A toddler booster car seat is disclosed. The toddler booster car seat comprises a rigid frame including a generally horizontally disposed seat portion with an upper surface for receiving the seat of a child and a lower surface for being positioned on the seat of a vehicle. The frame also includes a back portion integrally formed with the seat portion and extending generally upwardly from the rear edge of the seat portion. The rigid frame of the back portion is formed with rigid lateral edges. A plurality of apertures is formed in the back portion of the frame. At least one positioning member is formed with a plurality of apertures located therethrough adjacent to its inner edge with a plurality of notches extending inwardly from the outer edge. Each notch has a narrow linear radial extent terminating in an enlarged circumferential extent adapted to receive the fabric of a vehicle seat belt. A plurality of fasteners extend through the apertures of the frame and positioning members.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new and improved toddler booster seat with a vehicle shoulder belt positioner and, more particularly, pertains to releasably securing a toddler booster seat to a vehicle seat through a vehicle seat belt in a safe, convenient and comfortable manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of car seats and booster seats of known designs and configurations is known in the prior art. More specifically, car seats and booster seats of known designs and configurations heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of securing childcare products to vehicle carseats through known methods and apparatuses are known to consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which has been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
The prior art discloses a large number of car seats and booster seats of known designs and configurations. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,523 to Cone, issued May 26, 1992, discloses a convertible infant restraint device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,307 to Cone, issued Mar. 12, 1991, also discloses a convertible infant restraint device.
Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,683 to Knoedler et al., issued May 5, 1987, discloses a juvenile car seat.
In this respect, the toddler booster seat with a vehicle shoulder belt positioner according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of releasably securing a toddler booster seat to a vehicle seat through a vehicle seat belt in a safe, convenient and comfortable manner.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved toddler booster seat with a vehicle shoulder belt positioner which can be used for releasably securing a toddler booster seat to a vehicle seat through a vehicle seat belt in a safe, convenient and comfortable manner. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A sheet conveyor unit is connected to downstream side of an upstream side unit in a sheet conveying direction. The sheet conveyor unit includes a convey guide for receiving a sheet discharged from outlet of the upstream side unit. The convey guide is constituted of a pair of guide members disposed to face each other with a predetermined space therebetween. The guide members have the same shape and include base parts having guide surfaces that form a sheet conveying path when combined to face each other, and inclined parts bent to directions apart from the guide surfaces from one end of the base parts in the sheet conveying direction so as to form a receiving port. The convey guide is attached selectively to one of positions different in at least one of a height direction and the sheet conveying direction with respect to an apparatus main body.

The present disclosure relates to a sheet conveyor unit connected in an attachable and detachable manner to an upstream side apparatus such as an image forming apparatus, so as to covey a sheet received from the upstream side apparatus to a downstream side, and relates to the image forming system including the sheet conveyor unit.
Conventionally, there is known a sheet post-processing apparatus, which stacks sheets with images formed by an image forming apparatus such as a copier or a printer, and is capable of performing a stapling process of arranging and stapling the stacked sheets, a punching process of making punch holes by a punch hole forming device, and the like. When performing the post processing such as the stapling process on a relatively large amount of paper sheets, the sheet post-processing apparatus described above is used.
This sheet post-processing apparatus has a sheet inlet (hereinafter, simply referred to as an "inlet") for receiving a paper sheet discharged from a sheet outlet (hereinafter, simply referred to as an "outlet") of the image forming apparatus. Here, if the image forming apparatus sinks into a carpet on a floor, it may cause a mismatch in height between the outlet of the image forming apparatus and the inlet of the sheet post-processing apparatus. In addition, depending on a shape of a periphery of the outlet of the image forming apparatus or a shape of a periphery of the inlet of the sheet post-processing apparatus, they may interfere with each other, and hence the arrangement between the apparatuses may be restricted. In this case, there is a problem that a distance between the inlet and the outlet becomes relatively large so that a paper sheet discharged from the outlet can hardly be entered into the inlet.
Concerning this problem, there is known a sheet conveyor unit, which is disposed at the inlet of the sheet post-processing apparatus, so as to enter the paper sheet discharged from the outlet to the inlet. This sheet conveyor unit includes a convey guide consisting of pair of guide members, a receiving port formed on an upstream side end portion of the convey guide, and a rotation mechanism that can rotate the pair of guide members. The guide members extend from the inlet to the upstream side. The rotation mechanism rotates each of the pair of guide members so that an opening area of the receiving port can be adjusted. Because each guide member extends from the inlet to the upstream side in the sheet conveying direction, the receiving port is disposed on the upstream side of the inlet in the sheet conveying direction.
Because the receiving port is disposed on the upstream side of the inlet, the receiving port can be close to the outlet, even if the arrangement between the apparatuses is restricted so that the inlet of the sheet post-processing apparatus is relatively apart from the outlet of the image forming apparatus. Furthermore, because the opening area of the receiving port can be adjusted by the rotation mechanism, even if there is a mismatch in height between the outlet and the inlet, the height difference can be accommodated so that the receiving port can easily receive the paper sheet P. Therefore, this sheet conveyor unit is capable of easily entering the paper sheet P discharged from the image forming apparatus into the inlet of the sheet post-processing apparatus.

Sheet conveyor unit and image forming system including same


An actuator that causes a mode clutch to shift between an engaged position and a disengaged position is provided. The actuator comprises a motor having an output. A shift cam is caused to rotate based on the output of the motor. The shift cam has a cam profile surface. A cam follower rides along the cam profile surface upon rotation of the shift cam. Movement of the cam follower causes movement of a mode fork resulting in the mode clutch shifting between the engaged and disengaged positions. A sensor outputs a voltage to a controller based on a physical location of the cam follower. The controller activates the motor based on the voltage.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Due to increased demand for four-wheel drive vehicles, many power transmission systems are being incorporated into vehicle driveline applications for transferring drive torque to the wheels. In many four-wheel drive vehicles, a transfer case is installed in the drive train and is normally operable to deliver drive torque to the primary driveline for establishing a two-wheel drive mode. The transfer case is further equipped with a clutch assembly that can be selectively or automatically actuated to transfer drive torque to the secondary driveline for establishing a four-wheel drive mode. The clutch assembly can typically include multiple sensors that provide feedback to a controller to determine a particular drive mode.
In many examples, an actuator in the form of an electric motor is provided for influencing translation of a mode fork to change the drive mode between two-wheel drive mode and four-wheel drive mode. The four-wheel drive mode can result from meshing engagement of a pair of cooperating gears such as on a mode sleeve that moves in response to movement of the mode fork and a drive sprocket associated with the secondary driveline. Typically, the electric motor is configured for rotating in a first direction to influence the mode fork to translate in a first direction (such as for shifting from the two-wheel drive mode to the four-wheel drive mode) and configured to rotate in an opposite direction to influence translation of the mode fork in a second opposite direction (such as for shifting from the four-wheel drive mode to the two-wheel drive mode). In some examples, corresponding splines formed on the corresponding gears may not be immediately aligned during shifting between modes. In such a circumstance, continued rotation of one of the gears is necessary until a biasing member urges the shift fork into the engaged position. Therefore, it is typical to incorporate a first sensor that senses a motor position and a second sensor that senses a mode fork position. A need exists in the art to provide a simpler, more cost effective actuator that transfers drive torque between a two-wheel drive mode and a four-wheel drive mode.

Two position actuator with sensing and control


A closed and yet flexible and easily adaptable reaction vessel system for performing liquid handling operations, such as sampling, incubating, homogenizing and/or metering fluids, can be constructed in a modular fashion, comprising a first container, to which at least two second containers are connected, wherein the contents of said second containers can be transferred from one of said second containers into said first container and back, or into another second container.

Experiments involving liquid phase chemical reactions are typically performed as batch reactions, e.g. by preparing a reaction mixture containing the chemicals directly involved in the reaction (generally referred to as reactants), and adding possible chemicals or factors facilitating the reaction like reaction buffer agents, enzymes or other catalysts, detergents and so forth.
These reactants are usually brought together in a reaction vessel, such as a test tube, beaker, flask or large vessel or tank, e.g. a bioreactor. After sealing, the contents of the reaction vessel are subsequently subjected to conditions, such as a temperature, pressure and/or controlled atmosphere, optimal for the desired reaction and kept there for an appropriate time for the reaction to occur. This is often referred to as incubation.
Some reactions are slow and in order to facilitate the reaction, some sort of mixing, stirring or agitation may be applied. This is done in order to enhance the mass transport in the reaction mixture, which is beneficial for the reaction. Such mixing can be automated using various types of devices like magnetic stirrers, vortexing machines and shakers, or performed manually, e.g. by shaking or agitating the reaction vessel.
In heterogeneous systems such as immunoassays, blots, micro array hybridizations and other solid phase reactions, there are often considerable problems related to slow mass transport. Typically one of the two molecular species involved in such reactions is immobilized on a solid support. This leads to kinetic limitations. In addition, magnetic stirrers and other mixing methods are difficult to apply to the reaction formats used for solid phase reactions.
There are also reactions taking place in non-homogeneous systems of the particle-suspension type, that is, cell and bead suspensions and reactions involving food stuffs, blood, plant or animal tissue or cells, soil and other sample derived matter.
Other examples of non-homogenous systems are reactions in the conduct of bioprocesses, fermentations etc., sample preparation or other purposes. In such systems, vigorous stirring or other homogenizing means like turbine agitation are applied not only to optimize the reaction conditions but also to avoid particle settling due to gravitation or to avoid clogging of separation filters etc.
In non-equilibrium systems like titration reactions, efficient homogenization is very important. In such analyses, one reactant is added incrementally in minute volumes. This is often done using a manual or automated burette. The results of each addition may be recorded colorimetrically or by other means, and magnetic stirrers are commonly used for mixing.
The increased mass transport achieved by mixing and stirring of reaction mixtures is desirable not only to increase the kinetics of individual reactions. Another reason is to reach homogeneous temperature in order to, inter alia, avoid too high temperatures at the bottom of the reaction vessel, which could ruin an experiment or a synthesis.
One problem associated with most types of mixing operations is that the reaction vessel usually contains a certain amount of air between the reaction mixture and the means for sealing, e.g. a lid or plug. This may lead to foaming or other unwanted effects. It is also not certain that the mixing performed leads to sufficient mass transport enough to give the desired benefits. The mass transport properties achieved might also be difficult to reproduce in subsequent experiments. If, instead, the reaction vessel is filled up completely to the lid leaving only a minimum of air left on top of the reaction mixture, it is even more difficult to obtain a mixing or convection that gives the desired enhanced mass transport. An exception in this case is to use a magnetic stirrer in which an iron rod is placed at the bottom of the reaction vessel. An inert polymer usually covers such a rod in order to prevent chemical interaction between the iron and the reaction mixture. A rotating magnetic element under the reaction vessel will force this rod to rotate which leads to convection and hence elevated mass transport in the reaction mixture.
However, there are drawbacks also with magnetic stirring. The major problem is to introduce a stirrer, such as a magnetic stirrer, to the reaction mixture, the stirrer constituting a separate physical element, which has to be removed before proceeding into downstream procedures. The stirrer may also be a source of contamination in certain type of experiments.
The methods for stirring and mixing reactants mentioned so far are furthermore not efficient enough for certain purposes, e.g. situations in which a high degree of homogenization is necessary, or in case of liquids with high viscosity. Certain homogenizers are designed for this purpose. The typically force the reaction mixture to pass narrow apertures or tunnels under high pressure, said apertures or tunnels having baffles or similar structures eventually leading to strong convection or even turbulence. A problem with such constructions is the short duration of the homogenization and the risk for shearing of components in the reaction mixture. Therefore the homogenization procedure often needs to be repeated in several cycles to complete the reaction using such homogenizers.
Another drawback with the above mentioned methods to homogenize chemical reactions is the batch type of reaction format, that is, chemicals to be introduced to the reaction vessel or aliquots to be drawn from it typically need to be transferred by means of a pipette or a dispenser. This can take place only after opening some closure of the reaction chamber, which often has to be resealed after the procedure. In most cases, a continuous-flow process or closed handling would be preferred.
One objective of the present invention is to provide means for homogenizing reaction mixtures in order to increase the kinetics and speed of reaction, overcoming the above listed drawbacks and disadvantages of the prior art processes.
Another objective is to make available a system for mixing and simultaneous dosing or metering of reagents and/or samples.
A third objective is to make available a system or on-line sampling and sample handling, such as sample extraction and analysis.
A fourth objective is to make available the components for building complex yet flexible systems for closed handling of fluids, preferably liquids, as well as systems built using these components.
Further objectives, their solutions and the advantages associated therewith, will be evident to a skilled person upon study of the description, examples and claims.


A method and apparatus for reducing the crest factor of a signal uses a plurality of partial correction signals having respective predetermined frequencies. For each of the partial correction signals, the following steps are performed: (a) determining a time position of a maximum absolute amplitude of the signal; (b) calculating an amplitude and a phase depending on said maximum absolute amplitude and said time position for the respective partial correction signal; and (c) subtracting the respective partial correction signal from said signal to obtain a partially corrected signal which is used as the signal in step (a) for the next of the plurality of partial correction signals, and going to step (a) for calculating the next partial correction signal. The last-obtained partially corrected signal is output as the reduced-crest factor signal.

The present invention relates to a method and to an apparatus for reducing the crest factor (the ratio of peak to average value) of a signal, for example, a multi-carrier communication signal.
In recent years multi-carrier communication systems have been widely used in particular for XDSL communication systems (Digital Subscriber Line) like ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) or VDSL (Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line). FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic block diagram of such a transmission system. A serial data signal a is fed to a serial/parallel converter 1 that converts the serial digital data signal a into data packets with N/2 sub-packets, N being an even number. One data packet is transmitted in parallel to an encoder 2, which assigns each sub packet to a separate carrier frequency and supplies a first digital signal vector to an inverse Fourier transformer 3, which performs an inverse Fourier transformation on this vector and generates a second digital signal vector comprising N samples of a signal to be sent. This second digital signal vector is transmitted to a parallel/serial converter 23, which supplies the elements or samples of the second digital signal vector to a digital filter 24 followed by a digital-to-analog converter 25 and a line driver 26. The generated analog transmit signal is transmitted via a channel 27, whereby noise b is added, symbolized by an adder 28. On the receiver side, the signal is equalized by an equalizer/an analog-to-digital converter 29. Then the signal is decoded by performing the reverse operations of the encoding elements 1 to 23, namely through a serial/parallel converter 30, a Fourier transformer 31, a decoder 32, a slicer 33 and a parallel/serial converter 34.
Such a communication system is for example disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,529,925 B1, the content of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Since the transmit signal is composed of a plurality of different signals having different carrier frequencies and amplitudes and phases being determined by the data signal and thus having no predetermined relationships, the amplitude of the transmit signal has approximately a Gaussian distribution. FIG. 2 illustrates the probability h of the amplitude A of the transmit signal as determined by a simulation for a discrete multitone modulated transmit signal with a Fourier transform block length of 256.
Because of this Gaussian distribution, the crest factor of the signal is rather large, that is, the transmit signal has a rather high maximum amplitude value compared to the effective or average amplitude value. Since both the digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converters, as well as the line drivers, have to be adapted to handle the whole possible amplitude range, these elements have to be defined accordingly causing additional costs and chip space. It is therefore desirable to reduce the crest factor, that is to reduce the maximum amplitude.
In principle, two different approaches are known to reduce the crest factor.
A first method for reducing the maximum amplitudes disturbs the transmit signal. These methods comprise clipping methods as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 6,038,261.
A second method for reducing the maximum amplitude without disturbing the signal.
In general, these methods use one or more of the carrier frequencies to modify the transmit signal in order to reduce the maximum amplitude. The carrier frequencies used for this purpose may or may not only partially be used for the actual data transmission.
One of these methods is described in the already cited U.S. Pat. No. 6,529,925 B1. There, the Nyquist frequency is used as a single carrier frequency for correction purposes, that is, the last frequency in the inverse Fourier transform. In an ADSL signal, this frequency is not used for data transmission so that the correction does not influence the transmission capacity. However, the performance of this method is limited since only a single carrier frequency is used for correction. Furthermore, this method is not applicable to VDSL signals since the Nyquist frequency is outside the usable frequency range both for downstream and for upstream transmission.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,424,681 B1 a method for reducing the crest factor using a plurality of carrier frequencies is disclosed. These carrier frequencies are preferably evenly distributed over the whole usable frequency range. From these carrier frequencies a normalized correction signal, a so-called kernel, is generated which has a "Dirac"-like shape, that is, a shape that comprises a single peak as far as possible. To correct a transmit signal, this correction signal is phase shifted to the position of the maximum of the transmit signal and then scaled with a suitable scaling factor depending on the maximum amplitude of the transmit signal. Then, this correction signal is subtracted from the transmit signal. This can be repeated several times to iteratively correct several maximum or peak values. For transmission systems with a great number of carrier frequencies and consequently a great number of signal values in each frame, like a VDSL transmission system, this method is difficult to realize since it needs a relatively long computation time. Furthermore, through the use of a kernel, the carrier frequencies used for the correction have to comprise both low and high frequencies which, consequently, are not usable for data transmission. The use of low carrier frequencies, on the other hand, leads to a greater loss of transmission capacity since lower carrier frequencies can be modulated with more bits than high carrier frequencies due to the lower damping.

Method and apparatus for reducing the crest factor of a signal


An electronic device comprises a display unit that displays a letter/character; a touch pressing input unit including a plurality of keys arrayed in a matrix; the touch pressing input unit allowing touch-inputting a letter/character corresponding to a key touched by a user's finger; the touch pressing input unit allowing pressing-inputting a letter/character corresponding to a key pressed; and a control unit that manages control to cause the letter/character input by the touch pressing input unit to be displayed on the display unit; the control unit managing control so that, if a key is touched and pressed at the touch pressing input unit with the user's finger, a letter/character corresponding to the key pressed is displayed on the display unit, and so that, if a key is touched and released without being pressed by the user's finger at the touch pressing input unit, a letter/character corresponding to a key displaced at a position from which the user's finger has been released is displayed on the display unit.

Heretofore, a key pressing input method of pressing a key that imparts a sense of click in inputting was prevalently used in this country as a letter/character inputting method for a mobile electronic device. Recently, such a mobile electronic device carrying a touch panel of a large format is becoming popular globally such that its share on the market is increasing in Japan as well. As the mobile electronic devices, carrying the touch panel, become popular, an increasing number of the mobile electronic devices use a touch input method in which the touch panel is touched for inputting. In light of the above, it has been proposed that both a key pressing input method and a touch input method may selectively be used in legacy electronic devices (see Patent Literatures 1 and 2).    [Patent Literature 1] JP Patent Kokai Publication No. JP-P2002-244791A    [Patent Literature 2] JP Patent Kokai Publication No. JP-P2007-60074A    [Patent Literature 3] JP Patent Kokai Publication No. JP-A-9-23261

Electronic equipment, letter inputting method and program


An instrumentation component includes an instrumentation portion, a casing at least partially surrounding the instrumentation portion, a lead protruding from the instrumentation portion through a lead egress hole in the casing, a lead egress adapter, and a lead egress cap. The lead egress adapter is situated in the lead egress hole. The lead egress adapter includes a cup portion and a lip portion at least partially circumscribing the cup portion. The lead egress adapter includes a hole in the cup portion. The lead protrudes through the cup hole and the cup hole is tight fit to the lead. A potting material fills a remainder of the cup portion. The lip portion of the lead egress adapter contacts the casing. A lead egress cap seals the lead egress adapter to the casing. The lead egress cap further includes a cap hole through which the lead protrudes, and the cap hole is tight fit to the lead egress.

The present disclosure is related to a hard lead egress from an instrumentation component, and more specifically toward an adapter for the same.
Mechanical systems, such as turbine engine systems for commercial aircraft, often include instrumented engine cases, heat shielded instrumentation components, or other similar instrumentation components. It is common in these applications to include a hard lead connecting the instrumentation component to another system. In such a case, the hard lead protrudes through an egress hole in the outer wall of the instrumentation compartment.
It is desirable to seal the egress hole, and thereby prevent gas leakage into and out of the instrumentation compartment. Known methods for sealing the egress hole use a potting material to fill the gap between the case and the lead, and a tack strap (cap) on the outer surface of the case to cover the potting. As a result of natural wear and tear, as well as thermal expansion and contraction, the potting material can break loose and fall into the instrumentation compartment, creating gas leakage paths into and out of the instrument compartment.

Hard lead egress adapter for an instrumentation component


A high-capacity and long-life negative electrode hydrogen storage material of La—Mg—Ni type for secondary rechargeable nickel-metal hydride battery and a method for preparing the same are provided in the present invention. A chemical formula of the negative electrode hydrogen storage material of La—Mg—Ni type is La1-x-yRexMgy(Ni1-a-bAlaMb)z, wherein Re is at least one of Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Y, and M is at least one of Ti, Cr, Mo, Nb, Ga, V, Si, Zn, Sn; 0≤x≤0.10, 0.3≤y≤0.5, 0<a≤0.05, 0≤b≤0.02, 2.3≤z<3.0. The negative electrode hydrogen storage material of La—Mg—Ni type in the present invention has excellent charge-discharge capacity and cycle life. The negative electrode hydrogen storage material of La—Mg—Ni type can be applied in both common secondary rechargeable nickel-metal hydride battery and secondary rechargeable nickel-metal hydride battery with ultra-low self-discharge and long-term storage performance.

Since metal hydride-nickel batteries were put on the market in the 1990s, they have been welcomed widely and have a higher and higher market share as they have the characteristics such as high capacity, long life, no memory effect, no environmental pollution and the like. The types of batteries have also evolved from AA, AAA of ordinary batteries to a variety of others. The products have been widely used in electric tools, household appliances, computers, aerospace s, communications, mopeds and the like, which develop very rapidly. The requests on battery performance have also become higher and higher as the application fields of metal hydride-nickel batteries increase. Especially people have gradually realized that the storage performance and self-discharge characteristic of the battery have a great impact on the application of the battery in recent years. The bad storage performance of the battery directly results in that the battery is scrapped, and too large self-discharge of the battery is not good for the use of the battery and meanwhile leads to the waste of electric energy. Therefore, the research and development of the battery with long-term storage and low self-discharge characteristics has been a hot topic in recent years.
The self-discharge of the battery is generated, mainly because in the non-operating state, oxygen in the positive electrode releases and combines with the hydrogen in the negative electrode on the one hand. On the other hand, elements such as Co and Mn in the negative electrode and other elements, which may be dissolved in the alkaline electrolyte, are dissolved in the electrolyte and then will be deposited on the separator, thereby accelerating the reduction of the positive electrode. For this, people have done a lot of work, such as coating the positive electrode powder with cobalt, improving the separator and the electrolyte, adding some stabilizing additives to the electrode, and the like. These works have indeed improved the self-discharge characteristic of nickel-metal hydride batteries, but still have not solved the problem fundamentally.
In addition, as shown in Tables 1 and 2 below, with regard to rare earth intermetallic compounds being composed of ABx (LaNi2, LaNi3, La2Ni7 and LaNi5), as the content of the rare earth on the A side increase, a hydrogen absorption content of the compounds increase and the theoretical electrochemical capacity thereof are also higher, at the same time the equilibrium hydrogen pressure and temperature of hydrogen absorption and desorption also increase (see Table 1), which make it difficult to be applied practically.
TABLE 1structure and performance of alloys and hydrides of LaNi2, LaNi3, La2Ni7 and LaNi5MaximumTemperature ofhydrogenEquilibriumhydrogenabsorptionhydrogenabsorption andcontentpressuredesorptionAlloyStructureHydrideStructureH/Mwt. %(atm)(° C.)LaNi2MgCu2LaNi2H4.5Amorphous1.51.75 × 10−3252LaNi3PuNi3LaNi3H5Amorphous1.251.6<1200La2Ni7Ce2Ni7La2Ni7H10Amorphous1.171.430.625LaNi5CaCu5LaNi5H6CaCu51.01.4225
TABLE 2theoretical electrochemical capacity of ABx(LaNi2, LaNi3, La2Ni7, La5Ni19 and LaNi5)alloysTheoreticalMolecularelectrochemicalAlloyStructure formula ofH/capacityseriesexpression of alloyhydride(A + B)(mAh/g)AB2AB2═(AB2)AB2H4.51.5470AB3AB3═1/3(AB5) + AB3H51.254252/3(AB2)A2B7A2B7═(AB5) + (AB2)A2B7H10.51.17408A5B19A5B19═3(AB5) +A5B19H271.1253992(AB2)AB5AB5═(AB5)AB5H61372

High-capacity and long-life negative electrode hydrogen storage material of La—Mg—Ni type for secondary rechargeable nickel-metal hydride battery and method for preparing the same


Techniques are provided for automated data collection and analysis, including steps of receiving a request for information about a device; constructing a command set, wherein the command set is a set of executable commands that indicate collection of data from the device and zero or more other devices; sending the command set to the device; receiving analysis results from an analysis engine, wherein the analysis results are based at least in part on a set of results received from the device and produced by executing the command set; and determining a set of solutions based on the analysis results. Techniques are also provided for automated data collection and analysis, including the steps of sending a request for information about a device; receiving a command set in response to the request, wherein the command set is a set of executable commands that indicate collection of data from the device and zero or more other devices; executing the command set; generating a result set based on the execution of the command set; sending the result set to an analysis engine as part of a second request for analysis of the result set; and receiving a solution to one or more problems discovered at least in part by the analysis engine.

The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The difficulty in troubleshooting network elements such as routers, switches, computers, and other electronic devices is exacerbated by the difficulty in obtaining accurate data from the devices when they are installed in customer or end user networks or systems. One approach to obtaining accurate data that may be used by a vendor of the network elements is having a customer service engineer (CSE) attempt to connect to a device and obtain the data directly from the device. A problem with this approach is that it is often difficult or impossible for a CSE to connect to the device. For example, if the device is behind a firewall and the CSE is outside the protected network that is owned or operated by the end user, then the firewall will have to be temporarily reconfigured to allow the CSE to bypass the firewall.
Another approach is to have end users collect data for themselves. The approach overcomes the need for a CSE to have access to a device. A problem with this approach, however, is that it requires the end user to have expertise in connecting to the device and collecting data from the device. Another problem with this approach is that data will often need to be collected over a period of time or from multiple devices simultaneously, and end users will need great diligence and expertise in order to collect the data at the precise intervals needed. Yet another problem with this approach is that the end user may not have the expertise to collect the correct data. Without the correct data the problems with the devices cannot be solved.
Another problem with both approaches is that the CSE uses personal knowledge to detect problems with the device based on the collected data. The problem with the use of personal knowledge to solve the problems is that the process takes too much time and does not utilize the collective knowledge of the entire team of CSEs and other experts.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need for a solution that does not require a CSE to connect to a device; does not require end user expertise in connecting to and collecting data from the device; does not require diligence and expertise in order to collect the correct data at the precise intervals needed; and does not constrain the solution of device problems to the knowledge and available time of a particular CSE.


A security system for preventing unauthorized use of a computer device. An extractable security piece includes an extractable main private key and a main PC public key. A PC security area which is a non-extractable part of the computer device includes a PC private key and an extractable main public key, which, together with the keys of the extractable security piece, constitute a Public Key Infrastructure. The extractable security piece and the PC security area include processing means for mutual authentication of the extractable security piece and the PC security area after the extractable security piece, which had been previously removed, has been reinserted in the computer device, thereby enabling the authorized user to access data stored in the computer device.

Because computer devices such as personal computers, portable computers, and other handheld devices are targets for hackers and thieves, passwords are used to protect their vital data and to prevent the computer from being used by unauthorized people. Passwords often work in conjunction with encryption and authentication keys that are used to establish secure communications between computers. It is possible today to install a program in the computer that will encrypt sensitive data so that these data cannot be read by anyone who does not have the unlocking key. It is necessary, however, to store the key somewhere, and there is a constant risk that it will be found.
Despite the continuing development of new technologies, passwords are still the most common security tools; they are also the most abused, and often the easiest for an attacker to break. Passwords present a kind of security paradox. The best passwords are the most difficult to guess: long and random. Unfortunately, these are also the most difficult to remember. Moreover, most experts strongly recommend using different passwords for each e-mail, e-commerce, or other account, and changing the passwords regularly. As a result, most people either choose passwords that are easily guessed, or write them down where they can be copied or stolen.
One answer to this conundrum is to use password safes. These programs provide a space to store long, complex, random passwords, and then encrypt the passwords so that they cannot be stolen. Some password safes generate random passwords for the user and store these on a local disk that also has a password access protection.
Secure transmission may be provided by using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) cryptography. In PKI cryptography, a user has a pair of keys: public and private. As their names suggest, the private key is kept private, while the public key is distributed to other users. The owner of the private key never shares the private key with anyone. The public and private keys of a particular user are related via complex mathematical structures that inexorably link one key with the other. This relationship is crucial to making public/private key-based encryption work.
The public key is used as the basis for encrypting a message, while the private key is necessary for the recipient to decrypt the encrypted message. Only the bearer of the private key can decrypt the message. Even the person who did the encrypting cannot decrypt the message he just encrypted, because he does not know the private key.
For digital signatures, two different keys are generally used, one for creating a digital signature or transforming data into a seemingly unintelligible form, and another key for verifying a digital signature or returning the message to its original form. Computer equipment and software using two such keys is often termed an "asymmetric cryptosystem."
The keys of an asymmetric cryptosystem for digital signatures are termed the private key, which is known only by the signer and which is used to create the digital signature, and the public key, which is ordinarily more widely known and which is used to verify the digital signature. A recipient must have the corresponding public key in order to verify that a digital signature is the signer's. When many people need to verify the signer's digital signature, the public key must be widely distributed, perhaps by publication in an on-line repository or directory.
Although the keys of the pair are mathematically related, it is computationally infeasible to derive one key from the other, if the asymmetric cryptosystem has been designed and implemented properly. Consequently, although many people may know the public key of a given signer and use it to verify his or her digital signature, they cannot discover the signer's private key and use it to forge the digital signature.

Security system for preventing a personal computer from being used by an unauthorized people


For improving performance of mask ROM, bit line is multi-divided for reducing capacitance, so that multi-stage sense amps are used for reading, wherein a local sense amp receives an output from a memory cell through the bit line, and a global sense amp receives the local sense amp output. By the sense amps, a voltage difference in the bit line is converted to a time difference for differentiating data “1” and data “0”. For example, data “1” is quickly transferred to an output latch circuit through the sense amps with high gain, but data “0” is rejected by a locking signal based on data “1” as a reference signal. Furthermore, a buffered data path is used for transferring data wherein the buffered data path includes a forwarding write line and a returning read line. Additionally, alternative circuits and memory cell structures for implementing the mask ROM are described.

Mask ROM is a kind of ROM (Read Only Memory) which is usually used only for reading data and is characteristically a non-volatile memory which holds contents of data even after the power is shut down. In addition, having a simple structure and high integrity, it is suitable for mass-production and cost-effective. The mask ROM is designed to provide a circuit on a semiconductor wafer using a mask on which a stored data is formed during a manufacturing process in accordance with a program indicating a user's request. Thus, data written on the mask ROM cannot be changed after fabrication.
To write data on the mask ROM, there are proposed a method of causing a short-circuit between the source and drain of a memory cell by using a diffusion layer or ion implantation, and a method of electrically cutting connection by using a contact hole needed to connect a cell with a bit line or metal wiring layer.
In FIG. 1, one of prior arts is illustrated, as published, U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,450 wherein the mask ROM comprises a low voltage circuit 101 supplying a dropped voltage, pre-charge transistors 102a to 102h, a row decoder 103, a memory cell array 104, a column decoder 105 selection transistors 106a, 106b and 106i for selecting respective bit lines of the memory cell array 104, a reference cell 110, a sense amplifier 108 and an output buffer 109. The drains of the pre-charge transistors 102a, 102b and 102i are connected in common to the output of the low voltage circuit 101 and the sources are coupled with respective bit lines of the memory cell array 104 while a pre-charge pulse Phi is input to the gates.
Further, of the selection transistors 106a to 106b, the drains are coupled with the respective bit lines of the memory cell array 104 and the sources are connected in common to one input terminal of the sense amplifier 108 while the gates are linked to respective selection signal lines of the column decoder 105. And a reference voltage is generated by the reference cell 110, and which is one of inputs of the sense amplifier 108.
A dropped voltage Vcc-int output from the low voltage circuit 101 is applied to the bit lines of the memory cell array 104 via the pre-charge transistors 102a, 102b and 102i. That is, the pre-charge transistors 102a, 102b and 102i are turned on by the pre-charge pulse Phi produced by detecting the change of an input signal, such as, an address signal or a control signal so as to pre-charge the bit lines to the predetermined level of the voltage Vcc-int. The level of Vcc-int is preferably determined to approximately 2V considering the problem of reliability of the memory cells and the like.
Then, after the pre-charge, one word line is selected by the row decoder 103 and one of the selection transistors 106a and 106b is selected by the column decoder 105, thus selecting one bit line to be connected to the sense amplifier 108. Next, the sense amplifier 108 is activated, and which compares a voltage from a main memory cell and a reference voltage from the reference cell with the level of the selected bit line to read out the data written in the memory cell. The read-out data are fed to the output buffer 109. However, one drawback is that it is difficult to repair some failed memory cells with redundant cells, because the mask ROM cannot be changed after fabrication. Thereby, laser fuse and electric fuse can be used as the redundant memory cells for the repair after fabrication. However, the laser fuse and electric fuse are big and access path is different from the mask ROM cells.
Furthermore, the bit line is heavily loaded with conventional sensing scheme which includes differential amplifier, so that charging time of the bit line is slow, which is one of obstacles for achieving fast read operation.
In this respect, there is still a need for improving the mask ROM, in order to increase density and also improve speed. In the present invention, mask ROM includes a capacitor as a storage element for programming with an additional contact mask, so that the memory cell and peripheral circuit are same as OTP (one time programmable memory) as redundant memory cells, except programming method. Thereby, failed mask ROM cells are replaced with the OTP cells for repairing, and which reduces area and achieves same access path after programming, while the mask ROM is programmed during process. As a result, the mask ROM is more useful for high volume production because there is no extra programming time for the main memory cells, even though the density of the memory is increased.
Furthermore, when reading, light bit line architecture is applied by dividing long bit line for reducing parasitic capacitance, so that multi-stage sense amps are used for reading the divided bit lines with a time domain sensing scheme, in order to compare the output from the memory cell, where a reference signal is generated by one of fast changing data with high gain from reference cells, which signal serves as a reference signal to generate a locking signal or a read duration control signal, in order to compare high voltage data (blown) and low voltage data (not blown), because one of data from the memory cell (fast data) is reached to a global sense amp through local sense amp with high gain while another data (slow data) is rejected by the reference signal based on data "1". With light bit line architecture, the local bit line is quickly charged of discharged, so that high speed operation is realized.
The memory cell can be formed on the surface of the wafer. And the steps in the process flow should be compatible within the current CMOS manufacturing environment. Alternatively, the memory cell can be formed from thin film polysilicon layer, because the lightly loaded bit line can be quickly discharged by the memory cell even though the thin film pass transistor can flow relatively low current. In doing so, multi-stacked memory is realized with thin film transistor, which can increase the density within the conventional CMOS process with additional process steps, because the conventional CMOS process is reached to a scaling limit for fabricating transistors on a surface of a wafer. In addition, a body-tied TFT (Thin Film Transistor) transistor can be used as the thin film transistor for alleviating self heating problem of short channel TFT.

Mask ROM with light bit line architecture


An image forming apparatus forms decision registration mark for deciding whether or not a color registration correction for correcting color shifts in the color image carries out on an intermediate transfer belt. The decision registration mark is formed by registering four color registration marks. Color registration sensors detect a detection width of the decision registration mark along a sub scanning direction. A control portion receives the detection width of the decision registration mark and decides whether or not the color registration correction carries out based on whether or not the detection width of the decision mark detected by the detection portion exceeds the period of reference time. When the detection width of the decision mark detected by the detection portion exceeds the period of reference time, the control portion carries out the color registration correction.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a color printer, a color copier and the like.
2. Background Art
In a recent image forming apparatus, there may be a case where any color shifts occur when registering respective color toner images. This is because a diameter of a driving roller of an intermediate transfer belt varies due to temperature rise inside the image forming apparatus during image forming operation and a speed of the intermediate transfer belt chronologically changes. The image forming apparatus has carried out a color registration correction on a regular basis in order to correct the color shifts.
FIGS. 1A and 1B show a general color registration correction. In the color registration correction, at timing other than any printing operation, for example, at power on, four species of color registration marks 120K, 120C, 120M and 120Y are formed on the intermediate transfer belt 800, as shown in FIG. 1A. Color registration sensors 210, 212 respectively detect positions of four species of color registration marks 120K, 120C, 120M and 120Y formed on the intermediate transfer belt 800 and amounts of color shifts in respective colors are calculated.
For example, as shown in FIG. 1B, when detecting the amounts of color shifts along a main scanning direction, a sensor detects two edges of the color registration mark 120Ka so that a period of detection time Ta therebetween is calculated. The amounts of color shifts in the respective colors along the main scanning direction are calculated by comparing this period of detection time Ta with a period of reference time thereof. When detecting the amounts of color shifts along a sub scanning direction, the sensor detects two edges of the color registration marks 120Ka and 120Kb so that a period of detection time Tb therebetween is calculated. The amounts of color shifts in the respective colors along the sub scanning direction are calculated by comparing the period of detection time Tb with a period of reference time thereof.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H01-269958 discloses an image forming apparatus in which a color registration sensor reads respective color registration marks that are independently formed between pages (image forming regions) on the transfer belt and a color shift correction starts from each read color registration mark.


An ice producing apparatus for a refrigerator is disclosed. The apparatus includes a door configured to permit and prohibit access to an interior volume of a storage compartment of the refrigerator, the door defining therein a door interior volume; a fan disposed in the door interior volume; and a mold disposed in the door interior volume and configured to receive water and to retain the water during freezing of the water into ice.

The described technology relates to an ice producing apparatus, such as for a bottom freezer refrigerator that includes a freezer compartment disposed below a fresh food compartment, and a corresponding method.
A known bottom freezer refrigerator includes a freezer storage compartment (freezer compartment) disposed below a fresh food storage compartment (fresh food compartment). In the known bottom freezer refrigerator, a temperature of an interior volume of the freezer compartment is generally maintained at or below a standard freezing point temperature of water (e.g., at or below 0 degrees Celsius), while a temperature of an interior volume of the fresh food compartment is generally maintained above the standard freezing point temperature of water (e.g., above 0 degrees Celsius). Specifically, the known bottom freezer refrigerator includes a cooling system with an evaporator that is disposed in an evaporator housing in the freezer compartment. The cooling system operates in a conventional manner, such that the evaporator cools the air in a volume adjacent the evaporator by absorption of energy from the air. This cold air flows from the volume adjacent the evaporator to the interior volume of the freezer compartment to cool the interior volume of the freezer compartment. Cool air from the volume adjacent the evaporator also flows to the interior volume of the fresh food compartment, to similarly cool the interior volume of the fresh food compartment. The air flows back from the interior volume of the fresh food compartment by being ducted back to the volume adjacent the known evaporator. The cycle repeats as described above.
Convenience necessitates that when a bottom freezer refrigerator includes an ice maker, the ice maker delivers ice through an opening in a door of the fresh food compartment, rather than an opening in a door of the freezer compartment. However, the cool air in the fresh food compartment is generally not cold enough to freeze water to produce and maintain the ice.
In the known bottom freezer refrigerator, the cold air is pumped from the evaporator in the freezer to the ice maker in the fresh food compartment. Such an arrangement suffers from certain disadvantages. For example, the ice is generally produced at a relatively slow rate, due to limitations of a volume and/or a temperature of the cold air pumped to the ice maker to freeze the water. This is because the same evaporator that cools the air that cools the freezer compartment and the fresh food compartment also cools the air that freezes the water to produce the ice. As a result, when the ice is produced, less cooling capacity is available to cool the freezer and fresh food compartments.


A lube system is provided and includes an air-oil tank including a deaerator configured to remove a first quantity of oil from a first air-oil supply to generate a second air-oil supply having a second quantity of oil, which is smaller than the first quantity of oil, the air oil tank being configured to output the second air-oil supply to an air vent line, a de-oiler disposed along the air vent line and configured to remove from the second air-oil supply oil mist including oil droplets of a minimum size and a pressure regulating valve (PRV) disposed along the air vent line between the air-oil tank and the de-oiler to regulate fluid pressures within the air-oil tank, the PRV being configured to encourage formation of the oil droplets of at least the minimum size.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a reduced velocity valve and, more particularly, to a reduced velocity valve for use with a lubrication ("lube") system of, for example, an aircraft engine.
Aircraft lubricating systems often incorporate a system for pressurizing a lube pump suction above ambient pressure. This is especially important when the aircraft is designed to fly at high altitudes where the local air pressure is very low. The elevated suction pressure helps the pump fill with oil and prevents cavitation in the lube pump, which can damage the pumping elements. The pressurization is often accomplished by pressurizing the lube reservoir (i.e., the oil tank) by placing a pressure regulating valve on the tank that restricts the flow of air that exits the top of the tank's deaerator via a vent line. This elevates the pressure inside the tank, which then pressurizes the line from the tank that feeds the lube pump suction.
The air flowing along the vent line then passes to a de-oiler that is designed to remove oil droplets from the vent air flow. The de-oiler is effective at removing oil mist droplets when they are larger than a certain minimum size. Droplets smaller than this may pass through the de-oiler and exit via the vent line.


The present invention relates generally to the generation and characterization of anti-huntingtin antibodies binding an epitope on the Huntington's disease protein. The invention further relates to the use of such anti-huntingtin antibodies in the diagnosis and treatment of Huntington's disease.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to antibodies to Huntington's disease protein as well as methods and means for making and using such antibodies.
2. Description of the Related Art
Huntington's disease (HD) is a fatal autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder that is caused by the extension of a polyglutamine (polyQ) tract in exon 1 the protein huntingtin (Htt) to a length of greater than 40 units (Reddy et al. Trends Neurosci. 22:248-255 (1999)). The huntingtin gene is known and the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 5,693,757. Mutant Htt with greater than 40 CAG repeats gains a toxic function and induces death in subpopulations of neurons in the striatum and cortex (Zoghbi et al. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 23:217-247 (2000); Tobin et al. Trends Cell Biol. 10:531-536 (2000)). Neuronal death in HD has been attributed not only to polyQ toxicity, but also to activation of caspases, interference with transcriptional machinery, and sequestration/inactivation of wild-type Htt and other important cellular factors.
A hallmark of HD and other polyQ diseases is the formation of insoluble protein aggregates in affected neurons (Ross Neuron 19:1147-1150 (1997); Wanker Biol. Chem. 937-942 (2000). Immunohistochemistry and subcellular fractionation indicate that Htt is normally located in the cytoplasm while the mutant form of Htt is also found in aggregates in the nucleus (Ferrigno et al. Neuron 26:9-12 (2000)). A major component of the aggregates in HD is the N terminus exon 1 of mutant Htt. As normal huntingtin protein is localized in the cytoplasm and mutant huntingtin protein is found in aggregates, also known as and referred to as inclusions, in the nucleus (Ferrigno et al., Neuron, 26:9-12 (2000)), translocation of mutant huntingtin protein to the nucleus is believed to be important in the pathogenesis of HD.
Because there is no current treatment available for this disease, there is a clear need for new treatments for Huntington's disease. Molecules that block the toxic effects of Htt itself or the lethal consequences of its binding to other proteins have good potential for therapeutic use. Thus, antibodies may serve as treatments for Huntington's disease. An antibody termed 1C2 is described in WO 97/17445. Finkbeiner (U.S. Pat. No. 6,291,652) provides antibodies specific for proteins having polyglutamine expansions. In particular, Finkbeiner provides antibodies having a higher affinity than an antibody identified as 1C2.

Antibodies that bind to an epitope on the Huntington's disease protein


A low profile handle (20) includes a bezel (22) receiving a rotatable handle member (24). The handle member (24) includes an annular section (74) inserting with a bore through the bezel (22). The annular section includes a collar with recesses engaging tabs from a gear member seating to the end of the annular section. The gear (28) includes a recessed portion receiving the annular section to decrease overall height. A lock cylinder (26) inserts into the annular section and includes a cavity (110). A locking pin (30) slides within a channel formed in the handle and includes a peg (92) extending into the cavity (110). The rotation of the lock cylinder (26) retracts and extends the pin (30) into the cavity (66) formed in the bezel (22).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to rotatable handle apparatus and, in particular, to a low profile handle apparatus.
2. Prior Art
Handles for actuating quarter turn latches that are used in doors and enclosures are well known. Such handles are typically rotated one quarter turn to actuate and release a rotatable latch. In addition, latches often have a latching assembly that may be driven by gears to other remote retaining members for providing a secure closure. Such handles often include a lockable handle having a keyed lock cylinder for providing an additional level of security with the latch.
A common problem with prior latches is the height of the latch relative to the mounting surface. Prior latches require a substantial height and extend out from the surface of the enclosure to accommodate a handle. The handles may catch clothing and are typically less aesthetically pleasing than a flat streamlined design. The gear mechanism, which the handle must accommodate is often very complicated with many interacting parts which must be housed in the handle. The keyed cylinder must have a sufficient height for proper operation and should be kept close to the enclosure surface. The retaining structure required to retain a keyed lock cylinder as well as a handle member rotating relative to the bezel body while providing sufficient structural integrity requires additional depth. In addition, several supporting glide surfaces may be necessary to accommodate the various moving parts. The actuating assembly of a locking mechanism actuated by the lock cylinder requires additional parts and often, added height to the handle. Efforts to decrease the height of such handles are generally met with a weaker and less durable mechanism.
It can be seen then, that a new and improved quarter turn actuating handle is needed for enclosures. Such a handle should provide a low profile which extends a minimal amount from the enclosure mounting surface. In addition, the handle should include a bezel mounted to the enclosure which accepts a lock cylinder and associated actuating components. Such a device should also provide for limiting the rotation between the two positions of the lock cylinder and provide for actuating or preventing the actuation of the rotatable handle. Such a device should also be inexpensive, durable and easy to assemble. Moreover, the number of glide surfaces should be minimized. The present invention addresses these problems as well as others associated with quarter turn handles for enclosures.


A method of line coding is disclosed that limits error propagation in a decision feedback equalizer (DFE) of a receiving device. A communications device receives a set of bits to be transmitted over a channel and divides the set of bits into a plurality of blocks based, at least in part, on a line coding scheme. The device then encodes each of the blocks of bits into a corresponding block of symbols based on the line coding scheme. Specifically, the line coding scheme has a non-uniform coding efficiency, wherein a first bit or a last bit of each block of bits is mapped to a single data symbol. For some embodiments, the line coding scheme may be a ternary line coding scheme that maps a block of 3k+1 bits to a corresponding block of 2k+1 symbols, where k is an integer greater than 1.

Line coding is a technique typically employed in baseband communication systems for purposes of clock recovery and/or spectral shaping. Specifically, line coding maps a bit stream to a symbol stream suitable for transmission over a given communications channel. For example, in conventional Ethernet systems, data is communicated between a transmitting device and a receiving device in an asynchronous manner. The receiving device therefore recovers a clock signal (to be used for sampling a received data signal) from the received data signal itself. In order to enable clock recovery, the received data signal should have edges (e.g., signal transitions) to which the receiving device can synchronize its local clock. Conventional line coding schemes are designed to provide frequent signal transitions, and thus shorter "runs" of the same consecutive symbol, for purposes of optimizing clock recovery.
A receiving device may also include a decision feedback equalizer (DFE) to help reduce and/or eliminate inter-symbol interference (ISI) in the received data signal. Through feedback, the DFE uses the determination (e.g., hard decision) of one or more last-sampled symbols to make a decision for the next symbol in the sequence. For example, the DFE may compare the waveform (e.g., shape and/or amplitude of the signal) for the received symbol with the ideal waveform for a symbol of the determined value to determine the effects of ISI in the communications channel. The DFE may then filter (e.g., subtract) the determined ISI characteristics from the next symbol in the sequence. However, because the DFE applies this filter through recursive feedback, any errors in the calculated ISI for a particular symbol may be propagated to (and possibly compounded by) the decisions for each of the remaining symbols in the sequence.
The "error propagation" issue, described above, may severely degrade the coding gain of a forward error correction (FEC) code that is typically implemented in modern communications systems. Various schemes have been developed to alleviate error propagation at the cost of increased complexity and/or increased transmit signal power.

Ternary line code design for controlled decision feedback equalizer error propagation


According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for fabricating a semiconductor device, the method including: forming a first region and a second region in a substrate; forming the high-permittivity insulating film on the substrate in the first region and in the second region; forming a nitride film on the high-permittivity insulating film in the second region; forming a cap film on the high-permittivity insulating film in the first region and on the nitride film in the second region; forming a metal film on the cap film; and performing a heating process.

1. Field of the Invention
An aspect of the present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) transistor and a fabrication method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the recent miniaturization of large scale integrated circuits, CMOS transistors are requested to achieve a thin gate insulating film. However, as the gate insulating film is made thinner and thinner, when a polysilicon film is used in a gate electrode, depletion of the gate electrode cannot be disregarded. For this reason, it has recently been investigated to use a metal electrode in the gate electrode, and in order to achieve a low threshold voltage in both a NMOS transistor and a PMOS transistor, there has been investigated a so-called dual gate structure where the gate electrode is formed using materials having different work functions.
Moreover, a proposal has been made to use a high-permittivity insulating film of, for example, Hf oxides, as the gate insulating film to thereby make the physical film thickness thicker, thus achieving an electrical thin film while suppressing a leak current. However, when the high-permittivity insulating film is used as the gate insulating film, in case of using polysilicon in the gate electrode, the polysilicon gate electrode may be depleted, and thus, the electrical film thickness increases. In this regard, it has been tried to use a combination of the high-permittivity gate insulating film and a metal gate.
As a high-permittivity gate insulating film of a next-generation MOSFET, an insulating film containing Hafnium (Hf) or Zirconium (Zr) is promising. However, in a CMOS transistor using a hafnium silicon oxynitride (HfSiON) film as the high-permittivity gate insulating film, because of a phenomenon called pinning, even when materials having different work functions are used, the flat band voltage (Vfb) cannot be adjusted to a band edge but is shifted to near a mid gap, thus making it impossible to achieve a low threshold voltage. In this regard, it has been found effective to use a cap film, especially containing lanthanoides in order to adjust the Vfb of a NMOSFET to the band edge (see JP-2002-270821-A, for example) However, forming the cap film in both NMOS and PMOS regions requires complicated and many steps including several repetitions of processes of film-forming, patterning, etching, and the like.

Complementary metal oxide semiconductor device fabrication method


A stand for holding a musical accessory at a convenient level having a horizontally adjustable base comprised of a plurality of adjustable telescoping members forming a U-shape base support, such that the members of the base can be adjusted to extend around other equipment in a crowded stage area, thereby conserving space and enabling the stand to be conveniently situated closely together with such other equipment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to stands used by musicians, and more particularly to a microphone, music, or instrument stand having a horizontally adjustable base particularly for use on a crowded stage or performing area and capable of extending around floor supported musical equipment as well as supporting various musical instruments and musical accessories.
2. Preliminary Discussion
Individual musicians such as guitarists or vocalists, as well as musical groups or bands, often perform in venues such as clubs, bars and the like where the stage or performing area is quite small. For example, many corner bars or clubs do not even have a separate stage area, and performers must clear an area of tables, chairs and other like items prior to setting up their equipment. In such situations, there is barely room for a band having several members to set up such equipment, which typically includes several microphone stands, amplification equipment, control processors, a keyboard, drum set and the like. In addition, after such equipment has been set up, there may be little room left over for the band members to move around during their performance, as they typically may desire. Even in clubs having larger performing areas, space is still at a premium, since most band members prefer to be able to move around the stage freely without having to worry about tripping over or running into their equipment.
Performers who both play an instrument, such as an electric guitar, while also providing vocals' encounter a slightly different space problem. Particularly where there is a limited area to move around, such performers will often remain in a more or less stationary position. However, it can be difficult to orient both a foot controller or processor equipment for an electric guitar and a microphone or music stand so that both are in sufficiently close proximity to the performer so that they can be reached without the performer having to continually change or shift positions. This difficulty is largely due to the shapes of such equipment. A typical microphone stand is comprised of a vertically adjustable telescoping pole connected to a round, weighted base situated directly beneath the pole, and is normally placed more or less directly in front of the performer so that the microphone is in close proximity to the performer's face and mouth whenever vocals are required. Electronic guitar foot controls or processing equipment are usually enclosed in a generally rectangular holder or box-like structure which also must be placed in close proximity to the performer so that such foot controls can be comfortably reached by the performer without requiring him or her to shift positions or move away from the microphone. However, placement of the round microphone stand base directly in front of the performer leaves little room for the foot controller. This conflict can adversely affect the quality of the performance, since the microphone and foot controls often may be required to be used simultaneously. The instant invention attempts to overcome this conflict by providing a microphone stand having a base that can be horizontally adjusted for placement around a foot controller or other objects, permitting both the microphone and foot controls to be directly in front of, and therefore within easy reach of, the performer.
In addition, there is frequently other equipment to support as well as floor equipment which is conveniently bracketed by any equipment stands necessary to support elevated equipment and the present music accessories stand is particularly designed to support such equipment while conserving floor space.
3. Description of Related Art
Numerous examples of arrangements for stacking and folding microphone or music stands, or for adjusting the height of such stands, are known in the prior art. In addition, other types of music equipment such as electronic keyboards are usually provided with a support or frame structure. However, the inventor is not aware of a stand for holding a microphone, sheet music, or a small instrument such as a harmonica or large equipment or instruments which stand can be horizontally adjusted to be situated around other equipment used by a musician, such as a foot controller or audio amplifier, thereby making it easier to simultaneously use such equipment while also conserving space in a small or cramped stage area.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,527 issued Jan. 10, 1978 to J. L. Streit entitled "Musical Instrument Support Stand With Counter-Balanced, Vertically Movable Horn Support Rack," discloses a stand having a generally U-shaped base when unfolded and in which the legs are folded parallel to the base when not in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,182 issued Oct. 4, 1983 to A. R. Biasini entitled "Musical Instrument Stand," discloses a tripod-like stand having telescoping legs which collapse during storage, but are meant to be fully extended during use and collapsed when not in use when they are stored in the hollow bottom.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,415 issued to G. J. Izquierdo on May 1, 1984, entitled "Portable Case and Stand for Pedal Controls Operationally Fixed Therein for use with a Keyboard Temporarily Mounted Thereon," discloses a box structure having several pedal controls for an electronic keyboard permanently mounted therein, which structure is also used to support an electric keyboard. Izquierdo is an example of a time and space-saving arrangement wherein the pedal controls can be situated underneath or in a music stand. However, instruments such as an electronic keyboard, which are elongated in shape, intrinsically have a space provided underneath such instrument for placement of the legs of the user, while stands for sheets of music, a microphone, or instruments such as a harmonica or drum machine typically do not provide such space.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,010 issued to F. L. Seebinger on May 15, 1984, entitled "Multi-Position Microphone Stand Support Assembly," discloses a support for a microphone wherein the vertical support column is pivotable, while the base remains stationary. Such stand allows for more than one microphone to be attached to the support, but does not disclose a horizontally adjustable base.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,624 issued to R. G. Greulich on Jan. 12, 1988, entitled "Folding Microphone Stand," discloses a tripod-type stand in which the support column can be pivoted on the base member, and having an aperture in the base member to accommodate the support column in a fully folding position. Pivoting the support column in relation to the base allows for easier transport or storage of the stand when it is not in use. However, in general folding tripod-type microphone stands are not preferred because they pass unwanted vibrations to the microphone.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,789 issued to D. H Eason et al. on Sep. 17, 1991, entitled "Microphone Stand," discloses a stand having a generally circular base and a U-shaped cutout portion so that several of such bases can be overlapped or stacked when stored. Eason et al. illustrates several other embodiments in which the base portion has a slightly different configuration while still retaining its stackable characteristics. However, none of such embodiments illustrates a base, which can be horizontally adjusted so as to fit around equipment such as a foot controller.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,648 issued to W. R. Wood, IV on Feb. 25, 1992, entitled "Stand Assembly," discloses a stand for holding doors, windows, and the like during painting. The base members of the Wood stand do not appear to be adjustable, however.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,048 issued to M. Lebar et al. on Apr. 21, 1992, entitled "Support Stands" discloses a music stand having tripod-type support legs wherein two of the legs are pivotable so that the legs can be folded in a storage position. Tripod-type support stands are well known in the prior art and may possibly be placed over or around a foot controller, but are not adjustable in the same manner as the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,901 issued to M. C. Boor et al. on Sep. 22, 1992, entitled "Guitar Support Apparatus," discloses a support for a guitar having a pair of parallel pipe-like legs with vertically extending supports spaced thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,066 issued to K. J. Ditch on Aug. 23, 1994, entitled "Stand for Article," discloses another tripod-type adjustable microphone wherein one leg has incorporated a tilt assembly, which allows the angle of the microphone to be adjusted.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,508 issued to A. Palmero on Mar. 18, 1997, entitled "Horizontally Adjustable Microphone Support," discloses a microphone support having a telescoping horizontal cross member attached to the upper end of the vertical support column. The base member in Palmero, however, is a typical round base and is not adjustable.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,649 issued to D. H. Eason on Jan. 12, 1999, entitled "Stabilizing and Memory Musical Instrument Stand," discloses a music stand having a support frame shaped as a cross-frame which is pivotable about the intersection of the frame members.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,015 issued to H. Hsu on Jan. 26, 1999, entitled "Microphone Stand Elevating Device, discloses a device which makes it easier to upwardly or downwardly adjust the height of a microphone support column extending from the base of a microphone stand, although the configuration of the base cannot be adjusted.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,541 issued to D. Michaelson on Apr. 13, 1999, entitled "Microphone Stand Providing Quick Assembly and Disassembly," discloses an improved means for quickly assembling and disassembling a support column from a microphone stand base. The base, however, is made from a single generally oval solid structure and is not adjustable.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,054 issued to K. S. Woodhouse et al. on Apr. 10, 2001, entitled "Musical Instrument Support Stand," discloses a stand having telescoping legs which are secured in position using finger screws, in which the legs of the stand all extend outwardly from a central hub.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,056 issued to T. Liao on Apr. 10, 2001 entitled "Adjustable Foot Structure for Hi-Hat Cymbal," discloses a cymbal stand having an adjustable foot member attached to the bottom of a stand member.
Despite the numerous microphone and music stands known in the prior art, each of which provides its own degree of utility, there is a need for a stand having a base portion which incorporates usable space in the center and which can be adjusted to conserve space on a cramped or crowded stage or performing area so as not to interfere with the placement of other music or performing equipment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method performed during the processing of a ring laser gyro (RLG) will produce a long life in the RLG. The method includes filling the RLG with a gas mixture. A current is discharged within the RLG which will create certain reactions to condition the RLG for a long life.

The life of a ring laser gyro (RLG) is always an issue in the area of ring laser gyros and the importance of a long life is well known. Many current processes attempt to prolong the life of a ring laser gyro by the use of gases in the production period of a ring laser gyro. One use of gases to assist in the processing of the ring laser gyro block is the use of oxygen. Oxygen is entered into the ring laser gyro block. By running a discharge current inside the cathode of a ring laser gyro, oxidation will occur creating an oxygen implantation process inside the cathode. The oxidation of the cathode will prolong the life of the cathode and in turn increase the life of the ring laser gyro.
However, creating all these steps in conditioning different parts of the ring laser gyro to prolong its life is cumbersome and time consuming. It would be beneficial to provide a process that conditions all of the parts of the ring laser gyro at the same time to reduce in capital requirements and process cycle time.
The invention has been described herein in order to comply with the Patent Statutes and to provide those skilled in the art with the information needed to apply the novel principles and to construct and use such specialized components as are required. However, it is to be understood that the invention can be carried out by specifically different methods, components and materials, and that various modifications, both as to the process details and materials, can be accomplished without departing from the scope of the invention itself.

RLG mirror conditioning and cathode oxidation process


Upsampling for video signals is described. In particular chroma pixels may be upsampled in a luminance, chrominance signal using motion adaptive approaches. In one example, the operations include selecting an absent chroma pixel of the current frame, developing a spatial candidate value for the absent chroma pixel using pixel values for nearby pixels in the current frame, developing a temporal candidate value for the absent chroma pixel using pixel values for nearby pixels in the previous and subsequent frames, computing a value for the absent chroma pixel by combining the spatial candidate value and the temporal candidate value, and producing an output video frame including the computed absent chroma pixel values.

1. Field
The present description is related to the field of video processing and in particular to upsampling chroma signals to produce higher resolution or progressive frames in video signals.
2. Related Art
Video signals may be composed of luma (Y) and two chroma (Cb, Cr) signals. The luma signal represents illumination or brightness and the chroma signals represent color aspects of the signals. These signals may be in any of a variety of different sampling formats. 4:4:4 YCbCr is used to designate a format in which the three video components, Y, Cb, Cr, have the same sampling rate. Since human perception of brightness (the luma aspect) is more sensitive than perception of colors (the chroma aspect), the chroma portion of the signal is often subsampled to reduce the amount of bandwidth needed to process the signal and to store it. 4:2:2 is a popular format used in many professional video cameras and storage devices and indicates that the two chroma components are sampled at half the rate, horizontally, of the luma component. 4:1:1 subsamples chroma information at one quarter the rate, horizontally, of the luma information and is commonly used in professional portable video news cameras.
4:2:0 YCbCr is commonly used in broadcast video, DVDs (Digital Video Disks) and other popular entertainment devices. It is supported by most MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) compression formats as well as many other formats. In 4:2:0 video, the Cb and Cr components are both subsampled at half the rate of the luma, both vertically and horizontally.
Chroma upsampling may be used in the field of video processing to convert video from, for example, 4:2:0 to 4:2:2, or higher resolution. This may be done to accommodate a particular type of display, to allow different video sources to be combined into a single program, or to improve the quality of the final displayed video imagery. Since 4:2:0 video has one half of the vertical chroma resolution of 4:2:2 video, spatial vertical filtering is typically used to fill in the additional chroma pixels. If the original signal is interlaced, then deinterlacing might be used to get the final progressive frames.
Chroma upsampling becomes difficult in the context of deinterlacers which interpolate video from an interlaced format e.g. 480i or 1080i to a progressive format e.g. 480p or 1080p. Conventional chroma upsampling methods apply simple linear filtering techniques to interpolate missing pixels in a single video frame from reference pixels in the spatial neighborhood in the same frame. In other words, the value of a chroma pixel is derived from the values of the pixels that are next to it or nearby. Some advanced chroma upsampling techniques consider local content information to adapt the weighting used for local filtering to improve the picture quality. However, these spatial techniques that rely on the spatial neighborhood ignore temporal information which is often a significant aspect of video signals.

Motion adaptive upsampling of chroma video signals


A retrofit kit replaces the thermostatic element in a radiator steam trap having a hollow body with a horizontal side steam inlet, a vertical bottom condensate outlet, and a top cover. The retrofit kit contains an insert with a restricted passageway that rests in and over the condensate outlet, a cylindrical spring for blocking the flow of particles into the restricted passageway of the insert, and a compression coil spring for holding the insert and screen in position. The restricted passageway in the insert contains a plurality of horizontal radial inlets in the upper portion of the insert that communicate with a vertical conduit extending downward through the insert, the vertical conduit having an opening at the bottom, but not at the top, of the insert.

Steam systems are used for heating in a wide variety of industrial, commercial, and residential applications. As heat is transferred from the steam to the surroundings, condensation occurs and liquid condensate is formed within the steam line. The presence of condensate in a steam line reduces the heat transfer efficiency and also causes mechanical and corrosive damage. Accordingly, all steam systems include some mechanism for removing condensate.
Condensate removal systems typically contain a number of devices placed at low points in the system that allow condensate to leave the steam line and pass through condensate lines that run to a condensate receiver. There are two basic types of condensate removal devices. Devices of the first type permit the periodic flow of condensate and are commonly known as steam traps. The periodic flow devices usually contain a thermostatically-controlled valve that detects the accumulation of cooled condensate and opens to allow the condensate to flow out of the steam line. A common example of such a device is the steam trap located near the bottom of steam radiators used for space heating. The primary disadvantage of periodic flow devices is that they have moving parts that eventually fail and must be replaced.
Condensate removal devices of the second type feature a restricted passageway through which condensate continually flows. Continuous flow devices have no moving parts to fail. However, the sizing of the passageway is critically important. If the passageway is too small, condensate builds up in the steam line. If the passageway is too large, excessive amounts of steam escape with the condensate. Optimal sizing of a passageway for a given application is very difficult to predict. Even with accurate and abundant information concerning the particular application, it is often necessary for the sizing of the passageway to be changed from the original prediction.
LeBlanc, U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,336, issued Jun. 9, 1992, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a retrofit kit for radiator steam traps. The retrofit kit contains a nozzle body, filter screen, and spring that replace the thermostatic element, valve, and valve seat in a standard steam trap. The nozzle body fits into the condensate outlet of the steam trap and contains a coaxial venturi passage. The top of the nozzle body is positioned below the steam inlet of the steam trap so that condensate enters the venturi passage tangentially and so that airlock at the entrance of the venturi passage is avoided. Because radiators and radiator steam traps are of many different sizes and capacities, the LeBlanc retrofit kit is sold with over one hundred different nozzle body sizes. The LeBlanc retrofit kit is also sold with many different sizes of screens and springs.
Accordingly, a demand exists for an improved continuous flow retrofit kit for radiator steam traps. In particular, a demand exists for such a retrofit kit that requires only a small number of different parts to fit the many different radiators and radiator steam traps that are in use.


A structure member is mounted in a communication apparatus including a conductive housing incorporating a dielectric substrate on which a high-frequency circuit is mounted. The structure member includes a pass member which passes a harmonic current component of an operating frequency generated in the dielectric substrate when the high-frequency circuit operates, and a suppression member having an EBG structure which suppresses a predetermined current component of the operating frequency. The structure member is provided between the dielectric substrate and the conductive housing. The suppression member is disposed along a current path of a harmonic current component flowing in the pass member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an EBG (Electromagnetic Band Gap) structure which prevents the propagation of electromagnetic waves in a specific frequency band. More specifically, the present invention provides a member and an apparatus which reduce unnecessary radiation noise emitted from a wireless communication apparatus without decreasing the antenna radiation gain of the wireless communication apparatus by using an EBG structure member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, studies have been made on an EBG technique for preventing the propagation of electromagnetic waves in a specific frequency band.
As a measure against unnecessary radiation without using any conventional EBG technique, there is available a technique of bonding a radio wave absorber that absorbs electromagnetic waves to an electrical component or transmission path which emits unnecessary electromagnetic waves in order not to emit the unnecessary electromagnetic waves outside an apparatus. If a high-frequency circuit portion of an apparatus is high-frequency coupled to a peripheral conductive member, the mechanical size of a member is resonant with a specific frequency. For this reason, in order to suppress the resonance, for example, high-frequency conduction is provided with respect to another conductive member, thereby suppressing resonance at a specific frequency.
A conventional technique of suppressing unnecessary radiation components emitted from an apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.
FIG. 9 is a perspective view schematically showing the internal structure of a wireless communication apparatus. Reference numeral 600 denotes a wireless communication apparatus; 601, a dielectric substrate housed in the wireless communication apparatus 600; 602, an antenna (antenna element or antenna pattern) mounted on the dielectric substrate 601; 603, a GND portion of the dielectric substrate 601; 604, a high-frequency unit (a module including an oscillator and an amplifier) for transmitting/receiving radio signals; 605, a conductive attachment plate for attaching/fixing the dielectric substrate 601; 606, a fixing screw; and 607, a conductive housing which is part of the constituent members of the wireless communication apparatus 600 and formed from, for example, a conductive cover.
Reference numeral 608 denotes a circle whose size represents, in a simulated manner, the intensity of radio waves emitted from the antenna 602. In addition, the lengths of the arrows in FIG. 9 indicate, in a simulated manner, the intensities of unnecessary radiation emitted from the dielectric substrate 601.
In the arrangement shown in FIG. 9, the unnecessary radiation components emitted from the wireless communication apparatus 600 exhibit large values, and the intensities of the radio waves emitted from the antenna 602 also have sufficient gains. Assume that the antenna gain is about −10 dBD.
FIG. 10 shows an arrangement obtained by providing a measure for reducing unnecessary radiation components for the arrangement in FIG. 9.
Note that reference numerals 700 to 708 denote the same members as those denoted by reference numerals 600 to 608 in FIG. 9, and hence a detailed description of them will be omitted.
In the arrangement different from that shown in FIG. 9, a conductive member 709 is disposed between the conductive attachment plate 705 and the conductive cover 707 to electrically connect the conductive attachment plate 705 to the conductive cover 707. Electrically connecting the conductive attachment plate 705 to the conductive cover 707 forms a current path along which the current components of electromagnetic waves contributing to unnecessary radiation excited by the GND portion 703 of the dielectric substrate 701 flow into the conductive cover 707 forming the wireless communication apparatus 707.
With this arrangement, the current components of electromagnetic waves contributing to the unnecessary radiation excited by the GND portion 703 partially flow into the conductive cover 707. If the current components of unnecessary radiation are harmonics of the operating fundamental frequency of the wireless communication apparatus 700 and become higher frequencies, they will be more consumed by flowing on the overall surface of the conductive cover 707. This reduces the amount of radiation from the wireless communication apparatus 700.
With the above arrangement, however, the intensity (antenna gain) of the radio waves emitted from the antenna 702 decreases to, for example, about −15 dBD.
When the antenna 702 is mounted on the dielectric substrate 701, the size of the GND portion 703 in the longitudinal direction can be about λ/4 with respect to a wavelength λ at the operating center frequency. The antenna gain changes even if the wavelength is less than λ/4 or more than λ/4.
If the conductive attachment plate 705 and the conductive cover 707 are configured to be electrically connected to each other to reduce unnecessary radiation, the GND portion 703 of the dielectric substrate 701 is high-frequency coupled to the conductive cover 707 when viewed from the antenna 702. This makes it impossible to ensure optimal mounting conditions for the antenna 702.
There is available a technique of suppressing electromagnetic waves generated from a high-frequency circuit by using an EBG structure member so as to prevent the electromagnetic waves generated from the high-frequency circuit housed in the apparatus from influencing other apparatuses.
For example, there is available a technique of suppressing currents contributing to unnecessary radiation by disposing an EBG structure member in the current path of unnecessary radiation components excited on the wall surface of a conductive material housed in the internal space of the electromagnetic waves generated from the high-frequency circuit housed in the apparatus (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-18776).
According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-18776, the unnecessary radiation components of unspecified frequencies emitted from the overall conductive housing are suppressed by checking the current path of electromagnetic wave components of a specific frequency generated from the high-frequency circuit in the apparatus and disposing the EBG structure member in the current path. That is, the arrangement disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-18776 differs from an arrangement configured to reduce unnecessary radiation in an apparatus in association with the radiation gain of an antenna like a wireless communication apparatus.
As an anti-EMI measure for a wireless substrate mounted in a wireless communication apparatus, there is available a method of reducing unnecessary radiation components emitted from a high-frequency circuit and a circuit substrate GND mounted on a wireless substrate by electrically connecting the wireless substrate GND to a conductive member of the housing. However, since the circuit substrate GND operating as the GND of the antenna element and the conductive member, which are simultaneously mounted on the wireless substrate, are electrically connected to each other, the antenna element is high-frequency coupled to the conductive member, resulting in a decrease in radiation gain.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-18776 to which an EBG structure is applied, unnecessary radiation is reduced by suppressing a resonant state in the housing. However, this technique cannot be applied to an anti-unnecessary-radiation measure associated with the antenna gain of a wireless communication apparatus including an antenna.

Suppression of current component using EBG structure