An at least penta-sided-channel type of FinFET transistor may include: a base; a semiconductor body formed on the base, the body being arranged in a long dimension to have source/drain regions sandwiching a channel region, at least the channel, in cross-section transverse to the long dimension, having at least five planar surfaces above the base; a gate insulator on the channel region of the body; and a gate electrode formed on the gate insulator.

The need to reduce transistor size is a perennial problem to be solved in the art of integrated circuits. One way that the Background Art reduced transistor size was to reduce the length of the channel. Doing so effectively reduced the overall footprint of the transistor. But then a minimum channel length (relative to other physical parameters of the transistor) was achieved below which problems were created, e.g., short channel effects.
The Background Art responded by developing a transistor architecture that reduced the transistor's footprint size while maintaining at least the minimum channel length. The solution can be explained via analogy to an inchworm. FIGS. 5A-5B are side views that depict stages of the peculiar form of locomotion used by an inchworm 602. In FIG. 5A, a head 604 and a tail 606 of inchworm 602 are close together while a middle section 608 thereof is hunched upward (or, in other words, folded almost in half). In FIG. 5B, inchworm 602 has moved its head 604 forward while keeping its tail 606 in the same position as in FIG. 5A, which causes middle section 608 to be stretched horizontally relative to FIG. 5A. In FIG. 5C, inchworm 602 has kept its head 604 in the same position as in FIG. 5B, but has moved its tail 606 to again be located near its head 604. As such, inchworm 602 has adopted in FIG. 5C the same posture as in FIG. 5A.
The larger footprint transistor architecture according to the Background Art is analogous to the posture of inchworm 602 in FIG. 5B, where the channel corresponds to the horizontally stretched middle section 608 of inchworm 602. The smaller footprint transistor architecture according to the Background Art is analogous to the posture of inchworm 602 in FIGS. 5A and 5C, where the channel corresponds to the hunched-upward or folded middle section 608.
FIG. 6 is a three-quarter perspective view of the smaller footprint architecture according to the Background Art, which is generally referred to as a FinFET and particularly here as a triple gate FinFET 700, i.e., FET having a channel in the shape of a fin 702b (obscured in FIG. 6 but see FIG. 7) formed on a buried oxide (BOX) structure 701 between a source region 702a and a drain region 702C. Gate electrode 706 conforms (as does interposed gate oxide layer 704) to the shape of channel 704
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of Background Art FinFET 700 taken along line VII-VII′ of FIG. 6. Recall that the inversion layer induced in a channel is located next to gate oxide 704 and tends to be rather shallow. An idealized effect of the fin-shaped channel 704 gate electrode 706 is as if three separate inversion layers are induced, namely a first inversion layer 708a, a second inversion layer 708b and a third inversion layer 708C. Hence, FinFET 700 is referred to as a triple-gate FinFET.
FIGS. 8A-8B are cross-sectional views of two stages in the manufacture of a multi-gate FinFET according to the Background Art. More particularly, FIGS. 8A-8B depict stages in the formation of the fin of the FinFET. In FIG. 8A, a silicon layer 220 is formed on a buried oxide (BOX) structure 210, which is formed on a silicon substrate 220. A silicon plug 810 is formed to fill an opening in oxide layer 510. Plug 810 is grown by selective epitaxial growth (SEG). In FIG. 8B, the portion of plug 810 extending above oxide 510 has been removed by CMP.
Returning to FIG. 7, as a practical matter, the electrostatic field induced by a voltage on gate electrode, e.g., 706, is not uniform along gate electrode 706. Rather, the electrostatic field tends to be concentrated in the corners, as indicated by the shaded regions 710a and 710b in FIG. 7. Consequently, inversion layers form in the corners before forming all along gate electrode 706. This lowers a threshold voltage for the corners relative to the sides, leading to higher current flow at the corners and generally non-uniform performance of the FinFET.
The Background Art recognized that such a corner phenomenon could be mitigated if the corners could be rounded. Accordingly, efforts have been made to remove material from the substantially square corners, e.g., by dry etching, in order to achieve an approximation of rounded corners. Despite many attempts, the Background Art has not been able to develop a technique to remove material from square corners of triple-gate FinFET 700 (or a double-gate version thereof that does not irreparably damage the remaining portion of fin 702b or result in a non-uniform width thereof.

Method of forming an at least penta-sided-channel type of FinFET transistor


A cover and method for covering openings an particularly openings initially intended to cover door knob openings and lock set openings of a modified door which are required to be covered for aesthetic and security reasons. In one embodiment, the cover for a door knob hole is an integral stack of disks wherein the largest outermost disk covers the opening when centered by the second disk that fits snugly inside the opening. A bridge fits inside the lock-set cavity to which a cover over the lock cavity is bolted.

Doors and such often have openings provided for locking devices. Such holes left uncovered generally look unfinished. Other locking devices are removed for legal reasons and safety leaving the door unsecured. In some cases a panic exit is installed that allow the door to be secured from outside But openable from the inside. Many times such devices interfere with panic exit devices and other devices associated with the security of the door . . . . Currently devices are used to cover opening s in doors allowing them to be secured from the outside but they often interfere with the operation of the panic devices. Present art apparatus are unsatisfactory because they are through bolted from one side of the hollow object to the other. Currently, through hole fillers cannot be used because the screw/post connecting the inside disk to the outside disk will interfere with the concealed vertical rods inside the door. Thus for appearance and security, one or more holes need to be drilled without interfering internal parts of the door or objects.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,422,420 to Judd discloses a cover for a hole in a panel wherein the slotted head of a screw is visible and accessible from the exposed side of the panel. The device I intended to cover a hole in the fuselage of an airplane so that centering the cover over the hole is not a strict requirement. The Judd device does not satisfy the requirements that are satisfied by the present invention. FIGS. 4A,B and 5 are typical examples of holes for door knobs, lock cylinders etc. that are exposed at the edge of a door 400 that is to be modified when holt 402 and cavity 404 are no longer needed.
Lock cavity 404 is bounded by two walls (being opposing door panels of the door) and two interior end surfaces. Doorknob holes 402 were initially used to mount a doorknob.
In many construction upgrade operations involving modification of a door, preferably, holes 402 and 404 would be covered for beautification and security purposes. It would be desirable for beautification purpose that neither screw heads (i.e., the slotted heads of screws) nor the head of Phillip head screws) be visible from the viewable side of the door.
Therefore, what is needed is a method and apparatus to cover these holes in doors and other items. Further, what is needed is an apparatus and method to quickly and effectively cover existing cylinder, lock face and other unwanted holes/openings in any object made of any material which would benefit in terms of beautification, a more universally usable and versatile in operation than known apparatus of this kind.

Apparatus and method for covering an opening


A wire feeder that can be connected to a variety of power supplies which includes a power conditioner that can detect a current and/or voltage level from a particular power supply and modify the current and/or voltage level when required so as to enable the wire feeder to operate in conjunction with the arc welder when connected thereto.

Welding wire feeder systems are commonly integrated with or used in conjunction with an arc welder to feed a wire electrode to a workpiece. The electrode may be a solid wire electrode, a coated electrode, or a cored electrode. Typically, the wire feeder is used in conjunction with a MIG or TIG arc welding process. Presently, there are just a few principal manufacturers of welding equipment. These manufacturers include The Lincoln Electric Company, Miller Electric, and ESAB. Each of these manufacturers construct welding accessories such as wire feeders, welding guns, etc. that are designed to be used with a specific brand of welding machine. With respect to wire feeders, it is common for one manufacturer to design and build a wire feeder which operates on a different voltage than another manufacturer. As a result, welding accessories from various manufacturers are typically not intermixed with different brands of welders.
Due to the incompatibility of a wire feeder for an arc welder from one manufacturer on an arc welder from another manufacturer, it becomes difficult or impossible for an operator to switch the wire feeder of one manufacturer to another arc welder by a different manufacturer when a particular arc welder malfunctions or requires service. It is common at a particular welding site to have several different brands of arc welders. In a situation where one brand of arc welder is out of service, an operator typically cannot use another type of arc welder to continue the welding operation unless the arc welder is of the same brand as the one that was removed from service. As a result, costly downtime occurs when an arc welder is suddenly taken out of service during a welding operation. One way to address this problem is to have backup welders and wire feeders on hand to minimize downtime. However, welding units and wire feeders are costly and a burden to store and transport. As a result, spare welding units and wire feeders are typically not taken to a welding site. Some users have, in the past, used a transformer to connect one brand of wire feeder to another brand of welder. The transformer is used to ramp up or ramp down the voltage and/or current from a particular brand of arc welder so that a different brand of wire feeder can be used with the arc welder. The transformer is typically connected to the power cable that connects the wire feeder to the arc welder. The transformer is commonly connected to the power cable by cutting the power cable and then electrically connecting the transformer in series with the power cable. The connecting of the transformer to the power cable has caused problems such as when the transformer is not properly connected to the power cable thereby causing damage to the wire feeder and/or arc welder, and/or an improper transformer is connected to the power cable thereby making the wire feeder inoperative and/or damaging the wire feeder and/or welder. Furthermore, the use of a particular transformer only enables a user to connect one brand of wire feeder to a specific brand of arc welder of another brand, thus still limiting the compatibility of the wire feeder to be used with a variety of different arc welders.
In view of the present state of the art of wire feeders, there is a need for a wire feeder that can be simply connected to a plurality of different arc welders without having to connect a transformer to the power cable of the wire feeder or significantly modifying the electronics and/or components of the wire feeder.


A rechargeable battery measurement and calibration system for use with a removable battery pack suitably used to power a mobile computer locates current measurement and battery status intelligence outside of the battery pack, thereby reducing the cost, complexity, and power consumption of the battery pack when compared with prior art systems. A system host controls the measurement and calibration of the battery system; the host requests current measurements under both zero-current and non-zero calibration current conditions, with the resulting calibration values enabling linearity errors that might otherwise be present in the current measurements to be totally and easily identified and accounted for in a fuel gauge measurement. The present system complies with the SBS-IF specification for Smart Battery systems.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of battery systems, and particularly to rechargeable battery systems for mobile computers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many electronic products include rechargeable batteries which enable them to operate without connection to an AC power source. The status of the battery is often of critical importance to the product""s user, as the product can operate only as long as the battery retains some useful life. For example, mobile computers, which are powered by a removable battery pack when not connected to an AC power source, typically provide a battery status screen to a user which includes an estimation of the remaining life for the battery housed within the pack.
One parameter which is often of interest is the charge level on the battery. Battery capacity in ampere-hours is typically calculated by measuring current flow in to and out of the battery, and integrating the current over time. Some recent mobile computers have embedded a microcontroller or complex finite state machine (FSM) integrated circuit inside the battery pack as a sub-system of the mobile computer. Using this device in combination with a number of sensors, voltage, temperature, current and various other variables are measured with circuitry housed within the battery pack itself. This results in a very complex and expensive battery pack. Nevertheless, this approach has been adopted as an industry standard by the Smart Battery System Implementers Forum (SBS-IF).
A block diagram of a battery system for a mobile computer which complies with the SBS-IF specification is shown in FIG. 1. A battery pack 10 includes a rechargeable battery and the associated sensors and circuitry mentioned above. Current is provided to and drawn from the pack via a line 12, and the pack is connected to a common point via a line 14.
When connected to an AC power source, an AC/DC converter 18 provides a DC supply voltage for the battery system via a line 19. When the DC supply voltage is present, it powers the system host 20 (which includes a mobile computer""s microprocessor and associated circuitry), typically via one or more DC/DC converters 22. A power detection circuit 23 detects the presence or absence of the DC supply voltage; when present, a switch S1 is operated such that power is provided to a battery charger 24, which in turn provides charging current to battery pack 10. When the DC supply voltage is absent, switch S1 connects battery pack 10 to DC/DC converters 22, so that system host 20 is powered by the rechargeable battery.
Communications between battery pack 10, system host 20, and battery charger 24 are handled with a serial bus referred to as an xe2x80x9cSMBusxe2x80x9d 26, which complies with the requirements of the SBS-IF. The system also requires that battery pack 10 provide a xe2x80x9csafety signalxe2x80x9d 28 to charger 24, to prevent overcharging.
Various conventional implementations of battery pack 10 are shown in FIGS. 2a-2d. Each battery pack includes the battery itself 30, a current sense resistor 32, a pair of FET switches 34 and 36, and circuitry 38. The FET switches are controlled by circuitry 38 to prevent either overcharging or over-discharging the battery 30. In each figure, the current through the sense resistor is designated as IS, and the current required to power circuitry 38 is designated as IC; IS, is determined by measuring the voltage across resistor 32 and dividing by its resistance. The current into or out of the battery pack is designated as IBP.
To accurately measure IBP, it is preferable to calibrate circuitry 38. Ideally, this requires the ability to measure the voltage across sense resistor 38 with no current flowing in it, to determine how much zero signal offset is in circuitry 38. However, when pack 10 is configured as shown in FIG. 2a, circuitry 38 always puts a small current drain (IC) on the battery. Even when IBP equals zero, IS=xe2x88x92IC and as IS flows through resistor 32, a zero-current condition cannot be achieved; thus, some current measurement inaccuracy is inevitable with this approach.
In FIG. 2b, the arrangement of battery 30 and current sense resistor 32 is changed. Here, the current IC required by circuit 38 does not pass through sense resistor 32, enabling the voltage across sense resistor 32 when IS is zero to be measured. Now, however, the IC current drain is never accounted for, thereby introducing a different standard error in the system.
Yet another arrangement is shown in FIG. 2c, in which current sense resistor 32 is referenced to ground. However, with resistor 32 connected between ground and battery 30, IS cannot be made zero, and thus the system cannot be calibrated for zero offset.
In the arrangement shown in FIG. 2d, a separate xe2x80x9cbattery groundxe2x80x9d 40 separate from system common (14) is employed, which allows the system to measure zero current. Here, however, IC is not measured and continually drains the battery. Furthermore, the lack of a common ground between battery and system induces a ground shift which is proportional to IS. For a large current load, this ground shift significantly reduces the noise margin of digital signals between system host 20 and circuitry 38.
A rechargeable battery measurement and calibration system is presented which overcomes the problems found in the prior art approach described above. The current measurement and battery status intelligence is moved outside of the battery pack, resulting in a system which has both higher accuracy and lower cost than prior art systems.
In accordance with the present invention, the battery pack is greatly simplified: the current sensing element is moved outside of the battery pack, the FET switches can be eliminated, and the battery status intelligence is moved from the battery pack to the system host; these steps significantly reduce the cost, complexity, and power consumption of the battery pack. The system host controls the measurement and calibration of the battery system; the host can command a zero current flow through the current sensing element, enabling the acquisition of accurate calibration data. In a preferred embodiment, calibration values are determined under both zero-current and non-zero current conditions, enabling linearity errors that might otherwise be present in the current measurements to be reduced.
The present system complies with the SBS-IF specification for Smart Battery systems, and is well-suited for use with mobile computers.
Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, taken together with the accompanying drawings.

Rechargeable battery measurement and calibration system and method


A liquid crystal display device is provided with a pair of mutually opposed transparent substrates, a pair of groups of transparent stripe electrode formed respectively on the internal faces of the substrates in mutually crossing manner, and liquid crystal positioned between the groups of stripe electrodes. The groups of stripe electrodes are provided respectively with opaque metal members for reducing the electrical resistance of the stripe electrodes. The opaque metal members are so formed as not to mutually overlap and as to complementarily constitute light shields in non-display areas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device of matrix type, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display device in which non-display areas are light shielded by opaque metal electrodes.
2. Related Background Art
The surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal device proposed by Clark and Lagerwall (hereinafter called SSFLC; see the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 56-107216 or the U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,924) is a bistable ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) device in which the ferroelectric liquid crystal can assume two stable oriented states.
In an SSFLC device of matrix type in which a ferroelectric liquid crystal layer is sandwiched between a pair of electrode layers of mutually crossing stripe-patterns, a pixel area defined by the crossing area of the mutually opposed electrodes can be switched to one of the aforementioned two states by the application of a voltage from an external driving circuit. However, there may result following drawbacks in the non-display areas outside said crossing areas or pixels areas.
Firstly, because of the bistability of SSFLC, the liquid crystal present in such non-pixel areas also assume two oriented states, which appear as mixed black and white areas when observed through polarizers attached on both faces of the display device. For this reason a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel of a large area contains areas showing unintended display states, thereby giving a granular appearance to the entire display panel.
Secondly, there is known a phenomenon called "interpixel switching". As shown in FIG. 5A, if a pixel G is in the "black" state, an adjacent interpixel area K gradually changes to black. However, after the pixel is inverted to white by an external voltage application, the interpixel area, which is not subjected to said voltage application, remains in the black state, thus inducing an apparent after image in a large-area FLC panel, remaining for a period of several seconds to more than several tens of seconds.
The transparent stripe electrodes in ordinary LCD devices are composed of indium oxide, which however shows an increased wiring resistance particularly in a large-area LCD panel, with the reduction in width of the wirings. Such increased resistance results in a signal delay, proportional to the product of the capacitance of the liquid crystal layer and the wiring resistance, and such signal delay is being avoided by a reduction in resistance, achieved by forming a metal electrode on the upper end of each stripe electrode.
Such metal electrode may be utilized for light shielding in the inter-pixel areas, by an electrode patterning technology for use in the liquid crystal shutter array, as disclosed for example in the Japanese Patent Publication Sho 63-38689. If this technology is applied to the stripe electrode patterns, the mutually opposed metal electrodes are to be shaped as indicated by 342 respectively in FIGS. 3A and 3B.
However, if the stripe electrode patterns are mutually positioned according to this method in a large-area SSFLC panel, the superposed area 43 of the upper and lower metal electrodes 42, as shown in FIG. 4, occupies a considerable portion.
Such metal electrode is generally deposited with a thickness of 500-5,000 .ANG. A on the transparent electrode, and the probability of short-circuiting of the upper and lower metal electrodes increases drastically at said superposed area 43, as the gap therebetween is as small as 1.5 .mu.m particularly in case of a ferroelectric liquid crystal display panel.

Liquid crystal display device with opaque metal electrodes parallel to transparent electrodes with notch at their intersection


A cell site of a cellular communication network may have both a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) base station and a New Radio (NR) base station to support NR Standalone connectivity and Non-Standalone (NSA) dual connectivity. The NR base station broadcasts system information from which a cellular device can determine relative service qualities of a NR Standalone connection and an NSA connection. The cellular device receives these qualities and compares them to determine whether to initially attach to the LTE base station or to the NR base station. Similarly, during cell reselection, the cellular device receives service quality information from a target LTE base station so that the cellular device can determine whether to attach to the target LTE base station or to an associated NR base station.

Cellular communication devices such as smartphones use radio access technologies to communicate wirelessly with geographically distributed base stations. Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is an example of a widely implemented radio access technology, which is used within 4th-Generation (4G) communication systems. New Radio (NR) is a newer radio access technology that is used in 5th-Generation (5G) communication systems. Standards for LTE and NR radio access technologies have been developed by the 3rd-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) for use within cellular communication networks by wireless communication carriers. Note that the terms 4G and LTE are often used interchangeably when referencing certain 4G systems and components. Also, NR radio access technology may at times be referred to as 5G radio access technology.
A configuration defined by the 3GPP in the 5G NR specification, referred to as Non-Standalone Architecture (NSA), allows the simultaneous use of 4G and 5G systems for communications with a cellular communication device. Specifically, NSA uses LTE/NR dual connectivity, in which a cellular communication device simultaneously uses both an LTE radio and an NR radio for downlink receptions from and uplink transmissions to corresponding LTE and NR base stations. An LTE bearer is used for control-plane signaling and for user-plane communications. An NR bearer is used for additional user-plane bandwidth as well as for data download or transmission throughput. The LTE base station anchors the communication session in this configuration.
NSA dual connectivity is at times referred to as EN-DC, where EN stands for EUTRAN NR and EUTRAN stands for Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Terrestrial Radio Network. NSA dual connectivity may also be referred to as MR-DC, where MR stands for Multi Radio Access Technology Dual Connectivity.
It is envisioned that early rollouts of 5G technology will primarily be used for NSA dual connectivity rather than for NR Standalone connectivity. Over time, wireless networks will be upgraded to support 5G NR Standalone communications. However, it is also likely that many systems will retain the ability to operate in NSA configurations.

Optimizing new radio standalone and dual connectivity access


A material stack including an ohmic contact layer and a single crystalline semiconductor base substrate of a first conductivity type and having a surface Fermi level pinned close to a band edge (either the conduction band or valence band) is first provided. A stressor layer is then formed above the ohmic contact layer and a material portion of the single crystalline semiconductor base substrate is removed by a process referred to as spalling. A transparent conductive oxide layer is then formed on an exposed surface of the material portion of the single crystalline semiconductor base substrate that was removed by spalling.

The present application relates to photovoltaic cells, and more particularly to a method of forming photovoltaic cells that include a thin film structure including an ohmic contact layer and a single crystalline semiconductor material having a surface Fermi level pinned close to a band edge (either the conduction band or the valence band).
Photovoltaic cells are capable of converting solar energy into direct current electricity using semiconductor materials that exhibit a photovoltaic effect. Power generated by such photovoltaic cells has long been seen as a clean sustainable energy technology which draws upon the sun for energy. Although the energy conversion efficiency of photovoltaic cells keeps increasing, the dollar/watt figure-of-merit is still much higher than other energy sources.
Thin film photovoltaic cells, which typically have film thicknesses from a few nanometers to tens of micrometers, have advantages of reduced cost, flexibility, portability, and offer more applications as compared to their non-thin film counterparts. However, the thin film photovoltaic approaches existing today suffer from various shortcomings including, for example, low efficiency for amorphous silicon and organic solar cells, and high toxicity and material scarcity for CdTe and CIGS based devices. As such, there exists a need for developing a low-cost single-crystal semiconductor material thin film photovoltaic technology which overcomes the shortcomings of prior art thin film photovoltaic cells.

International Business Machines Corporation


An optical device includes a first waveguide layer in which multiple-beam interference occurs, a second wavelength layer which includes a back surface facing the first waveguide layer and a front surface as a light output surface, and an outcoupling layer which is disposed on a back side of the second waveguide layer and faces the first wave guide layer, wherein the outcoupling layer includes a first portion as a layer with light transmission property and second portions which are dispersed in the first portion and differ in optical property from the first portion, and wherein an array of the second portions forms a triangular lattice.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical device such as an organic EL (electroluminescent) display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since organic EL displays are of self-emission type, they have a wide viewing angle and a high response speed. Further, they do not require a backlight, and therefore, low profile and light weight are possible. For these reasons, the organic EL displays are attracting attention as a display which substitutes the liquid crystal display. However, the conventional organic EL displays entail the drawback of a low luminous efficiency.

Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., Ltd.


Embodiments of the disclosed invention include a system and a method for providing a call forward indicator to enable a called party to identify a forwarded call. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving calling information for placing a telephone call. The method determines from the calling information whether the telephone call is a forwarded call. The method modifies a caller identification of a calling party associated with the telephone call to include a call forward indicator in response to determining that the telephone call is a forwarded call. The method transmits the caller identification having the call forward indicator to a forwarded communication device associated with the called party.

Caller ID (identification) and call forwarding are two telephone services offered to telecommunication customers. Caller ID is a telephone service that transmits a caller's number to the called party's telephone equipment during the ringing signal to enable displaying of the calling party's telephone number on a display of the called party's telephone equipment and/or on a separate caller ID device. In some situations, caller ID can also provide a name associated with the calling telephone number. Call forwarding is a feature on some telephone networks that allows an incoming call to a called party, which would be otherwise unavailable, to be redirected to a mobile telephone or other telephone number where the desired called party is situated. When a called party, that subscribes to both caller ID and call forwarding services, receives a forwarded call, the called party receives the identification of the calling party, but does not know whether the call is a forwarded call or whether the call is a direct call to the forwarded communication device. A similar situation occurs when a call is routed to multiple communication devices simultaneously and/or sequentially, e.g., an incoming call is routed to both a cell phone and an office phone simultaneously or one after the other.

System and method for providing a call forward indicator


A method for selecting an agent entity for a terminal in a communication system, including allocating an address to a terminal, the terminal being configured to access a communication network using a selected access technology out of at least one access technology common to the terminal and the communication network, sending a registration request from the terminal to a default agent entity, redirecting, by a redirector, the registration request from the terminal to an intercepting agent entity based on identifying that the registration request is directed to the default agent entity, intercepting, by the intercepting agent entity, the redirected registration request from the terminal, responding, by the intercepting agent entity, with a registration request response to the terminal, and registering, based on the response from the intercepting agent entity, the terminal at the predetermined agent entity of the plurality of agent entities of the communication network.

Communication technology has made considerable progress in recent years. According to one aspect of such progress, communication networks providing access to different services by means of different technologies such as GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), Bluetooth©, WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) and WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) were developed.
Most recently, communication networks and terminals which are enabled for access to a network enabling access by one out of plural of such technologies are being developed. Such networks and/or terminals are referred to as multi-access networks/terminals. Those multi-access networks allow access to data services via multiple technologies such as GSM, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), WCDMA, UMTS and the like. These technologies may require the establishment of a PDP (Packet Data Protocol) context between the terminal and the network. Further technologies providing access to data services include technologies such as WLAN, WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), xDSL (Digital Subscriber Line), xPON (Passive Optical Network) and cable modem. These technologies may be used in conjunction with IPsec (IP (Internet Protocol) Security) tunneling in order to provide encrypting and/or authentication functionalities and the like. All these different technologies may require a different kind of access termination functionality, which can be implemented in one or many network elements.
The applicable technologies are, however, not limited to those relying on a PDP context (e.g. GPRS) or IP/IPsec tunneling (e.g. WLAN), but may be based also on other principles.
Functionalities like charging and ensuring Quality of Service (QoS) can quite often be access technology dependent. When seamless service continuity is implemented by adding a mobility layer on top of the access termination layer, there will arise a requirement of conveying the access specific information between the mobility and access termination layer.
For the purpose of the present invention to be described herein below, it should be noted that
an access technology may be any of the above-described technologies by means of which a terminal can access a communication network. Although in the following only GPRS based on the PDP context and WLAN via IP/IPsec are used as exemplary access technologies for descriptive purposes, other present or future technologies, such as the technologies described above or BlueTooth©, Infrared, and the like may be used; although the above technologies are mostly wireless access technologies, e.g. in different radio spectra, access technology in the sense of the present invention may also imply wirebound technologies;
a network element may for example be any device, unit or means by means of which a user may have access to a communication network, or which enables a user to experience services provided by the communication network;
a terminal in turn may for example be any device, unit or means by means of which a user accesses a communication network, i.e. at least one network element thereof; this implies that a terminal as referred to in the present specification may correspond to a mobile as well as a non-mobile device, independent of the technology platform on which the terminal is based; the terminal can be capable of performing multi-access, i.e. can establish a connection to any network element as long as at least one commonly used access technology (e.g. GPRS or WLAN) can be agreed on;
generally, the present invention is advantageously applicable in those network/terminal environments relying on a packet based transmission scheme according to which data are transmitted in packets and which are for example based on the Internet Protocol IP, e.g. mobile IP. In a particular example of the present invention, mobile IPv4 (MIPv4, mobile IP version 4) is applied. The present invention is, however, not limited thereto, and MIPv6 or any other IP version, or, more generally, a mobility protocol following similar principles as MIPv4, is also applicable.
a gateway entity as a network element or at least as a part of a network element may be any device, unit or means by which the terminal can connect to or communicate with the network or network element (while taking into account the at least one commonly used access technology);
an agent entity may be any device, unit or means which registers a terminal to a communication network;
a home agent (abbreviated as "HA" hereinafter) entity may be any device, unit or means which serves as an entry point for the terminal into a network; as a particular example, the home agent entity may be a MIPv4 Home Agent.
method steps likely to be implemented as software code portions and being run using a processor at the network element, are software code independent and can be specified using any known or future developed programming language as long as the functionality defined by the method steps is preserved;
generally, any method step is suitable to be implemented as software or by hardware without changing the idea of the present invention in terms of the functionality implemented;
method steps and/or devices, units or means likely to be implemented as hardware components at a terminal or network element or module thereof are hardware independent and can be implemented using any known or future developed hardware technology or any hybrids of these, such as MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor), CMOS (Complementary MOS), BiMOS (Bipolar MOS), BiCMOS (Bipolar CMOS), ECL (Emitter Coupled Logic), TTL (Transistor-Transistor Logic), etc., using for example ASIC (Application Specific IC (Integrated Circuit)) components, FPGA (Field-programmable Gate Arrays) components, CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device) components or DSP (Digital Signal Processor) components;
devices, units or means (terminals, network elements or modules thereof) can be implemented as individual devices, units or means, but this does not exclude that they are implemented in a distributed fashion throughout the system, as long as the functionality of the device, unit or means is preserved.
RFC (request for comments) 4433 describes a method of dynamically selecting a home agent entity by sending the initial registration request to a default home agent entity (HA) called "Requested HA". While these comments do not address how the actual and finally selected home agent entity should be selected, there is disclosed an example how that could be achieved e.g. by using an external AAA ("Authentication, Authorization and Accounting") infrastructure. The external AAA infrastructure may cooperate with a server entity providing at least one service to the network and/or the terminal.
FIG. 1 shows a communication system 100 and such messaging involved in registering a terminal 101 at a communication network 102-105, 1021, 1024. Signalling between elements is indicated in horizontal direction, while time aspects between signalling are reflected in the vertical arrangement of the signalling sequence as well as in the sequence numbers.
As shown in FIG. 1, in the communication system 100, the terminal 101 sends a connection-establishment request to a gateway entity GW 1021 of a network element NWE 102 in step S1 so that a connection is established. Generally, connection establishment, among others, involves assigning an address to the terminal which may also be accomplished in other ways than establishing a connection.
In step S2, the gateway entity GW 1021 sends a RADIUS accounting start containing the user ID and user IP address to an external AAA server or system server 104, respectively. Thus, the system server 104 has received, in the message, information about the access termination and can therefore determine the location of the home agent ("HA" hereinafter) entity 1024 considered to be optimum.
In step S3, an initial registration request is sent from the terminal 101 to the external default HA 103.
The external default HA 103 inquires an address of the home agent entity 1024 for the terminal 101 from the system server 104 in step S4, and obtains the address of the home agent entity 1024 from the system server 104 in step S5.
In other words, because the goal can be considered to select HA1 1024 located in the same node or network element NWE 102, respectively, as the access termination and since the external default HA 103 does not know where the access is terminated, it has to ask that information from the system server 104. The system server 104 can then return this information to the default HA 103 in step S5 and the default HA 103 will then use this information to redirect the mobile IP session to HA1 1024, which is considered to be a possible optimum HA.
Namely, the default HA 103 sends in step S6 a redirect message to the terminal 101 containing an address of HA1 1024 considered to be optimum, which is in most cases the agent entity in the same network element NWE 102 in which the terminal 101 is access-terminated.
Based on the home agent entity address received from the default HA 103, the terminal 101 sends a further registration request to the home agent entity 1024 in step S7.
In step S8, having learned the home agent entity 1024 considered to be optimum, the terminal 101 may now access services 105 in the system server 104 via the gateway entity GW 1021 and the home agent entity 1024.
As derivable from FIG. 1 to be explained herein below in more detail, in the above solution, considerable signalling is required for selecting the HA by referring to the system default HA 103 and the system server 104, and for redirection to the HA 1024 in the access-terminating network element NWE 102. However, in many cases the HA to be selected is the agent entity in the same network element NWE 102 in which the terminal is access-terminated. Furthermore, two independent signalling messages (messages sent in steps S2, S4) are sent to the system server 104.
Therefore, the above solution has one or more of the following drawbacks:
It is slow:
The above signalling is performed irrespective of the fact whether or not the HA to be selected is situated in the access-terminating network element.
It pertains the danger of synchronisation problems:
The above two independent signalling messages may arrive in improper order at the system server.
Processing load is put on the system server:
All signalling is directed to the system server irrespective of fact that in many cases inquiring the correct HA from the server is not required.

Method, network element and communication system for optimized selection of an agent entity as well as modules of the network element


Methods of interfacing nanomaterials used to monitor and execute the pharmaceutical manufacturing process are disclosed herein. The nanomaterials are useful to provide a plurality of analysis to the manufacturing process. Consequently, the methods provide a means to perform validation and quality manufacturing on an integrated level whereby pharmaceutical manufacturers can achieve data and product integrity and ultimately minimize cost.

Previously we have described novel methods, systems, software programs, and manufacturing execution systems for validation, quality and risk assessment, and monitoring of pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. See, US2005/0251278 published 10 Nov. 2005; US2006/0276923 published 7 Dec. 2006; US2006/0271227 Published 30 Nov. 2006; US2007/0021856 Published 25 Jan. 2007; and US2007/0032897 Published 8 Feb. 2007. Additionally, we endeavor to further the state of the art using software and computer programming in the field of nanotechnology and supramolecular electronics.
Nanotechnology is a field of applied science and technology covering a broad range of topics. The main unifying theme is the control of matter on a scale smaller than one micrometer as well as the fabrication of devices on this same length scale. Worldwide research is currently being conducted in countess areas to discover new and useful areas where nanotechnology can be exploited commercially. The research involves potential utility in industrial applications, such as pharmaceutical manufacturing as well as other areas of medicine and bioenergy just to name a few.
Despite the apparent simplicity of this definition, nanotechnology actually encompasses diverse lines of inquiry. Nanotechnology cuts across many disciplines, including colloidal science, chemistry, applied physics, biology. It could variously be seen as an extension of existing sciences into the nanoscale, or as a recasting of existing sciences using a newer, more modern term.
Two main approaches are used in nanotechnology. One is a "bottom-up" approach where materials and devices are built from molecular components which assemble themselves chemically using principles of molecular recognition. The other being a "top-down" approach where nano-objects are constructed from larger entities without atomic-level control. Nanomaterials are materials having unique properties arising from their nanoscale dimensions. The use of nanoscale materials can also be used for bulk applications. In fact, most present commercial applications of nanotechnology are of this flavor.
Nanomaterials from a "top-down" design have certain scaling deficiencies which must be assessed. For example, A number of physical phenomena become noticeably pronounced as the size of the system decreases. These include statistical mechanical effects, as well as quantum mechanical effects, for example the "quantum size effect" where the electronic properties of solids are altered with great reductions in particle size. This effect does not come into play by going from macro to micro dimensions. However, it becomes dominant when the nanometer size range is reached. Additionally, a number of physical properties change when compared to macroscopic systems. One example is the increase in surface area to volume of materials. This catalytic activity also opens potential risks in their interaction with biomaterials.
Additionally, materials reduced to the nanoscale can suddenly show very different properties compared to what they exhibit on a macroscale, enabling unique applications. For instance, opaque substances become transparent (copper); inert materials become catalysts (platinum); stable materials turn combustible (aluminum); solids turn into liquids at room temperature (gold); insulators become conductors (silicon) to name a few.
Additionally, nanosize powder particles are important for the achievement of uniform nanoporosity and similar applications. However, the tendency of small particles to form clumps ("agglomerates") is a serious technological problem that impedes such applications.
Another deficiency is that the volume of an object decreases as the third power of its linear dimensions, but the surface area only decreases as its second power. This somewhat subtle and unavoidable principle has huge ramifications. For example the power of a drill (or any other machine) is proportional to the volume, while the friction of the drill's bearings and gears is proportional to their surface area. For a normal-sized drill, the power of the device is enough to handily overcome any friction. However, scaling its length down by a factor of 1000, for example, decreases its power by 10003 (a factor of a billion) while reducing the friction by only 10002 (a factor of "only" a million). Proportionally it has 1000 times less power per unit friction than the original drill. If the original friction-to-power ratio was, say, 1%, that implies the smaller drill will have 10 times as much friction as power. The drill is useless.
This is why, while super-miniature electronic integrated circuits can be made to function, the same technology cannot be used to make functional mechanical devices in miniature.
Nanomaterials from a "bottom-up" design also have certain deficiencies which must be assessed. Modem synthetic chemistry has reached the point where it is possible to prepare small molecules to almost any structure. These methods are used today to produce a wide variety of useful chemicals such as pharmaceuticals or commercial polymers. However, the ability of this to extend into supramolecular assemblies consisting of many molecules arranged in a well defined manner is problematic. Such bottom-up approaches should, broadly speaking, be able to produce devices in parallel and much cheaper than top-down methods. However, most useful structures require complex and thermodynamically unlikely arrangements of atoms. The basic laws of probability and entropy make it very unlikely that atoms will "self-assemble" in useful configurations, or can be easily and economically nudged to do so. About the only example of this is crystal-growing, for which Nanotechnology cannot take any credit.
Given the deficiencies associated with "top-down" and "bottom-up" nanomaterials, it becomes clear that providing a functional approach to nanotechnology (i.e. the development of nanomaterials of a desired functionality) can be problematic. Finally, implementing nanotechnologies in highly-regulated bulk manufacturing applications, such as pharmaceutical manufacturing, only compounds problems. The present invention overcomes these problems.

Methods of interfacing nanomaterials for the monitoring and execution of pharmaceutical manufacturing processes


The present document provides a switchover method and apparatus for multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) transmission modes; the method includes the following steps: a network side notifying a user equipment (UE) that one or more MBMSs will be transmitted by means of a point to multipoint (PTM) mode, then transmitting relevant information of the one or more MBMSs to the UE. The present document ensures the continuity of the MBMSs which are being received by the UE during the switching process from a PTP mode to the PTM mode, and is easy to implement and operate.

With the swift and violent development of the Internet and the popularization of the large screen multi-function mobile phone, a large number of mobile data multimedia services and various high bandwidth multimedia services, for example: video conference, television broadcasting, video on demand, video advertisement, online education, interactive game, etc. appears, which not only meet the constantly rising service requirement of the mobile subscriber but also bring the new service growth point for the mobile operator at the same time. These mobile data multimedia services require a plurality of users to be able to receive the same data at the same time, and compared with the general data service, the mobile data multimedia services have the characteristics such as, large data bulk, long duration time, sensitive time delay, etc. In order to utilize the mobile network resources effectively, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (abbreviated as 3GPP) puts forward the MBMS service, and the service is a kind of technology that the data are transmitted to a plurality of targets from one data source, realizes the sharing of the network (including the core network and the access network) resources, improves the utilization rate of the network resources (especially the air interface resources). The MBMS service defined by the 3GPP not only can realize the message-type multicasting and broadcasting of the pure text and low speed, but also can realize the broadcasting and multicasting of the high-speed multimedia service, to provide various abundant videos, audios and multimedia services; this is undoubtedly complied with the development trend of the future mobile data, and provides the better service prospect for the 3rd generation digital communication (3rd Generation, 3G) development.
During the MBMS standard formulation of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) R10, it is proposed by the telecommunication operator orange that the MBMS service can be transmitted for the user equipment (UE) by means of the PTP mode in the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) according to the demand of the operator. And it gets supporting and approval of other companies after more than one meeting discussion of the LTE, and it is proposed that the Counting is performed for this kind of services when discussing the MBMS Counting; according to the Counting result, if the number of the users receiving certain MBMS service under the PTP mode meets the threshold requirement (that is, the number of the receiving users is great), then the MBMS service can be converted as an MBMS service transmitted by means of the MBSFN mode in a certain MBSFN area (wherein, the MBSFN mode is a kind of point to multipoint (described as PTM hereinafter) mode, and it is a multiple cell union transmission mode (certainly it can be of one cell under extreme conditions, but there is no air interface combination gain at this moment), for details, referring to the description of the Multi-cell transmission in 15.3.3 of the protocol LTE 36.300v10.1.0), which will be described with the PTM mode in the following description. After the number of the users receiving the MBMS service exceeds a certain threshold, the transmission mode is switched from the PTP mode to the PTM mode, which can further promote the efficiency of the spectrum for transmitting the MBMS service, and save the spectral resources.
There is no specific switchover method for switching from transmitting the MBMS service by means of the PTP mode to transmitting the MBMS service by means of the PTM mode in the related art.

Method for switchover between MBMS transmission modes, apparatus, and user equipment


Disclosed herein is a game providing system, including: an allocation server connected to a plurality of client apparatus through a network; and a game providing server configured to execute a game application to be provided to the client apparatus allocated by the allocation server. The game providing server is a multiprocessing system which includes a plurality of game processing systems each of which can solely execute at most one game application. The allocation server sets the number of ones of the game processing systems which are to be allocated in order to execute one game application in the game providing server in response to a load to the game providing server.

The present technology relates to a game providing system.
In recent years, communication technologies for networks beginning with the Internet have developed rapidly, and what is called a cloud service by which a user receives the provision of various applications through a network has become provided. Among such cloud services, also a cloud gaming service has been implemented wherein a game application is executed on a cloud server and a result of the execution is streaming distributed to a client apparatus through a network.
In order to implement such a cloud gaming service as just described, a plurality of game providing servers are required to provide different applications to a plurality of different users. Naturally, a plurality of processing systems are involved in order to execute game applications.
If a plurality of processing systems are prepared in order to cope with a maximum number of users estimated as users who utilize a cloud gaming service, then when the number of users who actually utilize the cloud gaming service is small, a surplus appears among calculation resources of the game providing server. On the other hand, if the number of processing systems to be prepared is reduced, then the calculation resources of the game providing server become insufficient, and the game providing servers cannot cope with an estimated maximum number of users.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a technology which can distribute calculation resources of a game providing server appropriately.


Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can affect the operation of and even damage an unprotected integrated circuit. Conventional ESD protection circuits may not be able to protect the integrated circuit if the voltage at the output of the integrated circuit swings with large amplitude. In some embodiments, an ESD protection circuit comprising switching circuitry that provides a low AC impedance path to ground can prevent improper triggering of the ESD protection circuit during normal operation of the integrated circuit, while ensuring that the ESD protection circuit device reliability is not compromised.

Embodiments of the inventive subject matter generally relate to the field of integrated circuits, and more particularly, to techniques for electrostatic discharge protection for integrated circuits.
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) occurs due to transfer of static charge from an object (e.g., a human body) to an integrated circuit. The electrostatic discharge can affect the operation of the integrated circuit and even damage the integrated circuit if the integrated circuit is not adequately protected.

Electrostatic discharge protection circuit


A device for operating a discharge lamp of the short arc type having a feed device which supplies a direct current to the discharge lamp when operation starts and an alternating current afterwards, in which the feed device supplies a direct current which is smaller than the rated current to the discharge lamp at the start of operation, and a direct current which is at least as large as the rated current, afterwards. A control which ascertains whether the discharge lamp at the start of operation is in a hot or cold start operating state, and which establishes one of the following parameters based on whether the hot or cold operating state ascertained to exist:                the value of the direct current which is at least as great as the rated current;        the feed duration of the direct current which is at least as great as the rated current.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for operation of a discharge lamp of the short arc type. The invention relates especially to a device for operation of a discharge lamp of the short arc type which is used for a rear projector device using an LCD device or a DLP (digital light processor) using a DMD (digital mirror device).
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a projection type projector device, there is a demand for illumination of images onto a rectangular screen in a uniform manner and with sufficient color rendering. Therefore, a discharge lamp with a high mercury vapor pressure, for example, with 150 atm, is used as the light source. Here, by increasing the mercury vapor pressure, broadening of the arc is suppressed (the arc is contracted) and an increase of the light intensity as strong as possible is attempted. This type of discharge lamp is disclosed, for example, in Japanese patent disclosure document JP-A-2-148561 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,181, Japanese patent disclosure document JP-A-6-52830 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,049 and Japanese patent JP-B-2980882 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,271,628 B1.
In the above described discharge lamp, for example, in a silica glass arc tube containing at least 0.15 mg/mm3 of mercury, a rare gas and from 1×10−6 μmole/mm3 to 1×10−2 mole/mm3 of a halogen, there is a pair of opposed electrodes at a distance from one another of at most 2 mm. The main purpose of adding the halogen is to prevent devitrification of the arc tube. However, this also yields occurrence of the so-called halogen cycle.
In a discharge lamp of the short arc type (hereinafter also called only a "discharge lamp"), over the course of operation, the tungsten of which the electrodes are made is transported to the inner side of the discharge vessel and is deposited on it (so-called blackening of the tube wall). This blackening of the tube wall causes a reduction of light intensity, and in a drastic case, can adversely affect the service life of the lamp, such as by damaging the discharge vessel.
On the other hand, a projection type projector device, to date, has been used mainly commercially or for similar purposes as a data projector. The time interval from the end of use of the projector device to the next start of use was at least one minute. This means that there was also at least 1 minute after turning off the discharge lamp until the next operation. With this time interval, the electrode temperature of the discharge lamp can be adequately reduced, by which damage to the electrodes upon restart (at the next operation) is also kept low.
In the course of improving projector technology, however, recently, instead of data projectors, so-called rear projection televisions have appeared which are used like televisions. Their use together with plasma screen televisions and large liquid crystal display televisions is generally expected to be common for home use. In these rear projection televisions, the time interval from the end of the use of the projector device to the next use is shorter than in a data projector. Specifically, there is a demand for an extremely short time within 30 seconds.

Device for operation of a discharge lamp of the short arc type


The present invention herein provides a method for collecting insect hemolymph which permits the collection of hemolymph, at a time, from a vast number of insect bodies, which does not cause any scattering of the hemolymph during collection thereof, which may widely be used, which permits the collection of the hemolymph free of unnecessary tissues or the like and which can inhibit the melanization of the collected hemolymph. The insect hemolymph can be collected by freezing anesthetized lepidopterous insects, piercing the epidermis of the frozen insects without damaging the alimentary canals thereof and then thawing them in a buffer solution containing a melanization-inhibitory agent to thus discharge the hemolymph of the insects into the buffer solution through the holes while making use of the self-contraction phenomenon caused during the thawing process.

The hemolymph of insects belonging to, for instance, the lepidopteran has conventionally been collected manually by partially puncturing the epidermis of the insect bodies and then squeezing the hemolymph out of the insect bodies. For this reason, the operations for collecting hemolymph, at a time, from a vast number of insect bodies requires much labor and a great deal of time and are thus impracticable. Moreover, the hemolymph may be scattered during squeezing the same out of the insect bodies.
Moreover, in respect of the collection of the hemolymph from larvae of silkworm moth, there has been proposed a method for incising silkworms using a blade which can emit ultrasonics (Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication No. Hei 9-19238). However, such an incision method requires the use of special equipments and apparatuses and has not widely been used. In addition, such a method has not been applied, at all, to the collection of hemolymph from other insects such as lepidopterous insects.

Method for collecting hemolymph of insects

Japan as Represented by Director General of National Institute of Sericultural and Entomological Science Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry&Fisheries


Systems, devices and methods for providing dynamic tailored product information to mobile terminals as a result of reading short-range wireless communication tags, such as RFID tags. The invention is able to provide consumer related product information to consumer operated terminals and retailer related product information to retailer or employee operated terminals, without requiring separate transponders or unique reading devices. In addition, the invention is able to accomplish providing dynamic information in a highly efficient and user-friendly manner and without requiring additional memory at the tag level.

Short-range wireless communication capability is becoming more prominent in a wide variety of mobile digital devices, such as cellular phones, personal digital assistants, pagers and other mobile devices. By equipping such devices with requisite short-range communication readers the devices have the ability to communicate via RFID, Bluetooth, infrared or other types of short-range communication dependent upon the type of reader/transceiver associated with the mobile device. Devices equipped with such readers are capable of receiving information from transponders, also referred as tags. As more and more portable digital devices become equipped with short-range wireless communication means, such as RFID and the like, the device's ability to access information and services expands.
Short-range communication tags are typically simplistic in design; including an integrated circuit that incorporates the associated short-range communication circuitry and sufficient memory to store the information that will be communicated to the transponder. As such, tags are typically contained within relatively compact packages, such as embedded within a credit-card type package, a key fob or the like. The compact nature of the tags makes them highly portable and adaptable to many different applications. However, the compact nature of the tag tends to limit the size of the memory unit and, thus, the amount of information that can be stored and transmitted by the tag is limited. Typically, current tags are limited to a memory size in the range of about 32 bytes to about 128 bytes of storage space. However, it is noted that next-generation tags may have upwards of 1000–3000 kilobytes or more of storage capacity. In addition to physical constraints, tags are typically high-volume, low cost devices that are generally disposable. Thus, even though the physical size of the tag may allow for additional memory space, the cost related to adding additional memory is typically economically prohibitive.
To overcome memory limitations, recent developments in tag technology have provided for tag information to be read and for network communication to be activated in which the read tag information is communicated to a dedicated external server, such as a web-based server or the like. The dedicated server is then able to retrieve and provide the reading device, such as a mobile terminal, with supplemental information that is associated with the information stored on the tag. See for example U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/775,450, entitled "Accessing Data in a Short-Range Wireless Communication Network", filed 10 Feb. 2004, in the name of inventor Nystrom and assigned to the same inventive entity, Nokia Corporation, as the present invention. In addition, see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/600,011, entitled "System, apparatus, and method for effecting network connections via wireless devices using radio frequency identification", filed 19 Jun. 2003, in the name of inventors Byman-Kivivuori et al and assigned to the same inventive entity, Nokia Corporation, as the present invention. Both applications are herein incorporated by reference as if setforth fully herein.
However, in addition to memory limitations, the limited information that can be stored on a tag is static information and, as such, each reader is provided with the same information when the tag is read. In many instances, a need will exist to provide readers of tags with different information depending on who or what device is reading the tag. This is especially evident in the situation in which the tag information is related to a product.
The type of information that an individual will desire about a product will vary depending on if the individual is consumer or a retailer. For example, a consumer who is interested in purchasing a certain product has a desire in receiving general product-related information, such as, for example, manufacturer information, product specifications, consumer reports, pricing information and the like. The retailer (i.e., shop owner or employee) does not benefit from the information that would be provided to a consumer but, rather, has an interest in being provided other information, such as inventory related information, manufacturing data and/or date. In addition, the retailer may benefit from being provided an interface, e.g., web site or telephone number, for contacting a product supplier to re-order the product.
Currently, the consumer may be equipped with a conventional near-field communication reader (NFC) that allows for interaction with NFC-based RFID tags and the retailer, who is interested in receiving standardized product identifier information, such as Electronic Product Core (EPC) or Uniform Product Code (UPC) information, will require an alternate type reader to read and decode such information.
Thus a need exists to develop systems, devices and corresponding methods and computer programs for providing dynamic, tailored product information based on the current needs of the user of the reader device. In this regard, a single short-range communication tag would be capable of providing a consumer relevant product information while providing a retailer altogether different information relevant to a product retailer. In addition, a desire exists to combine standard tag information with standardized product identifiers, such as EPC or UPC identifiers, such that both forms of information can be captured and read by standard short-range communication readers and smooth adaptation of the information can be realized based on the current user needs.

Methods, systems, devices and computer program products for providing dynamic product information in short-range communication


A pixel includes an integration capacitor coupled between a system voltage and a pump voltage source and having a first side and a second side. The pixel can be operated to have a large full well by: storing charge from a photo-current source in the integration capacitor; reading out the integration capacitor; resetting the integration capacitor by connecting the capacitor to a column line through a select transistor; while resetting, setting the pump voltage source to the system voltage; and after resetting, setting the pump voltage to ground to create a negative voltage between the integration capacitor and column line.

The present disclosure relates to a digital pixel imager and, in particular, a digital pixel circuit that includes two bloom storage capacitors.
In legacy analog imagers, particularly infrared imagers, photo-current from a detector diode is integrated by a well capacitor coupled to the detector diode, and then once per video frame, the voltage or charge of each well capacitor is transferred to a down-stream analog-to-digital converter (ADC), where the voltage is converted to a binary value. Pixel sizes continue to shrink and the ratio of well capacitor to pixel area shrinks disproportionately more. Simultaneously, there is a demand by consumers for increased Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) which can be realized by increasing effective well capacitance.
In-pixel ADC imagers are used to address this problem associated with decreasing pixel size. In particular, in-pixel ADC imaging improves photo-charge capacity for infrared imaging and other applications as the size of pixels continues to decrease. A good in-pixel ADC design can store nearly all of the available photo-charge from a detector diode and thus improve SNR to near theoretical limits. A common method of integration for in-pixel ADC circuits uses a quantizing analog front end circuit which accumulates charge over a relatively small capacitor, trips a threshold and is then reset. This pattern is repeated as more photo-current integrates.
An example of an in-pixel ADC circuit 100 is illustrated in FIG. 1. Charge from a photo-diode 110 is accumulated over an integration capacitor 115. Charge is accumulated, in general, until a readout time. When that time is reached, the charge stored in integration capacitor 115 is provided through a select transistor 125 switch to a column line 118.
Control of the flow of current from the photo-diode 110 is controlled by an injection transistor 112. The gate of the injection transistor 112 is coupled to a bias voltage Vbias. The level of this voltage can be selected by the skilled artisan and is used, in part, to keep the photo-diode in reverse bias where the voltage at node 114 is lower than the diode supply voltage Vdiode.
The integration capacitor 115 is connected to a readout circuit 120 via a column line 118. During a readout time for the particular diode 110, a select transistor 125 is provided a selection signal (Sel) that allows it to couple the integration capacitor 115 to the column line. Charge accumulated on the integration capacitor 115 is then read out by the readout circuit 120.
As shown the readout circuit 120 is capacitive transimpedance amplifier (CTIA) readout circuit that includes an amplifier 122 having an output (Vout), a capacitor 124 coupled between a one input of the amplifier 122 and the output of the amplifier (Vout) and a reset switch 126 coupled in parallel with the capacitor 124. Operation of such a circuit is well known and not discussed further in detail herein.
After readout of the integration capacitor 115 is completed, the circuit is reset via a reset switch 130 that receives a control signal Reset.
The above described circuit works well for its intended purpose.
At present, market demands drive smaller and smaller pixels while maintaining performance. However, as pixels shrink, so does the amount of charge an individual pixel (e.g, the combination of photo-diode 110 and integration capacitor 115) can hold. The amount of charge is also referred to as "full well" and is limited because as the capacitance shrinks, so does the full well (number of carriers=voltage swing*capacitance/q). A few solutions have been proposed and include: larger pixels; lower full well sizes and the implementation of a digital pixel that fold a larger voltage swing into a supply voltage range while counting the number of folds.


A video camera including: an image pickup unit for generating an image signal; a level changing device for changing the level of the image signal; a negative-positive switching circuit for receiving the image signal outputted from the level changing device, the negative-positive switching circuit outputting the image signal outputted from the level changing device after inverting the level change direction of the image signal in a negative mode, and outputting the image signal outputted from the level changing device without inverting the level change direction of the image signal in a positive mode; and a control circuit for controlling the level changing device, the control circuit inverting the control direction between the negative and positive modes. The same control for both the negative image pickup and positive image pickup can be carried out by similar processes and operations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video camera, and more particularly to a video camera having a negative-positive reversal function.
2. Related Background Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the outline of the structure of a conventional television camera of this type having an iris control function. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 represents light from a subject (not shown). This light 1 passes through a lens 2 and iris 3 and becomes incident on an image pickup unit 4 whereat the light is photoelectrically converted into an image signal Y and outputted therefrom. The image signal Y is divided into a negative signal (Y) and a positive signal (Y) at a negative-positive inverter 5 which are then sent to a negative-positive switch unit 6. Reference numeral 5a represents an inverter amplifier. The negative-positive switch unit has a switch 6a which is switched under control of a negative-positive control signal (NP Cont). One of the negative and positive signals selected by the switch 6a is sent to a signal processing unit 7 and outputted therefrom as a video (Video) signal after having been processed.
In the meantime, a fraction of the image signal Y outputted from the image pickup unit 4 is sent to an iris control unit 8 whereat the image signal Y is adjusted to have a proper level and outputted to an iris driving unit 9. The iris driving unit 9 drives the iris 3 to control the light amount incident upon the image pickup unit 4. These units constitute an automatic iris control system.
The iris control unit 8 is constructed such that the image signal Y is controlled to have a proper level in accordance with an iris control signal (Iris Cont) supplied from an iris control signal generating circuit 17. The iris control signal Iris Cont can be adjusted externally by an operator by manipulating a manual volume 18, to thereby obtain a desired opening degree of the iris 3.
The conventional television camera described above, however, has a problem of poor handling in operation that the direction (polarity) of brightness change during iris adjustment is reversed between a mode of outputting a negative signal (hereinafter called a negative mode) and a mode of outputting a positive signal (hereinafter called a positive mode), resulting in a different way of adjustment between the negative mode and positive mode.
Specifically, in manipulating the manual volume 18 to supply an iris control signal and externally adjust the opening degree of the iris, the direction of brightness change of a video output signal is reversed between a positive mode image pickup and a negative mode image pickup. For example, in the positive mode, the iris is opened to make an image bright, whereas in the negative mode an image becomes dark if the iris is opened.
The reason for this will be described briefly. As the iris is opened in the positive mode, it is apparent that the image signal Y becomes stronger and the image becomes brighter. In the negative mode, the inverted negative signal Y is given by the following equation. EQU Y=A-Y (1)
where A is a constant. Therefore, as the iris is opened in the negative mode to make an image bright, the positive signal Y becomes stronger and so the negative signal Y becomes weaker, as understood from the equation (1). Thus, the relation between the direction of opening the iris and the image brightness is reversed between the negative and positive modes.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the circuit arrangement of a conventional television camera of the type described above, having a white balance control function. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 represents an image pickup unit for photoelectrically converting light from a subject (not shown) into color signals E.sub.R ', E.sub.G ', and E.sub.B ' respectively of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) colors. Reference numeral 22 represents an amplifier unit having amplifiers 22a, 22b, and 22c for amplifying the color signals E.sub.R ', E.sub.G ', and E.sub.B '. The amplifiers 22a and 22c are voltage-controlled variable gain amplifiers, whose gains are controlled by control voltages V.sub.R and V.sub.B or white balance control information supplied from a white balance control signal generating circuit 38. Reference numeral 23 represents a signal processing unit which processes (gamma correction and the like) the amplifified color signals E.sub.R, E.sub.G, and E.sub.B and outputs image signals including a luminance signal E.sub.Y and color difference signals E.sub.R-Y and E.sub.B-Y. Reference numeral 24 represents an inverter unit having inverters 24a, 24b, and 24c for inverting the image signals. Reference numeral 25 represents a negative-positive switching unit for selectively using the inverted image signal (negative signal) and non-inverted image signal (positive signal) between the negative and positive modes, the negative-positive switching unit having switches 25a, 25b, and 25c which are controlled by a negative-positive control signal (NP CONT) supplied from a negative-positive switching signal generating circuit 36. Reference numeral 26 represents an encoder for converting the image signals into a video signal (Video) and outputting therefrom. Reference numeral 37 represents a manual volume for adjusting white balance control signals V.sub.R and V.sub.B.
The operation of the color television camera constructed as above will be described. Light from a subject is photoelectrically converted into R, G, and B color signals E.sub.R ', E.sub.G ', and E.sub.B ', which are amplified by the amplifiers 22a, 22b, and 22c and sent to the signal processing unit 23. The amplifiers 22a and 22c are voltage-controlled variable gain amplifiers, as described previously, and the gains thereof are controlled by the control voltages V.sub.R and V.sub.B to obtain a proper white balance. The signal processing unit 23 processes the color signals E.sub.R, E.sub.G, and E.sub.B and converts them into a luminance signal E.sub.Y and color difference signals E.sub.R-Y and E.sub.B-Y. These image signals outputted from the signal processing unit 23 pass through the inverter unit 24 and negative-positive switching unit 25 and are sent to the encoder 26 whereby they are converted into a video signal to be outputted therefrom.
The inverter unit 24 has inverters 24a, 24b, and 24c for respective signals E.sub.Y, E.sub.R-Y, and E.sub.B-Y, the interconnection between the switches 25a, 25b, and 25c of the negative-positive switching unit 25 being as shown in FIG. 2. As described above, the negative-positive switching unit 25 is controlled by the negative-positive control signal (NP CONT) supplied from the negative-positive switching signal generating circuit 36, to thereby activate the switches 25a, 25b, and 25c and selectively use the negative and positive signals. The inverters 24b and 24c for the color difference signals operate in the manner defined by the following equations. ##EQU1##
The inverter 24a for the luminance signal operates in the manner defined by the following equation. EQU E.sub.Y =A-E.sub.Y (II)
where A is a constant.
The operation of the white balance control by the circuit shown in FIG. 2 will be briefly described for the positive mode and for the negative mode.
(A) The case will be described wherein in the positive mode, the white balance control voltages V.sub.R and V.sub.B are adjusted by the manual volume 37 to increase the gain of the amplifier 22a and decrease the gain of the amplifier 22c.
In this case, it is apparent that as the gain of the amplifier 22a is increased, the level of the R signal E.sub.R will rise, and that as the gain of the amplifier 22c is decreased, the level of the B signal E.sub.B will lower. In accordance with the obtained color signals, the luminance signal E.sub.Y and color difference signals E.sub.R-Y and E.sub.B-Y are generated and encoded. As a result, an image more reddish than that before the gain change is displayed on the screen of a monitor (not shown).
(B) Next, the case will be described wherein in the negative mode, the white balance control voltages V.sub.R and V.sub.B are adjusted by the manual volume 37 to increase the gain of the amplifier 22a and decrease the gain of the amplifier 22c.
In this case, it is apparent that as the gain of the amplifier 22a is increased, the level of the R signal E.sub.R will rise, and that as the gain of the amplifier 22c is decreased, the level of the B signal E.sub.B will lower. In accordance with the obtained color signals, the luminance signal E.sub.Y and color difference signals E.sub.R-Y and E.sub.B-Y are generated, inverted and encoded. As a result, an image more bluish than that before the gain change is displayed on the screen of a monitor (not shown).
Next, the operation of the white balance control in the above case (A) will be described in more detail. For the purpose of simplicity, it is assumed that luminance and color difference matrices in conformity with the NTSC system are ideal.
The conversion of color signals E.sub.R, E.sub.G, and E.sub.B into color signals E.sub.Y, E.sub.R-Y, and E.sub.B-Y is carried out using the following equations. ##EQU2##
The inverted image signals are given by the following equations. ##EQU3##
The reproduced signals at the monitor are given by the following equations. ##EQU4## where E.sub.Rm is a red channel signal at the monitor, E.sub.Gm is a green channel signal at the monitor, and E.sub.Bm is a blue channel signal at the monitor.
From the equations (IV) and (V), the reproduced signals at the monitor during the negative mode are given by the following equations. ##EQU5##
Accordingly, as the R signal E.sub.R level is raised at the amplifier 22a, the signal E.sub.Rm at the monitor becomes weaker, and as the B signal E.sub.B level is lowered at the amplifier 22c, the signal E.sub.Bm at the monitor becomes stronger. In other words, an image on the monitor becomes bluish. This is because a reversal function of image signals is provided at the succeeding stage of the white balance controlling variable gain amplifiers.
A conventional color television camera having a negative-positive reversal function and a white balance control function is constructed as described above. Therefore, the operation of the white balance control is reversed between the negative and positive modes. In adjusting a white balance slightly by manipulating the manual volume 37, the control operation is reversed between the negative and positive modes, resulting in poor handling in operation. A color television camera, particularly a camera having a single manual volume for adjusting an image to become reddish or bluish, the rotation direction is reversed, resulting in disability of adjustment in some cases.

Video camera with negative-positive reversal function


Described herein are methods and mechanisms for laterally dispensing fluid to a coke drum in a predictable and maintainable manner that alleviates thermal stress. In one embodiment, the methods and mechanisms utilize a split piping system to dispense fluid through two or more inlets into a spool that is connected to a coke drum and a coke drum bottom deheader valve. A combination of block valves and clean out ports provides a more effective means to clean the lines and allows fluid to be laterally dispensed in a controllable and predictable manner. The fluid is preferably introduced to the spool in opposing directions toward a central vertical axis of the spool at equal but opposing angles ranging from minus thirty (−30) to thirty (30) degrees relative to a horizontal line laterally bisecting the spool. Alternatively, however, fluid can be introduced to the spool tangentially.

2.1 Field
The field of the invention is delayed coking. More particularly, the field of the invention is methods and mechanisms for dispensing fluid to delayed coke drums.
2.2 Description of Related Art
In delayed coking, heavy distillation fractions ("resid" or "residuum") is typically heated rapidly in a fired heater or tubular furnace to create a mixture of hot liquid and vapor which is then fed to a large steel vessel commonly known as a coke drum. The coke drum is maintained under conditions in which coking occurs (e.g., greater than about 400° C. under super-atmospheric pressures). Delayed coke drums are typically cylindrical vessels with a cone at the bottom; that range in diameter anywhere from about 15 to 30 feet. The height of a delayed coke drum is typically two to five times the diameter.
During the delayed coking process, the heated resid undergoes high temperature decomposition to produce more valuable liquid and gaseous products and solid or semi-solid coke residue. The volatile components are removed overhead and pass on to a fractionator. The solid or semi-solid coke left behind accumulates in the drum. When the coke reaches a certain level, a switch valve is moved to redirect the resid to an empty "sister" drum. The hydrocarbon vapors in the full drum, now off line, are then purged with steam and the drum is quenched with steam and water to lower the temperature to less than about 100° C.—after which the water is drained. When the cooling and draining steps are complete, the top and bottom heads of the drum are opened and the coke is removed by drilling and/or cutting. For example, high velocity water jets may be lowered in through the top of the drum.
Typically, each end of a delayed coking drum is capped with a bolted on steel plate called a "head." The process of removing the top and bottom heads of a coke drum is called "unheading" or "deheading." There are several conventional methods for opening the heads of a coke drum. One method is to completely remove the bottom head from the vessel and, optionally, carry it away on a cart. Another method is to swing the bottom head out of the way, as on a hinge or pivot, while the head remains coupled to the vessel. (See e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,829.) Manually removing the heads, especially the bottom heads, is dangerous work and has resulted in serious injuries and fatalities. Operators face significant risk of injury from exposure to steam, hot water, coke fallout, fire, etc. To help alleviate this risk, the industry has developed semi-automatic or fully automatic systems for the bottom unheading.
From the late 1930s through the 1950s, heated resid was predominately fed to delayed coke drums through a single horizontal side-inlet in a side wall near the bottom of the drum. There are several problems with this design, as illustrated in N. A. Weil and F. S. Rapasky, "Experience with Vessels of Delayed Coking Units," Proceedings of the American Petroleum Institute, Section III Refining, pp. 214-232 (1958). Basically, when the heated resid enters the coke drum, it shoots across the drum against the wall opposite the inlet. Thus, the wall opposite the inlet is subjected to higher heat than the remainder of the drum. The thermal shock caused by this non-uniform heat distribution expresses itself in a number of ways, including: recurrent plastic deformation of the coke drum bottom and eventual ovalization; leaks in nearby gasketed joints; metal fatigue; and cracks in the drum.
From the late 1950s to the early 2000s, with some exceptions, the side inlet feed design was replaced with a single vertical bottom-inlet design. Relative to the single side-inlet design, this configuration reduced the non-uniform temperature distribution and concomitant leak problems. Typically, the bottom feed inlet is through the center of the bottom head and the feed line is disconnected before the bottom head is removed.
Over a many years, actuated severe service valves have been suggested in the industry by a number of vendors as a safer and more time efficient alternative to the use of bottom heads on delayed coking drums. Since about 2001, suitable valves for this purpose have been disclosed by, among others, Zimmermann and Jansen GmbH, Curtiss-Wright Flow Corporation and Velan Inc. (See e.g., Zimmermann and Jansen GmbH U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,116,022 and 5,927,684, Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Corporation U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,656,5714, 6,666,0131, 6,843,889, 6,964,727, 6,989,031 and 7,033,460 and Velan Inc. U.S. Patent Application No. 2005/0269197). However, if one replaces a coke drum bottom head with a severe service valve, the concurrent use of a vertical bottom feed-inlet becomes much more problematic and, in some cases, impossible. To be repetitively and continuously operable through numerous coking/decoking cycles without removal, this type of valve closure requires a lateral feed system that is located above the valve apparatus. As a result, the industry is moving back to the use of a single horizontal side-inlet feed nozzle despite the associated thermal stress problems. This is illustrated, for example, in U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0251121.
Two published patent applications, namely, US Patent Application No. 2004/0200715 and US Patent Application No. 2004/0251121, have attempted to address the stress induced leakage problems encountered in coke drums when a valve is used as a bottom head in combination with a single side feed inlet. These proposed solutions treat the symptom rather than the disease by focusing on valve insulation and seal design to increase thermal stress resistance rather than the uneven feed distribution that causes the thermal stress.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,115,190 ("the '190 patent") describes "a tangential injection system for use within a delayed coking system . . . . The tangential injection system comprises a spool, [and] a tangential dispenser, . . . wherein the tangential dispenser comprises a delivery main surrounding the perimeter of the spool that functions to deliver a residual byproduct . . . to a plurality of feed lines positioned . . . at distances around the delivery main for the purpose of providing tangential dispensing of the residual byproduct into the vessel, thus effectuating even thermal distribution throughout the vessel." The complexity of the tangential injection system described in the '190 patent is self-evident from the patent itself. "[F]riction forces tend to create a reduction in the velocity of the residual material as it travels through [the] curved pipe section . . . . As such, these forces are taken into consideration when designing the size and location of each of [the] feed lines . . . , their respective angles of entry, as well as the respective cross-sectional areas of each feed line and delivery main." See the '190 patent col. 7, lines 46-55. "The relative sizes of the plurality of feed lines may vary so that the volume and/or velocity passing through the lines in [sic] somewhat equalized . . . . " See the '910 patent col. 8 lines 6-8.
The '190 patent also "illustrates . . . [a] prior art dispenser . . . namely a system comprising two opposing, co-axial inlet feeds coupled to a vessel in the form of a coke drum." See the '190 patent col. 4 lines 55-59. The '190 patent then asserts that "[a]lthough the addition of another dispenser or inlet feed helps alleviate some of the problems discussed above . . . namely the lack of uniform heat distribution, the remedial effect or benefit of two opposing inlet feeds on these problems is only minimal. A significant amount of uneven heat distribution and thermal variance still exists within or throughout [the] vessel because of the inability of the inlet feeds . . . to dispense byproduct in a controlled and predictable manner." [Italic emphasis added]. "For example, byproduct from each feed inlet . . . is dispensed into the vessel. If the pressure within each inlet feed are similar, the byproduct from each feed inlet will meet somewhere in the middle and cause the byproduct to be randomly displaced within [the] vessel . . . . On the other hand, in the even [sic; event] that a pressure differential exists between inlet feeds . . . then the byproduct will be even more randomly dispensed and the problems of thermal variance increased." See the '190 patent col. 3 lines 6-22.
There remains a need to provide easier and more effective solutions to the high thermal stress problems caused by the lateral side introduction of heated resid to coke drums in view of the industry's desire to replace coke drum bottom heads with valves.

ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company