A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes providing (51) a substrate (19), providing (52) a colloid (17) having particles held in suspension, providing (53) a reagent (18), disposing (54) the substrate (19) in a processing tool (10), combining (55) the colloid (17) and the reagent (18) to form a slurry (28), decomposing (56) the reagent (18) into a surfactant and an oxidizer, using (57) the slurry (28) to process the substrate (19) in the processing tool (10), and removing (58) the substrate (19) from the processing tool (10).

This invention relates, in general, to chemical-mechanical polishing processes, and more particularly, to slurries for chemical-mechanical polishing processes.
Processes for manufacturing semiconductor devices often include a chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) step to improve the planarity of a metal layer. The CMP step uses abrasive particles that are suspended in a colloidal slurry. Different additives or reagents can be combined with the slurry to improve the polishing rate and the selectivity of the slurry. As an example, various ionic salts, such as iron nitrate (Fe(NO.sub.3).sub.3) or peroxide (H.sub.2 O.sub.2), have been used as an oxidizer for metal CMP processes. Other reagents can also be combined with the slurry to improve the transport or Theological properties of the slurry, and still other reagents can be mixed into the slurry to inhibit the corrosion of the surface being polished.
However, with the addition of all the above-described reagents, the colloidal properties of the slurry are degraded. Furthermore, the degree of acidity or basicity (i.e., the pH value), the electrochemical properties, the Theological properties, and the colloidal properties of the slurry are very difficult to control independently. Consequently, the CMP process produces non-uniformly polished surfaces that have many defects.
Accordingly, a need exists for a slurry that provides an appropriate balance between the pH value, the colloidal properties, the electrochemical properties, and the rheological properties of the slurry while exhibiting adequate polishing selectivity between metal and dielectric surfaces, while having efficient transport properties during a CMP process, and while reducing the corrosion of metal surfaces during the CMP process.

Method for chemically-mechanically polishing a metal layer


Technology is disclosed herein for data synchronization based on file system activities. According to at least one embodiment, a computing device monitors one or more file system operations for a file stored in the computing device. The computing device records the file system operations for the file sequentially into a log data structure. The computing device synchronizes the file with a server by sending the log data structure to the server. The server can apply the file system operations recorded in the log data to an instance of the file stored in the server such that data of the file stored in the computing device are consistent with data in the instance of the file stored in the server after the file system operations are applied.

A computing device can synchronize its data with another device which maintain a mirror copy of the data. The process of data synchronization establishes consistency among the data from the these two devices. One example of data synchronization is file synchronization.
One way to synchronize two files from different devices is to transfer the entire file to another device so that the files can be compared locally. But this method may waste network bandwidth for transferring portions of the file that are identical to the counterparts of the other file. Another way of file synchronization is to determine which portion of a file is different from another file and only transfer the different portion. A first device can split a first file into fixed-size non-overlapping chunks and compute checksums for each chunk. The first device sends the checksums of the first file to a second device. Similarly, the second device can split a second file into fixed-size non-overlapping chunks and compute checksums for each chunk of the second file. The second device then compares the received checksums of the first file with the checksums of the second file. If any of the checksums of the first file do not match their counterpart checksums of the second file, the second device detects a data chunk containing a difference between the first and second files. In order to synchronize the data from the first and second files, the first device only needs to send data chunks that are identified as containing the difference.
Such a method still requires reading all portions of the file in order to generate the checksums. The process of generating the checksums can be expensive if the file size is large.

Data synchronization based on file system activities


A system and method for teleconferencing between conferees connected through a connectionless network and conferees connected through a connection-oriented network having a bridge. A call server connects to a bridge hosting a teleconference among connection-oriented conferees and joins the teleconference. The connection-oriented signal received by the call server is converted into a connectionless signal and sent to authorized, authenticated conferees connected through the connectionless network. The call server receives a connectionless signal from a conferee through the connectionless network, converts the signal to a connection-oriented signal and sends the connection-oriented signal to the bridge. Connectionless signals are stored in a database to be analyzed or sent to other conferees, such as those who were unavailable to join the teleconference as it occurred. The call server provides multimedia interfaces to conferees by which the conferees can monitor and join an ongoing teleconference, access a stored teleconference, or configure a new teleconference. The call server can also bridge teleconferences hosted on two or more bridges, expanding the audience for a given teleconference beyond the capacity of a single bridge.

The field of this invention is teleconferencing, and particularly teleconferencing using an internetwork comprising a connection-oriented and a connectionless network.
Teleconferencing is carried out by certain known systems using a connection-oriented network or internetwork. An internetwork is defined as a set of networks that are directly or indirectly interconnected. The most prevalent example of a connection-oriented network is the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). As shown in FIG. 1, teleconferences on the PSTN 11 are established in a known fashion in one embodiment by a PSTN teleconference bridge 12 that has been preconfigured to establish the teleconference, e.g., with certain participants 13, at a certain time, etc. In one embodiment, one of the participants 13 preconfigures the bridge 12. In another embodiment, a teleconference administrator 14 preconfigures the bridge 12. In one embodiment, the bridge 21 calls the predetermined participants 13 and authenticates them. In another embodiment, the participants 13 call the bridge 12 and authenticate themselves. An example of an authentication mechanism is the entry of a password using Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) signals at a prerecorded audio prompt from the bridge 12. The bridge 12 bridges the authenticated connections, enabling the participants 13 to communicate with each other. A teleconference over a connection-oriented network such as the PSTN offers high quality, low latency multimedia transmission and reliable connections. Multimedia is defined to be information of the form of at least one of the group of audio, text, video, animation and graphics. Latency is defined to be the delay between the time information is sent and time it is received. A connection-oriented teleconference connection can be disadvantageously expensive, and does not readily offer the caller a multimedia interface useful for controlling and monitoring the status of the teleconference that is easily accessed using any of a number of general purpose software packages implemented on a wide variety of hardware platforms and networks. A useful teleconferencing multimedia interface would provide information such as the availability of teleconferences for which a user is scheduled or free to join; information on the status of a teleconference (e.g., the identities of the participants, whether a participant""s connection is presently active or has been dropped, etc.); and means for conveniently scheduling and establishing a teleconference.
Other known systems carry out teleconferences using a connectionless network. An example of a connectionless network is the Internet. As shown in FIG. 2, participants or users 21 establish TCP/IP connections with a teleconference server 22 through the Internet 23, are authenticated, and send digitized connectionless voice signals in packets to the server 22. The teleconference server 22 multiplexes the connectionless voice input signals from the participants 21 and sends the resulting multiplexed signal to the participants 21 through the Internet 23. The server 22 can be preconfigured to host a teleconference consisting of certain predetermined participants, at a scheduled time, etc. The server 22 can be preconfigured by participants 21, or by a third party such as a teleconference administrator 24. Multimedia teleconferences over the Internet are inexpensive and can be established and monitored using convenient multimedia interfaces presented to the participants 21 and/or a third party such as teleconference administrator 24. An example of such a multimedia interface presents graphical and textual information to the participant, augmented by audio, video and animation. However, multimedia teleconference connections can be disadvantageously unreliable, suffer from high latency, and have high data error rates.
Using known systems, connection-oriented conferees (conferees communicating over a connection-oriented network) may teleconference only with other connection-oriented conferees, and connectionless conferees (conferees communicating over a connectionless network) may teleconference only with other connectionless conferees. Connection-oriented conferees often need to teleconference with connectionless conferees, and vice versa. Known systems are unable to accommodate such a hybrid mix of conferees, and hence the two groups are unable to communicate together.
An apparatus is provided for teleconferencing on an internetwork that has a connection-oriented network connecting a caller to a bridge and a connectionless network connecting users. A call server is connected to both the connection-oriented network and the connectionless network. The call server receives connectionless input signals from users through the connectionless network, multiplexes the signals, and translates the multiplexed signal into a connection-oriented output signal. The output signal is sent to the bridge connected to the connection-oriented network, which shares the signal with connection-oriented users. The call server receives a connection oriented input signal from the bridge, translates the connection oriented signal into connectionless output signal, and sends the connectionless signal to the users on the connectionless network. Thus, both connectionless and connection-oriented conferees can advantageously participate in the same teleconference. The call server accepts connectionless teleconference identification data from users, as well as caller authentication data, and provides both to the bridge. The call server further advantageously monitors the status of connectionless users and the connection to the bridge, and provides control signals and information both to the bridge through means such as DTMF signals and to the users through multimedia interfaces.

System and method for teleconferencing on an internetwork comprising connection-oriented and connectionless networks


An ambipolar transistor, including a p-type semiconductor region and an n-type semiconductor region near the p-type semiconductor region. Also a first terminal and second terminal contact both the p-type semiconductor region and the n-type semiconductor region. Furthermore, the p-type semiconductor region and the n-type semiconductor region substantially do not overlap each other. A method of manufacturing an ambipolar transistor is also disclosed, including forming a p-type semiconductor region, forming an n-type semiconductor region near the p-type semiconductor region, forming a first terminal contacting both the p-type semiconductor region and n-type semiconductor region, forming a second terminal contacting both the p-type semiconductor region and n-type semiconductor region; and wherein the p-type semiconductor region and the n-type semiconductor region substantially do not overlap, and have substantially no interfacial area.

The exemplary embodiments relate to an ambipolar thin film transistor device, and methods for producing ambipolar thin film transistor devices.
Thin film transistors (TFTs), composed of a substrate, a gate, source, and drain electrodes, a gate dielectric layer, and a semiconductor layer, are the key elements of integrated circuits (ICs). TFT fabrication using solution processes such as spin-coating, stencil/screen printing, stamping, and jet-printing, present a low-cost manufacturing alternative to conventional photolithography. In recent decades, development of solution-processed transistors, including organic thin film transistors (OTFTs), have made significant progress. There is ample evidence that they will replace traditional crystalline or amorphous silicon technology at least in certain low-cost, and or low-end applications.
Digital circuits are largely based on complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) structures that use both p-type and n-type unipolar transistors. The advantages of CMOS circuits are lower power dissipation, greater speed, improved immunity to noise effects, and greater tolerance of variability and shifts in transistor operating characteristics. These CMOS circuits may be constructed using unipolar transistors with either p-type or n-type semiconductor.
An example of an unipolar transistor 29 is shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The unipolar transistor 29 includes a first terminal 4, a second terminal 5, a substrate 6, a gate electrode 7, a dielectric layer 8 and a semiconductor layer 10. The first terminal 4 may be a source electrode, while the second terminal 5 may be a drain electrode. The semiconductor layer 10 may only be either a p-type or n-type semiconductor.
In order to design more efficient circuits based on solution process transistors, there is an urgent need for complementary technology, where both p-type and n-type operations are realized in a single transistor. Such a transistor is referred to as an ambipolar transistor. Ideally, the transistor should exhibit high mobility, balanced ON current and/or balanced mobility.


An improved apparatus and method for the purification of waste wash water derived from the production of aromatic acids. Lost aromatic acid product and the heavy metal oxidation catalyst is recovered and purified water is recycled to the process. The process includes the steps of filtration to recover the insoluble aromatic acid, ion exchange to recover and purify the heavy metal oxidation catalyst, and a reverse osmosis system for recovering the water for reuse.

The field of the invention relates to processes for the production of aromatic acids, and in particular, to an improved aromatic acid manufacturing process that recovers lost product, heavy metal oxidation catalyst and process water used in the manufacture of certain aromatic acids. The aromatic acids include, but are not limited to, terephthalic (TA) and isophthalic acids (IPA).
Very large amounts of aromatic acids are produced worldwide each year. The major aromatic acids produced are TA and IPA that are raw materials for textile fibers and food packaging resins and films. The typical aromatic acid is produced from the oxidation, in the presence of a heavy metal oxidation catalyst, of alkyl aromatics such as paraxylene and metaxylene to the corresponding aromatic acid. The oxidation process produces a technical grade product typically not suitable for certain applications because of impurities produced during the oxidation process. The impurities are usually partially oxidized intermediates (paratoluic acid, 4-carboxybenzaldehyde, etc.) and color formers such as 2,6-dicarboxyfluorenone. The impurities create deleterious effects on polymer products produced from the technical grade aromatic acid.
Technical grade TA and IPA are further purified to remove the impurities by dissolving the aromatic acid in very hot demineralized water at elevated temperature and pressure. The aqueous solution and hydrogen is then passed through a vessel containing a hydrogenation catalyst that purifies the aromatic acid product further. The aqueous solution is then cooled causing the aromatic acid to crystallize out of solution. The aromatic acid is then recovered by conventional means such as centrifugation or rotary vacuum filtration. The hydrogenated impurities remained dissolved in the wastewater. The wastewater generated from the process contains the unwanted impurities as well as residual amounts of the aromatic acid and the heavy metal oxidation catalyst. Typically the wastewater is sent to a wastewater treatment process resulting in the loss of the aromatic acid product, heavy metal oxidation catalyst and water.
Dickerson et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,493) disclose a process for treating wash water from the manufacturing of terephthalic acid. The process includes the steps of passing the wash water through a filter medium to remove undissolved terephthalic acid solids, passing the filtered water through a cation exchange resin in hydrogen form to remove the metal catalysts, and passing the water through an anion exchange resin to remove dissolved terephthalic acid and dissolved organic acid byproducts. However, this process has the disadvantage that the use of cation IER in the hydrogen form can result in the fouling of the resin since the hydrogen ion could react with the soluble aromatic acids and cause them to precipitate and foul the resin. The anion resin also consumes considerable amounts of sodium hydroxide to remove the aromatic acids. Also this process does not directly recover for reuse the cobalt/manganese catalyst. It is desirable to recover all components of the wash water for recycling.
Accordingly, there exists a need for the efficient recovery of the aromatic acid product, heavy metal oxidation catalyst, and the wash water.

Process for the purification of waste wash water


An optical fiber cable has a highly reduced diameter. The cable has a central strength member; a number of tubes containing loosely arranged optical fibers, each tube having a thickness, and each optical fiber having a coating; and a protective outer jacket, wherein the filling coefficient of optical fibers in at least one loose tube is ≧45°/0. The tubes are made of a material having an elasticity modulus ≧700 MPa; and the optical fibers are SM-R fibers having a microbending sensitivity ≦4.0 dB·km−1/g·mm−1 at a temperature of about −30° C. to +60° C. at about 1550 nm.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunication optical cables and in particular it relates to a telecommunication optical cable having a highly reduced diameter, which is particularly suitable for being installed in conduits by a "blown method".
2. Description of the Related Art
Access and trunk telecommunication networks made by copper wires are being replaced by optical fiber networks in view of their large bandwidth capabilities. As the replacement is submitted to the effective final client requests and is rather expensive for a telecommunication provider, some providers use to arrange a network made only of empty plastic conduits and to install the optical fiber cables in the conduits only when proper requests from the clients have been received. In metropolitan areas, where the available space is usually strict, reduced diameter cables with a medium or high optical potentiality (in terms of number of fibres) is requested for the main network links. A usual optical cable for main network links is generally requested to have a number of fibres not less than 48, typically 72.
A suitable technique to install these optical cables in the conduits is the "blown method": the optical fibre cable is propelled along the conduit by fluid drag of a gaseous medium, preferably air, blown along the conduit in the desired direction of cable advance. Blowing methods are deemed to be profitable for installing cables in long and short routes due to the lower cost, short time and low tension on the cable. Several features affect the blowing performances of a cable. Such features comprise: inner diameter of the duct, "tortuosity" of the installation path, and cable characteristics (including dimensions, mechanical stiffness and cable weight).
The cable structures mainly employed for blown installation in conduits to form main network links are the Multi Loose Tube (MLT), the Ribbon in Slotted Core (RISC) and the Central Loose Tube (CLT). In turn, CLT cables can be of the "fiber bundle" type or of the "micromodule" type.
A typical MLT cable comprises: a central strength member having a compressive stiffness that is effective to inhibit substantial contraction of the cable and a tensile stiffness that partially or totally contributes to withstand tensile loads without substantially transfer of the tensile loads to the cabled optical fibers; a number of tubes arranged around the central strength member and containing loosely placed optical fibers; a mechanical reinforcing layer, for example a thread made of glass or of an, aramid material arranged around the tubes, if necessary for tensile load cable withstanding; and a protective outer jacket. The tubes containing the optical fibers are typically stranded around the central strength member according to an unidirectional helix or a bidirectional (SZ) helix.
A typical RISC cable includes a cylindrical thermoplastic core extruded around a central strength member and having a plurality of helical slots in its exterior surface. Each slot houses a stack of optical fiber ribbons each having a planar array of optical fibers therein. The slotted core is surrounded by mechanical reinforcing layers and outer sheath as described for MLT cables.
A typical CLT cable comprises: a core tube containing optical fibers, a plastic jacket that surrounds the core tube, and a pair of linearly extending, diametrically opposed dielectric strength rods that are at least partially embedded in the jacket. The strength rods have the same function as the above described strength member of the MLT cable.
Most of the existing terrestrial cables having a medium or high potentiality in terms of number of fibres are not optimized for being blown installed into miniaturized tubes and do not allow to exploit the whole technical and economical advantages of the blown cable installation method.
Thus, the Applicant has perceived a need to provide lightweight and highly reduced-diameter optical cables for being profitably installed in rather small diameter ducts by a blown installation method.
The Applicant has focused on MLT cables with the main object to reduce the diameter thereof.
M. G. Soltis, et al., "Next Generation Loose Tube Cables: Reduce The Size, Not The Performance", Proceedings of the 49th International Wire & Cable Symposium, pp. 155-163, discusses various design considerations and different steps of development that lead to a reduced size loose tube cable family with performance comparable to larger designs. As far as the tubes containing the fibers are concerned, only problems relating to EFL (excess fiber length) and size have been addressed. Finally, an optical cable having the following characteristics has been presented: number of optical-fibers: 72; number of tubes: 6; fibers per tube: 12; cable diameter: 10.7 mm; and fiber density 0.81 fiber/mm2. According to the Applicant, a similar cable is inadequate for installation through blowing techniques in miniaturized tube infrastructures suitable for metropolitan areas.
P. Gaillard, et al., "Optimization Of Loose Tube Cable Designs: The Next Step", International Wire & Cable Symposium Proceedings 1998, pp. 106-111, discloses how to reduce cable size and cable installation costs both for MLT and CLT cables. The optimized cable designs, according to this paper, are:                MLT cable: number of fibers: 60; cable diameter: 8.2 mm.        CLT cable: number of fibers: 72; cable diameter: 7.92 mm.
The nominal cable diameters lead to a cabled fiber density of approximately 1.15 to 1.47 fiber/mm2. In the cable according to P. Gaillard, et al., the tube outer diameter is similar to existing sizes whilst the cable sheath has been reduced as much as possible. Thus, P. Gaillard et al. does not describe nor suggest to increase the fiber density in the loose tubes.
In the attempt of reducing the dimensions of MLT cables, the Applicant has considered the possibility of reducing the diameter of the loose tubes.
The Applicant has carried out some tests and has observed that MLT cables, when the loose tube diameter is reduced, are subject to a number of problems including the following two. First, by reducing the loose tube diameter, the space for the optical fibers is correspondingly, reduced. In other words, the fiber-to-fiber distance becomes lower and the fiber-to-tube distance becomes lower as well. Second, using loose tubes having a reduced diameter with respect to the standard tubes results in reduced Stress Free Window (SFW) safety margins. In this concerns, it should be taken into account that typically the process of tubing the fibers allows to obtain a nominal EFL value with a minimum tolerance of ±0.05% and that this EFL tollerance is considered critical (too large) by the Applicant in order to realize highly miniaturized MLT cables with stable and regular transmission performances.
The Applicant has realized that the reduction of loose tube size results in microbending problems, in turn resulting in higher attenuations of the transmitted signals. The Applicant has conducted several tests and has concluded that a highly miniaturized MLT optical cable can be obtained by reducing the central rod diameter, the outer diameter of loose tubes together with their thickness, and both diameter and thickness of the outer jacket. Whilst such reductions of whole cable diameter and loose tube diameters result in higher fiber densities, the Applicant has realized that the negative effects caused by the increased fiber density within the loose tubes can be eliminated, or at least attenuated, by providing optical fibers having a microbending sensitivity ≦4.0 dB·km−1/g·mm−1 in a temperature range from about −30° C. to +60° C. at 1550 nm and tubes comprising a material having an elasticity, modulus ≧700 MPa.

Telecommunication loose tube optical cable with reduced diameter


A system and a method for recommending feature sets for a plurality of equipment to a user. The method includes creating a library of contextual and preprocessed feature sets in a hierarchical manner for recommending features sets to a user. The method also includes compiling a plurality of hierarchical feature sets with a last feature set in a hierarchy being generated using an output of a module and incrementally adding the generated feature sets using different modules to the feature sets generated by the module. The method includes validating the generated feature sets to remove errors and using the validated feature sets as labelled data for previous feature sets and using attributes to categorize the labelled data corresponding to the contextual and pre-processed feature sets.

Sites both residential and commercial have a plurality of equipment. Such equipment offer similar services but are manufactured by different manufacturers, have different models and sizes. The equipment also have different performance criteria like availability, compliance, health, efficiency etc. which may be overlapping and inter-dependent. To improve individual performance objectives, different models are required which need to be normalized for other objectives, to provide accurate and isolated service actionables. To achieve these objectives, multiple artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) models are required for using components of other models. Additionally, the cost of creating a labelled dataset for any model is very high. In a typical AI/ML platform, a user needs to manually identify the right set of inputs and select an optimal AI/ML algorithm available in the system to solve a particular problem. The creation of AI models from raw data to the final objective of the service actionables in different categories is complex and has huge processing requirements. Also, selecting the right variables as features, developing field tests and using these tests to achieve the target objectives of the model is very time consuming. Further, the identification of a right AI/ML algorithm and input/s are time as well as resource consuming and also requires deep domain knowledge and expertise. Resolution of a problem or an optimized output is thus constrained based on limited knowledge of the user and requires multiple iterations and experimentation.
In view of the afore-mentioned problems in the existing solutions, there is a need of an effective system and a method for developing a cost-effective AL/ML model to recommend feature sets to a user. There is also a requirement for a system and a method for reducing the need of experimentation for developing the AL/ML model. In order to solve the problems in the existing solutions, a system and a method are disclosed.

System and a method for recommending feature sets for a plurality of equipment to a user


A method of retro-fitting a moisture detection fitting in the wall of a building in accordance with the following steps: forming a space which proceeds into the wall; and inserting the moisture detection fitting into the space such that a probe of the fitting: 1) presses into timber framing within the wall, or 2) stops short of timber framing within the wall but contacts a moisture absorbent filler forming part of the fitting and wherein the filler can absorb moisture from the timber framing. The moisture detection fitting being fitted substantially permanently such that when it is in use a moisture detection device can be detachably connected to the fitting outside the wall and use the probes, and if appropriate the filler, to measure a moisture content of the timber framing.

It is known that moisture can intrude into the wall space of a building, for example between the external cladding and internal lining of a house, and cause significant damage. It is an object of a preferred form of the present invention to provide means suitable for use in detecting unacceptable levels of moisture within a wall space, or to provide the public with a useful choice.
The term "comprising" or derivatives thereof (eg "comprises"), if and when used herein, should be interpreted non-exclusively—eg if used in relation to a specific combination of features it should not be taken to exclude the possibility of there also being additional unspecified features.


A treadmill includes a base and a frame having a first end pivotably connected to the base by two parallel first links and two parallel second links. An endless belt is mounted to the frame. Two respective first ends of the two first links are pivotably connected to two respective first pivotal points on the two side rails of the base, and two respective second ends of the two first links are pivotably connected to two respective second pivotal points on two sides of the first end of the frame. Two respective first ends of the two second links are pivotably connected to two respective third pivotal points on the two side rails of the base, and two respective second ends of the two second links are pivotably connected to two respective fourth pivotal points on the two sides of the first end of the frame. The frame can be pivoted relative to the base by the first and second links.

A conventional treadmill generally includes a base, a frame which has one end pivotably connected to the base and an endless belt is connected to the frame. The endless belt can also be driven by a motor so that the users set desired speed of the belt to exercise.
In order to save the space occupied by the treadmill, some treadmills are equipped with a folding device which allows the frame to be pivoted relative to the base. U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,679 discloses a folding mechanism which uses a motor and a threaded rod which is driven by the motor and a connection member pivotably connected to the frame is movably mounted to the threaded rod so that when the threaded rod is rotated by the motor, the connection member pivots the frame. It is noted that the frame is pivotably connected to the base at one point on each of the two sides of the base so that there requires a large angle to pivot the frame relative to the base. Further, another prior art shown in FIG. 8, discloses a similar folding mechanism which is located at the middle portion 51 of the frame 50 so that a less effort is required to pivot the frame 50. However, in order to accommodate the folding mechanism, the frame 50 has to be located at a higher position which makes the treadmill unstable.
The present invention intends to provide a folding device which provides two separated pivotal points on each of two sides of the base for connection with the frame so that the frame can be easily folded relative to the base.


Deriving illumination compensation parameters and detection of illumination dominant transitions types for video coding and processing applications is described. Illumination changes such as fade-ins, fade-outs, cross-fades, and flashes are detected. Detection of these illumination changes is then used for weighted prediction to provide for improved illumination compensation.

Transitions from one picture to the next picture of a video signal are often characterized by either some motion in the new picture with reference to a previous picture that may have undergone a compression or processing operation, the appearance or disappearance of an object or part thereof, or the emergence of a new scene altogether that may render the previous coded, processed, or original picture less suitable for use as a prediction reference. Most of these events can be modeled using motion compensation (a special case of inter prediction) and intra-frame prediction. Motion compensation is used to predict samples in the current picture using samples in one or more previously coded pictures. More specifically, in block-based motion compensation, a block of samples in the current picture is predicted from a block of samples from some already decoded reference picture. The latter is known as a prediction block. A prediction block may be as simple as the collocated block in some previous coded picture, which corresponds to a motion vector of all-zeroes. To account for motion, however, a motion vector is transmitted that instructs the decoder to use some other, displaced, block that is a closer match to the block that is being predicted. The motion model can be as simple as translational, where the motion parameters consist of a horizontal and a vertical displacement motion vector, or as complex as the affine or perspective motion models that require 6 or 8 motion parameters. More complex motion compensation schemes may also yield prediction blocks that are combinations of multiple blocks that correspond to different motion parameters. However, video signals may also contain global or local illumination changes that cannot be effectively modeled by motion compensation (inter prediction) or intra prediction. These illumination changes are usually found as fades, cross-fades, flashes, and other local illumination changes, which may for example be caused by the presence of multiple lighting sources. Weighted prediction (WP), e.g., illumination compensation, can benefit prediction efficiency for fades, cross-fades, flashes, and other local illumination changes. Weighted prediction consists of weighting (multiplying) the color component samples, e.g. luma and/or chroma samples, with a gain, which is further augmented by adding an additional offset. Please note that within this disclosure, color parameters or color components may be used to refer to the individual components that comprise a color domain or space. Please also note that in some domains or spaces, the color components may comprise intensity related components and color related components. Intensity related components may comprise one or more of a luma value or a luminance value and color related components may comprise one or more of a chroma value or a chrominance value. State-of-the-art codecs, such as H.264/AVC, support weighted prediction of the samples that may be in one of many possible color spaces/domains. Weighted prediction is also useful for temporal pre- and post-filtering that can be used to reduce sensor noise, compression or other artifacts, and temporal flicker/inconsistencies, among others. In practice, the image processing operations responsible for the illumination change may not necessarily originate in the domain used to compress or process the image, e.g. the YCbCr domain. Intuition, supported by experimental findings, shows that these operations are usually conducted in some other domain, usually the sRGB domain (sRGB is a widely used RGB color space for PCs and digital cameras), which is also closer to the human perception notion of color information. Note that there is a multitude of possible YCbCr conversion formulas to and from the RGB color space. Also, the issue of the RGB values having been gamma corrected prior or after the operations that created the illumination changes must be accounted for. Apart from illumination changes that were created by processing (primarily fades and cross-fades), there are also illumination changes that are part of the content, such as global or local flashes, varying illumination from flashlights and light fixtures, and shifting natural lighting, among others.
Weighted prediction parameters, e.g. gain w and offset f, which are used for illumination compensation of sample s from sample p as s=w×p+f are derived through some kind of weighted prediction parameter search/estimation (WP search). In its most straightforward and highest complexity form, one may use a brute force search scheme that considers all possible combinations of gains and offsets within some constrained search window, similar to the brute force, full search scheme employed for motion estimation, compute the distortion/similarity of the illumination compensated reference signals compared to the source signals, and select the illumination compensation parameters that result in minimum distortion. Motion estimation and compensation may also be considered during such a search. Full search is however computationally intensive. A variety of weighted parameter estimation techniques have been proposed that estimate the "optimal" gain and offset for some given block, region, or even an entire frame (for global illumination compensation). See, for example, K. Kamikura, et al. "Global Brightness-Variation Compensation for Video Coding," IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, vol. 8, no, 8, December 1998, pp. 988-1000, which describes a global brightness-variation compensation scheme to improve the coding efficiency for video scenes that contain global brightness variations caused by fade in/out, camera-iris adjustment, flicker, illumination change, etc. See also Y. Kikuchi and T. Chujoh, "Interpolation coefficient adaptation in multi-frame interpolative prediction", Joint Video Team of ISO/IEC MPEG and ITU-T VCEG, JVT-C103, March 2002 and H. Kato and Y. Nakajima, "Weighting factor determination algorithm for H.264/MPEG-4 AVC weighted prediction," Proc. IEEE 6th Workshop on Multimedia Signal Proc., Siena, Italy, October 2004.
The methods, as described in the references discussed above, have to be applied separately to every color component for the best possible results. Weighted parameter search may benefit also from motion estimation and compensation. See, for example, J. M. Boyce, "Weighted prediction in the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video coding standard," Proc. IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems, Vancouver, Canada, May 2004, vol. 3, pp. 789-792. In the H.264/AVC standard, motion compensation of the samples is followed by application of weighted prediction to yield the final predicted samples. Hence, during WP search, there is interdependency between the motion vectors and the weighted parameters. This can be addressed by performing multiple iterations as follows: weighted parameters are initialized with some simple algorithm and are used to scale and offset the reference frame. The scaled and offset reference frame is then used for motion estimation that yields motion vectors. Alternatively, scaling and offsetting of the samples may be incorporated in the motion estimation step. In such an implementation, scale and offset are considered on-the-fly and there is no need for a discrete step that creates a weighted reference. In the second iteration these motion vectors are used during WP search so that for each MB the actual prediction reference block is used to derive the WP parameters. This is then again followed by generation of a scaled and offset reference frame that undergoes motion estimation or a single motion estimation step that considers the already derived scale and offset. Usually, these algorithms terminate if the WP parameters have converged.
As indicated above, methods known in the art for addressing illumination compensation may be computationally intensive, resulting in decreased performance for imagery display or increased hardware costs to provide desired performance. Note that even though the terms frame and picture may be used interchangeably, such interchangeable usage should not be interpreted to exclude interlace-scan content such as field pictures. The teachings of this disclosure are applicable both to progressively-scanned frames as well as interlace-scanned field (top or bottom) pictures.

Method and system for illumination compensation and transition for video coding and processing

Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation


A pneumatic on-demand seed delivery system wherein seed from the auxiliary hopper enters the seed meter through an opening beginning rearward of the vertical axis of the seed meter. And a retrofit kit for existing on-demand seed delivery systems, and method of retrofitting such existing pneumatic on-demand seed delivery systems, so as to provide an auxiliary hopper that communicates seed to the seed meter through an opening beginning rearward of the vertical axis of the seed meter.

There is an increased awareness among the agricultural community as to the economic importance of planting accuracy. This increased awareness and the desire to improve seed meter accuracy is due in part to the recent increase in the price of corn. For example, with corn prices near $4 per bushel, improving the seed singulation accuracy of a seed meter by a single percentage point can translate into eight dollars ($8.00) more per acre. Accordingly, there is a significant need to provide a seed meter that will consistently produce seed singulation accuracies of 98% or above.
With respect to vacuum type seed meters, a number of factors can affect seed singulation accuracies. One such factor is the treatment applied to the seeds. The seed corn industry is applying new formulations and heavier treatments to the seed to protect the seed from new pests and other insects and disease, but which are also more environmentally friendly. These new treatments can make the seed surface rough, thereby affecting entrainment over the apertures of vacuum disks. Additionally, some of these new treatments can become sticky, requiring more aggressive agitation of the seeds within the seed pool of the meters in order to keep the seeds from sticking together.
One type of vacuum meter that has experienced commercial success in recent years is the John Deere Pro-Series™ Meter found on Deere's central-fill or bulk-fill planters such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,581,533 and 6,935,255 both of which are incorporated herein by reference. While the Pro-Series™ Meter may serve its intended purpose certain factors can effect its performance.
For example, as previously identified, certain heavily coated seed treatments may cause the seed within the seed pool to stick together reducing the flowability of the seed. Thus, unless the seed is aggressively agitated by the seed disk as it rotates through the seed pool, the reduced flowability may result in poor loading of the seed onto the apertures of the seed disk, which translate into seek skips in the furrow. Deere's standard seed disks for the Pro-Series™ Meter do not provide very aggressive agitation. As a result, under some conditions when using Deere's standard disks, the performance or accuracy of the seed meter can be less than desirable.
In order to overcome this problem, farmers have attempted to replace Deere's standard seed disks with after-market disks that have larger or deeper ribs or fins to provide more aggressive agitation of the seeds. While these deeper ribs provide more aggressive agitation to keep the seed pool fluid, it has been found that some of these after-market disks can increase the likelihood for the seed meter to overfill which can lead to meter performance problems or failures.
It has been determined that the potential for overfilling of the Pro-Series™ Meter when using seed disks designed to provide greater seed pool agitation, is partially attributed to the size and position of the opening within the seed meter housing through which the seed enters the seed reservoir from the auxiliary hopper. As will be explained in more detail later, when using larger or deeper ribs, more seeds are scooped up by the larger ribs which, due to the size and position of the opening, the void created by the seeds scooped up by the larger ribs is replenished with new seeds entering from the auxiliary hopper. Thus, in such circumstances, more seeds continually enter the seed reservoir than are actually being discharged out of the seed meter. As the seed disk rotates, the extra seeds carried by the larger ribs are returned to the seed pool which further adds to the seed pool that has already been replenished. Accordingly, over time, the meter can overfill.
Deere made an attempt to eliminate the tendency of the Pro-Series™ Meter to overfill by positioning a brush as a sort of lid to hold back or prevent the seed from rising above the seed reservoir. This brush lid is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,533 (see FIG. 4 of '533 patent at reference numeral 68). While Deere's approach was moderately successful, where more aggressive agitation on the disk is needed, the brush lid does not sufficiently prevent over filling. Additionally, the presence of the brush can have an adverse effect upon meter performance as some seed types and sizes of seeds are physically disturbed by the brush while the seeds are being loaded on the seed disk, thereby causing unwanted skips.
Accordingly, there is a need for a cost effective solution that will enable farmers to modify or retrofit their existing Pro-Series Meters to overcome the deficiencies described above while not having to replace the entire seed meter. Similarly, there is a need for a new design which can be adopted by original equipment manufacturers or after-market suppliers to overcome the deficiencies associated with the existing Pro-Series design with minimal retooling or changes to the seed meter and with minimal changes to the on-demand delivery system structure.

Method of retrofitting a pneumatic on-demand seed delivery system and an improved pneumatic on-demand seed delivery system


In a soot blower, a heat transfer tube of a heat exchanger is arranged inside a pressure vessel, and gas for cleaning is injected toward the heat transfer tube from an injection pipe movable into and out of the pressure vessel. The soot blower includes a cylindrical casing provided to surround an insertion hole on the pressure vessel side into which the injection pipe is inserted, to extend outside the pressure vessel, the injection pipe being inserted into an inside of the casing; a support part provided inside the casing to guide movement of the injection pipe and to ensure airtightness between the casing and the injection pipe; and a gas supplying device provided immediately close to the support part to generate a jet stream of gas in a portion of the injection pipe that projects to the pressure vessel side.

As typified by a coal fired boiler, in a boiler that uses solid coal as a fuel, when particulate unburnt carbon (char) mixed in combustion gas deposits on a heat transfer tube of a heat exchanger, the heat transfer performance of the heat transfer tube is lowered. Consequently, in the boiler in operation, it is necessary to clean the heat transfer tube several times a day for removing the char.
To clean the heat transfer tube, a soot blower provided with an injection pipe is used. The injection pipe is inserted into and retracted from a furnace to inject high-pressure steam or the like onto the surface of the heat transfer tube. For example, in the coal fired boiler, the pressure in the furnace is substantially equal to the atmospheric pressure and hence, when the injection pipe is inserted into and retracted from the furnace, it is unnecessary to pay particular attention to the leakage of the gas in the furnace. However, in an oil firing boiler, a gas fired boiler, or the like that uses oil, gas, or the like as a fuel, the pressure in the furnace is greater than the atmospheric pressure and hence, in particular, in the case of a gasifying furnace in which the furnace is maintained at several MPa, which is a high pressure, the furnace needs to have an airtight structure when the injection pipe is inserted into and extracted from the furnace by arranging various sealing materials including a gland packing in the passage of the injection pipe.
Conventionally, it is an object of a soot blower described in Patent Literature 1 to prevent char from leaking to the outside of a furnace, and prevent deposition of the char in the passage of an injection pipe that is inserted into and retracted from the furnace. The soot blower includes a connecting pipe that communicates with the furnace at an in-furnace insertion position of the injection pipe, connects a seal box to the connecting pipe by way of an insertion stop valve, and arranges the injection pipe by way of the seal box, the insertion stop valve, and the connecting pipe in such a manner that the injection pipe is able to be inserted into and retracted from the furnace, thus supplying deposit-removing gas to the connecting pipe. Furthermore, the soot blower supplies seal gas to the seal box.
Furthermore, conventionally, it is an object of a soot blower device described in Patent Literature 2 to securely prevent harmful or combustible flue gas from leaking from a furnace or a flue gas duct. In the soot blower device, a heat exchanger is arranged in a housing to which the flue gas is introduced; an injection pipe is arranged in an outer wall of the housing in a displaceable manner in an axial direction, the injection pipe being inserted into an insertion hole formed in the outer wall to inject seal gas toward the heat exchanger; the injection pipe is inserted into a casing fixed to the outer wall in such a manner that the casing externally surrounds the insertion hole; and an opening and closing valve having a valve port into which the injection pipe is inserted, a sealing material interposed between the outer peripheral face of the injection pipe and the inner peripheral face of the casing on the outer side than the opening and closing valve, and a gas supply hole that introduces the seal gas toward the sealing material are arranged in the casing.


Apparatus for a rack for stemware includes a main base plate having a device for engaging and retaining the positioning of a first and second portion of an article to be held. A pair of straps are predeterminedly fastened to the base whereby a plurality of glasses having a base can be inserted under opposing portions of the straps whereby the plurality of glasses are prevented from movement. The apparatus also provides for an additional method of fastening the straps by providing a plurality of row of throughbores whereby the straps can be woven through the holes in a number of methods with the end result being that stemware-like glasses can be retained by sliding one side of the glass base under one of the straps and the other side of the glass base under the opposing strap.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to support racks and, more specifically, to a rack for stemware comprised of a base plate having means for engaging and retaining the positioning of a first and second portion of an article to be held.
In the preferred embodiment, a pair of straps are predeterminedly fastened to the base whereby a plurality of glasses having a base can be inserted under opposing portions of the straps whereby said plurality of glasses are prevented from movement.
The present invention also provides for an additional method of fastening the straps by providing a plurality of row of throughbores whereby the straps can be woven through the holes in a number of methods with the end result being that stemware-like glasses can be retained by sliding one side of the glass base under one of the straps and the other side of the glass under the opposing strap.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other racks designed for article supporting. Typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 278,161 issued to McKee on May 22, 1883.
Another patent was issued to Wilcox on Feb. 24, 1914 as U.S. Pat. No. 1,088,642. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 1,925,540 was issued to Neuschotz on Sep. 5, 1933 and still yet another was issued on Feb. 27, 1962 to Unsworth as U.S. Pat. No. 3,022,899.
Another patent was issued to Morris on Jan. 27, 1970 as U.S. Pat. No. 3,491,893. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,949 was issued to Cosgrove on Mar. 6, 1990. Another was issued to Ruiz on Oct. 14, 2003 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,631,812 and still yet another was issued on Jan. 31, 1990 to Collins as U.K. Patent No. GB2221149 and yet another U.K. Patent No. GB2228404 was issued on Aug. 29, 1990 to Fridjhon.


A radiation image storage panel having a phosphor layer formed by a gas phase-accumulation method, in which wherein the phosphor layer is composed of an alkali metal halide stimulable phosphor activated by an activator, and the crystal lattice in the phosphor layer has a lattice distortion in the range of 0.035 to 0.30%.

When exposed to radiation such as X-rays, an energy-storing phosphor (stimulable phosphor, which gives stimulated emission off) absorbs and stores a portion of the radiation energy. The phosphor then emits stimulated emission according to the level of the stored energy when exposed to electromagnetic wave such as visible or infrared light (i.e., stimulating light). A radiation image recording and reproducing method utilizing the energy-storing phosphor is widely employed in practice. In that method, a radiation image storage panel, which is a sheet comprising the energy-storing phosphor, is used. The method comprises the steps of: exposing the storage panel to radiation having passed through an object or having radiated from an object, so that radiation image information of the object is temporarily recorded in the panel; sequentially scanning the panel with a stimulating light such as a laser beam to emit stimulated light; and photo-electrically detecting the emitted light to obtain electric image signals. The storage panel thus treated is subjected to a step for erasing radiation energy remaining therein, and then stored for the use in the next recording and reproducing procedure. Thus, the radiation image storage panel can be repeatedly used.
The radiation image storage panel (often referred to as energy-storing phosphor sheet) used in the radiation image recording and reproducing method has a basic structure comprising a support and a phosphor layer provided thereon. However, if the phosphor layer is self-supporting, the support may be omitted. Further, a protective film is ordinarily provided on the free surface (surface not facing the support) of the phosphor layer to keep the phosphor layer from chemical deterioration or physical shock.
Phosphor layers of various kinds are known. Examples of the known phosphor layers include a phosphor layer comprising a binder and an energy-storing phosphor dispersed therein, a phosphor layer which is formed by a gas phase-accumulation method or by a firing method and which comprises agglomerate of an energy-storing phosphor without binder, and a phosphor layer comprising energy-storing phosphor agglomerate impregnated with a polymer material.
Referential Patent Publication 1 discloses a variation of the radiation image recording and reproducing method. While an energy-storing phosphor of the storage panel used in the conventional type plays both roles of radiation-absorbing function and energy-storing function, those two functions are separated in the disclosed method. In the method, a radiation image storage panel comprising at least an energy-storing phosphor (which stores radiation energy) is used in combination with a phosphor screen comprising another phosphor (radiation-absorbing phosphor) which absorbs radiation and emits ultraviolet or visible light. The disclosed method comprises the steps of: causing the radiation-absorbing phosphor of the screen or the panel to absorb and convert radiation having passed through an object or having radiated from an object into ultraviolet or visible light; causing the energy-storing phosphor of the panel to store the energy of the converted light as radiation image information; sequentially scanning the panel with a stimulating light to emit stimulated light; and photo-electrically detecting the emitted light to obtain electric image signals. The present invention can be also applied to the radiation image storage panel used in the method of this type.
The radiation image recording and reproducing method (or radiation image forming method) has various advantages as described above. However, it is still desired that the radiation image storage panel used in the method have as high sensitivity as possible and further give a reproduced radiation image of high quality (in regard of sharpness and graininess).
In order to improve the sensitivity and image quality, it is proposed that the phosphor layer of the storage panel be prepared by a gas phase-accumulation method such as vacuum vapor deposition or sputtering. The process of vacuum vapor deposition, for example, comprises the steps of: heating to vaporize an evaporation source comprising a phosphor or materials thereof by means of a resistance heater or an electron beam, and depositing and accumulating the vapor on a substrate such as a metal sheet to form a layer of the phosphor in the form of columnar crystals.
The phosphor layer formed by the gas phase-accumulation method contains no binder and consists of the phosphor only, and there are cracks in the columnar crystals of the phosphor. Because of the presence of cracks, the stimulating light can stimulate the phosphor efficiently and the emitted light can be collected efficiently, too.
Accordingly, a radiation image storage panel having the phosphor layer formed by the gas phase-accumulation method has high sensitivity. At the same time, since the cracks prevent the stimulating light from diffusing parallel to the layer, the storage panel can give a reproduced image of high sharpness.
When subjected to X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement, crystalline material generally shows a diffraction pattern comprising diffraction lines. Widths of the lines are known to depend upon crystallite size, crystallinity, superlattice and inner distortion of the crystal (including variation of the composition) [Referential Non-Patent Publication 1]. If the degree of crystallinity (ratio of crystal contained in the material) and the superlattice (atomic rearrangement from an irregular lattice into a regular lattice) are negligible, the line width of XRD varies according to the crystallite size and the inner distortion of crystal. In that case, the relation among them can be expressed by Hall's equation (1):β cos θ/0.9λ=1/D+2ε sin θ/0.9λ  (1)[in which β is a half width specific to the sample material, D is a crystallite size, ε is a lattice distortion, θ is a Bragg angle, and λ is a wavelength of X-ray].
If β cos θ/0.9λ is plotted against sin θ/λ according to the Hall's equation (1), a straight line having the gradient of 2ε/0.9 and the intercept of 1/D is obtained. Thus obtained line can make it clear whether change (increase) of XRD line width (half width) is attributed to the lattice distortion ε or the crystallite size D.
The lattice distortion (often referred to as "lattice mismatch") is represented by an average ratio of lattice constant changes based on the normal lattice constants. Generally, the lattice distortion is induced by inner distortion of the crystal, and the inner distortion is mainly caused by residual stress, which is caused by crushing and/or rolling of the material, or by what is called "variation of composition", which means non-uniformness of composition given, for example, when impurities are mixed into the sample material to form a solid solution.
Referential Patent Publication 2 discloses a radiation image storage panel having a stimulable phosphor layer comprising regularly arrayed crystals. In that phosphor layer, lattice planes of the crystals are arranged so that the ratio I2/I1 may be 0.3 or less. Here, I1 and I2 are intensities of the first and second peaks, respectively, in an X-ray diffraction pattern obtained by applying X-rays in an incident angle of 10° to 35° onto the lattice plane perpendicular to the direction in which the crystal grows the fastest.
Referential Patent Publication 3 discloses a binder-less storage phosphor screen comprising an alkali metal storage phosphor. The phosphor gives an XDR spectrum in which (100) and (110) diffraction lines have intensities I100 and I110 respectively, satisfying the condition of I100/I110≧1.    Referential Patent Publication 1: Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2001-255610,    Referential Patent Publication 2: Japanese Patent Publication No. 3,130,632,    Referential Patent Publication 3: Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2001-249198, and    Referential Non-Patent Publication 1: Yoshinori Sasaki, et al., Kihon-Kagaku Sirizu 12 (series of basic chemistry 12), "KESSHOU-KAGAKU-NYUMON (introduction of crystal chemistry)", 1999, pp. 71-75.


A drive device for a change-speed transmission for motor vehicles, has at least one transmission input shaft, at least one axially parallel output shaft, having a plurality of gearwheel sets which are arranged on the shafts with fixed gearwheels and idler gears which can be switched via synchronizer clutches in order to form forward gears, and having at least one separating clutch. A planetary transmission which can be switched over into two transmission stages is connected upstream of the gearwheel sets of the forward gears, which planetary transmission has a driven input element, an output element which outputs to the input shaft, and a transmission element which can be braked or coupled in order to switch over the transmission stages, wherein the transmission element can be coupled to an electric machine, by means of which the transmission element can be fixed or can be driven in both rotational directions.

The present invention relates to a drive arrangement for a change-speed transmission for motor vehicles.
In change-speed transmissions or manual transmissions it is generally known to increase the number of forward gears by arranging a layshaft assembly upstream of the gearwheel sets of the forward gears. The layshaft assembly can for example be a correspondingly shiftable planetary transmission.

Drive device for a change-speed transmission for motor vehicles


An image capturing element 5 has a phase difference detecting region 50a in a light receiving region 50 in which pixel cells are arranged, in the region 50a, some of pixel cells mounted with G filters, among the pixel cells which are arranged in a Bayer pattern, serve as phase difference detecting pixel cells 51R and 51L, the pixel cell 51L and the pixel cell 51R receive light which passes through different pupil areas of the image capturing lens 1, the pixel cell 51L includes two types of pixel cells (3) and (4) having different arrangement patterns of the adjacent pixel cells 51 and the pixel cell 51R includes two types of pixel cells (1) and (2) having different arrangement patterns of the adjacent pixel cells 51.

Recently, as a resolution of a solid state image capturing element such as a CCD (charge coupled device) image sensor, and a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) image sensor becomes higher, a demand for information device having an image capturing function such as a digital still camera, a digital video camera, a cellular phone, and a PDA (personal digital assistant) is suddenly increased.
Examples of a focusing control method which detects a distance to a main photographic subject to focus on the photographic subject include a contrast AF method and a phase difference AF (auto focus) method. The phase difference AF method may detect a focusing position with a high precision at a high speed as compared with the contrast AF method so that the phase difference AF method is largely adopted in various image capturing apparatuses. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a color image capturing element in which image capturing pixel cells are two dimensionally arranged on a substrate of the image capturing element and pixel cells for phase difference detection are arranged therein in a predetermined layout.

Solid state image capturing element, image capturing apparatus, and focusing control method


A head-mounted light source particularly suited to medical and dental applications includes a base unit with a source of illumination directed through a distal opening in the base unit, and a plurality of interchangeable beam-forming units, each separately attachable to the distal opening of the base unit to produce a different light spot size at a given distance. The preferred embodiment includes a wide-field beam-forming unit, an intermediate beam-forming unit and a high-intensity beam-forming unit, such that the diameter of the spot size progressively decreases from the wide-field to the intermediate to the high-intensity unit. The interchangeable beam-forming units are attached to the base unit through a threaded connection. Each interchangeable beam-forming unit may itself include a distal threaded connection for attachment of a UV or other filter. In the preferred embodiment, the base unit includes a clip adapted for attachment to an ocular mounting assembly.

Many medical and dental professionals use head-mounted lights to better visualize procedures. However, different spot sizes and/or light intensities are preferred for different situations. For example, whereas a wide-angle spot may be suitable for lower magnification and large surgical fields, a more narrow, high-intensity beam may be desired for procedures that require the brightest light. In many instances, the spot size is matched to the magnification or field of view associated with telemicroscopic loupes worn by the same user. Currently, however, to change spot size, purchasers need to buy different head-mounted units, raising overall cost.

Medical/dental headlight system with interchangeable beam-forming optics


Disclosed are a data processing system and a method of isolating a plurality of input/output adapter units of that system. The data processing system comprises, in addition to the input/output adapter units, a set of processors, a host bridge, and a system bus connecting the set of processors and the host bridge. Each of the input/output adapter units has a respective identifier; and the set of processors send commands to the host bridge, said commands including one or more of the identifiers of the input/output adapter units. In the preferred embodiment, these identifiers are HyperTransport defined Unit IDs, and the commands issued by the set of processors include a Unit ID field including one or more of the Unit IDs of input/output adapters.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to data processing, and more specifically, to isolating input/output adapter addressing domains in a data processing system. Even more specifically, the invention relates to isolating input/output adapter addressing domains in a logically partitioned data processing system operating in a HyperTransport environment.
2. Background Art
In an LPAR data processing system, multiple operating systems or multiple copies of a single operating system are run on a single data processing system platform. Each operating system or operating system copy executing within the data processing system is assigned to a different logical partition, and each partition is allocated a non-overlapping subset of the resources of the platform. Thus, each operating system or operating system copy directly controls a distinct set of allocatable resources within the platform.
Among the platform resources that may be allocated to different partitions in an LPAR data processing system include processors or time slices of processors, regions of system memory and IOAs or parts of IOAs. Thus, different regions of system memory and different IOAs or parts of IOAs may be assigned to different partitions of the system. In such an environment, it is important that the platform provide a mechanism to enable IOAs or parts of IOAs to obtain access to all the physical memory that they require to properly service the partition or partitions to which they have been assigned; while, at the same time prevent IOAs or parts of IOAs from obtaining access to physical memory that has not been allocated to their associated partitions.
In a LPAR data processing system, various communication technologies may be used to link together the electronic devices of the system via both physical media and wirelessly. Some communication technologies interface a pair of devices, other communication technologies interface small groups of devices, and still other communication technologies interface large groups of devices.
One relatively new communication technology for coupling relatively small groups of devices is the HyperTransport (HT) technology. The HT Standard sets forth definitions for a high-speed, low-latency protocol that can interface with today's buses like AGP, PCI, SPI, 1394, USB 2.0, and IGbit Ethernet as well as next generation buses including AGP 8x, Infiniband, PCI-X, PCI 3.0, PCIe, and 10 Gbit Ethernet. HT interconnects provide high-speed data links between coupled devices. Most HT enabled devices include at least a pair of HT ports so that HT enabled devices may be daisy-chained. In an HT chain or fabric, each coupled device may communicate with each other coupled device using appropriate addressing and control. Examples of devices that may be HT chained include packet data routers, server computers, data storage devices, and other computer peripheral devices, among others.
HT thus offers many important advantages. Using HyperTransport attached I/O bridges in a logically partitioned data processing system, however, requires a way of isolating I/O adapter DMA and interrupt requests to the owning LPAR.
Importantly, one LPAR could affect another through an IOA. With LPAR, the OS does not guarantee successful communications. For example, one OS may send commands and addresses to an IOA, and the IOA would do the DMA using these addresses. There is no mechanism to check the addresses provided by the OS to the IOA. Instead, the BAR/limit (and later, the TVT structure) verifies the address when it is presented to the host by the IOA.

I/O adapter LPAR isolation in a hypertransport environment

International Business Machines Corporation


A speech recognition computer system uses video input as well as audio input of known speech when the speech recognition computer system is being trained to recognize unknown speech. The video of the speaker can be captured using multiple cameras, from multiple angles. The audio can be captured using multiple microphones. The video and audio can be sampled so that timing of events in the video and audio can be determined from the content independent of an audio or video capture device's clock. Video features, such as a speaker's moving body parts, can be extracted from the video and random sampled, to be used in a speech modeling process. Audio is modeled at the phoneme level, which provides word mapping with minor additional effort. The trained speech recognition computer system can then be used to recognize speech text from video/audio of unknown speech.

Speech recognition typically refers to a process whereby an appropriately programmed computer system or circuit can receive an input in the form of speech, such as an audio recording, and output text data that corresponds to the words being spoken in the input representation. Speech recognition might involve determining, guessing, and/or estimating what words a speaker is speaking when the words being spoken are not known to the computer system. Speech recognition is useful for creating captioning for video, making recorded audio and video keyword searchable by the words spoken in the recording, automated transcription, and other uses. Typically, a speech recognition system has a stored model of speech that it uses to assess what words might have been spoken and to resolve the input speech into the words that were spoken. Typically, that stored model is generated using some speech learning process.
Speech learning describes a process in which a computer system processes a recording of a speaker, knowing the words that the speaker is speaking, and builds a computer model that can be used for speech recognition and similar tasks. The processing is sometimes referred to as a training process. Once a computer system is "trained," that computer system might be expected to convert spoken speech into text data or other representation of sequences of words. Speech learning is useful in making speech recognition more accurate, more efficient, and the like.
Audio systems, commonly used in the art, generally require speech recognition training, speech learning, or other types of teachings in order for the audio system to function adequately. Such systems may require many forms of training for each different user before being deployed and available for use, which requires a mass of data collection such as batch training, where a new user speaks a known sequence, and a system analyzes that to determine phonemes and accents.

On-the-fly speech learning and computer model generation using audio-visual synchronization


An RFID reader is provided that includes an antenna array comprising multiple antenna elements circumferentially distributed around a longitudinal axis of the antenna array. Each antenna element includes multiple patch elements disposed above one or more underlying substrates, wherein the patch elements of each antenna element are disposed on an outer side of the antenna element. Further, one or more of the antenna elements is an asymmetric antenna element, wherein a first end of the asymmetric antenna element is wider than a second, opposite end of the asymmetric antenna element, wherein a first patch element disposed proximate to the first end of the asymmetric antenna element is larger than a second patch element disposed proximate to the second end of the asymmetric antenna element, and wherein a resonant frequency associated with the first patch element is approximately the same as a resonant frequency associated with the second patch element.

Radio Frequency (RF) coverage is an important consideration in the deployment of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems. One factor that impairs RF coverage are the nulls that result from destructive interference caused by multipath fading. On the other hand, multipath propagation can also result in constructive interference, which can improve RF coverage and the range of an RFID reader.
RFID readers that employ beam steering techniques using phase array antennas typically have better RF coverage than RFID readers that use traditional antennas due to the phase array antennas' ability to steer a beam and thereby mitigate fading due to multipath. Correspondingly, the better the directivity of an antenna, the better the ability of the antenna to mitigate fading. However, a large antenna is required in order to achieve high directivity, which may pose mounting problems and may be undesirable for an RFID reader, where the smaller the reader the better.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. Those skilled in the art will further recognize that references to specific implementation embodiments such as "circuitry" may equally be accomplished via replacement with software instruction executions either on general purpose computing apparatus (e.g., CPU) or specialized processing apparatus (e.g., DSP). It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.


A method of making an electrical connector comprises the steps of: forming an electrically conductive member having a body including an interface, the body having a longitudinal chamber therein; forming an electrically conductive pin; overmolding the interface with a first electrically insulating material; overmolding at least a part of the electrically conductive pin with a second electrically insulating material to form an overmolded electrically conductive pin; and inserting the overmolded electrically conductive pin into the longitudinal chamber.

One form of such a connector comprises an electrically conductive member having a longitudinal portion and a transverse portion, at least a part of the longitudinal portion providing a cylindrical hollow end and the transverse portion having protruding legs for engagement with circuit traces on a printed circuit board, and an electrically conductive pin positioned with respect to the electrically conductive member. At least a first part of the electrically conductive pin is substantially centrally located within the hollow end, and a single-piece electrically insulating body surrounds the electrically conductive member and the electrically conductive pin. The single-piece, electrically insulating body was achieved by over-molding the electrically conductive member and the electrically conductive contact pin as they are held in place in a suitable mold cavity.
The small size of the parts and the complexity of the mold parts and the procedures for loading the parts have proved difficult and expensive. Thus, it would be an advance in the art to simplify the method of making such contacts.

Method of making an electrical connector


A configuration for an enterprise computing system is selected. A computer-implemented method to be performed in connection with installing a software system includes presenting, on a display device, multiple selectable visual representations regarding how to configure an enterprise computing system. Each of the visual representations has associated therewith a predefined set of configuration data for the enterprise computing system, and each visual representation depicts a feature of the associated predefined set of configuration data that differentiates from the other predefined sets of configuration data. The method includes receiving a selection of one of the visual representations by a user, and configuring the enterprise computing system using at least one of the predefined sets of configuration data that is associated with the selected visual representation.

Some computer systems are designed to offer a significant amount of flexibility in how they are implemented and used. This applies, for example, in the area of enterprise computing systems, including those available from SAP AG in Walldorf (Baden), Germany. Such systems are sometimes built so that they can operate in many different situations depending on the particular customer's needs. The operation of the system is dictated in large part by configuration settings that the individual customer organization applies to the system by. For example, in a warehouse management system there may be alternatives for how stock is delivered to storage locations, in a production management system there may be alternatives for how machines are used, and so on. One advantage for larger-sized customers is that the same type of system can be implemented in different areas of the customer's operations. Another is that if the customer's needs change over time, the system's flexibility can allow it to adapt to the new circumstances.
System configuration is sometimes done by consultants that are experts in the particular system and knowledgeable about the many configuration settings that should be made to get the system operational. Such a custom fitting of the system to the owner's needs can be costly and can take some time before the system begins operating. For example, the consultant may need to access several different transactions in a configuration tool and there specify the complex configuration data that, based on the intended use, applies to each aspect of the system. Another approach is to present an often quite extensive questionnaire to the user, wherein the user's answers are used in configuring the system.


A steer-by-wire steering apparatus for a vehicle has a first control system including a first ECU, and a second control system including a second ECU. Each ECU responds to manipulation of the steering wheel by a driver, and controls a steering motor. The first ECU determines whether the second control system is malfunctioning, and the second ECU determines whether the first system is malfunctioning. When any of the system is malfunctioning, the ECU of normally functioning system controls a counter force motor such that steering wheel receives a counter force that is different from that when both systems are functioning normally. Accordingly, the steering apparatus is capable of speedily and reliably causing a driver to realize a malfunction in the steering apparatus.

The present invention relates to a vehicle steering apparatus, and more particularly, to a steer-by-wire steering apparatus. The present invention also pertains to a method for controlling the apparatus.
A steer-by-wire steering apparatus is known as a steering apparatus for controlling steered wheels of vehicles. In a typical steer-by-wire steering apparatus, a steering wheel is mechanically separated from a steering gearbox coupled to steered wheels, or front wheels, of a vehicle. That is, the steering wheel is not directly coupled to the steering gearbox. The steering gearbox is driven by an electric motor in accordance with a detected angle of the steering wheel, or a steering wheel angle.
Such a steering apparatus is provided with a backup control system that allows steering to be reliably performed when the apparatus malfunctions. For example, there has been proposed a backup control system having two redundant control systems (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-37112).
One of the control systems functions as a main control system, while the other control system functions as an auxiliary control system. The auxiliary control system has a similar configuration as the main control system. Each control system includes an electric motor for actuating a steering rod coupled to the steered wheels, a drive circuit for driving the motor, a control circuit for controlling the electric motor through the drive circuit, and sensors necessary for performing control.
When the control systems are functioning normally, the motors of the control systems are driven without interfering each other. The electric motors of the main and the auxiliary control systems actuate the steering rod in accordance with the steering wheel angle.
When the main control system malfunctions, the electric motor of the main control system is stopped. Then, the electric motor of the auxiliary control system actuates the steering rod.
When the one of the control systems malfunctions and the other control system takes over the control, a warning lamp is lit to inform the driver of the malfunction of one of the control systems. However, even if the warning lamp is lit, the steering apparatus gives to the driver the same steering feel as the case where both systems are functioning normally. Therefore, the driver can continue driving and steering with the warning lamp on. In this case, the steering rod is actuated by only one of the control systems. However, it is undesirable that the remaining system continues being used. Thus, it is necessary to cause the driver to realize speedily that there is a malfunction in the steering apparatus.

Vehicle steering apparatus and method for controlling the same