A RAID storage device controller provides a host interface for interfacing the controller to a host system bus. The host interface is isolated from the attached storage devices, for example IDE disk drives, so that the actual attached drives are not limited in number or interface protocol. Various device ports can be implemented, and various RAID strategies, e.g., level 3 and level 5, can be used. In all the cases, the host interface provides a standard, uniform interface to the host, namely an ATA interface, and preferably a dual channel ATA interface. The host interface emulates the ATA single or dual channel interface and emulates one or two attached IDE devices per channel, regardless of the actual number of devices physically connected to the controller. Thus, for example, five or seven IDE drives can be deployed in RAID level 5 protocol without changing the standard BIOS in a PCI host machine. Thus the RAID controller is transparent relative to a standard dual channel ATA controller board.

The first IBM PC and compatibles had only floppy disk drives for mass storage. The XT and AT models that followed included adapters for the connection of 5.25 inch fixed disks (non-removable) for mass data storage. These original adapters provided most of the low-level control signals for the drives including data separation circuits for the read signals and pre-compensated write signals. Including these functions in the adapter avoided replication in a pair of drives that were accessed only one at a time. Unfortunately, the 5 M bit read/write channel on the adapter did not allow faster drives to be attached as the technologies improved. Moving the "real time" aspects of the controller into the drive solved this problem. The Integrated Drive Electronics or IDE drive incorporates all of the controls and data channel necessary to read or write the drive, transferring data between a local buffer and the media. The manufacturer may choose the data rate. A new interface, the ATA (AT Attachment with Packet Interface Extension (ATA/ATAP1-4)) (IBM AT Attachment Interface) was defined for the connection of data storage devices to the host system. The first IDE interfaces consisted of little more than address decoding and buffering between the ISA Bus and the ATA cable connector. The interface protocol used programmed input and output instructions to access the registers of the IDE device. Data transfers used the host processor's input string and output string instructions throttled to the transfer rates attached drives. These transfer rates reached 16 Mbytes per second in the later revisions of the specification. This was the transfer rate between the buffer on the storage device and memory on the ISA Bus. The transfer rates between the media and the buffer were much lower.
With the advent of the PCI Bus, Intel published the PCI IDE document (PCI IDE Controller Specification, Revision 1.0, Mar. 4, 1994) which provided a standard mapping of the previously ISA Bus based host interface to the PCI Bus. The standard described a Dual IDE Channel Controller. A pair of devices, the Master and the Slave, could be attached to each of the channels. For data transfers, the device was still accessed as a PCI Bus Target.
Intel also published the Bus Master IDE document (Programming Interface for Bus Master IDE Controller, Revision 1.0, May 16, 1994). This document defines a standard for the incorporation of DMA devices within the IDE channels. The Bus Mastering interface allows the IDE channel to transfer data over the PCI Bus to or from system memory as a Bus Master (PCI Bus Initiator). The peak transfer rate to a 32 bit/33 MHz PCI Bus is 133 Mbytes per second.
A revision of the ATA specification defined a new transfer mode, Ultra DMA. Prior transfer rates improvements had been obtained by tightening the setup and hold time requirements for data transfers on the cable. At 16 Mbytes per second, the read transfer rate was very much limited by the round trip of sending out the read strobe, accessing the data, and sending back the data. The Ultra DMA protocol initially retained the electrical characteristics of all of the signal and cable, simply redefining the functions of three of the signals to provide a new protocol. In this protocol, the strobe signal that provides the data timing is sent from the same end as the data, i.e., by the controller for a write and by the device for read. In this configuration, the transfer rate is limited only by the cable skew for a single transition of the cable. The first UDMA devices double the programmed IO transfer rates to 33 Mbytes per second. Subsequent revisions double the initial UDMA transfer rate to 66 Mbytes per second, but required the use of an 80 conductor ribbon cable with alternating signal and ground conductors. The current version supports transfer rates of 100 Mbytes per second. There is currently a move afoot to replace the ATA Parallel interface with a high speed serial link, but it is possible that one more parallel speed increment may be released first.
The Problem
The common personal computer consists of a motherboard that is designed around a chip-set which includes a processor, a DRAM interface, various Input/Output adapters, and a BIOS ROM. The IO adapters generally include an IDE interface. Current versions of IDE controllers feature a pair of IDE ports, each capable of interfacing to a pair of IDE storage devices. These devices typically include one or more IDE hard disks plus CD ROM, DVD ROM, or CD WORM drives. The Basic Input Output System or BIOS is a program that is used to boot the PC and to provide low level IO routines for the adapters on the motherboard. Essentially all of these PC's can boot and run from an IDE hard disk using the motherboard BIOS.
Increasingly, personal computers are deployed in server or workstation applications in the Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) marketplace. Historically, hard disks with the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) provided some performance gains for these more demanding applications. Today, however, with more than 85% of all drives being produced as IDE drives, the SCSI drives tend to be built using the same media and read/write heads with little or no performance gains and greatly increased cost. Another popular alternative is to utilize a Redundant Array Of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) as originally proposed by Patterson (D. Patterson, et al., "A Case for Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)" (Univ. Cal. Report No. UCB/CSD87/391, December 1987). RAID systems address both the reliability and the performance issues. First, reliability is obtained by storing the data redundantly over two or more drives so that no data is lost if a single drive fails. Second, increased performance is obtained relative to that of a single drive because of the aggregate performance of the array. Different sections of data stored redundantly may be read concurrently from two drives. Also, data may be written in stripes which cross all of the available drives so that the aggregate transfer rate can be realized when the data is read back. RAID array controllers are further described in the present inventor's U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,778.
Unfortunately, there are disadvantages to the several RAID solutions available. Intelligence in the controller and the use of SCSI disk drives characterize one class of RAID solution. This class exhibits high performance albeit at very high cost for both the drives and the controller. The other popular RAID solution class is characterized by the use of IDE drives and the lack of any intelligence in the controller or buffering. This is essentially a software solution. The software necessary to control the multitude of drives to maintain redundancy or to stripe data must all run on the host system, greatly increasing the disk drive overhead on the processor and the system bus. Thus RAID benefits are achieved at the cost of reduced system performance due to this increased overhead. Both of these solutions share an additional problem. These RAID controllers are not supported directly by the BIOS on the motherboard. Additional software drivers are required. These drivers may vary as a function of the operating system, e.g., Windows, Windows NT, UNIX, LINUX, etc resulting in an additional burden for the controller manufacturer, OEMs, marketing groups, and system integrators.
The need remains, therefore, for a RAID storage device controller that does not require special software to execute on the host processor, and does not require additional software drivers or changes to the BIOS. A RAID controller that requires no changes to the BIOS would have the advantage of "plug-and-play" compatibility with virtually all standard, off-the-shelf computers that implement an ATA compliant interface. The RAID controller would be transparent to the host, and could be used to deploy multiple storage devices (not limited to four), in any combination of device interfaces, and could implement RAID mirroring, striping, etc. without adding overhead to the host. Such a RAID controller would bring RAID capability to all PC users at low cost and with very simple installation.

ATA emulation host interface in a RAID controller


The invention concerns a method of generating a digital signature of a geometric design represented by a geometric design file, the method involving generating, by a data processing device, the digital signature based on a single axis projection of the geometric design.

Geometric designs may be created and used in various fields, including construction, product design and microelectronics. Such designs may be defined by geometric design files, which represent features of the designs in the form of vectorial descriptions, polygons, Bézier curves, etc. For example, in the field of microelectronics, circuit layouts are often represented by a file in the GDS II (Graphic Database System II) file format or in the OASIS (Open Artwork System Interchange Standard) file format.
In some situations it may be desirable to automatically compare two geometric designs in order to detect any differences between the designs. For example, a geometric design file defining a geometric design may be edited by several parties, and one of the parties may wish to verify whether any substantive changes have been made to the design. However, a difficulty is that it is not sufficient to simply perform a comparison of the two geometric design files defining the design. Indeed, there are various types of file modifications, such as modification of the file type, of the order in which the design elements are defined, of the manner in which the design elements are defined, as well as modifications to the date of the file, that do not constitute substantive design changes, and thus should not be identified as such. However, there is a technical difficulty in providing a solution for detecting substantive differences between two geometric designs in a simple and rapid manner.

Device and method for comparing geometric files


An image processing device includes a composite processing unit that generates a composite image for display by including a through image generated based on a captured image signal obtained by performing photoelectric conversion for light incident from a subject in an image for a compositing process and composites a captured image of a recording time point in the image for a compositing process in accordance with a compositing arrangement state of the through image in the composite image for display, and a display control unit that performs display control for the composite image for display.

The present disclosure relates to an image processing device that enables the generation of a composite image, an image processing method thereof, and a program for generating a composite image.
As a function to enhance added value of a digital camera, there is a function of generating a composite image by compositing a plurality of still images that are imaged and recorded.
As a technology relating to a composite image in the related, a technology of displaying a whole image and face images of individual subjects so as to be seen at the same time has been proposed as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-96134.
In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-217978 proposes a photograph printing device that enables photographing while predicting an image after compositing.

Image processing device, image processing method, and program for generating composite image


A keyboard has a single row of eight multi-position keys with the letters arranged in a standard QWERTY keyboard configuration. The eight keys correspond to the eight fingers used when touch typing; each finger operates one key, and that key contains all the letters that the finger normally accesses when touch typing on a standard QWERTY keyboard. With this design, no finger has to move to a different key while typing. When depressed at different locations on its key face, each key either moves straight down, or down while tilting slightly about one of a plurality of axes. Three-position keys have two tilt axes and six-position keys have five tilt axes. The switches utilize contacts located on the bottom of the switches which may be conductive or nonconductive.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a keyboard which may be used for a full-size computer keyboard, a laptop, notebook or tablet computer keyboard, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device keyboard, a smart display keyboard, a pocket translator or dictionary keyboard, or other device which utilizes an alphanumerical keyboard. The keyboard comprises an input device for any data or any information desired for any type of keyboard-compatible device. The keyboard more specifically relates to the standard QWERTY keyboard configuration which is most often used in touch typing. However, the keyboard configuration is not limited to the standard QWERTY keyboard layout. The invention considers the dexterity of the index fingers and other fingers used in touch typing.
2. Description of the Related Art
The standard QWERTY keyboard arrangement of letters is well known in the art. In accordance with standard QWERTY design, one key is used for each letter of the alphabet, as well as separate keys for numbers and other punctuation marks. In the use of such keyboards, the fingers are moved from individual key to individual key. When using a touch type system, the keys in the center row, or "home row," are considered to be home positions for the fingers, such as the letters J and F which are the home positions for the right and left index fingers, respectively. In the use of this type of prior art keyboard, each finger moves among various keys to access different letters during typing. Stated another way, a single key does not provide for multi-letter input, such as two inputs for two different letters from a single key.
It is also known in the prior art to provide single keys with a plurality of functions. The plurality of functions may be two, three, or even more. The plurality of functions may represent different letters which are outputted when a single key is pressed in different locations. In the prior art of this type, it is still required that there be more than eight keys to provide functions for the keyboard when using a standard QWERTY arrangement; meaning that at least some fingers must still move to different keys to access all the letters. Keyboards with a fewer number of keys and a greater number of characters per key are known, but these keyboards do not use the standard QWERTY layout and require the operator to learn an entirely different system of typing.
Still further, in the prior art, not all multi-function key designs provide for prevention of sending an incorrect signal when a key is pressed improperly. This may occur if a key is pressed improperly and there is closure of two sets of electrical contacts which send a computer device a signal that two letters have been struck simultaneously. Such simultaneous key strikes are possible in some of the known prior art, and should avoided.
In the prior art, many keyboard footprints are of such a large size, that they are not useable for small computer devices (PDAs, smart displays, pocket translators, etc.). Therefore, a small footprint is desirable in order to provide for utility with small portable devices.
In prior art, there are full QWERTY keyboards that are essentially "shrunk" to a smaller or miniature size to fit on portable devices; however, the inter-key spacings and overall size of these keyboards are too small to allow touch typing with all eight fingers, and the user is forced to type using the thumbs or only one or two fingers at a time.


A method for imaging a target with an x-ray scatter apparatus. Air scatter from air intervening between the x-ray scatter apparatus and a target overwhelms x-ray scatter from the target in that x-ray scatter from a position on the target is no more than 10% of the x-ray scatter due to intervening air scatter that reaches at least one point in the detector plane of the x-ray scatter apparatus. The target is illuminated with a beam of x-rays scanned across the target, and x-rays scattered by the target are detected using a detector with a centroid displaced with respect to the beam axis by at least five feet. The detector signal is then processed to generate an image of the target. The beam of x-rays may be unshielded, and/or the detector may be uncollimated.

A common imaging modality, in many parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, entails illuminating an object with an illuminating beam and then detecting radiation that is scattered by the object. Flash photography is an example. Over the course of the last 20 years, x-ray backscatter imaging, for example, has become a well-established means of carrying out one-sided x-ray inspection of vehicles, cargo containers, baggage, and personnel. Because organic contraband such as drugs and explosives is characterized by a relatively low atomic number, it is effective at scattering x-rays and these materials therefore show up as bright, easily visible regions in a backscatter image.
Target discrimination and the enhancement of target return signal over foreground scatter noise has long been a challenging issue in active remote sensing modalities such as radar or lidar. Local scatter rejection is particularly vexing in the domain of x-ray scatter in that polarization-selecting strategies that are employed in radar and lidar to enhance target return relative to foreground scatter are unavailing in x-ray scatter applications where the Compton scattering mechanism from bound electrons is polarization non-preserving.
Jaffe, Underwater Optical Imaging: The Design of Optimal Systems, Oceanography, pp. 40-41 (November, 1988) discusses a common instance of imaging through a scattering medium, namely underwater photography. In that context, scatter avoidance by lateral offset of the illuminating beam and the camera is believed to be effective only at distances up to 2-3 attenuation lengths, i.e., where the scatter return by the imaged object itself is attenuated by the intervening water by no more than about e3≈20. In x-ray backscatter applications, not only can x-ray attenuation at lower energies be substantially greater, but, additionally, at all energies, the cross section for scatter by atoms of the intervening air is comparable to that of the distant target itself, since atoms of substantially comparable atomic numbers are involved.
Time-gating has been suggested for discrimination of distant x-ray targets, as in U.S. Pat. No. 7,505,562 (Dinca), incorporated herein by reference, where time-resolution capabilities are deemed of particular advantage in long-range applications that are noise-limited by air scatter. Time-gating, however, might be rendered impractical due to temporal constraints of source and/or detector response.
The use of the differential étendue (the product of detector area times the solid angle a detector subtends relative to a source) presented by offset backscatter detectors has been suggested "in order to optimize the efficiency of a system in discriminating among x-rays scatter from various selected regions of the space penetrated by a probe beam," in U.S. Pat. No. 6,424,695 (Grodzins, the "'695 patent), incorporated herein by reference.
FIG. 1, reproduced from the '695 patent, shows laterally offset detectors in the context of x-ray backscatter imaging. A beam 10 of penetrating radiation is incident upon one or more objects 12 and 20 which may be concealed from view, such as by surface 30 which may be the surface of a wall or may be a surface of an enclosure or container 14. A volume 2 posterior to surface 30 or contained within enclosure 14 may be referred to, herein, without limitation, simply as "enclosure 14." "Penetrating radiation" refers to electromagnetic radiation of an appropriate range of energy and intensity as to penetrate container 14 and objects 12 and 20, and will be referred to, without limitation, in the following description as x-ray radiation. Beam 10 will similarly be referred to, without limitation, as an x-ray beam. Beam 10 is generated by a source (not shown) of penetrating radiation which may, for example, be an x-ray tube or a radioactive source. Plane 30 tangential to a point at which beam 10 penetrates surface enclosure 14 is referred to as the "plane of incidence."
X-rays 10 are scattered by objects 12 and 20, giving rise, for example, to scattered x-ray paths 16, 18, 22, 24, and 26. Backscatter detectors 3, 4, 5, and 6 are disposed on the same side of container 14 as source 46, with detectors 3 and 5 on one side of beam 10 and detectors 4 and 6 on the opposite side of the beam. X-rays 10 are preferably in the form of a pencil beam that is raster scanned in the plane perpendicular to the line of the detectors The Grodzins '695 patent taught that the position and relative sizes of backscatter detectors 3, 4, 5, and 6 may be chosen to optimize the efficiency of the system in discriminating among x-rays scattered from various selected regions of the space penetrated by beam 10, and to obtain images that enhance scattering features located at different depths into container 14. Radiation scattered from more distant scattering sources such as object 20 is detected preferentially by exterior detectors 5 and 6 relative to interior detectors 3 and 4 since the detected flux is substantially proportional to the solid angles (depicted in projection in the plane of the paper) designated respectively as Ω6far and Ω3far, subtended by the respective detectors. The collection area of exterior detectors 5 and 6 may be increased relative to the collection area of the interior detectors 3 and 4 in order to enhance the magnitude of Ω6far relative to Ω3far for the more distant scattering sources 20. By way of contrast, for nearer object 12, the ratio of solid angles (depicted in projection in the plane of the paper) designated respectively as Ω6near and Ω3near, subtended by exterior detectors 5 and 6 relative to interior detectors 3 and 4, favors detection by the interior detectors. The Grodzins '695 patent nowhere suggests that discrimination between a more distant scattering source and a less distant scattering source might apply to intervening air scatter.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,551,715 (Rothschild, the "'715 patent"), incorporated herein by reference, teaches "separating the location of the x-ray detectors from the x-ray source." In the case of the '715 patent, it is taught that the detectors are closer to the scattering object than the rest of the imaging system, allowing for more flux scattered by the target and less flux scattered by intervening air to be collected than if the detectors were co-located with the x-ray source and other equipment. However, the '715 patent teaches that, in order to discriminate the return signal from a target relative to air scatter, detectors are to be placed at a distance from the source in the direction toward the target. This is described in col. 14, lines 34ff of the '715 patent, referring to the configuration of detectors shown in FIG. 2 (FIG. 23 of the '715 patent).
Referring to FIG. 2, which appears in the '715 patent as FIG. 23, detectors 140 near to the primary beam 200 receive an air scatter signal which will 'fog' the image. The noise caused by this effect is mitigated, according to the '715 patent, by reading the signals from detectors 140 at different distances in separate channels 74, so that person 76 is imaged in only one detector, and that image contains only the air scatter background from that detector (or the set of detectors in that region). Detectors 140 located along the path of the primary beam 200 that are not near to the target receive much less signal from the target and therefore have a much higher ratio of noise to signal than detectors located near to the target. The overall signal-to-noise ratio may be improved by ignoring the entire signal from detector which are not near the target.
However, operationally, it may be desirable to use detectors which are remote from the target, and which are located at substantially the same distance from a target as the source 46 of the primary beam. No solution to this problem has ever been suggested.

Laterally-offset detectors for long-range x-ray backscatter imaging


An apparatus and method are provided for automatic visual inspection of crescent-shaped wire bonds. The apparatus includes image acquisition means for acquiring an image of a wire and an image of a crescent-shaped wire bond. A search model is used that includes a crescent-modeling portion, and can also advantageously include a wire modeling portion. Search functionality is used to find an image of the crescent-shaped wire bond, using the search model, so as to provide location information regarding the location of the crescent base, and shape-match information regarding the reliability of the found location information. The invention is useful for verifying the correct position of the crescent bond to ensure good electrical contact. In addition, the invention greatly simplifies the task of two other important automated visual inspection steps: wire location and crescent shape determination. Presence/absence of the crescent bond can also be determined using this information.

During the packaging of an integrated circuit device, it is necessary to connect the tiny electrical connection pads of the integrated circuit device (fabricated on a portion of a silicon wafer called a die) to the leads of a surrounding lead frame, the leads being more suited to electrical connection with other electronic devices.
Electrical connection of the pads on the die to the leads of the leadframe is accomplished by bonding a fine metal wire to each pad on the die to a corresponding lead on the surrounding lead frame. On each pad of the die, a "ball bond" is formed to bond the wire to the pad. On each corresponding lead of the lead frame, a "crescent bond", for example, is formed that bonds the wire to the lead. The formation of the crescent bond will now be described with reference to FIG. 1.
During bonding of the wire 10 to a lead 12, the wire 10 is fed through a capillary 14, i.e., a hollow metal tube, as the capillary 14 is moved from the ball bond (not shown) of the wire 10 on a pad (not shown) to the corresponding lead 12 of the lead frame (not shown). When it reaches a desired target position over the lead 12, the capillary 14 is pressed firmly against the lead 12, and can be heated and/or vibrated at high frequency. This causes the wire 10 to flatten, spread out, and metallurgically bond to the lead 12, thereby forming a crescent bond or crescent 16, the crescent including a portion that is bonded to the lead 12. The bond so-formed provides both an electrical and mechanical connection between the wire 10 and the lead 12. Both the shape and position of the crescent 16 with respect to the lead 12 indicate and affect the quality of the electrical and mechanical connection of the wire 10 to the lead 12. The pressing, vibrating, and/or heating of the capillary 14 on the lead 12 (using a "thermosonic" bonding process, for example) also causes the formation of a capillary indentation (not shown) on the lead 12, the image of which can be confused with the image of the crescent 16.
Referring to FIG. 2, a top view of a crescent bond is shown. The wire 10 extends until it widens and flattens to form the crescent 16. The bottom of crescent 16 is defined to be the crescent base 18. The position of the crescent base 18 is herein defined to be a point at the intersection of a longitudinal axis 20 that bisects the crescent 16 and a line 22 that can be drawn so as to demark the beginning of the transition from the wire 10 to the crescent 16. Also shown are the crescent tips 21 and the crescent edge 23.
Referring to FIG. 3, the characteristics of the crescent 16 depend on several factors, primarily the capillary diameter 24, the capillary wall thickness 26, and the capillary edge angle 28. The wire diameter, and the force, temperature, and frequency of the capillary vibration also contribute to determining the characteristics of the crescent 16.
During the manufacture of packaged integrated circuits, it is necessary to inspect the crescent bonds that are formed on the leads of the lead frame. Ideally this inspection is performed immediately after the bonding step, so that errors in size, shape, placement, or lack of presence of the crescent bond can be detected and corrected before or soon after the error is repeated.
Commonly, inspection of the crescent bond is performed off-line by a skilled operator that manually inspects only a statistically significant sample of bonds using an optical microscope at high magnification with shallow depth of focus so as to measure bond size, shape, and presence/absence of crescent bonds. Only a sample of the bonds are inspected because the part must be removed from the production line to be inspected.
As wirebond machines increase in throughput rate, and as the geometries of semiconductor devices shrink, automated visual inspection becomes increasingly critical for inspection, and as well as for process control. By automating the crescent bond inspection step, it becomes possible to detect defective bonds at the earliest possible moment in the production process. Thus, bad parts can be removed before they are used, or before other testing is done, thereby reducing rework costs. Also, wirebonder equipment can be adjusted to correct the error before other bad parts are created, thereby minimizing waste, improving quality, and improving yield.
In many machine vision applications, a template for use with normalized correlation search, for example, can be developed from an ensemble of good images, e.g., good images of good crescent bonds. However, this approach does not provide a robust solution, apparently due to the high degree of variation in crescent bond shape and image contrast found in industrial application settings. Templates trained in this way that are used for finding the location and shape of crescent bonds do not yield satisfactory performance.

Apparatus and method for inspecting wirebonds on leads


A technique for creating a tamper-resistant machine identifier is disclosed. A file is created with a set of file blocks having random locations. Each block is identified by an object identifier that represents the block's location. A machine identifier is created based on the object identifiers of the file blocks. Machine-identifier-dependent software (i.e., software that is designed to perform its function only in the presence of a particular machine identifier) is created and loaded into the file. The software has the machine identifier embedded within itself, and checks the object identifiers of the file in which it is stored against the embedded machine identifier prior to performing its functions. The software may, in one example, be rights-management software that is adapted to allow commercially valuable content to be rendered only on a particular device having a particular machine identifier.

In many computing applications, it is often necessary or desirable to use a code that uniquely identifies a device. For example, in Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems, which enforce rights to content (e.g., audio, video, text, software, etc.), the rights are typically tied to a particular device (i.e., the content is usable only on a particular device), in which case it is necessary or convenient to identify the device by a unique (or substantially unique) identification code.
In cases where a device is manufactured for this purpose, many hardware techniques exist for ensuring that the device is identifiable by a unique, unalterable machine identification (MID). For example, an MID is usually placed in hardware in a tamper-resistant way (such as by burning the MID into the device's processor or into a built-in ROM, non-erasably encoding the MID on a built-in disk, using a smart card dongle, or using permanent electronic serial numbers encoded on the device's components, etc.).
Many devices, however, do not have a built-in unique MID, or hardware from which one can be derived. For example, most handheld computers (e.g., PocketPC computers, Palm computers, etc.) are built from identical hardware that has no built-in unique identifiers. In such cases, it may be necessary to uniquely identify such a device, even if the device does not have any built-in unique identifiers.
Most software approaches to creating an MID yield an MID that can be altered, duplicated or set by a device's user, making these MIDs untenable for security use. An MID that can be changed without detection invites "spoofing" of the device that the MID is supposed to identify, thus allowing an interloper to obtain access to data or use of software that is supposed to be restricted to one device having a particular MID. Conventional software-based MIDs typically have the drawback that the software that creates them generally duplicates the same MID if the software is simply run again on the same machine or on a different machine, allowing anyone who obtains the software to spoof the MID. Other deficiencies in software-created MIDs are their inability to survive a warm-boot (i.e., where the operating system (O/S) is restarted, but user data is not erased), and lack of techniques for using an MID in a manner that allows a change in the MID by a nefarious user to be detected.
The present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art.


A protective device in a semiconductor may comprise a substrate of a first conductivity type, an epitaxial layer formed on top of the substrate, a body area formed within the epitaxial layer of a second conductivity type extending from a top surface into the epitaxial layer, a first area of the first conductivity type extending from the top surface into the body area, an isolation area surrounding the first area, a ring area of the first conductivity type surrounding the isolation area, and a coupling structure for connecting the ring area with the substrate.

Integrated Circuits, in particular radio frequency (RF) power devices with laterally doped metal oxide semiconductor transistors (LDMOS), up to now use electro static discharge (ESD) protection which comprises an asymmetrical behavior against the gate voltage polarity. The breakdown and turn-on voltages of these ESD devices is about +15V and −0.7V. Therefore, the gate bias setting of an LDMOS product is limited to gate source Voltages Vgs of greater than −0.7V. For high linear efficiency RF-power applications, however, a negative gate voltage swing below −0.7V may occur. In addition, the −0.7V bias voltage may cause some issues with respect to ruggedness under certain RF applications.
Therefore, a need exists to provide a better ESD protection for such integrated circuits.


The present invention relates to an aluminum die-cast escalator step with a reinforcing addition, by means of which the load capacity and thus the fracture load limit of the step body (1) 15 increased. In an unchanged compact step body (1), a stiffening section (6) is fastened in the transverse direction at the rear part at its underside (16). Side struts (15) are reinforced by enclosing side parts (7, 8) wherein the rims of the side surfaces of the side parts (7, 8) lie against the underside (16) and against the rear side (17) of the step body (1). A metal ring is welded to the side plate and encloses the stub axle pin of the step body. The stiffening section (6) has an asymmetric U shape.

Compact escalator steps used world-wide today exhibit fracture loads of 20 to 25 kilonewtons for a centrally applied load. In individual special cases of application, appropriate specifications may demand that the fracture load limit must lie at 2.5 tonnes for a force application at any desired place of the tread surface.
In the case of force application at any desired place of the tread surface, the afore-mentioned fracture load levels are not reached and supported by normal compact steps, because particularly high forces in the region of the step roller bearing result from such loads and this part of the compact step is not dimensioned for such a degree of loading. To fulfill this requirement, new constructions for compact steps and thus new, expensive die-casting molds must be created. The consequence of such a solution would be very high costs for a small number of pieces and thus substantially higher installation costs for an escalator of this kind.
Another solution consists of an appropriately stronger step being assembled in a different manner, utilizing a compound mode of construction, thus requiring different parts and materials. A step of the afore-mentioned kind is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,570,135. The step body is assembled from longitudinal and transverse carriers, front metal plate and tread plate. Guide and carrying rollers are screw-fastened by their bearing blocks at the longitudinal carriers. With use of appropriately dimensioned parts, a sufficiently strong tread step can in principle be produced in this manner. However, the manufacturing costs of such a step becomes so high that alternative solutions are needed.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to create an escalator tread step for higher fracture loads, which does not exhibit the disadvantages of the afore-mentioned solutions and for which existing constructions can be further used as far as possible.
The invention distinguishes itself in that an available compact step may be used in unchanged form as starting product, to which reinforcing elements for additional longitudinal and transverse stiffening are fastened at appropriate places.
The reinforcing elements for each step may be a bent-over section and a respective side plate with an encompassing rim, which are screw-fastened to the compact step at places to be reinforced. The reinforcing elements may be screw-fastened in force-lockingly manner at surfaces of existing ribs and webs of the compact step. Apart from the drilling of a few holes and the cutting of a pair of threads, no further adapting operations need be applied to the existing compact step. In particular, the reinforcing ribs that are present can remain in their original shape and maintain their function.


An image recording apparatus includes: a recording head which has a plurality of recording elements; a characteristics information acquisition device which acquires information that indicates recording characteristics of the plurality of recording elements; a correction object determination device which selects from the plurality of recording elements a correction object recording element to be corrected; a correction range setting device which selects from the plurality of recording elements N correction recording elements to be used for correcting an output density, N being an integer not less than 2; a virtual dot setting device which sets a virtual dot to be arranged between dots recorded by the selected correction recording elements; a correction coefficient determination device which determines density correction coefficients for the N correction recording elements in accordance with correction conditions that reduce a low-frequency component of a power spectrum representing spatial frequency characteristics of the density non-uniformity; a correction processing device which performs calculation for correcting the output density by using the density correction coefficients; and a drive control device which controls the plurality of recording elements in accordance with the corrected output density.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus and method, a method of determining density correction coefficient and a computer-readable medium therefor, and more particularly to image processing technology which is suitable for correcting density variations caused by variation in characteristics among a plurality of recording elements in a recording head.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image recording apparatus (inkjet printer) has been used which includes an inkjet type of recording head having a plurality of ink ejection ports (nozzles). In this type of image recording apparatus, problems of image quality are liable to arise due to the occurrence of density variations (density non-uniformities) in the recorded image caused by variations in the ejection characteristics of the nozzles. FIG. 19 is an illustrative diagram showing a schematic view of examples of variations in the ejection characteristics of the nozzles, and density variations appearing in recording results.
In FIG. 19, reference numeral 300 represents a line head, reference numeral 302-i (where i=1 to 8) represents a nozzle, reference numeral 304-i (i=1 to 8) represents a dot formed by a droplet ejected from the nozzle 302-i (i=1 to 8). Here, it is supposed that the recording medium, such as recording paper, is conveyed in a direction perpendicular to the breadthways direction of the line head 300 (the nozzle arrangement direction) (namely, in the direction of arrow S), and the nozzle arrangement direction in the line head 300 is taken to be the main scanning direction, while the direction of relative conveyance of the recording medium with respect to the line head 300 (the direction S) is taken to be the sub-scanning direction.
In the example shown in FIG. 19, a depositing position error occurs at the nozzle 302-3, which is third from the left (namely, the droplet ejected from the nozzle 302-3 deposits on the recording medium at a position diverging from the originally intended depositing position in the leftward direction in FIG. 19), and a droplet volume error occurs at the sixth nozzle 302-6 (namely, the droplet ejected from the nozzle 302-6 has a greater droplet volume than the originally intended volume). In this case, density non-uniformity streaks occur at the positions in the print image corresponding to the nozzles 302-3 and 302-6 producing the depositing position error and the droplet volume error (namely, the positions indicated by A and B in FIG. 19).
In the case of a serial (shuttle) scanning type of image recording apparatus, which performs image recording by driving a recording head to scan a plurality of times over the prescribed print region, it is possible to avoid density non-uniformities by means of a commonly known multi-pass printing method, but in the case of a single pass system (line head system) which records images by means of a single scanning action, it is difficult to avoid density non-uniformities.
Since it is difficult to completely prevent variations in ejection characteristics among the nozzles in terms of the process of manufacturing the recording head, then various technologies for correcting the variations have been proposed (see, Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2006-212907 and 2006-347164).
With the object of eliminating stripe-shaped non-uniformities (banding) caused by a so-called "flight deflection effect", Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-212907 proposes identifying pixels where flight deflection has occurred, setting the adjacent pixels (pixels for correction) which are within a previously established distance range of the pixel suffering flight deflection, and then correcting the pixel values of these pixels for correction in accordance with the amount of flight deflection. According to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-212907, a table of correction values corresponding to flight deflection is created by establishing respective hypothetical regions between a pixel suffering flight deflection and the pixels for correction which are adjacent on either side of this pixel, calculating the pixel density in each of these regions, and then establishing correction values on the basis of the calculated pixel densities in such a manner that the density is uniform in each of the regions (see paragraphs [0129] to [0132] in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-212907).
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-347164 discloses outputting a test pattern, obtaining depositing position error data from the print results, using this depositing position error data to define a density profile D(x) which incorporates the error characteristics of respective nozzles, converting this density profile into a function T(f) by Fourier transform and then calculating a density correction coefficient by minimizing the low-frequency component of the power spectrum of this function (paragraphs [0062] to [0089] in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-347164).
However, in the technology described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-212907, it is difficult to calculate appropriate correction values if a large number of pixels suffering flight deflection occur continuously, and problems arise in that either correction is not performed correctly, or the load involved in calculating the correction values becomes extremely great. Furthermore, if the adjacent dots are mutually overlapping, then the overlapping portion does not produce a linear density with respect to the ink volume (ink thickness) (namely, it shows non-linear characteristics), but Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-212907 does not take account of the non-linear characteristics of the density in a case where the droplets deposited onto mutually adjacent pixels overlap with each other. This point applies similarly to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-347164.

Image recording apparatus and method, and method of determining density correction coefficients


Disclosed is a gas sensor comprising a main pumping cell including a solid electrolyte layer contacting with an external space, and an inner pumping electrode and an outer pumping electrode formed on inner and outer surfaces of the solid electrolyte layer, for pumping-processing oxygen contained in a measurement gas introduced from the external space on the basis of a control voltage applied between the electrodes; a feedback control system for adjusting the control voltage to give a predetermined level of a voltage between the inner pumping electrode and a reference electrode disposed at a reference gas-introducing space; and a heater for heating at least the main pumping cell to a predetermined temperature; wherein the outer pumping electrode is connected to a negative side lead wire of the heater. Accordingly, the control operation in the feedback control system, which is performed to constantly control the concentration of a predetermined gas component in the measurement gas by the aid of the pumping operation, is not affected by the heater leak current, the length of the heater lead wire, and the heater current (heater output). Thus, it is possible to accurately control the concentration of the predetermined gas component.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gas sensor for measuring oxides such as NO, NO.sub.2, SO.sub.2, CO.sub.2, and H.sub.2 O contained in, for example, atmospheric air and exhaust gas discharged from vehicles or automobiles, and inflammable gases such as CO and CnHm.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, exhaust gas, which is discharged from vehicles or automobiles such as gasoline-fueled automobiles and diesel powered automobiles, contains nitrogen oxides (NOx) such as nitrogen monoxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO.sub.2), as well as carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2), water (H.sub.2 O), hydrocarbon (HC), hydrogen (H.sub.2), oxygen (O.sub.2) and so on. In such exhaust gas, about 80% of the entire NOx is occupied by NO, and about 95% of the entire NOx is occupied by NO and NO.sub.2.
The three way catalyst, which is used to clean HC, CO, and NOx contained in the exhaust gas, exhibits its maximum cleaning efficiency in the vicinity of the theoretical air fuel ratio (A/F=14.6). If A/F is controlled to be not less than 16, the amount of produced NOx is decreased. However, the cleaning efficiency of the catalyst is lowered, and consequently the amount of discharged NOx is apt to increase.
Recently, in order to effectively utilize fossil fuel and avoid global warming, the market demand increases, for example, in that the discharge amount of CO.sub.2 should be suppressed. In order to respond to such a demand, it becomes more necessary to improve the fuel efficiency. In response to such a demand, for example, the lean burn engine and the catalyst for cleaning NOx are being researched. Especially, the need for a NOx sensor increases.
A conventional NOx analyzer has been hitherto known as an instrument for detecting NOx. The conventional NOx analyzer is operated to measure a characteristic inherent in NOx, based on the use of chemical luminous analysis. However, the conventional NOx analyzer is inconvenient in that the instrument itself is extremely large and expensive.
The conventional NOx analyzer requires frequent maintenance because optical parts are used to detect NOx. Further, when the conventional NOx analyzer is used, any sampling operation should be performed for measurement of NOx, wherein it is impossible to directly insert a detecting element itself into a fluid. Therefore, the conventional NOx analyzer is not suitable for analyzing transient phenomena such as those occur in the exhaust gas discharged from an automobile, in which the condition frequently varies.
In order to dissolve the inconveniences as described above, there has been suggested a sensor for measuring a desired gas component in exhaust gas by using a substrate composed of an oxygen ion-conductive solid electrolyte.
The suggested conventional gas sensor is exemplified by an all-range type oxygen sensor as shown in FIG. 7. Another type of a gas sensor for measuring gas (for example, NOx) having bound oxygen is also known, in which the oxygen concentration in the gas is lowered to be at a certain low level by using an oxygen pump, and then the oxygen concentration is further lowered to decompose NOx so that oxygen produced during the decomposition is measured by using an oxygen pump to measure NOx.
For example, the gas sensor shown in FIG. 7 will be explained. The gas sensor comprises an internal space 2 for introducing a measurement gas from an external space thereinto, a space (reference gas-introducing space) 4 for introducing a reference gas, for example, atmospheric air to be used as a reference for measuring oxides, and an oxygen pump 6 for maintaining a constant partial pressure of oxygen in the internal space 2.
The oxygen pump 6 comprises an inner pumping electrode 8 provided on the side of the internal space 2, an outer pumping electrode 10 provided on the side of the external space, and an oxygen ion-conductive solid electrolyte layer 12 existing between the both electrodes 8, 10. A reference electrode 14 is provided in the reference gas-introducing space 4.
The gas sensor performs feedback control for a control voltage Vp0 to be applied to the oxygen pump 6 so as to maintain a constant voltage of electromotive force (detection voltage V0) generated between the inner pumping electrode 8 and the reference electrode 14.
When the temperature of exhaust gas greatly changes as in automobiles, the gas sensor is provided with a heater 16 together with a mechanism provided for controlling electric power to be supplied to the heater 16.
In the conventional gas sensor, as shown in FIG. 7, in order to avoid oscillation of the feedback control system 18 concerning the oxygen pump 6, the inner pumping electrode 8 of the oxygen pump 6 is connected to a lead wire (GND) disposed on the negative side of the heater 16 to make a short circuit (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 3-167467).
However, when the wiring is arranged as described above, oxygen is moved from the inner pumping electrode 8 toward the heater 16 due to a leak current (heater leak current) from the lead wire of the heater 16.
That is, in the case of the conventional gas sensor, it is feared that the oxygen concentration in the internal space 2 is affected by the heater leak current, and the oxygen pump 6 fails to accurately control the oxygen concentration in the internal space 2.
When the current flowing through the heater 16 is large, the electromotive force, which is generated by the resistance of the lead wire of the heater 16, cannot be neglected. For example, assuming that a lead wire having a length of 3 m has a resistance value of 0.1 .OMEGA., when a heater current of 1 A is allowed to flow through the lead wire, an electromotive force (voltage) of "resistance value of lead wire x heater current=100 mV" is generated in the lead wire.
Therefore, the electromotive force is superimposed on the detection voltage V0 in the feedback control system 18, causing a problem that it is impossible to accurately control the control voltage Vp0 to be applied to the oxygen pump 6.
As described above, in the case of the conventional gas sensor, it is feared that the oxygen concentration in the internal space 2 cannot be controlled accurately, because the detection voltage V0 is affected by the length of the lead wire and the heater current (heater output), in the feedback control system 18 for the oxygen pump 6.

Gas sensor having a function for minimizing heater leak current


Provided is an apparatus and method for transmitting neighbor base station information in a broadband wireless communication system. In the method, the priorities of subcells included in neighbor base stations that use at least one frequency allocation are determined. Subcells are selected among the subcells according to the determined priorities, information about which is to be transmitted to mobile stations located in a coverage area. Information about the selected subcells is transmitted to the mobile stations. Thus, the amount of resource for transmission of the neighbor base station information can be reduced. Therefore, the available resource of the downlink can be increased and the amount of a scan operation of the mobile station can be reduced.

A broadband wireless communication system supports the mobility of a mobile station (MS) through a handover. The MS must know information about neighbor base stations (hereinafter referred to as neighbor BS information) in order to perform a handover. Thus, a serving BS transmits neighbor BS information to the MS. For example, the serving BS collects neighbor BS information through a backbone. Thereafter, using a broadcast message, the serving BS broadcasts the neighbor BS information to mobile stations located in a coverage area.
Base stations of the broadband wireless communication system can use a plurality of frequency allocations (FAs). In this case, the BS supports the mobility of an MS through an intra-FA handover and an inter-FA handover. The intra-FA handover is a handover of an MS from an in-use FA of a serving BS to one of the frequency allocations of a neighbor BS that is identical to the in-use FA.
In order to support an intra-FA handover and an inter-FA handover, the serving BS must transmit information about all subcells of neighbor base stations to the MS. The subcell is a service area that receives a service through one of the frequency allocations used by a BS.
When a serving BS generates a broadcast message in order to transmit information about all subcells of neighbor base stations to an MS, there is an increase in overhead due to the broadcast message. For example, when M neighbor base stations use one FA in a broadband wireless communication system, the serving BS generates a broadcast message containing information about M base stations. However, when M neighbor base stations use N frequency allocations, the serving BS generates a broadcast message containing information about M×N subcells.
Moreover, because the serving BS transmits the broadcast message at the lowest data rate, the size of the broadcast message further increases, leading to a decrease in the available resources for transmission of downlink data.
The MS detects information about neighbor subcells using the broadcast message received from the serving BS. Thereafter, the MS scans subcells that use FAs different from the FA of the MS. However, if the serving BS broadcasts information about all subcells of neighbor base stations, the MS must scan too many subcells, leading to a service interruption.

Apparatus and method for operating broadcast message in broadband wireless communication system


An optical disk recording apparatus is configured to record information on a multilayer optical disk having a general information recording area for recording general information and a management information recording area for recording management information which manages general information recorded on this general information recording area. In this optical disk recording apparatus, meaningless information is recorded on an unrecorded area in the management information recording area of the optical disk.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk recording apparatus and an optical disk recording method for recording information on a multilayer rewritable or write-once read-many optical disk. Further, the present invention relates to an optical disk reproducing apparatus for reproducing information from a multilayer rewritable or write-once read-many optical disk. Moreover, the present invention relates to improvement of a multilayer rewritable or write-once read-many optical disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, it is widely known that a multilayer-type optical disk is developed for increasing the capacity of optical disks as information recording media. The multilayer optical disk makes it possible to selectively record or reproduce information on a plurality of layers by irradiating a recording or reproduction laser beam from either side of the disk.
Inside the optical disk, the laser beam passes through layers sequentially from a layer nearer to the irradiating side to a layer farther therefrom, reaches a target layer, and is converged thereon. In this manner, it is possible to write or read information from an intended layer of the optical disk.
During transmission through layers of the optical disk, however, the laser beam is deteriorated due to undesired reflection on respective layers. At this time, the light reflectance depends on whether information is recorded (recorded state) or not (unrecorded state) on a layer which the laser beam passes through.
Namely, it is impossible to record or reproduce information with the same characteristic depending on whether the laser beam passes through an unrecorded layer or a recorded layer to reach a farther layer for recording or reproducing information therefrom.
The same layer may contain unrecorded and recorded areas mixedly. When the laser beam passes through a boundary between the unrecorded and recorded areas, it is subject to an interlayer crosstalk due to a difference between light reflectances of both areas. This prevents desirable recording or reproduction on a layer farther therefrom.
Especially, some optical disks record the information for managing recorded information on a predetermined management information recording area. Such optical disks cannot maintain stable reliability of the management information to be recorded or reproduced depending on whether the management information recording area is preceded by an unrecorded or recorded layer.

Optical disk recording apparatus, optical disk recording method, optical disk reproducing apparatus, and optical disk capable of interlayer crosstalk reduction


A booklet making machine is provided, comprising a stapling arrangement (10) adapted for stapling a set of sheets, and a folding arrangement (30) adapted for folding a set of sheets following a paper path. At least one of the stapling arrangement and the folding arrangement comprises an adjustment device (12; 32) for adjusting the position of the set of sheets during operation of the booklet making machine. Thereby, the quality of the stapled and folded end products can be improved during operation of the booklet making machine, without interrupting the operation of any connected apparatuses, such as a printer.

Booklet making machines comprise a sheet transport system through which paper sheets, which are intended to form a booklet, are passed. The machine also comprises a stapling arrangement, which effects stapling of a set of sheets, and a folding arrangement, which effects folding of the previously stapled set of sheets. In some cases, the operation excludes the stapling function and the set of sheets is transported to the folding arrangement in an unstapled condition.
In order to avoid misalignment of the staples, it is known to adjust the stapler head position relatively to the set of sheets to be stapled. However, this is done manually, requiring interruption of the operation of the booklet making machine. Also, in order to obtain correctly folded booklets, the position of the set of sheets to be folded can be adjusted before folding.


A method of converting a data stored in a memory from a first format to a second format is disclosed. The method includes extending a number of bits in the data stored in a double data rate (DDR) memory by one bit to form an extended data. The method further includes determining whether the data stored in the DDR is signed or unsigned data. Moreover, responsive to determining that the data is signed, a sign value is added to the most significant bit of the extended data and the data is copied to lower order bits of the extended data. Responsive to determining that the data is unsigned, the data is copied to lower order bits of the extended data and the most significant bit is set to an unsigned value, e.g., zero. The extended data is stored in an on-chip memory (OCM) of a processing tile of a machine learning computer array.

A hardware-based machine learning (ML) system typically includes multiple cores/subsystems (blocks and tiles), each having its own processing units and on-chip memory (OCM). The ML system may process quantized numbers for various calculations. For example, quantized data stored in a memory unit, e.g., a double data rate (DDR) memory, may be transmitted to the processing tiles such that the data can be processed by the processing units for various ML operations.
In general, floating point numbers (data) are converted into quantized data format for storage, e.g., in a DDR, and subsequent processing, e.g., by an ML system. The quantized formats may include but are not limited to signed integer, unsigned integer, etc., which are used in arithmetic logic unit (ALU) calculations. Often, a mix of quantized format types is used, e.g., by ML system, for various calculations.
Unfortunately, there is currently no mechanism to perform ALU calculation on a mixture of quantized format types without introducing an offset. As such, the format type for each operand is tracked when a mixture of quantized format types is used in an ALU calculation, which increases the complexity and latency for the ALU calculation. Furthermore, in the ML system, an integer value may need to be resealed before it is input into a processing unit. A mathematical division in a processor, however, is often time consuming and inefficient.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.


Photonic interconnect reconfigurably couples integrated circuits such as microprocessor, memory or other logic components. Detector, modulator, broad-band coupler and waveguide elements provide transmit and receive capability on CMOS substrate. Computer-implemented design software and reusable component library automate photonic and circuit design and simulation for manufacturability.

The rapid expansion in the use of the Internet and data-intensive applications such as machine-vision, video conferencing, and real-time image processing have created a need for communication conduits and devices capable of handling large amounts of data at very high speeds. These applications might need data rates with an order of magnitude of a terabyte per second. Traditional wire-based connections, however optimized, have proven physically incapable of supporting such data rates at acceptable power consumption levels and/or without unacceptable constraints on packaging and/or cost. As a result, electrical wiring has become a significant bottleneck in communication between networks, devices and components in devices.

Integrated photonic-electronic circuits and systems


In a fuel injection system for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine with magnetic valve controlled direct injection fuel injectors of which each comprises a housing consisting of several parts, one part having an injection nozzle with a spring loaded nozzle needle and another part including a control piston with a valve structure having an integral valve seat for controlling high pressure fuel admission to a fuel supply passage extending through the housing to the injection nozzle, a control chamber is formed at the other end of the control piston and is in communication with the high pressure fuel supply, and a magnetic valve arranged adjacent the control chamber controls communication of the control chamber with a drain line for releasing pressurized fuel from the control chamber to permit unseating of the control piston so as to establish communication between the pressurized fuel supply and the injection nozzle past a lug extending from the control piston into a fuel admission bore.

The invention relates to a common rail fuel injection system for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine having magnetic valve controlled direct injection fuel injection valves with a fuel admission passage leading in each valve housing to a spring-loaded nozzle needle and including a control piston with an integral control valve by which the fuel admission passage can be closed. The valve housing includes a spring space with a spring engaging the nozzle needle so as to bias it onto a nozzle needle seat, a control space disposed on the backside of the control piston which is exposed to system pressure and a cooperating magnetic valve by which the control space can be placed in communication with a pressure relief passage and by which, at the same time, the passage leading to the nozzle needle can be opened, the passage being also in communication with the pressure release passage by way of a throttled communication passage.
DE 196 12 738 A1 discloses such a common rail injection system with magnetic valve controlled fuel injection valves. It includes a control piston with an integrated valve which is guided in two housing parts and is in communication with the backside of the nozzle needle by way of the spring space. The valve is formed by an annular conical seat surface which extends downwardly from the control piston into an intermediate space for engagement with a corresponding conical valve seat formed on the housing.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a fuel injection valve having means by which the injection process can be influenced and the overall efficiency of the injection system can be improved.

Fuel injection system for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine with magnetic valve controlled fuel injectors


An improved jewelry box which incorporates a light source to direct light rays at the jewelry contained therein when the jewelry box is opened. The box consists, generally, of a conventionally-shaped jewelry box with a top section and bottom section. The top and bottom sections are hingedly joined together. A miniature, high-intensity lamp bulb is mounted at the inner surface of the top section. A power source is contained under the jewelry support pad located in the bottom section. An electric switch is incorporated into the hinge about which the top section pivots relative to the bottom section. The switch automatically closes the electrical circuit between the power source and the light source when the box is opened.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to jewelry boxes, in general, and to illuminated jewelry boxes, in particular.
2. Prior Art
Jewelry boxes are well-known in the art. One particular type of jewelry box is especially adapted to contain a ring or similar item of jewelry. This type of jewelry box has top and bottom sections hingedly joined together. The bottom section of the box is, generally, fairly deep so as to receive and retain a support pad which, in turn, receives and retains at least a portion of a ring. The pad, typically, includes a groove for receiving and retaining at least a portion of the ring. A portion of the ring (as well as the jewel and setting, if any) extends above and is displayed above the support pad.
The top section of the box is, typically, also fairly deep whereby the jewel and setting displayed above the pad are not touched by the top section.
The hinge is, typically, an overcenter hinge which includes a leaf spring. This hinge arrangement is designed to forcefully cause the top and bottom sections to the open or closed position when a certain relative positioning of the sections occurs. Thus, the box is maintained in the open position or is, alternatively, forcefully put in the closed position, i.e. snapped shut, when the top section achieves a nearly closed position.
In some cases, a decorative liner or covering can be used on the exposed inner surfaces of the box. The outside of the box is esthetically treated, as desired.
In the past, attempts have been made to enhance the marketability of jewelry items by making the boxes more attractive. In some cases, an illuminating device has been added to the box. However, in the past these illumination devices have been relatively modest miniature lamps which provide little or no illumination. Likewise, the switch mechanism which activates the light source has been specially designed as an "add-on" to the existing box. The prior art designs have been cumbersome, expensive and, generally, ineffective.


It is provided a gas bag for a vehicle occupant restraint system of a motor vehicle, comprising at least one first inflatable chamber configured for the protection of the head of a vehicle occupant; at least one second inflatable chamber configured for the protection of a shoulder and/or thorax region of the vehicle occupant, wherein the gas bag is to be arranged in or on a side of a vehicle seat facing the vehicle interior space. The first and the second chamber are rotatable relative to each other in the inflated condition of the gas bag.

This disclosure relates to a gas bag for a vehicle occupant restraint system of a motor vehicle.
Such far-side gas bag is disclosed for example in DE 10 2005 059 197 A1. These gas bag, however, involve the risk that in the event of an impact of the vehicle occupant on the inflated gas bag due to an accident a relative movement occurs between the head of the vehicle occupant and his torso, which can result for example in a hyperextension of the neck.

Airbag for a vehicle occupant restraint system of a motor vehicle


To provide a simple structured and low cost pintle injector capable of uniformly atomizing and mixing fuel and oxidizer, and further improving the combustion efficiency of the combustion reaction in the combustion chamber. A pintle injector part having a first propellant channel forms a first injector flow path as a regenerative cooling path along the pintle external wall that projects into a combustion chamber, and high temperature fuel gas is injected from the first pintle injector port. On the other hand, an axial injector part is located upstream of the first pintle injector port, and injects comparatively low temperature liquid or gas fuel from an axial injector port via a third propellant channel and a third injector flow path. Oxidizer is injected from a second pintle injector port via a second propellant channel and a second injector flow path, and is atomized and mixed while being impinged on either by the high temperature fuel gas and the comparatively low temperature liquid or gas fuel. The fuel injected from the first pintle injector port and the fuel injected from the axial injector port may be the same type or a different type of fuel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pintle injector, and more particularly to a pintle injector with a simple structure and low cost that uniformly atomizes and mixes fuel and oxidizer that can contribute to further improvements in the combustion efficiency of the combustion reaction in a combustion chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
Liquid rockets have a more complex structure compared with solid rockets. However, they have advantages such as suitability for large scale, thrust can be easily controlled, and so on. Therefore they are widely used in the main propulsion system of rockets for space transportation, or in the gas jet devices for orbiter maneuvering system or reaction control system of artificial satellites.
Liquid rockets are classified according to the propellant into monopropellant propulsion systems and bipropellant propulsion systems. In monopropellant propulsion systems the propellant undergoes a self decomposition reaction aided by a catalyst, and generates high temperature and high pressure combustion gas, and thrust is generated by ejecting the gas from a nozzle. In bipropellant propulsion systems, a fuel is provided for combustion reaction with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber to generate high temperature and high pressure combustion gases, and thrust is generated by ejecting the combustion gas from a nozzle. Generally the thrust F is expressed as the product of the combustion Pc, the area of the nozzle throat A1, and a propulsion coefficient CF determined by the nozzle shape and other factors. Therefore, for both monopropellant and bipropellant propulsion systems, the combustion efficiency in the combustion chamber of either monopropellant or bipropellant rockets is one of the very important factors from the point of view of obtaining the required combustion pressure Pc.
Therefore for bipropellant propulsion systems it is a requirement for injectors that supply propellant to the combustion chamber that fuel and oxidant is atomized, mixed, and burned without the occurrence of combustion vibrations, combustion spikes, localized melting, or other anomalous combustion. Conventionally, the so-called coaxial type injector is known, in which on a injector surface plate many coaxial injector elements are located concentrically, and fuel is injected around and parallel to the oxidant (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-61385).
Also, the so-called impinging type pintle injector is known, in which part of the propellant channel for the fuel or the oxidizer projects into the combustion chamber, and fuel or oxidizer is injected from the pintle, and the fuel and oxidizer stream are made to impinge each other (see for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,699,772, 6,185,927, 6,591,603).
In the coaxial type injector disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-61385, combustion mainly occurs near the surface of the injector. Therefore combustion of the fuel and oxidizer can occur before the fuel and oxidizer have been uniformly atomized and mixed. This could result in combustion vibrations, combustion spikes, or other abnormal combustion, and lowering of combustion efficiency.
On the other hand, in the pintle injectors disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,699,772, 6,185,927, and 6,591,603, part of the propellant channel projects into the combustion chamber, and either the fuel or oxidizer propellant is injected radially, and the other propellant is injected axially. It has the advantages that mixing is improved because the angle of intersection of the fuel stream and the oxidizer stream is about 90° and manufacturing cost can be reduced drastically by the simple structure compared to the coaxial type injectors.
However, in case of using the above pintle injectors the combustion efficiency was reported at best 90˜95%, and the problem is that it is difficult to improve this combustion efficiency to the further level.


A method in accordance with this invention for maintaining a spacecraft in a desired orbital configuration, comprises the steps of: (a) recording a history of yaw momentum stored in momentum wheels; (b) estimating an average inertial torque and momentum over a previous time interval (such as one day); (c) determining a desired change in inertial torques using PID control law; (d) commanding a change in satellite trim tab and solar array position from a desired change in solar torque; and (e) slewing the trim tab and solar array a desired amount.

Spacecraft perform various maneuvers after they are launched into space and once they are on-station in an intended orbit. After the spacecraft is on-station in a selected orbit, various forces (e.g., solar and/or other environmental disturbance torques, such as magnetic torques) may act on the spacecraft and cause the spacecraft to drift away from its selected orbit into another, incorrect orbit. Thus, periodic (e.g., daily, weekly, or monthly) orbital maneuvers are often required to return the spacecraft to the correct orbit. These types of maneuvers are known as station-keeping maneuvers.
During the performance of each type of maneuver, the precise control of the spacecraft's attitude is essential to orient the spacecraft's payload, such as communication or imaging hardware, to a preselected planetary location and/or to correctly orient the spacecraft's thrust vector. Thus, spacecraft are typically equipped with closed-loop control systems which enable the attitude of the spacecraft to be controlled within pre-established deadband limits. Such control systems often employ spacecraft thrusters for selectively producing torques on the spacecraft for correcting the spacecraft attitude.
The following commonly assigned U.S. patents are illustrative of various approaches to providing spacecraft attitude control: U.S. Pat. No. 5,459,669, Control System And Method For Spacecraft Attitude Control, to Adsit et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,252, Spacecraft East/West Orbit Control During A North Or South Stationkeeping Maneuver, to Kazimi et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,532, Spacecraft Attitude Control And Momentum Unloading Using Gimballed And Throttled Thrusters, to Tilley et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,023, Compensated Transition For Spacecraft Attitude Control, to Liu et al.
Reference can also be had to U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,790, Two-Axis Attitude Correction For Orbit Inclination, to Fowell; U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,942, Transition Control System For Spacecraft Attitude Control, to Garg et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,706, Spacecraft Attitude Control Using Coupled Thrusters, Garg et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,084, Autonomous Stationkeeping For Three-Axis Stabilized Spacecraft, to Chan et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,697, Digital PWPF Three Axis Spacecraft Attitude Control, to Chan et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,521,855, Electronic On-Orbit Roll/Yaw Satellite Control, to Lehner et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,383, Closed-Loop Magnetic Roll/Yaw Control System For High Inclination Orbit Satellites, to Schmidt, Jr.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,772, Roll/Yaw Body Steering For Momentum Biased Spacecraft, to Muhlfelder.
Also of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,517, Station-Keeping Using Solar Sailing, to Clark; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,084, Spacecraft Structure with Symmetrical Mass Center and Asymmetrical Deployable Appendages, to Fuldner et al.
Reference is also made to a publication entitled "Attitude Stabilization of Flexible Spacecraft During Stationkeeping Maneuvers", Bong Wie et al., J. Guidance, Vol. 7, No. 4, pgs. 430-436, July-August 1984.
A typical geosynchronous satellite is designed to minimize solar torque imbalance. This is typically accomplished with symmetric solar array design, with solar arrays being located on the north and south side of the spacecraft, or in a configuration with the solar array located on the south side, balanced by a solar sail on the north side. These appendages extend from a spacecraft bus. Residual solar and environmental disturbance torques are stored in momentum wheels that are then unloaded periodically using, by example, the spacecraft's thrusters, magnetic torquers, trim tabs, or solar panel angle adjustments.
It can be appreciated that a technique to control inertial roll and yaw solar torques is an important aspect of spacecraft operation, particularly for spacecraft having payloads, such as imaging or communication payloads, that require a high degree of short term attitude stability.


A mobile telephone network has a function (30) which interacts with the platform (40) or platforms processing a call, event or session to: a) determine the services and/or call handling operations to be applied to the call, event or session; and b) determine if the platform(s) (40) are capable of carrying out the services and/or call handling operations required by the call, event or session. The function may then arrange for the platform (40) to be provided with appropriate data or for the call, event or session to be transferred to another platform. Moreover, a call may have part of its data converted into a standard protocol, and the data in that standard protocol then be used to guarantee a trigger for processing the call at a transfer device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mobile telephone networks, and in particular to the processing of calls or other subscriber events or sessions in such networks. Such calls, events and sessions may include, for example, the sending and receiving of messages (SMS), General Packet Radio System (GPRS) events, Internet and Intranet sessions, and the provision of multimedia services. Subsequently, the term 'call' will be used to refer to any or all of such calls, events or sessions. Call processing is the operation or operations carried out by the network and by services supported within the network in response to initiation of a call by user. Call processing may be considered as involving either or both of call handling and service handling, the former being the operations associated with putting a call into effect on the network, and the latter being the operations associated with the delivery of a service as part of the call.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
Mobile telecommunications networks provide more services than the simple establishment of a communication path from one telephone (mobile or land line) to another telephone (mobile or land landline). For example, services such as voice messages may be provided to subscribers to the network, and the network operator may also provide facilities such as call barring, call forwarding, messaging facilities (SMS), voicemail, WAP, internet access, location based services and content services. A further issue is that mobile telecommunications networks generally have a more complex charging structure than land-based networks, and the facility for pre-payment for calls means that the network must be able to determine if the mobile telephone being used can be permitted to function.
In order to achieve this, a mobile telecommunications network may have a series of call handling and/or service handling platforms, each able to carry out one or more specific functions. The processing of a call may involve a plurality of platforms with parts of the call processing being performed on respective platforms and the call being passed from one platform to another at different stages in the processing of the call. Thus, for example, if a pre-pay subscriber wishes to access a voice message, the operations of assessing whether the subscriber has sufficient credit to use the service, and the provision of the voice message itself, may be carried out on different platforms. It should be noted that a platform is a logical structure, i.e. the hardware/software required to carry out the function or functions provided by that platform may be distributed around the network.
In some current arrangements, each platform must act as a relatively self-contained unit, and thus must have access to information about each user. Thus, in the known arrangements, call processing platforms must have, or have access to, an appropriate database, and must also be capable of understanding all possible instructions (i.e. processing commands from the subscriber or network) that can be used.
This creates three problems. Firstly, it makes each call processing platform complex. Secondly, since different platforms may operate to different protocols, incompatibilities can occur, for example as a call is passed from one platform to the other at different stages in call handling. Thirdly, if the subscriber to a mobile telephone communications network moves ("roams") to a different network e.g. moves from one country to another, the services provided by the home network may not be provided by the new network, so the subscriber cannot be provided with those facilities as they move ("roam"). This third problem is particularly acute for pre-pay subscribers; their credit status is stored on the home network but a network to which they have roamed will not have access to their credit status, and thus current arrangements do not permit pre-pay users to roam as extensively as other subscribers.

Call processing in mobile telecommunications networks

Orange Personal Telecommunications Services Limited


The invention relates to compositions and method for construction of an underground coal gasification (UCG) well liner assembly. In particular, a well liner segment for use in the construction of a UCG well liner assembly for conveying product gas to a production well is disclosed. Also disclosed are a system and method for UCG product gas production.

Underground coal gasification is a process by which product gas is produced from a coal seam by heating the coal in situ in the presence of an oxidant (e.g., air or oxygen). The product gas is typically referred to as synthesis gas or syngas and can be used, for example, as a feedstock for various applications, including clean fuels production, chemical production, and electricity generation.
Conversion of coal into product gas takes place in a well that includes one or more bore holes drilled into the coal seam that are in fluidic communication with one another. Typically, that part of the well into which the oxidant is introduced to promote combustion is called an injection well and that part of the well from which product gas is withdrawn is called a production well. Both horizontal and vertical wells can be used for oxidant injection and product gas production.
A coal seam panel is typically referred to as a coal gasifier. Gasification occurs adjacent a combustion zone of the well/gasifier and the coal is partially oxidized to produce product gas of low or medium heating value. Hot product gas flows from the gasification zone and exits the ground via a well head of the production well.
Some of the major challenges in UCG include preventing blockage to the production well due to coal spalling, slugging or the ingress of water, controlling interaction of the product gas with the coal seam in well zones in which chemical reactions have not yet taken place (i.e., cold zones), reigniting the coal seam, and preventing the escape of product gas into the surrounding environment.

Underground coal gasification well liner


A multi-outlet electrical adapter having a plug unit at one side adapted for connecting to a power outlet socket of a computer mainframe, an electrical outlet adapted for receiving an electrical plug of an electrical cable of a computer peripheral equipment, and one receptacle unit disposed at a second side, the receptacle unit and the receptacle unit being so designed that a plurality of multi-outlet electrical adapters can be connected together by connecting the plug unit of one multi-outlet electrical adapter to the receptacle unit of another.

The present invention relates to electrical adapters, and more specifically to a multi-outlet electrical adapter adapted for mounting on a power outlet socket of a computer mainframe to provide power supply to multiple peripheral equipment connected thereto.
Because a computer mainframe has only one power supply output port for the connection of for example a monitor, an extension cable may have to be used when to connect a plurality of computer peripheral equipment to a computer mainframe. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the power supply input port of the monitor 101 is connected to the power supply output port of the computer mainframe 100, the power supply input ports of the computer mainframe 100, speaker 102 and modem 103 are respectively connected to the outlets of an extension cable 104. When in use, the computer mainframe 100, the speaker 102 and the modem 103 shall have to be respectively turned on. When not in use, the computer mainframe 100, the speaker 102 and the modem 103 shall have to be respectively turned off. If forget to turn off the computer peripheral equipment after an use, electrical power supply will be wasted. Furthermore, the power cables of the computer peripheral equipment may be tangled.


A speech synthesis system for generating voice dialog for a message frame having a fixed and a variable portion. A prosody module selects a prosodic template for each of the fixed and variable portions wherein at least one portion comprises a phrase of multiple words. An acoustic module selects an acoustic template for each of the fixed and variable portions wherein at least one portion comprises a phrase of multiple words. A frame generator concatenates the respective prosodic templates and acoustic templates. A sound module generates the voice dialog in accordance with the concatenated prosodic and acoustic templates.

The present invention relates generally to speech synthesis and, more particularly, to producing naturally computer-generated speech by identifying and applying speech patterns in a voice dialog scenario.
In a typical voice dialog scenario, the structure of the spoken messages is fairly well defined. Typically, the message consists of a fixed portion and a variable portion. For example, in a vehicle speech synthesis system, a spoken message may comprise the sentence xe2x80x9cTurn left of on Mason Street.xe2x80x9d The spoken message consists of a fixed or carrier portion and a variable or slot portion. In this example, xe2x80x9cTurn left on ______xe2x80x9d defines the fixed or carrier portion, and the name of the street xe2x80x9cMason Streetxe2x80x9d defines the variable or slot portion. As the identifier implies, the speech synthesis system may change the variable portion so that the speech synthesis system can direct a driver to follow directions involving multiple streets or highways.
Existing speech synthesis systems typically handle the insertion of the variable portion into the fixed portion rather poorly, creating a rather choppy and unnatural speech pattern. One approach to improving the quality for generating voice dialog can be found with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,120 (Van Coile), issued Mar. 10, 1998. The Van Coil patent receives a message frame having a fixed and variable portion and generates a markup for the entire message frame. The entirety of the message frame is broken down to phonemes, and necessarily requires a uniform presentation of the message frame. In the speech markup of an enriched phonetic transcription formulated with the phonemes, the control parameters are provided at the phoneme level. Such a markup does not guarantee optimal acoustic sound unit selection when rebuilding the message frame. Further, the pitch and duration of the message frame, known as the prosody, is selected for the entire message frame, rather than the individual fixed and variable portions. Such a message frame construction renders building the frame inflexible, as the prosody of the message frame remains fixed. Further, it is desirable to change the prosody of the variable portion of a given message frame.
The present invention takes a different, more flexible approach in building the fixed and variable portions of the message frame. The acoustic portion of each of the fixed and variable portions is constructed with predetermined set of acoustic sound units. A number of prosodic templates are stored in a prosodic template database, so that one or a number of prosodic templates can be applied to a particular fixed and variable portion of the message frame. This provides great flexibility in building the message frames. For example, one, two, or even more prosodic templates can be generated for association with each fixed and variable portion, thereby providing various inflections in the spoken message. Further, the prosodic templates for the fixed portion and variable portion can thus be generated separately, providing greater flexibility in building a library database of spoken messages. For example, the acoustic and prosodic fixed portion can be generated at the phoneme, word, or sentence level, or simply be pre-recorded. Similarly, templates for the variable portion may be generated at the phoneme, word, phrase level, or simply be pre-recorded. The different fixed and variable portions of the message frame are concatenated to define a unified acoustic template and a unified prosodic template.
For a more complete understanding of the invention, its objects and advantages, reference should be made to the following specification and to the accompanying drawings.

Speech synthesis employing concatenated prosodic and acoustic templates for phrases of multiple words

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Cotton/nylon fiber blends have been discovered which are suitable for use in the warp yarns of durable fabrics dyed in light shades with permanent antistatic properties.

While 100% cotton fabrics provide excellent resistance to nuisance static created by friction rubbing at relative humidities above 45%, they generate considerable electric shocks when rubbed below 35% relative humidity. Fabrics made from blends of cotton and nylon have better durability than cotton fabrics but have antistatic properties as poor as 100% cotton fabrics at low relative humidity. It is generally known that nuisance static can be reduced to acceptable levels in cotton/nylon fabrics by adding at least 1% of thermoplastic fibers doped with carbon black to both the warp and fill yarns. However, light colored fabric cannot be produced by this method using the dyes normally used on cotton/nylon blends because of the streaks caused by the black antistatic fibers.
It would be highly desirable to be able to use carbon doped antistatic fibers in cotton/nylon blend fabrics of light shades because the antistatic properties provided in this manner are permanent and do not wash out.

Cotton/nylon fiber blends suitable for durable light shade fabrics containing carbon doped antistatic fibers