The invention is directed to a method of treating a T cell-mediated autoimmune disease in animals, including humans, by the oral or enteral administration of autoantigens, fragments of autoantigens, or analogs structurally related to those autoantigens, which are specific for the particular autoimmune disease. The method of the invention includes both prophylactic and therapeutic measures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of treatment of autoimmune diseases and in particular T cell-mediated or T cell-dependent autoimmune diseases. The present invention teaches the oral or enteral administration of autoantigens, or fragments or analogs thereof, to prophylactically and therapeutically treat these auto-immune diseases.
2. Brief Description of the Background Art
Autoimmune diseases are caused by an abnormal immune response involving either cells or antibodies directed against normal tissues. A number of strategies have been developed to suppress autoimmune diseases, most notably drugs which nonspecifically suppress the immune response. A method of inducing immunologic tolerance by the oral administration of an antigen to prevent autoimmune responses was first demonstrated by Wells in 1911. Wells, H., J. Infect. Dis. 9:147 (1911). The oral induction of unresponsiveness has also been demonstrated for several T-cell dependent antigens. Ngan, J. et al., J. Immunol. 120:861 (1978), Gautam, S. et al., J. Immunol. 135:2975 (1985), Titus, R. et al., Int. Arch. Allergy Appl. Immun. 65:323 (1981). Furthermore, a recent publication describes the oral administration of collagen to suppress collagen-induced arthritis in a mouse model. Nagler-Anderson et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 83:7443-7446 (1986).
Scientists have also studied ways to suppress autoimmune diseases in various animal models. Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) is a T cell-mediated autoimmune disease directed against myelin basic protein (MBP) and has been studied as a model for multiple sclerosis in several mammalian species. See, Alvord, E. et al., Experimental Allergic Encephalomyelitis A Useful Model For Multiple Sclerosis (Allan R. Liss, New York, 1984). Immunoregulation of EAE is known to be at least partially dependent on suppressor T cells (Ts). It has been shown that Ts are present in rats which have recovered from EAE. Swierkosz, J. et al., J. Immunol. 119:1501 (1977). Furthermore, it has been shown that suppressor T cells account for the unresponsiveness to EAE that is exhibited by some mouse strains. Lando, Z. et al., Nature 287:551 (1980).
Various methods have been employed to induce antigen-specific suppression of EAE and include immunization with MBP emulsified in incomplete Freund's adjuvant, as shown by Lando, Z. et al., J. Immunol. 126:1526 (1981), and intravenous injection of MBP-conjugated lymphoid cells as shown by Sriram, S. et al., Cell. Immunol. 75:378 (1983).
Three papers by Alvord et al. are reported in Annals of Neurology in Vol. 6 at pp. 461-468, 468-473, and 474-482, respectively (1979). The first and second of these papers disclose the suppression of EAE in monkeys by the parenteral administration of MBP only when administered together with a nonspecific adjunctive factor, e.g., an anti-biotic or a steroid. The third report discloses the presence in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis of several proteases that degrade MBP to antigenically active peptide fragments.
Papers by Traugott et al., J. Neurological Science 56:65-73 (1982), and Raine et al., Lab. Investigation 48:275-84 (1983) disclose that treatment of a strain of guinea pigs suffering from chronic relapsing EAE by parenterally administered MBP alone or in incomplete Freund's adjuvant (IFA) or in combination with a lipid hapten of myelin, namely, galactocerebroside, suppressed the clinical symptoms of EAE.
Furthermore, McKenna et al., Cell. Immun. 81:391-402 (1983), discloses that preinjection of rats with guinea pig MBP coupled to syngeneic spleen leukocytes or to syngeneic red blood cells suppressed the subsequent induction of EAE using guinea pig MBP in Freund's complete adjuvant. The degree of suppression correlated positively with the amount of MBP administered.
A report by Strejan et al., Cell. Immun. 84:171-184 (1984), discloses that preinjection of rats with guinea pig MBP encapsulated within phosphatidylserine liposomes suppressed the clinical signs and symptoms of EAE that appear in rats injected with guinea pig MBP in complete Freund's adjuvant.
Another paper by McKenna et al., Cell. Immun. 88:251-259 (1984), discloses that the suppressive effects of injected guinea pig MBP leukocyte complexes disclosed in their 1983 report was abolished when animals were pretreated with cyclophosphamide, a drug that inhibits the production of suppressor T lymphocytes.
A report by Krasner et al., Neurology 36:92-94 (1986) discloses that synthetic C copolymer I, which is being tested as a treatment for multiple sclerosis because it protects animals against EAE, does not exhibit immunologic cross-reactivity with MBP.
Additionally, a report from the Soviet Union, Belik et al., Vopr. Med. Khim. 24:372-377 (1978), discloses (according to an English abstract) the parenteral administration of "alkaline myelin protein fragment" and "synthetic encephalitogenic peptide" to guinea pigs with EAE. The animals recovered after administration of "alkaline myelin protein fragment" to said animals sensitized by bovine "alkaline myelin protein fragment" or by "synthetic encephalitogenic peptide."
A report by Braley-Mullen et al., Cell. Immun. 51:408 (1980), and the report by Nagler-Anderson et al. noted above, both disclose the suppression of the symptoms of two other experimental autoimmune diseases which are induced by injection of animals with autoantigen-lymphocyte conjugates. The Braley-Mullen et al. report discloses the suppression of experimental autoimmune thyroiditis in the guinea pig by injection of these animals with thyroglobulin antigen in incomplete Freund's adjuvant. The Nagler-Anderson et al. report discloses the suppression of T type II collagen-induced arthritis in the mouse by intragastric administration of soluble, but not denatured, T type II collagens prior to immunization of the animal with T type II collagen in adjuvant.

Treatment of multiple sclerosis by oral administration of autoantigens


Provided is a network global positioning system (GPS) terminal. The network GPS terminal includes: a GPS receiver receiving GPS data; a GPS processor processing the received GPS data to a predetermined form; a network communication part communicating with an external apparatus through a network in order to receive a request for the GPS data from the external apparatus, and transmit the processed GPS data to the external apparatus in response to the request; a security access controller authenticating the external apparatus; and a network management part managing connection information and security information of the external apparatus, the network communication part simultaneously communicating with at least one external apparatus using a TCP/IP protocol. A method of providing GPS data using a network is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing global positioning system (GPS) data using a network.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A global positioning system (GPS) apparatus uses a technique capable of accurately determining a terrestrial position using a number of satellites orbiting the earth.
Currently, drivers and passengers are provided with various convenient services through a variety of application programs using a GPS.
However, since the application programs applied to the GPS apparatus are closely related to the GPS, it is difficult to separate a GPS receiver from the program. Therefore, a GPS apparatus with a GPS receiver attached thereto has been developed to be used by a requested application program.
Consequently, a typical GPS receiving apparatus is manufactured to meet requirements of the application program, and has a close relationship with an apparatus in which the application program operates. Specifically, the GPS receiver is in communication with connection equipment through serial communication, and received data is processed by a program of an application apparatus using a GPS reception process, a GPS processing engine, etc. in a number of application apparatuses.
In this case, when there are several apparatuses requesting GPS data, each of the apparatuses is equipped with a GPS receiver to thereby receive the GPS data, and this results in inefficiency.
In particular, in the case of a vehicle for which the GPS apparatus is often used, each apparatus separately receives and processes a GPS signal. This results in the vehicle possibly being disorganized and messy inside, and a waste of resources.

Method and apparatus for providing GPS data using network

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


The present invention controls reactive current to be low so that expensive components are not required and costs are decreased. According to the present invention, serial circuits of two switching elements are connected between the positive and negative electrodes of a DC power supply, a tertiary winding 6 and a quaternary winding are added to a transformer of a DC/DC converter where a serial circuit of a capacitor and a transformer primary winding are connected to the switching element in parallel, an ON/OFF signal is applied to the switching element via the tertiary winding, the quaternary winding becomes a winding for the power supply of a control circuit, the timing of the switching of the positive/negative of the quaternary winding voltage is detected by this control circuit, and an ON/OFF signal is applied to the switching element at this timing. By decreasing the ON time of the switching element, the reactive current can be decreased.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a DC/DC converter with a half bridge configuration, and the control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 6 shows a prior art example of a DC/DC converter that includes a series circuit of a MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effects Transistor) 1 and MOSFET 2, which are connected to a DC power supply 10 in parallel, and a series circuit of a capacitor 3, a transformer primary winding 5 and a snubber capacitor 21, which are connected to the MOSFET 2 in parallel respectively. The secondary side of a transformer 22 comprises 2 windings, 8 and 9, and a rectifying and smoothing circuit which further comprises diodes 12, 13 and capacitor 14. In order to maintain a smoothed DC output voltage at a predetermined level, an output voltage detection circuit 17 and a frequency and phase control circuit 19 are disposed to perform feedback control. For the circuit to drive each gate of the MOSFET 1 and 2, a high voltage driver IC (Integrated Circuit) 20 is used.
FIG. 7 shows the timing chart for the operation of the DC/DC converter shown in FIG. 6; the operation of which will now be described. At first, MOSFET 1 is turned ON in period [1], then the resonance current, by the capacitor 3 and the leakage inductance of the transformer 22 and the exciting current of the transformer 22, flow via the DC power supply 10 to capacitor 3, to transformer primary winding 5, to MOSFET 1, and the capacitor 3 is charged. At this time, the difference voltage VP1 between the DC power supply voltage Ed and the voltage VC across the capacitor 3 is applied to the transformer primary winding 5. The voltage VS1 generated at the transformer secondary winding 8 is rectified and smoothed by the diode 12 and the capacitor 14, and power is supplied to the load. The transformer secondary winding voltage VS1 rises in proportion to the transformer primary winding voltage VP1 (indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 7). The diode 12 conducts when the transformer secondary winding voltage VS1 reaches the output voltage Vo, and therefore the voltage VS1 is clamped to the output voltage Vo. The difference voltage between the dotted lines and the solid lines in FIG. 7 is applied to the leakage inductance of the transformer 22.
In period [2], the transformer primary winding voltage VP1 gradually drops, and when the voltage in proportion to the transformer primary winding voltage VP1 becomes lower than the output voltage Vo, the diode 12 is blocked, and the diode current ID12 becomes zero. In the MOSFET 1, the exciting current of the transformer 22, excited during period [1], flows continuously.
When the MOSFET 1 is turned OFF in period [3], the exciting current of the transformer 22 is commutated to the snubber capacitor 21 and the output capacitance of the MOSFET 1 and 2, and the voltage VQ1 across the MOSFET 1 gradually rises and the voltage VQ2 across the MOSFET 2 gradually drops.
When the voltage VQ2 across the MOSFET 1 reaches the DC power supply voltage Ed in period [4], the exciting current of the transformer 22 is commutated to the parasitic diode of the MOSFET 2. At this time, by turning the MOSFET 2 ON, the resonance current and the exciting current of the transformer 22 flow via the capacitor 3 to MOSFET 2, to transformer primary winding 5, and the capacitor 3 is discharged. The difference voltage VP1 between the DC power supply voltage Ed and the voltage across the capacitor 3 is applied to the transformer primary winding 5, and therefore the transformer 22 is reset. At this time, the voltage generated at the transformer secondary winding 9 is rectified and smoothed by the diode 13 and the capacitor 14, and power is supplied to the load.
Since operation in period [4] to [6] is the same as in period [1] to [3], a description thereof is omitted here.
By repeating the series of operations from period [1] to [6], power is supplied from the DC power supply 10 to the load.
Now the operation when the load is light will be described with reference to FIG. 8. When the load is light, the frequency and phase control circuit 19 is adjusted so that the switching frequency does not increase, and the MOSFET 1 or MOSFET 2 is turned OFF when a predetermined time elapses after the transformer secondary current ID12 and ID13 become zero. The current IQ 1 and 2, which flows through the MOSFET 1 and 2 becomes roughly equal to the exciting current of the transformer 22.
In the above prior art, each MOSFET alternately switches from rated load to no load at a 50% duty, and controls the current to be supplied to the load by adjusting the voltage to be applied to the transformer primary winding with respect to the changes of the load using the output voltage detection circuit and the frequency and phase control circuit, so that output voltage becomes constant. With this method however, a value of the exciting current which flows through the exciting inductance of the transformer hardly changes from rated load to no load, so this exciting current becomes reactive current, loss is generated by the impedance in the circuit (e.g. the ON resistance of a MOSFET and the winding resistance of a transformer), and as a result, efficiency when the load is light drops.
Also the potential of the source terminal of the MOSFET, which is connected to the positive electrode of the DC power supply, is different from the potential of the source terminal of the MOSFET which is connected to the negative electrode of the DC power supply, so it is necessary to insulate signals which drive the MOSFET at the positive electrode side by a pulse transformer, or to use an expensive high voltage driver IC which has a level shift function, resulting in the system becoming large and costs increasing.
In view of the above, it would be desirable to control reactive current to be low and to lower costs by not using expensive components.
To overcome the deficiencies of conventional devices, a DC-DC converter according to the present invention is characterized in that serial circuits of two switching elements are connected in parallel between the positive electrode and the negative electrode of a DC power supply, a serial circuit of at least one capacitor and a transformer primary winding is connected to one of the switching elements in parallel, an ON/OFF signal is supplied to the switching element connected to the positive electrode side of the DC power supply from the tertiary winding of the transformer, the quaternary winding of the transformer is used for the power supply of a control circuit, the timing of the switching of positive/negative of the quaternary winding voltage is detected by the control circuit, and an ON/OFF signal is applied to the switching element connected to the negative electrode side of the DC power supply at this timing, so that half wave rectification or full wave rectification is performed on the positive/negative voltage generated at the secondary winding of the transformer, and DC output is obtained.
In the DC-DC converter, the switching element connected to the negative electrode side of the DC power supply turns ON when a short circuit prevention period has elapsed after the voltage of the transformer quaternary winding switches from positive to negative or from negative to positive, compares the reference voltage value, which increases in proportion to the time from the switching element ON or the voltage switching timing of the transformer quaternary winding, and when the reference voltage exceeds this voltage detection value, the switching element is turned OFF so that the DC output voltage becomes constant.
Furthermore, a predetermined offset can be provided so that the minimum value of the reference voltage becomes greater than the minimum value of the secondary side output voltage detection value. Furthermore, when it is detected that the secondary side output voltage detection value exceeds the reference voltage, a drive signal is applied to the switching element connected to the negative electrode side of the DC power supply at the timing of a rise or fall of a rectangular wave signal, which is oscillated at a predetermined frequency, so as to prevent an error stop of the DC/DC converter.
In the DC-DC converter according to the present invention, when the occurrence of switching of the voltage of the transformer quaternary winding from positive to negative or from negative to positive is detected, and no switching is detected, a drive signal is applied to the switching element connected to the negative electrode side of the DC power supply so as to prevent an error stop of the DC/DC converter, or when ON of the switching element connected to the positive electrode side of the DC power supply is detected from the voltage of the transformer quaternary winding while the switching element connected to the negative electrode side of the DC power supply is ON, the switching element connected to the negative electrode side of the DC power supply is turned OFF so as to prevent an arm short circuit, or when it is detected that the switching element connected to the positive electrode of the DC power supply is OFF from the voltage of the transformer quaternary winding with respect to the timing of the switching of the intermittent signal, which intermittently oscillates and drives the switching element connected to the positive electrode side of the DC power supply, from the switching stop period to the switching period, the intermittent signal is switched from the switching stop period to the switching period so as to prevent an arm short circuit.

DC/DC converter and control method thereof


Embodiments disclosed herein include systems, methods, and apparatuses for managing requirements for an existing or proposed objective system. An information system in accordance with one embodiment includes one or more processors and storage coupled to the one or more processors. The storage is configured to represent requirements data, including one or more requirements for the objective system, and a particular state of the requirements data for the objective system, including subsystems of the objective system. The particular state of the requirements data includes a particular discrete information quality level for each requirement. The processors are programmed to calculate a requirements information entropy metric, HR, for the particular state, and to calculate an additional information increment ΔI. The additional information increment ΔI represents an amount of additional information necessary to transform the requirements data from the particular state of the requirements data to a desired state of the requirements data.

Field
The present invention(s) relate generally to techniques for use in a systems or requirements engineering or undertaking, and more particularly, to computational system techniques for estimating, measuring, monitoring and forecasting information quality, technical uncertainty, engineering effort, and/or productivity for or in the course of a technical information development effort.
Background
Systems engineering (SE) is a comprehensive engineering process for identifying, developing and delivering viable system solutions that meet defined need(s) within the specified cost and schedule constraints. The SE process facilitates the documentation of the technical effort and guides the systems engineer and program management team through the activities necessary for engineering specification, design synthesis and system development. The SE process becomes more difficult as systems become more complex and larger in scale. The successful realization of these systems or systems of systems (SoS) requires the integration of numerous activities and processes that support the technical effort and enable its successful completion. SE is the overarching engineering approach for tailoring and integrating the technical effort in order to design and build the right system the right way.
Requirements engineering is among the most important and difficult activities in systems engineering. Requirements engineering includes all the activities involved in the discovery, definition, development, analysis, verification, validation and management of system requirements that drive and bound the system design and engineering effort. System requirements are formal technical statements that describe the functions, capabilities, characteristics and qualities of the system that are necessary to satisfy the customer or user need(s). The system requirements contain the important technical information that communicates what the system must do and how well it must do it. Many problems in the development of complex systems have been traced to poor requirements engineering or poor requirements. Poor requirements often result in system development problems and are often cited as a primary reason why systems engineering and development efforts fail.
Poor requirements have been linked to requirements volatility and requirements volatility has been identified as a major factor contributing to poor program performance. Current requirements metrics supply only a limited portion of the information necessary to identify, isolate, and resolve problems during system development. Requirements volatility problems extend to many hardware and software industries. Requirements evolve over time during the requirements engineering or information development process but all changes are not equal. The engineering effort may not satisfy user needs or may lead to the wrong system being built if requirements quality is ignored. Requirements quality has the largest potential impact on the success of systems developments.
Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) in the Department of Defense (DoD) develop complex systems for the U.S. military. MDAPs have struggled in recent years to meet performance objectives within original cost and schedule estimates, particularly when the technology envelope is pushed, requirements are unstable, or system complexity and engineering effort are underestimated. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) has been practiced in the United States for decades; however QFD practitioners in the commercial sector have also struggled with the development of complex systems. Recent studies suggest requirements volatility and underestimation of engineering effort are major contributing factors to the poor outcomes of complex system development programs. The harsh reality is that customers and users must often choose between lower performance, schedule delay or higher cost after significant program resources are expended, resulting in less successful projects, lower customer satisfaction, and erosion of competitive advantage in the marketplace.
In a recent study of 96 different DoD MDAPs, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) found the average cost growth was $3.1 billion, 42 percent of programs had at least a 25 percent unit cost growth, and the average schedule delay in delivering initial operating capabilities was 22 months. Requirements volatility, underestimation of engineering effort and the lack of early systems engineering were identified as contributing factors to poor program performance. As part of the strategy to address these problems, the DoD implemented major changes to its system acquisition practices in order to place greater emphasis on early systems engineering and more rigorous formal reviews of system progress earlier in the development cycle to reduce the negative impact of requirements volatility and the need for costly redesigns later in the system development effort.
A primary objective of requirements engineering is to identify, define, develop, and formulate information that is necessary to design and build a system that satisfies customer or user needs. Requirements engineering is an iterative process and by definition involves changes and transformation of information that describes the system. Implicit in this requirements transformation process is the transition of information from a state of relatively low quality and high technical uncertainty to a state of high quality and low technical uncertainty that enables the right system to be designed and built with confidence. Recently, there has been considerable interest in new leading indicators and methods for estimating, measuring, monitoring and forecasting requirements trends and the impact of requirements volatility because of the importance of requirements engineering in the SE process and the problems that have traced to poor system requirements. Many existing methods for estimating, measuring, monitoring and forecasting requirements volatility and its impact on engineering effort have major limitations because they measure the quantity of requirements changes only without considering information quality or the degree to which changes, revisions, modifications, additions or deletions impact quality relative to a well-defined desired end state. New systems engineering methods are needed to improve the outcomes of complex system development programs, particularly as development schedules compress and legacy systems become obsolete more quickly due to the rapid pace of technology advancement.

Techniques for estimating, measuring, monitoring or forecasting information quality, technical uncertainty, engineering effort and/or productivity


According to an embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, a first region that is provided on the semiconductor substrate and has a line-and-space pattern extending in a first direction, and a second region that is provided adjacent to the first region on the semiconductor substrate and has a dummy pattern. The surface area per unit area of the second region is greater than the surface area per unit area of the first region.

In a semiconductor device including memory cells, a memory cell region provided with the memory cells is typically formed in the finest possible pattern (that is, having smallest possible feature sizes or spacing between features), and a peripheral circuit region provided in the periphery of the memory cell region is formed with feature sizes (or spacing between features) that is several to tens of times greater than that of the memory cells. Therefore, at the boundary between the memory cell region and the peripheral circuit region, the pattern density significantly changes. Therefore, during the patterning of the memory cell region, it becomes difficult to form the patterns at the center portion of the memory cell regions and at the region boundary at the same time with linearity.


Non-contact methods for determining a parameter of an insulating film are provided. One method includes measuring at least two surface voltages of the insulating film. The surface voltages are measured after different charge depositions. Measuring the surface voltages is performed in two or more sequences. The method also includes determining individual parameters for the two or more sequences from the surface voltages and the charge depositions. In addition, the method includes determining the parameter of the insulating film as an average of the individual parameters. The parameter is substantially independent of leakage in the insulating film. Another method includes determining a characteristic of nitrogen in an insulating film using two parameters of the insulating film selected from equivalent oxide thickness, optical thickness, and a measure of leakage through the insulating film. The characteristic may be a nitrogen dose, a nitrogen percentage, or a presence of nitrogen in the insulating film.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to determining an electrical parameter and/or nitrogen content of an insulating film. Certain embodiments relate to determining one or more electrical parameters and the nitrogen content of an insulating film that is imperfectly insulating.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fabricating semiconductor devices such as logic and memory devices typically includes processing a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer using a number of semiconductor fabrication processes to form various features and multiple levels of the semiconductor devices. For example, insulating (or dielectric) films may be formed on multiple levels of a substrate using deposition processes such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), and atomic layer deposition (ALD). In addition, insulating films may be formed on multiple levels of a substrate using a thermal growth process. For example, a layer of silicon dioxide may be thermally grown on a substrate by heating the substrate to a temperature of greater than about 700° C. in an oxidizing ambient such as O2 or H2O. Such insulating films may electrically isolate conductive structures of a semiconductor device formed on the substrate.
Measuring and controlling such insulating films is an important aspect of semiconductor device manufacturing. A number of techniques are presently available for making such measurements. For example, electrical measurement techniques that rely on physical contact to a conductive electrode on top of an insulating film may be used to determine relevant electrical properties of insulating films using capacitance vs. voltage (C-V) and current vs. voltage (I-V) measurements. Such measurements have a long history and established utility. These measurements, however, require a conductive electrode and a contacting probe. The necessity of direct physical electrical contact is particularly undesirable in many manufacturing situations.
Non-contacting electrical test techniques have been developed to provide electrical capacitance, electrical thickness, and electrical conductivity information about insulating films. Non-contacting electrical measurements of dielectric properties have the unique advantage of providing electrically derived information without the requirement of physical contact to an electrode on top of an insulating film. These techniques typically use an ion generation source such as a corona and a non-contacting voltage measurement sensor such as a Kelvin Probe or a Monroe Probe to determine electrical properties of the films. Examples of such techniques are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,091 to Verkuil, U.S. Pat. No. 6,097,196 to Verkuil et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,029 to Verkuil et al., which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. Additional examples of such measurements can be found in "Non-Contact Corona-Based Process Control Measurements: Where We've Been, Where We're Headed," by Steven R. Weinzierl and Tom G. Miller, Proceedings of the 196th Meeting of The Electrochemical Society, invited presentation, 17–22 Oct., 1999, Honolulu, Hi. and "Uses of Corona Discharges in the Semiconductor Industry," by R. G. Comizzoli, J. Electrochem. Soc., February, 1987, pp. 424–429, which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
One example of a non-contact metrology tool is the Quantox™ system, which is commercially available from KLA-Tencor, San Jose, Calif. This metrology tool is configured to measure gate electrical properties based on the non-contact Kelvin probe measurement principles. Examples of non-contact Kelvin probe measurement principles can be found in the above-referenced article by Weinzierl et al. in addition to "A Contactless Alternative to MOS Charge Measurements by Means of a Corona-Oxide-Semiconductor (COS) Technique," by R. L. Verkuil and M. S. Fung, Electrochemical Society Extended Abstracts No. 169, Vol. 88–1, 1998, pp. 261–262, "Replacing C-V Monitoring with Noncontact COS Charge Analysis," by K. D. Catmull, R. G. Cosway, B. A. Letherer, and G. S. Homer, Solid State Technology, June 1998, pp. 203–206, "(Review) Characterization and Production Metrology of Thin Transistor Gate Oxide Films," by Alain C. Diebold, David Venables, Yves Chabal, David Muller, Marcus Weldon, Eric Garfunkel, Materials Science and Processing 2, 1999, pp. 103–147, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,203 to Verkuil, U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,756 to Curtis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,091 to Verkuil, U.S. Pat. No. 5,767,691 to Verkuil, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,060,709 to Verkuil et al., all of which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
One traditional method for measuring equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) involves depositing two different amounts of charge on the film and measuring the corresponding surface voltages. The EOT can be calculated from the ratio of the voltage difference to the charge difference. For non-leaky and relatively good quality films, the deposited charges have stable profiles and stay on the film for a relatively long time. Therefore, the measured amounts of charge and the surface voltages are substantially stable over time. But for leaky films such as very thin oxide films and thin oxynitride films, the charge on the film changes over time. As the time after the charge deposited on the film increases, the charge that is left on the film decreases due to leakage. Therefore, the measured surface voltage also decreases over time. Since the charge deposition gun and Kelvin probe measurement head are at different locations, regardless of how fast the gun or the measurement head moves, there will be measurement time delay. Thus, the measurement time delay and speeds at which the charge deposition gun and the Kelvin probe measurement head move have significant impacts on the measurement results.
Other methods are also proposed to try to correct the leakage effect. Examples of such methods are illustrated in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/616,086 entitled "Methods and Systems for Determining a Property of an Insulating Film," filed Jul. 9, 2003, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. One of these methods is commercially available as the ACTIV™ EOT technology, which is incorporated in the Quantox XP system commercially available from KLA-Tencor. This method involves measuring surface voltage as a function of time to characterize the surface voltage decay due to leakage and using the surface voltage decay to correct the EOT. This method works for certain leaky films but for very leaky films, it may not give substantially accurate EOT values and may not have a good correlation to end-of-line C-V measurements.

Non-contact methods for measuring electrical thickness and determining nitrogen content of insulating films


The present invention provides nanoparticle based recording mediums, inks and ink compositions, methods of making nanoparticle based recording mediums and inks, nanoparticles and methods for making nanoparticles, methods for stabilizing colorants against electromagnetic radiation (including radiation in the visible wavelength range), methods for enhancing the substrate independent durability performance of inks, and methods for color density control. The nanoparticle based inks deliver better color, color density control, improved printability, enhanced durability, and increased lightfastness, and are capable of being printed on woven and non-woven fabrics and paper products without special treatment or other limitations.

Typically, colorants tend to fade when exposed to electromagnetic radiation such as sunlight or artificial light and the like. It is believed that most of the fading of colorants when exposed to light is due to photodegradation mechanisms. These photodegradation mechanisms include oxidation or reduction of the colorants depending upon the environmental conditions in which the colorant is placed. Fading of colorants also depends upon the substrate upon which they reside.
Product analysis of stable photoproducts and intermediates has revealed several important modes of photodecomposition. These include electron ejection from the colorant, reaction with ground-state or excited singlet state oxygen, bond cleavage to form various products, reduction to form colorless leuco dyes and electron or hydrogen atom abstraction to form radical intermediates.
Various factors such as temperature, humidity, gaseous reactants, including O2, O3, SO2, and NO2, and water soluble, nonvolatile photodegradation products themselves have been shown to influence fading of colorants. The factors that effect colorant fading appear to exhibit a certain amount of interdependence. It is due to this complex behavior that observations for the fading of a particular colorant on a particular substrate cannot be applied to colorants and substrates in general.
Under conditions of constant temperature it has been observed that an increase in the relative humidity of the atmosphere increases the fading of a colorant for a variety of colorant-substrate systems (e.g., McLaren, K., J. Soc. Dyers Colour, 1956, 72, 527). For example, as the relative humidity of the atmosphere increases, a fiber may swell because the moisture content of the fiber increases. This aids diffusion of gaseous reactants through the substrate structure.
The ability of a light source to cause photochemical change in a colorant is also dependent upon the spectral distribution of the light source, that is, the proportion of radiation of wavelengths most effective in causing a change in the colorant and the quantum yield of colorant degradation as a function of wavelength. On the basis of photochemical principles, it might be expected that light of higher energy (short wavelengths) would be more effective at causing fading than light of lower energy (long wavelengths). Studies have revealed that this is not always the case. Over 100 colorants of different classes were studied and found that generally the most unstable were faded more efficiently by visible light while those of higher lightfastness were degraded mainly by ultraviolet light (McLaren, K., J. Soc. Dyers Colour, 1956, 72, 86).
The influence of a substrate on colorant stability can be extremely important. Colorant fading may be retarded or promoted by chemical groups within the substrate. Such groups can be a ground-state species or excited-state species. The porosity of the substrate is also an important factor in colorant stability. A high porosity can promote fading of a colorant by facilitating penetration of moisture and gaseous reactants into the substrate. A substrate may also act as a protective agent by screening the colorant from light of wavelengths capable of causing degradation.
The purity of the substrate is also an important consideration whenever the photochemistry of dyed technical polymers is considered. For example, technical-grade cotton, viscose rayon, polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyisoprene are known to contain carbonyl group impurities. These impurities absorb light of wavelengths greater than 300 nm, which are present in sunlight, and so, excitation of these impurities may lead to reactive species capable of causing colorant fading (van Beek, H. C. A., Col. Res. Appl., 1983, 8(3), 176).
In addition to fading, colorants tend to bleed when applied to fabrics. Accordingly, a colorant system that exhibits enhanced stability and color fastness when printed or applied to any type of fabric is desired.
What is needed in the art is a colorant system that not only provides increased light fastness and better color stability, but also one which is capable of being printed on fabrics without special treatment or other limitations. In addition, a superior textile printing ink with substrate independent durability performance is needed. There also exists a need for methods and compositions which are capable of stabilizing a wide variety of colorants from the effects of electromagnetic radiation, such as sunlight and artificial light.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Nanoparticle based inks and methods of making the same


The present invention provides an image recording material support which contains a paper, wherein the paper contains at least a pulp; and the content ratio of long fiber pulp having a fiber length of 0.7 mm or more in the paper relative to the entire pulp content is 20% or less; and also provides a method for producing an image recording material support which includes beating a pulp using a refiner equipped with beating plates having an average blade angle of 10 degrees or less.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording material support which is preferably used for electrophotographic materials, heat sensitive materials, sublimation transfer materials, heat transfer materials, silver slat photographic materials, inkjet-recording materials, and the like. The present invention also relates to a method for producing the image recording material support, and an image recording material using the image recording material support.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, paper, synthetic paper, synthetic resin sheet, coat paper, laminate paper, and the like are well known as supports for various image-recording materials such as electrophotographic materials, heat sensitive materials, inkjet-recording materials, sublimation transfer materials, silver salt photographic materials, and heat transfer materials. Among the above-noted image recording material supports, laminate paper having a coated layer made of polyolefin resin or the like on a surface thereof is preferably used in order to obtain an image print having high-quality, high-glossiness, high planality, and the like (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 2003-76052 and 2003-177565).
In recent years, high-quality image printing of full-color images, photographic images, or the like has become performed more frequently, and it has been desired to provide an image recording material which allows obtaining an image print having higher image quality, higher glossiness, and higher planality. In association with this trend, improvements in further planality and glossiness are required for image recording material supports, and to ensure steady rigidity is more desired. However, an image recording material support capable of adequately satisfying all the performances has not been provided yet.

Image-recording material support, method for producing the same, and image recording material


The present invention divides processing across multiple nodes to escape limitations placed by the processing power of commonly available application server platforms. The solution processing divides the problem into independently processed batches. Coordination of processing between nodes is achieved using a relational database tables and coordination for algorithm startup and initialization may be accomplished through a messaging system. The database table is loaded with rows to represent batches to be processed, and the independent processing nodes are given a message via the messaging system to start processing various jobs at a particular level. The nodes may then signal back when they can no longer find batches to process at that level. Once all nodes have completed a level, a message is sent to the nodes starts on to the next level. In this way, the messaging between the nodes is generally limited to two messages per level per node. The solution may be applied to supply chain problems by dividing the supply chain into separate levels and using separate nodes for calculations at each of the levels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and related method providing a more robust computing environment through a program architecture that divides complex supply chain planning operations into smaller distinct tasks.
2. Background of the Invention
Numerous known techniques and devices are used to determine a time-phased replenishment plan for a multi-tiered supply chain network within an enterprise. The calculation of time-phased replenishment plans typically includes netting requirements at each location and determining dependent demand on source locations and subordinate items in a bill of material (BOM) relationship. This combination of functionality may be referred to as Material Requirements Planning ("MRP") and Distribution Requirements Planning ("DRP"). Known MRP and DRP solutions include the co-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,415,196 for Manufacturing Scheduling Process With Improved Modeling, Scheduling And Editing For Solving Finite Capacity Planning Problems issued on Jul. 2, 2002 and pending U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/184,963 for Manufacturing Scheduling Process With Improved Modeling, Scheduling And Editing For Solving Finite Capacity Planning, Ser. No. 09/984,346 for System And Method For Inventory And Capacity Availability Management, Ser. No. 09/974,801 for System And Methods For Scheduling Manufacturing Resources, Ser. No. 09/984,347 System And Method For Supply Chain Demand Planning And Forecasting, and Ser. No. 09/984,349 for System And Method For Ensuring Order Fulfillment. The subject matters of the patent and applications the is hereby incorporated by reference in full.
A typical replenishment network 500 is depicted in FIG. 5 (prior art). In FIG. 5, items A, B, and C are sold to customers from distribution centers 530 (level 0). The distribution centers 530 are replenished from a factory 520 (level 1) that produces and ships the items A, B, and C. In producing items A, B, and C, the factory 520 uses inputs D, E, and F, which are obtained from suppliers 510 (level 2). To plan replenishment of these item in the proper sequence, a typical approach is to "level code" the SKUs. Level coding starts at a customer facing SKU level 0 and proceeds to subordinate SKUs (having a subordinate relationship either via a BOM or sourcing relationship) at levels 1 and 2. Thus, the planning problem first involves estimating inventory and demand levels for the items A B, and C at the distribution centers 530. The planning problem next examines the ability of the factory 520 to produce the items the items A B, and C as needed replenish the distribution centers 530. In this examination, the planning problem looks, for instance, to factory's ability to satisfy the estimated demand for the items (such as the factory's inventory of the inputs D, E, and F and the factory's production capacity) and the delay associated with manufacturing and transporting the items. The planning problem further looks to the ability of the factory 520 obtain additional amounts of the inputs D, E, and F from the suppliers 510 and the delays associated with this obtaining of the inputs. It should be readily apparent that these computations grow enormously complex and entailed with increasing numbers of levels and locations (i.e., increasing number of SKUs). For instance, a typical retail store may have hundreds of thousands of items, supplied from hundreds of factories and distributors, each using numerous inputs.
In general, it is very technically challenging to scale the various MRP and DRP algorithms, such as those described above, to solve large supply chain problems because of the need to process the steps in a specific, linear order. For instance, a plan to replenish an item from a source location, as described above, should first determine that all required inputs have first been obtained. Given this need to process the replenishment planning of the SKUs in very specific orders, the processing of the supply chain algorithms across multiple machines on a network generally suffers from significant overhead in coordinating processing activities between nodes. Thus, one goal of the present invention is to develop a strategy for efficient partitioning of the processing without imposing significant overhead on process management activities or generating excessive network traffic to manage the solution processing.
Modern computer hardware commonly employ a modular architecture in which the hardware device integrates separately operating components including various temporary and permanent data storage systems, input/output devices for accessing the data storage, a processor for processing the stored data, and a communication system for connecting the various components. In this way, the design and construction a computer are relatively easy since separate parts can be selected and assembled as needed. Similarly, system repairs and enhancements are relatively easy since parts can be added or removed from the system as needed. The modular architecture also generally improves performance because the individual components may be optimized to perform their relative tasks. General computer performance is also improved through the concurrent performance of multiple tasks such as concurrent data processing and storage. Computer performance may be further improved by adding additional components, such as additional processors or storage units, to share tasks. The modular hardware architecture has the added benefit of improving reliability since the parts are relatively simple devices with fewer components. Reliability of the computer system may also be improved through redundancy of components, so that the tasks performed by a failed component may be readily performed by an alternative part. For instance, various RAID-type storage systems use redundant storage systems such that loss of data at one system may be recovered in a second system.
A typical replenishment network 500 is depicted in FIG. 5 (prior art). In FIG. 5, items A, B, and C are sold to customers from distribution centers 530 (level 0) The distribution centers 530 are replenished from a factory 520 (level 1) that produces and ships the items A, B, and C. In producing items A, B, and C, the factory 520 uses inputs D, E, and F, which are obtained from suppliers 510 (level 2). To plan replenishment of these items in the proper sequence, a typical approach is to "level code" the SKUs. Level coding starts at a customer facing SKU level 0 and proceeds to subordinate SKUs (having a subordinate relationship either via a BOM or sourcing relationship) at levels 1 and 2. Thus, the planning problem first involves estimating inventory and demand levels for the items A B, and C at the distribution centers 530. The planning problem next examines the ability of the factory 520 to produce the items A B, and C as needed replenish the distribution centers 530. In this examination, the planning problem looks, for instance, to the factory's ability to satisfy the estimated demand for the items (such as the factory's inventory of the inputs D, E, and F and the factory's production capacity) and the delay associated with manufacturing and transporting the items. The planning problem further looks to the ability of the factory 520 to obtain additional amounts of the inputs D, E, and F from the suppliers 510 and the delays associated with this obtaining of the inputs. It should be readily apparent that these computations grow enormously complex and entailed with increasing numbers of levels and locations (i.e., increasing number of SKUs). For instance, a typical retail store may have hundreds of thousands of items, supplied from hundreds of factories and distributors, each using numerous inputs.
Further goals of the present invention include:                (1) Providing a highly scalable architecture for algorithms with many separable work units that can be processed in parallel;        (2) Implementing a multi-process architecture to take advantage of multiple computers;        (3) Implementing multi-threading to take advantage of multiple processors;        (4) Implementing pipelining to insulate algorithms from communication latencies;        (5) Providing fault tolerance and recoverability;        (6) Providing centralized manageability; and        (7) Providing exceptional price/performance

Design for highly-scalable, distributed replenishment planning algorithm


A processing unit transmits, from at least one of a plurality of antennas, data corresponding respectively to the plurality of antennas. A control unit generates request signals with which to let a second radio apparatus supply information on rates at the second radio apparatus. When transmitting the request signal, the processing unit also transmits, from a plurality of antennas which includes antennas other than the antennas that transmit the data, known signals corresponding respectively to the plurality of antennas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to transmitting and receiving technologies, and it particularly relates to a transmitting and receiving method, in which signals are transmitted from a plurality of antennas and the signals are received by a plurality of antennas, and a radio apparatus utilizing said method.
2. Description of the Related Art
An OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) modulation scheme is one of multicarrier communication schemes that can realize the high-speed data transmission and are robust in the multipath environment. This OFDM modulation scheme has been used in the wireless standards such as IEEE802.11a/g and HIPERLAN/2. The burst signals in such a wireless LAN are generally transmitted via a time-varying channel environment and are also subject to the effect of frequency selective fading. Hence, a receiving apparatus generally carries out the channel estimation dynamically.
In order for the receiving apparatus to carry out the channel estimation, two kinds of known signals are provided within a burst signal. One is the known signal, provided for all carries in the beginning of the burst signal, which is the so-called preamble or training signal. The other one is the known signal, provided for part of carriers in the data area of the burst signal, which is the so-called pilot signal (See Reference (1) in the following Related Art List, for instance).
Related Art List
    (1) Sinem Coleri, Mustafa Ergen, Anuj Puri and Ahmad Bahai, "Channel Estimation Techniques Based on Pilot Arrangement in OFDM Systems", IEEE Transactions on broadcasting, vol. 48, No. 3, pp. 223-229, September 2002.
In wireless communications, adaptive array antenna technology is one of the technologies to realize the effective utilization of frequency resources. In adaptive array antenna technology, the directional patterns of antennas are controlled by controlling the amplitude and phase of signals, to be processed, in a plurality of antennas, respectively. In adaptive array antenna technology, the amplitude and phase of signals transmitted from and received by a plurality of antennas, respectively, are so controlled as to form a directional pattern of the antenna. One of techniques to realize higher data transmission rates by using such an adaptive array antenna technology is the MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) system. In this MIMO system, a transmitting apparatus and a receiving apparatus are each equipped with a plurality of antennas, and a channel corresponding to each of the plurality of antennas is set. That is, channels up to the maximum number of antennas are set for the communications between the transmitting apparatus and the receiving apparatus so as to improve the data transmission rates. Moreover, combining this MIMO system with a technique such as the OFDM modulation scheme results in a higher data transmission rate.
In the MIMO system, the data rate can also be adjusted by increasing the number of antennas to be used for data communications. Furthermore, the data rate can be adjusted in greater detail by applying the adaptive modulation to the MIMO system. To perform such an adjustment of data rates more reliably it is desired that the transmitting apparatus already acquire from the receiving apparatus the information on data rates suited for the radio channel between the transmitting apparatus and the receiving apparatus (hereinafter referred to as "rate information"). If, on the other hand, the rate information is not transmitted periodically in the MIMO system, the transmitting apparatus transmits to the receiving apparatus a signal by which to request the transmission of the rate information (hereinafter referred to as "rate request signal"). Examples of the combinations of directivity patterns in the transmitting apparatus and receiving apparatus in a MIMO system are as follows. One example is a case where the antennas of a transmitting apparatus have omni patterns and the antennas of a receiving apparatus have patterns in adaptive array signal processing. Another example is a case where both the antennas of the transmitting apparatus and those of the receiving apparatus have patterns in adaptive array signal processing. The system can be simplified in the former case. In the latter case, however, the directivity patterns of antennas can be controlled in greater detail, so that the characteristics thereof can be improved. Since in the latter case the transmitting apparatus performs adaptive array signal processing for transmission, it is necessary to receive beforehand from the receiving apparatus the known signals by which to estimate channels. To improve the accuracy of controlling the adaptive array antennas, it is desirable that the transmitting apparatus acquire the respective channel characteristics between a plurality of antennas contained in the transmitting apparatus and those in the receiving apparatus. For this reason, the receiving apparatus transmits from all of antennas the known signals for channel estimation. In this patent specification, the known signals, for use with channel estimation, transmitted from a plurality of antennas will be called "training signals" independently of the number of antennas to be used for data communication.
Under these circumstances, the inventors of the present invention came to recognize the following problems to be solved. If any error is contained in the rate information determined by the receiving apparatus, an error will be caused in communications by a MIMO system and therefore the transmission quality and effective data rate will deteriorate. Thus, the determination of rate information by the receiving apparatus needs to be done with accuracy. In order to raise the effective data rate, it is desired that the transmission of signals other than the data, for example, the rate request signal or training signals, be minimized. When the transmitting apparatus or the receiving apparatus is powered by a battery, the lower power consumption is desired.

Transmitting and receiving method, and radio apparatus utilizing the same


In a wireless communication system, a method and apparatus for reference signal selection is disclosed. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a first reference signal in a first cell is pseudo-randomly selected from a predetermined limited set of reference signals for transmission on a first channel resource. A second reference signal in the cell is pseudo-randomly selected from the predetermined limited set of reference signals for transmission on a second channel resource, where the predetermined limited set of reference signals is common among the first cell and at least a second cell.

In a cellular communication system, a large geographic area is divided into multiple cells. Physical resources—such as frequency channels, spreading codes, timeslots etc.—are re-used from cell-to-cell to maximize system capacity. Within a cell, a single base station communicates with a subset of the mobiles. These mobiles are assigned to cells by handoff algorithms that direct the mobile to the most appropriate cell. Once a cell has been selected, communications are generally considered to be confined within the cells boundaries and protocols are defined for point-to-multi-point communication between one base and the sub-set of mobiles.
Practically, radio communications are not confined by the cells geographic boundaries and cross-cell communication occurs where a base station may communicate with mobiles in adjacent (or more distance) cells. Cross-cell communication can be problematic for a number of reasons:                Cell Selection—a mobile must select the most appropriate cell and then retain connection to that cell. Therefore a mobile must be able to distinguish between signals received from multiple cells and uniquely identify the most appropriate cell.        Association—once selecting an appropriate cell the mobile must clearly associate itself with that cell. As a result, the mobile must transmit a signal that allows a base station receiving these signals to differentiate between a signal that is intended for it or another base station.        Protocol Consistency—as stated protocols are defined for a single base station and a sub-set of mobiles. Cross-cell communication can often intermingle the transmissions of several mobiles, associated with different cells, resulting in a protocol error. For example, the address space used to communicate with the sub-set of mobiles is re-used for cell-to-cell. Therefore, directives intended for one mobile may be interpreted by another mobile in an adjacent cell.
To overcome the problems of cross-cell communication, many methods are used to distinguish cell sites. For some systems, geographic frequency re-use is partitioned in such a way that geographically close cells do not use the same frequency alleviating much of the cross-cell communication problems. For systems employing a large frequency re-use pattern, simple means are appropriate to distinguishing between cells such as a transmission of a cell-specific reference signal (e.g., base station ID field). However, for more aggressive re-use patterns cross-cell communications must employ alternate techniques to identify base stations and mobiles. Therefore a need exists for a method and apparatus for choosing reference signals to be transmitted in a communication system that employs a more-aggressive frequency re-use pattern.

Method and apparatus for reference signal selection in a cellular system


An improved rotating electric field ion mass spectrometer (REFIMS) provides for a smooth transition of the input ion beam from zero rotation to the desired level of field rotation. The REFIMS grid shape is changed from a fixed-diameter tunnel to that of a horn. The horn shape has a flare end with a larger entrance width that reduces the grid electric field strength to near zero and causes no abrupt deflection of the beam at the entrance, and tapers along the longitudinal z axis to a narrower width so that the field strength applied to the beam increases gradually until the correct field strength is obtained at its exit end for the desired rotation of the beam. Preferably, the horn shape in cross-section is hyperbolic, and the increase in field strength is approximately linear with distance along the z axis. The horn shaped device can provide a 2D spectral readout in which the ions are imaged on the target plane at radial positions increasing linearly with decreasing atomic mass units (amu).

A rotating electric field ion mass spectrometer (REFIMS) has an analyzer cell configured with an entrance end, four spaced-apart longitudinal walls to which time-dependent phased RF potentials are applied, and a detector at its target end. This type of REFIMS cell is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,726,448 issued on Mar. 10, 1998, to S. J. Smith and A. Chutjian, and is illustrated schematically in FIG. 1. The time-dependent RF potentials applied to the cell walls create an RF field which effectively rotates the ion beam within the cell. As the ions of the beam are rotated into a spiral path in the cell, the rotating RF field disperses the ion beam according to the mass-to-electrical charge (m/e) ratio and velocity distribution present in the ion beam. The ions of the beam are deflected angularly on the target detector, depending on the m/e, RF amplitude, and RF frequency. The detector counts the incident ions to determine the m/e and velocity distribution of ions in the beam, thereby providing a profile of the elemental constituents in the beam. One possible advantage of this type of device is that the spectral readout can be developed over a two-dimensional detector plane, which provides enhanced profile information for analysis as compared to the conventional one-dimensional (spot or line) spectral readouts. Further descriptions of this type of system are provided in: Clemmons, J. H., 1992, "Sounding rocket observations of precipitating ions in the morning auroral region", Ph. D. dissertation, Univ. California, Berkeley, 135 pp; and Clemmons, J. H., and Herrero, F. A., 1998, "Mass spectroscopy using a rotating electric field", Rev. Sci. Instruments 69, 2285-2291.
Unfortunately, the REFIMS device heretofore has had severe inherent problems relating to ion entrance angle and sensitivity that have made it practically unusable. The abrupt transition from free-space to the RF electric field between the grids requires that the ion entrance angle, offset, and timing coincide with the resonant helical path at an exact RF phase. Looked at in reverse, a resonant ion beam exiting the grids would travel out at a particular angle and offset radius, in contrast to the incident beam direction along the central longitudinal axis. Constructing a device with these limitations is possible, but the loss of sensitivity is remarkable. Only ions entering the chamber at the exact RF phase will resonate, all others are rejected, even if of the correct mass. If this tolerance is off by +/−1 degree, it means a sensitivity loss of 180 times, even before filtering takes place.

Hyperbolic horn helical mass spectrometer


This invention relates generally to an underarm hygiene product having the form of a deodorant patch between a top carrier sheet and a bottom carrier sheet. Deodorant patches dissolve upon contact with the underarm skin and provide a discreet, portable method of remaining fresh in any time or place. Convenient one time dispensing by a flat patch eliminates the need for bulky containers and provides an elegant solution to limitations on quantities of personal care products during airline flights while away from home. This invention also relates to a method of producing the underarm hygiene product.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an underarm hygiene product having the form of a deodorant patch between a top carrier sheet and a bottom carrier sheet.
2. Discussion of Related Art
It is known to use disposable, non-disposable (launderable) and partially disposable garment shields for protecting clothing from perspiration by attaching them directly to apparel such as a dress. Some conventional garment shields have absorption properties to capture perspiration and others offer barrier properties to keep perspiration from contacting the garment. It is also known to modify conventional garment shields with an adhesive for attachment directly to the skin of a wearer.
Deodorants and antiperspirants are also known for underarm hygiene purposes. These compounds have a limited number of dispensing options for application by the user. Common deodorant application forms are roll-on, aerosol, stick, gel and cream. All of these dispensing containers (even "travel size") provide sufficient quantities for multiple uses of deodorant material to last several days or weeks.


A self-propelled cleaning device having a cylindrical side cover has a suction body capable of moving transversely to the forward direction. The side cover is held by a base via a suspension. When cleaning corners of a room, the suction body moves by a wall and as the suction body moves to a corner, the movement amount of the suction body is changed. When an obstacle touches the cleaning device, the side cover moves, and the article touches a side cover switch, and the direction of the article is detected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric cleaning device and a charger used for it and more particularly to a self-propelled cleaning device automatically movable and a charger used for it.
2. Prior Art
An example of a conventional free-running electric cleaning device is described in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Announcement 2002-532177). The electric cleaning device described in this patent application has a body provided with each support wheel, a drive means for driving wheels of the electric cleaning device so as to move a cleaning surface in the forward direction, a dust separator, and a fan for pulling air into the dust separator. And, to enable cleaning in contact with a wall, a head of the cleaning device is mounted so as to cross the forward direction and is projected at least on one side of the body. When there is an obstacle found, the projected head can be pulled into the body.
Another example of a conventional free-running cleaning device is described in Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Application 8-83125).
The robot cleaning device described in this patent application, to automatically charge a battery when it is consumed, has a charging level detection means for detecting that the charging level of the battery is lower than the a predetermined level, a power supplier for supplying the power to the battery, and a power input means for electrically connecting the power supplier and battery.
Still another example of a conventional free-running cleaning device is described in Patent Document 3 (International Patent Application 02/067745 Pamphlet).
The robot cleaning device described in this patent document has a chassis provided with a front bumper and at least two drive wheels. The front bumper can move for the chassis and the robot cleaning device detects the movement of the chassis and front bumper and when the front bumper encounters an obstacle, transmits a control signal to a guide control system. By doing this, even if there is an obstacle, the guide control system can operate the robot cleaning device round the obstacle.
The free running electric cleaning device described in Patent Document 1 does not have a means from detecting the projection amount of a suction body and a means for controlling the suction body on the basis of the position relationship between a wall and the cleaning device body, so that there is the possibility that in the corners of a room, there may be left unsucked dust. Further, the suction body is pressed against the wall by a spring, so that a rubbed mark is caused onto the wall.
Further, in the free running electric cleaning device described in Patent Document 2, when a dust collection case is full of sucked dust, dust must be dumped by hand. Therefore, in a self-propelled cleaning device whose capacity is limited, dust must be disposed frequently, so that it is difficult to completely automate the cleaning device. Furthermore, in the self-propelled cleaning device described in Patent Document 3, only an obstacle in front of the self-propelled cleaning device can be detected, so that to move backward, the direction must be changed.
The present invention was developed with the foregoing fault of the prior art in view and an object of the present invention is to provide a self-propelled cleaning device capable of cleaning the neighborhood of a wall and furniture including the corners of a room. Another object of the present invention is to miniaturize the self-propelled cleaning device. Still another object of the present invention is to automate the charging operation of the self-propelled cleaning device. And, the present invention is intended to accomplish at least any of the objects.
The characteristic of the present invention for accomplishing the above objects is that a self-propelled cleaning device having a loaded power source capable of automatically moving has a circular side cover and a suction body which can be stored in this cylindrical cover and can move transversely to the forward direction and the suction body can move over the maximum width of the cleaning device.
And, in this characteristic, it is preferable to install a base for holding the power source, a suspension for elastically supporting the side cover by the base, and detection means which are positioned at a plurality of parts in the peripheral direction of the side cover so as to detect the movement direction of the side cover. Further, it is preferable to install a fan which is arranged in the cleaning device and sucks in air including dust from the suction body, a first dust collection case for collecting dust in air which is sucked by the fan, a switchable shutter installed on the outer wall of the dust collection case, and a guide means for connecting the first dust collection means and a second dust collection means arranged outside the cleaning device and to move dust collected in the first dust collection means to the second dust collection means and it is possible to install charging terminals for supplying power from an external power source on the power source and can move dust from the first dust collection means to the second dust collection means during charging the power source.
Another characteristic of the present invention for accomplishing the above objects is that in the self-propelled cleaning device having the suction body for sucking in dust, the dust collection case for collecting dust sucked from the suction body, a detection means for detecting an article around the cleaning device, and a control means for controlling the moving direction of the cleaning device on the basis of the output of the detection means, the suction body can be stored in the cleaning device, and a moving means for moving the suction body transversely to the forward direction and an air tight means for holding the dust collection case air tightly even if the suction body is moved by the moving means are installed, and the dust collection case and suction body can be slidden.
And, in this characteristic, the moving means, when moving the cleaning device by the wall, can move the suction body over the width of the cleaning device and the control means preferably controls the suction body so as to move at a predetermined distance from the wall or in contact with the wall on the basis of the output of the detection means. Further, when moving the cleaning device by the wall, the moving means can move the suction body over the width of the cleaning device and it is desirable to install a means for returning the moved suction body on the cleaning device side.
Still another characteristic of the present invention for accomplishing the above objects is that the power source used in the self-propelled cleaning device has a power supply means for supplying power from a commercial power source to the power source loaded in the self-propelled cleaning device, a first contact for electrically connecting the power supply means and self-propelled cleaning device, and a guide means for guiding the self-propelled cleaning device when connecting a second contact of the self-propelled cleaning device to the first contact and additionally has an input means for inputting an operation instruction to the self-propelled cleaning device and a means for transferring the operation instruction inputted from the input means to the self-propelled cleaning device.
A further characteristic of the present invention for accomplishing the above objects is that the power source used in the self-propelled cleaning device has a power supply means for supplying power from a commercial power source to the power source loaded in the self-propelled cleaning device, a first contact for electrically connecting the power supply means and self-propelled cleaning device, a guide means for guiding the self-propelled cleaning device when connecting a second contact of the self-propelled cleaning device to the first contact, a suction means and a dust collection means for moving dust collected in the dust collection case possessed by the self-propelled cleaning device or a storage unit for storing the self-propelled cleaning device, and a detection means for detecting entry of the cleaning device into the storage unit and a display means for displaying entry thereof.
And, in this characteristic, the cleaning device has a control means for controlling the suction means and the control means may control the suction means so as to operate when the power supply means is in operation.

Self-propelled cleaning device and charger using the same


Embodiments of the invention comprises a truss assembly and a method for assembling the truss assembly. The truss assembly includes V-shaped longitudinal supports forming corners of an elongated truss located at each angle of a polygonal axial cross-section. Open webs are fixedly attached between each adjacent V-shaped longitudinal supports extending the length of the elongated truss. The open webs have a plurality of bends in a same plane, and the plurality of bends are welded to a portion of the inner surface of adjacent V-shaped longitudinal members without having to place jigs or bracing to form the open web or to secure the open web to the two V-shaped longitudinal members. The elongated support truss may have a triangular cross-section, a rectangular cross-section, a square cross-section, a pentagonal cross-section, or the like.

This invention relates generally to solar array assemblies, and inexpensive trusses adapted to support solar array assemblies.
A photovoltaic module or photovoltaic panel with an interconnected assembly of photovoltaic cells, also known as solar cells, is used for generating electricity. The photovoltaic module, known more commonly as the solar panel, is then used in a larger photovoltaic system to generate electricity for commercial and residential applications. A photovoltaic installation typically includes an array of photovoltaic modules or panels, an inverter, batteries and interconnection wiring.
Generally, solar arrays are sited in locations having low annual average cloud cover, for example in deserts. Deserts are also known to have high winds, low rainfall amounts, and typically are relatively warm compared to other environs. These environmental factors may lead to more rapid wear and deterioration of mechanical systems, resulting in the need for relatively more frequent maintenance and repair of such systems. As deserts are typically sparsely populated, if at all, maintenance of mechanical systems, including solar arrays, is a time consuming and expensive proposition. As such, the need for robust solar array systems requiring decreased maintenance and repair as compared to standard solar arrays has been identified.
A major limitation of these solar arrays is the cost of assembly and construction. The arrays must be massive to generate electricity at commercial levels, which makes building arrays from photovoltaic modules marginal, if not commercially impractical.
Traditionally, support structures have been assembled by attaching a single diagonal brace between two longitudinal members, requiring a means for insuring the longitudinal members are evenly spaced at a desired distance, maintained in a parallel orientation, and that the brace is positioned at the proper angle between the two longitudinal members. Once these components are properly aligned, the brace is then fastened to the longitudinal members with a spot weld or appropriate fastener at each end of the brace. A second brace is then placed between the two longitudinal members beginning at one end of the first brace and running along the opposite diagonal to the other longitudinal member, at which point the second brace is then fastened at each end to the longitudinal members. As can be seen, such a manufacturing process requires the use of two spot welds or two fasteners for each brace. This process is time-consuming and requires an operator to place a brace, fasten it, then place a next brace and fasten it, repeating the process until one side of a support structure is completed. Once one side of the support structure has been completed, the process must be repeated for each additional desired side Moreover, there are hundreds of such braces to be assembled for a solar array to produce electricity at a commercial level, a process which is labor intensive, provides significant opportunity for error, and therefore, is expensive.
What is needed to make these solar arrays commercially feasible is a method for inexpensive assembly of solar arrays from commercially available component structures.
The present disclosure describes a movable solar array which may comprise an elongated support truss having a polygonal cross-section. The support truss may have V-shaped longitudinal members forming the corners of the polygonal axial cross-section. An open web may be fixedly attached between each V-shaped longitudinal member and extend the length of the elongated truss along each side of the polygonal axial cross-section. End members may be fixedly attached at each end of the longitudinal support truss and may have a shaft extending longitudinally outwardly from the end member, where the shaft may be adapted to engage a drive provided to rotate the elongated truss. The solar array may further comprise solar panels attached along one side of the elongated truss of polygonal axial cross-section. In addition, the solar array may also comprise at least one rotatable drive capable of rotatably driving the shafts at the ends of the elongated truss to move the solar panels in relation to a change of direction of incoming solar energy.
The polygonal axial cross-section may be selected from the group consisting of a triangular cross-section and a rectangular cross-section.
The open web may be formed of steel joist webbing or bent rebar, and may be fixedly attached to the V-shaped longitudinal supports. Specifically, the open web may be welded to the V-shaped longitudinal supports. It is also envisioned that the V-shaped longitudinal supports may be L-shaped longitudinal members.
The outwardly extending shaft may be located at a position other than the center of mass of the axial cross section.
Alternatively, the disclosure describes a method for collecting solar energy comprising the steps of assembling an elongated support truss of a polygonal axial cross-section with V-shaped longitudinal supports forming corners of the elongated truss of polygonal axial cross-section, open webs fixedly attached between each V-shaped longitudinal support along each side of polygonal axial cross-section extending the length of the elongated truss, and an end member fixedly attached at each end of the support truss including a shaft extending longitudinally outwardly from the end member adapted to engage a drive to longitudinally rotate the elongated truss. Solar panels may be attached along one side of polygonal cross-section of the elongated truss. Additionally, at least one rotatable drive may be assembled which is capable of rotably driving the shafts at the end of the elongated truss to move the solar panels corresponding to a change of angle of incoming solar energy incident upon the solar panels with the movement of the sun over a day. Incoming solar energy may be captured using the solar panels by rotating each solar array in relation to a change of angle of the incoming solar energy, and the captured incoming solar energy may be transformed into electrical energy for an electrical system, which may be, for example, a battery or a municipal power grid.

Truss assembly and method for making the same


In an ultrasonic imaging system, a desirable ultrasonic image of an interior portion of a biological body scanned by ultrasonic pulses is obtained without occurrences of residual ultrasonic echoes and idle time. The ultrasonic imaging system includes an ultrasonic probe for transmitting ultrasonic pulses with a specific transmission frequency to a biological body under medical examination and for receiving ultrasonic echoes reflected from an interior portion of the biological body scanned by the ultrasonic pulses to derive an ultrasonic image signal; storage a unit for previously storing at least one PRF (pulse repetition frequency) value fixed only corresponding to the transmission frequency of the ultrasonic pulses transmitted from the ultrasonic probe; and a control unit for reading the PRF value from the storage unit when the specific transmission frequency is set, and for controlling the ultrasonic probe in such a manner that the ultrasonic pulses with the transmission frequency are transmitted and the ultrasonic echoes are received by the ultrasonic probe within a time period determined by the PRF value, thereby producing an ultrasonic image of the scanned interior portion by processing the ultrasonic image signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an ultrasonic imaging system for transmitting ultrasonic pulses with a transmission frequency in accordance with a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) to a biological body under medical examination, and for receiving ultrasonic echoes reflected from the scanned interior of the biological body to obtain an ultrasonic image of this interior. More specifically, the present invention is directed to such an ultrasonic imaging system capable of varying a maximum pulse repetition frequency based upon various conditions such as ultrasonic pulse transmission frequencies and field depths.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, when ultrasonic pulses are transmitted from an ultrasonic probe of a conventional ultrasonic imaging system to a biological body under medical examination, and ultrasonic echoes reflected from the scanned interior of the biological body are received by this ultrasonic probe to image a sectional view of tissues within this interior, if a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) is preset to a high frequency with respect to the transmission frequency "f.sub.L " of the ultrasonic pulses, residual echoes happen to occur in the received echoes. Then, the residual echoes may cause qualities of the ultrasonic images to be deteriorated. An occurrence of such a residual echo will now be described more in detail. That is, as represented in FIG. 1, during a first PRF term, first ultrasonic (UL) pulses are transmitted and also first echoes are received. However, since the first echoes are still present even when a second PRF term is commenced (namely, second ultrasonic pulses are being transmitted), the rear portions of these first echoes are mixed with the front portions of the second echoes, which produces so-called "residual echoes". Accordingly, in order not to produce or receive such residual echoes, the upper limit value of this pulse repetition frequency (PRF) is preset. This upper limit value is fixed for each of the conventional ultrasonic imaging systems. Accordingly, the ultrasonic pulses and the ultrasonic echoes are transmitted/received in accordance with a PRF value lower than this fixed upper limit value in the conventional ultrasonic imaging system.
However, the above-described conventional ultrasonic imaging system has the following drawbacks. That is, generally speaking, an occurrence of such residual echoes depends upon a transmission frequency (f.sub.L) of ultrasonic pulses, and several sorts of ultrasonic probes having different transmission frequencies such as 3.5 MHz, 5 MHz and 7 MHz are utilized within a single ultrasonic imaging system. However, as previously explained, since the upper limit value of the pulse repetition frequency has been preselected to one fixed value (constant PRF value) even when these different transmission frequencies are utilized in a single ultrasonic imaging system, the reception time period within the PRF term is not always effectively utilized. This second problem will now be explained more in detail with reference to FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, it is assumed that a first ultrasonic probe with a first transmission frequency "f.sub.1 " is employed at a first examination stage under the fixed PRF value. In this case, for instance, since the first echoes can be completely received within the first PRF term, neither the above-mentioned residual echoes, nor idle time "IT" is produced. Thereafter, a second ultrasonic probe with a second transmission frequency "f.sub.2 " is employed to replace the first ultrasonic probe with the first transmission frequency "f.sub.1 ". It should be noted that the second transmission frequency "f.sub.2 " is higher than that first transmission frequency "f.sub.1 ". As apparent from FIG. 2, the first echoes produced under the second transmission frequency "f.sub.2 " are attenuated within a short time period, as compared with the first echoes produced under the first transmission frequency "f.sub.1 ". As a consequence, an idle time "IT" is produced before the subsequent second ultrasonic pulses are transmitted from the second ultrasonic probe with the second transmission frequency "f.sub.2 ".

Ultrasonic imaging system capable of varying maximum pulse repetition frequency depending upon pulse transmission frequency


This invention provides an ornate method and design to create a PSP panel assembly mosaic for radiography operations. There is no similar design or method as taught herein. Having an integrated attachment point allows a superior foundation to secure PSP panel assemblies together with unique brackets allowing for modular attachments, improving performance, and capabilities. All current options utilize external methods that are not dependable, bulky, and are not modular. The main benefits of this method are a more secure connection, better image quality, fewer backscatter deposits, lightweight, ease of use, and smaller boxes needed to carry components.

When taking large X-rays of an item, PSP plates are often used and joined together to create one large image. The most common method to secure them together is by attaching suction cups on the back of a polycarbonate (PC) plate which is behind the PSP plate. There are two main methods that the PSP panel assemblies are held in place, preventing the phosphor side from receiving light emissions that degrade and erases the image. The first method is using a plastic-like cassette that allows a piece of steel or lead to be inserted, acting as an intensifier with photon interaction, followed by the PSP plate and finally the PC plate, which gives structure and a surface to attach suction cups. The second method is securing a sheet magnet to the PC plate, with the PSP plate being held in place by the steel front, securing it to the magnet preventing it from moving. In both scenarios, the way to connect multiple panels is by using suction cups. The back of the PC is a rigid flat surface allowing the suction cups to secure multiple panels together creating a mosaic. The issue is that suction cups fail, and imperfections in the PC increase the chance that the built mosaic will fall apart. Typically, when building large mosaics, multiple suction cups will fail and occasionally, panels will fall. Given a scenario where this large mosaic is placed behind a suspect package, having a panel fall could be life or death.
While building mosaics over and over and struggling, I knew that there had to be a better way, and there is. I started modeling in my spare time first starting with switch magnets used in welding and quickly realized that trying to create a device to replace the suction cups either weighed way more, took up more space, or was utterly impractical. Then I realized that if I stopped trying to replace the suction cups or a way to hold on to the existing PC and focused on modifying the PC, I could use lightweight connectors giving a secure method. Upon doing further research and 3D modeling the design, I found that by drilling holes and melting in threaded adapters, I could create attachment points integrated to the PC allowing for custom brackets to bridge between panels secured by bolts. This method is unique, as well as the idea to modify the PC or substitute material to include integrated attachment points. The main benefits of this method are a more secure connection, better image quality, fewer backscatter deposits, lightweight, ease of use, and smaller boxes needed to carry everything.


A method and apparatus for interfacing a customer with a call center allows information obtained from a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag to be transmitted to the call center to provide additional information about the customer and allow the session to be routed within the call center more accurately. The call center may be accessed by telephone, computer, or via another type of customer premises equipment over a voice or data network. The RFID tag may be an identification tag provided to the customer for access to the call center or may be a tag associated with the customer and not specific to the call center. The call center may route calls based on routing information contained in the RFID tag information, customer identity and previous sessions with that customer, personal and demographic information and statistical support records for other sessions involving customers with similar personal and demographic information, and according to agent statistical support records.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communication networks and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for interfacing a customer with a call center.
2. Description of the Related Art
Call centers are used in many instances to sell products or to provide support for previously sold products. In a typical call center, a customer will make a call and be prompted to enter information to enable that caller to be routed to an appropriate sales or support person, referred to herein as "agents." Examples of information that may be collected by the call center software include demographic information, personal information, intent information associated with the reason the person is calling the call center, and other general information. The call center software may also collect information about the call itself, such as caller ID information. This information may be used to route the call within the call center and may also be used to populate fields in the call center's customer relationship management (CRM) software program. For example, the call center software may request the caller to enter information about the preferred language, select an option associated with the purpose of the call, and optionally enter additional information such as an account number and password or secret code. Frequently, this results in a caller entering lots of information via the telephone keypad, which is relatively inconvenient for the caller. Indeed, some callers become frustrated by the process and simply hang up rather than proceeding through the process, thus resulting in a lack of a sales opportunity for the call center or a dissatisfied customer without the ability to obtain effective customer support.
In an on-line context, the circumstances are the same. Specifically, an on-line support desk will frequently require the user to fill in information about themselves prior to passing the information to an on-line sales or support agent. While this information may be supplied by the user's computer, this method is ineffective where the user has disabled the use of cookies, or where the computer is a shared computer and does not already contain the user's information.

Method and apparatus for interfacing a customer with a call center