparison to glass fibers, polymer fibers such as POF or HCS have considerably higher attenuation levels. POF and HCS fiber systems are already reaching the limits of their technical capabilities when being operated over path lengths of 50 or 100 m and at data rates of 100 Mbit/s or 125 MBd. In order to ensure reliable data transmission, diagnosis of the optical fibers of the transmission path is now a conventional method.
One method for diagnosis of optical waveguide paths, in particular for optical diagnosis in the case of Interbus, is known for example from DE 42 17 899 C2. The method described there is used for system optimization of optical waveguide transmission paths during commissioning and provides for the optical transmission power level of a transceiver to be varied until the optical signal received at the opposite end corresponds to the system requirements.
EP 1 227 604 A2 discloses a method in which the instantaneous level margin with respect to the sensitivity limit, that is to say between the instantaneous transmission power of the transmitter and the instantaneous sensitivity limit of the receiver, is determined for an optical transmission path.
The aim of optical diagnosis according to the prior art is to diagnose attenuation of optical connecting paths in order to deduce whether transmission is reliable. This is actually adequate for low-bit-rate systems. However, at data rates above 100 Mbit/s, in the case of polymer (POF) and HCS fibers, the bandwidth of the cable becomes the limiting factor for error-free transmission, rather than the cable attenuation. However, this cannot be tested automatically by means of the methods that are now known. A further disadvantage of known systems is that the fiber type that is used, such as POF or HCS which can be operated on the same interface, cannot be determined automatically. This also has a disadvantageous effect on the attenuation diagnosis since different fiber types also have a different attenuation response, and the diagnosis data must therefore be assessed differently. Nowadays, the fiber type must typically be stated manually in the diagnosis software.

Diagnosis method and diagnosis chip for the determination of the bandwidth of optical fibers


A sensor for carbon dioxide detection may be adapted to have reduced water permeability. A sensor is provided that is appropriate for use in an aqueous medium. The sensor has a barrier with reduced water permeability, but that is permeable to carbon dioxide, that separates the sensor components from the aqueous medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical devices and, more particularly, to sensors used for sensing physiological parameters of a patient.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
In the field of medicine, doctors often desire to monitor certain physiological characteristics of their patients. Accordingly, a wide variety of devices have been developed for monitoring many such characteristics of a patient. Such devices provide doctors and other healthcare personnel with the information they need to provide the best possible healthcare for their patients. As a result, such monitoring devices have become an indispensable part of modern medicine.
Among other blood constituents, physicians often desire to monitor levels of carbon dioxide in a patient's bloodstream. For example, decreased levels of carbon dioxide in the blood may be related to poor perfusion. Thus, assessment of carbon dioxide levels may be useful for diagnosing a variety of clinical states related to poor perfusion. One method of determining the level of blood carbon dioxide involves measuring carbon dioxide levels of respiratory gases. As carbon dioxide in the bloodstream equilibrates rapidly with carbon dioxide in the lungs, the partial pressure of the carbon dioxide in the lungs approaches the amount in the blood during each breath. Accordingly, physicians often monitor respiratory gases during breathing in order to estimate the carbon dioxide levels in the blood.
Respiratory gas analyzers typically function by passing electromagnetic radiation through a respiratory gas sample and measuring the absorption that is related to carbon dioxide. Often, the gas samples are collected with adapters that are fitted into patients being given respiratory assistance, such as patients under anesthesia or patients on life support systems, to connect between the endotracheal tube (ET tube) and the ventilating tube of the breathing apparatus. These tubes convey breathing gases to the patient and exhaled breath away from the patient. The airway adapter is in the form of a short connector of tubular shape, and the adapter is required to make a connection between the generally very different cross sections of these two tubes.
Respiratory gases may also be collected through the use of cannulas, which are flexible tubes that are threaded through the mouth or nose. Respiratory gas samples collected from a cannula may be aspirated from the airway stream and exposed to a carbon dioxide sensor.
It is often inconvenient to measure carbon dioxide in respiratory gases from respiratory gas samples collected from an intubation tube or cannula. Although these methods are considered to be noninvasive, as the surface of the skin is not breached, the insertion of such devices may cause discomfort for the patient. Further, the insertion and operation of such devices also involves the assistance of skilled medical personnel.
Carbon dioxide may also be measured transcutaneously by sensors held against a patient's skin. While these sensors are easier to use than respiratory gas sensors, they also have certain disadvantages. Because transcutaneous sensors depend upon the perfusion of carbon dioxide through a relatively thick epidermal layer, these sensors may not be as accurate. This problem may be addressed by measuring carbon dioxide that perfuses through a relatively thinner mucous membrane surface. However, a patient's mucous membrane is an aqueous environment, and surrounding water and other fluids may infiltrate a sensor, possibly damaging the sensing components and causing measurement inaccuracies.
Thus, it may be desirable to provide a water-resistant sensor for the measurement of carbon dioxide and other gases to protect a sensor that may be used in relatively aqueous environments, such as those containing mucous membranes.

Sensor for tissue gas detection and technique for using the same