This invention relates to a method of using an apparatus is provided for the accelerated bioremediation of treated contaminated material. The material is treated with chemical and/or biological amendments for facilitating accelerated bioremediation thereof. The apparatus comprises a system for for generating a treated contaminated material entraining air stream at a predetermined velocity for entraining the treated contaminate material therein for microenfractionating the treated contaminated material. In this way, accelerated bioremediation is facilitated. In another form of the invention, a method of accelerated bioremediation of treated contaminated material is provided. This method comprises the steps of (a) treating the treated contaminated material with chemical and/or biological amendments for facilitating accelerated bioremediation thereof, (b) providing an entraining air stream having a sufficient velocity for entraining the treated contaminated material therein, (c) entraining the treated contaminated material in the air stream, (d) microenfractionating the treated contaminated material, and (e) discharging the microenfractionated treated contaminated material from the air stream. In this way, the treated contaminated material can be acceleratedly bioremediated.

The present invention relates to a method for the accelerated bioremediation of contaminated material and to a method of using an apparatus therefor, and more particularly to the accelerated bioremediation of contaminated material treated with chemical and/or biological amendments.
Bioremediation in general involves the degradation of contaminated material, typically by the action of contaminate degrading aerobic bacteria. When practiced on a small scale, it is relatively easy to maintain the aerobic conditions required by the bacteria; it is much more difficult to do on a larger scale. Failure to maintain aerobic conditions throughout the contaminate material results in anaerobic decay of the material, which is much less efficient and much more time consuming than aerobic decomposition. This provides strong incentive to maintain aerobic reaction conditions at all times.
The biological degradation of hydrocarbons can be conducted employing specialized bacteria that utilizes hydrocarbons as their sole metabolic carbon source or as a co-metabolite. The bacteria produce enzymes which catalytically crack the covalent carbon-hydrogen bonds of hydrocarbons so that the smaller resulting molecules may pass through the cell wall of the bacterial organism for nutrient. In some instances, the bacteria may produce enzymes which crack a carbon bond on an alternate carbon source such as a carbohydrate. This same enzyme may also crack the hydrocarbon. This is called co-metabolism.
In addition to a carbon source, most living organisms require a balance of other nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, various minerals in micro quantities, etc. to efficiently metabolize and reproduce. Any specific nutrient that is deficient in a given biological system will limit the efficiency of that system. This is akin to the "basic 4 food groups" idea of human nutrition which includes protein as a nitrogen source, carbohydrate as a carbon source, dairy as a fat or fatty acid source plus phosphorus and a large number of vegetables as a vitamin and mineral source. Although bacterial requirements may be different from humans, a balanced nutritional system is required for optimal bacterial activity.
There are thousands of identified sites in the United States containing hazardous wastes. For most of these sites, the recognized methods for closure are:
1. Cap and store-in-place PA1 2. Removal to an approved hazardous waste landfill. PA1 3. Solidify in place with fixation chemicals PA1 1. Treatment of industrial wastewater through biological oxidation under an NPDES permit. PA1 2. Treatment of on site chemicals through controlled release to an NPDES-permitted system (many states allow this through a temporary permit amendment). PA1 3. Treatment of leachates collected under hazardous waste sites. In some cases a cone of depression can be created to leach organics out at a rapid rate. PA1 4. Land farm of sludges and solid-containing organics. PA1 This includes additional soil borings, groundwater monitoring and chemical analyses to determine the site contamination characteristics. PA1 This is usually researched into the treatability of chemicals found in the site. PA1 The soil must be analyzed for pH, macronutrients (N,P,K), micronutrients (usually trace metals), permeability, moisture content and other conditions which will determine its suitability for land farming. PA1 A chemical protocol is established to allow monitoring of the land farm. This is a two-tier protocol consisting of: PA1 Using the site characteristics, the land farm is simulated and efficiency of the treatment is proven. Samples of decontaminated soil and sludge may be presented for reference analyses. PA1 The consultant and land farm specialists designate the portion of the closure site to be used for the land farm and design excavation schedules, aeration and mixing techniques, irrigation method, run-off collection, and decontaminated soil removal and disposal method. PA1 Beginning with a surface treatment of the site to be used, the land farm is begun. After control testing shows a desired level of treatment, toxicology tests are made. The soil may then be decontaminated and removed, if desired. Land farming is then usually continued in 12" lifts. PA1 Decontaminated sludges and soils are removed to a nonhazardous waste landfill or landfilled on-site.
In addition to the methods generally known, many industrial plants have used biological solutions to effect closures. Quite a few biological cleanups took place prior to the effect of the RCRA and TSCA legislation. Now under the formal guidelines of current hazardous waste regulation, use of biological treatment can offer an economical alternative to the methods listed above.
Biological treatment of hazardous waste chemicals can take the following forms:
Land farming is of principle interest due to the large numbers of area sites with contaminated sludges and soils.
A key issue in a hazardous waste site closure is permitting land farms. Often obtaining such a permit is not feasible under existing regulations. In most cases, those regulations were intended to address new land farms. Land farming is a biochemical process which operates at low biological reaction rates. The variables controlling total cleanup time in a land farm are initial substrate concentrations, desired treatment levels, area available for land farm and turnaround time to dispose of decontaminated sludge or soil. Many hazardous waste sites could be successfully land farmed in 6-12 months, after pilot work is complete.
The actual protocol for land farming a particular site should be established for each site by a combination of pilot testing and practice. A typical protocol for land farming a hazardous waste site would be as follows:
1. CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SITE PA0 2. CHARACTERIZATION OF THE ORGANICS AS TO BIODEGRADABILITY PA0 3. CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SOIL PA0 4. CRITERIA FOR SUCCESSFUL LAND TREATMENT PA0 5. BENCH SCALE LAND FARM TREATMENT PA0 6. DESIGN OF LAND FARM TREATMENT PA0 7. IMPLEMENTATION OF LAND FARM TREATMENT PA0 8. CLOSURE
A. Control analyses to allow quick determination of treatment progress during the land farming. PA2 B. Objective toxicity testing to be used when control analyses indicate that the treatment is complete. This includes all testing for leachate priority pollutants.
The above steps are difficult and timely in their performance and extremely costly to the end user.
There are known machines for physically mixing materials in the field such as compost to maintain aerobic conditions. An example is U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,065 to Jenison et al. The Jenison cultivator comprises a horizontal rotating drum having a plurality of cultivator blades in two helical rows. As the drum is rotated, the blades travel edgewise through a pile of composting material to move the material sideways and pile it in a generally triangular pile. The '065 patent further describes other composting machines such as the Scarab, sold by Scarab Manufacturing and Leasing, Inc. of White Deer, Tex. U.S. Pat. No. 3,369,797 to Cobey describes a compost turner and windrow forming machine having a transversely mounted rotating drum for the turning of compost piles and the redepositing of the turned up material in a windrow. Yet another composting apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,723 to Urbanczyk. The '723 patent describes a mobile composter for manure which moves a rotating drum over masses of inoculated manure to flail it, mix it, cool it and aerate it, while moistening the particles as the same time. After being conditioned and moisturized, the material is formed into a pile by a rear outlet opening. As with the Cobey composter, the flails mounted on the drum of the Urbanczyk machine travel edgewise through the composting material for flailing and mixing. U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,520 also to Cobey describes a compost turning machine which straddles a compost windrow while carrying a rotating drum for turning the composting material. The '520 composter additionally has an adjuster auger system outboard of the rotating drum to collect additional material and deposit it in the path of the rotating drum. This is the Cobey machine referred to earlier.
A need therefore exists for a method of bioremediation which will overcome the problems associated with the above described prior art methods by substantially eliminating the contaminants from contaminated material in an effective, efficient and accelerated manner.

Method for accelerated bioremediation and method of using an apparatus therefor


A high-speed convolutional decoder is constructed by performing the transition, or branch, metric calculations in reference to a subset of a constellation, which comprises a plurality of subsets. In addition, any subset can be chosen as the reference subset through the use of "modulo decoding." In a modulo decoder, the constellation space is folded into a modulo set area that is centered around the arbitrarily chosen reference subset. The branch, or transition, metrics are calculated within the modulo set area. As a result, the branch metric computations are only performed on a small area of the signal space, with the result that only one error is extracted, the branch metrics are easily computed, and one slicing is performed--thus reducing overall computation time.

The present invention relates to decoding techniques used in data communications.
In a data communications system in which convolutional coding is used, a data receiver typically applies a "maximum likelihood decoding" procedure to a sequence of received signal points in order to estimate the sequence of symbols sent by a data transmitter. Generally, in a convolutional code, the symbol that is output by a data transmitter at a particular point in time is dependent on the state of the code. In other words, a convolutional code can be modeled as a state machine, with each transition between states being associated with the transmission of a particular symbol and the current state being dependent on the previous states of the convolutional code. As a result, any sequence of transmitted symbols, which can also be referred to as a "path," is representative of a particular sequence of state transitions in the convolutional code. Maximum likelihood decoding in the data receiver essentially selects that sequence of symbols that have the largest probability of having been transmitted given the particular received sequence of signal points. Theoretically, the maximum likelihood decoder compares the received signal point sequence to all possible transmitted symbol sequences, or paths, and then makes an estimate as to which sequence of symbols, or path, was transmitted. This type of operation causes the complexity of the maximum likelihood decoder to increase exponentially with the number of possible paths. However, as is known in the art, the complexity of the maximum likelihood decoder is reduced by the use of the "Viterbi algorithm," which has a complexity that only increases at a linear rate.
In the Viterbi algorithm a "branch metric," or a "transition metric," is calculated for each received signal point. The branch metric, or transition metric is essentially a measure of the possible error in the received signal. In a very general sense, the received signal point is compared to all the possible symbols that could have been received at that point in the receiver. However, the Viterbi algorithm does not compare each received signal point sequence to all possible transmitted symbol sequences or paths. The advantage of the Viterbi algorithm is that for each state of the convolutional code only the path that has the smallest cumulative value for the branch metric is retained by the decoder in considering the possible paths for any subsequent received signal points.
Notwithstanding the advantages of the Viterbi algorithm, unfortunately, if the number of states in the convolutional code is large, then the number of branch metric computations that must be made for each received signal point is also large. Moreover, as the data rate increases, the time available to perform the branch metric computation decreases. Consequently, at higher data rates, faster and typically more costly processing circuitry must be used to perform the required multiplications and additions for high-speed decoding.
Before proceeding with a description of an illustrative embodiment, it should be noted that the various digital signaling concepts described herein--with the exception, of course, of the inventive concept itself--are all well known in, for example, the digital radio and voiceband data transmission (modem) arts and thus are not described in detail herein. These include such concepts as multidimensional signaling using 2N-dimensional channel symbol constellations, where N is some integer; trellis coding; fractional coding; scrambling; passband shaping; equalization; etc.


Cyclic ethers are polymerized or copolymerized in homogeneous liquid phase using very low concentrations of heteropolyacid catalyst to produce essentially linear polyoxyalkylene polymers. The product of the polymerization contains less than 2 weight percent cyclic oligomer by-product and has a molecular weight distribution (M.sub.w /M.sub.n) between 1 and 2. Alcohols, acyl-containing compounds and alkalies can be used as end-caping groups to terminate polymerization or modify the properties of the polymer produced. The process produces novel polyoxyalkylene copolymers and block copolymers that are useful as lubricants. The copolymers have a high viscosity index and are compatible with mineral oil and synthetic hydrocarbon lubricants. Preferred comonomers are tetrahydrofuran, C.sub.2 -C.sub.20 monoepoxides and oxetan.

The use of polyether fluids is well known in applications such as hydraulic fluids, brake fluids, cutting oils and motor oils where the synthetic ability to structure properties such as water miscibility, fire resistance, lubricant properties and extreme pressure resistance provides a competitive advantage over other fluids. The polyether oils in practical use comprise polyalkylene glycols and their end-capped monoethers, diethers, monoesters and diesters. They include polyalkylene oxide polyether homopolymer, copolymer and block copolymer and can be prepared principally by the anionic polymerization or copolymerization of oxiranes or epoxides and other cyclic ethers. Small or large molecule end-capping groups are added in the polymerization to modify the properties of the resultant polyether as appropriate for the selected application.
Basic catalysts are generally employed in the art for the production of polyethers from cyclic ethers such as oxiranes because anionic catalysis produces a product with a substantially smaller or narrower molecular weight distribution than the product produced by cationic polymerization using conventional Lewis acids. Lewis acids are intrinsically of higher activity leading to extensive chain transfer and cyclic formation reactions. Also, effective acid catalysts for cyclic ether polymerization or copolymerization including liquid super acids such as fuming sulfuric acid, fluorosulfonic acid or BF.sub.3 /promoter catalysts are difficult to handle and are more troublesome to dispose of in an environmentally acceptable manner.
These activity and environmental issues are of great concern for the production of tetrahydrofuran-containing polyethers which employ acid catalysts. Substantial efforts in the prior art have been devoted to resolving these issues by preventing cyclic formations and by employing solid acid catalysts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,568,775 describes a two phase process for the polymerization of tetrahydrofuran or a mixture of tetrahydrofuran and other cyclic ethers in contact with a heteropolyacid catalyst having 0.1 to 15 mol of water per mol of heteropolyacid catalyst present in the catalyst phase. The polyether glycols prepared from the process are useful as starting material for the production of urethane. The process uses large volumes of catalyst in the two phase process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,797 polymerizes oxetan and tetrahydrofuran (THF) in the presence of excess alcohol in contact with acid catalyst wherein the molar ratio of acid catalyst to hydroxyl groups is between 0.05:1 and 0.5:1. The invention is particularly directed to the polymerization of oxetanes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,856 teaches the polymerization of THF and glycidyl ether in the presence of alkanoI to produce polyethers. Lewis acid catalyst is used such as boron trifluoride. The polymerization is carried out in the presence of 0.01-5 weight percent of Lewis acid catalyst. The products are useful as lubricants. The Lewis acid catalysts that are dissolved in the polyether-products have to be separated, destroyed and discarded as wastes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,123 teaches the production of polyethers from THF and alpha alkylene oxides having an alkyl radical containing 8-24 carbon atoms. The polymerization is carried out in contact with Lewis acid catalyst. The polymerization can further include C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 epoxide and alcohol. The polyether products are useful as lubricants.
The object of the present invention is to produce polyethers that possess superior lubricant properties and are compatible with synthetic hydrocarbon motor oil and mineral oil.
Another object of the invention is to produce the foregoing oil-compatible polyesters using as a method heteropolyacid catalysis in a single phase in low concentration.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to produce block and/or random THF and epoxide copolymers that contain novel end groups and/or structural units to provide oil compatibility and superior lubricant properties.

Polyether lubricants and method for their production


A low profile retractable lifting eye assembly with a "U" shaped lifting eye pivotally mounted in a housing having a "U" shaped depression for receiving the eye in its depressed position. A pin extends transversely through the legs of the lifting eye and through the housing. A coupling member external of the housing has its upper end received in the middle of the depression in the housing and the upper end of the coupling members has an opening receiving the center of the pin. A set screw in the coupling member engages an annular groove in the pin to prevent transverse movement of the pin relative to the remainder of the assembly.

1.) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvement in lifting eyes generally and more particularly to retractable lifting eyes requiring minimal vertical space and, therefore, having a low profile, and which have a sealed housing to inhibit the flow of water therepast.
2.) Description of the Prior Art
In the last few years, a new generation of fishing boats has emerged in the market place, namely "flats" boats. These boats are used, primarily, to fish in shallow bay and estuary waters, since they have a very shallow draft; however, they also have a very low free board, which results in a small vertical space between the deck and the hull, particularly in the bow area of the boat. These flats boats also have a large flat deck area for the fishing user to stand and walk upon, while casting, retrieving, polling the boat, and otherwise in the fishing activity. Consequently it is desirable that objects do not protrude above the boat deck to interfere with the fishing persons feet, tackle, or other equipment. A cleat as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,627 is an example of a retractable cleat, which in its retracted or flush position, does not interfere with the fishing person, yet can be manipulated to an up right operative position as a lift eye or cleat. The problem with a device of this nature is that with the limited vertical height available in a flats boat, the vertical movement of the cleat of U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,627 requires more vertical space than the space available on a flats boat. Further, the housing for the cleat is not sealed to prevent the flow of water therepast.


The invention relates to a digital mobile communication system and a method for high-speed data transmission in a digital mobile communication system. The mobile network allocates two or more parallel traffic channels to a high-speed data signal which requires a transmission rate that exceeds the maximum transmission rate of one traffic channel. The high-speed data signal is packed into transmission frames which contain a fixed number N of information bits. The number of the information bits is such that the data rate of the frame is fixed and corresponds to a standard rate adaptation of a traffic channel in the mobile communication system, for example 9.6 Kbps. Among these information bits of the transmission frame, a variable number of bits N1 which is dependent on the data rate of the high-speed data signal is employed for the transmission of the user data. From the remaining "free" information bits of the frame, n bits are control bits which indicate the number N1 of the user data bits in the frame. The remaining k information bits are stuff bits. By means of the invention, the transmission rate of the user data in the transmission frames may vary between 0 and a preset maximum value.

In telecommunication systems of the time division multiple access (TDMA) type, the communication on the radio path is time-divisional and occurs in successive TDMA frames each of which consists of several time slots. A short information packet is transmitted in each time slot in the form of a radio-frequency burst that has a limited duration and that consists of a number of modulated bits. The time slots are primarily used for conveying control and traffic channels. The traffic channels are used for transferring speech and data. The control channels are for signalling between a base station and mobile stations. An example of a TDMA radio system is the Pan-European digital mobile system GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications).
In conventional TDMA systems, one traffic channel time slot is allocated for communication to each mobile station for the transmission of data or speech. For example the GSM system may therefore comprise as many as eight parallel connections to different mobile stations on a radio frequency carrier. The maximum data transfer rate on one traffic channel is limited to a relatively slow level, e.g. in the GSM system 9.6 Kbps or 12 Kbps, according to the available bandwidth and the channel coding and error correction employed in the transmission. In the GSM system, a so-called half-rate (max. 4.8 Kbps) traffic channel can also be selected for low speech coding rates. The half-rate traffic channel is established when a mobile station operates in an assigned time slot only in every other frame, i.e. at half the rate. Another mobile station operates in the same assigned time slot of every other frame. The system capacity, measured in the number of mobile subscribers, can thus be doubled, i.e. as many as 16 mobile stations can operate on the carrier frequency simultaneously.
In recent years, the need for high-speed data services in mobile networks has increased considerably. For example transmission rates of at least 64 Kbps would be required for the ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) circuit-switched digital data services. The data services of the public switched telephone network (PSTN), for example a modem and G3-type telefax terminals, require higher transmission rates such as 14.4 Kbps. One of the increasing areas of mobile data transmission that requires transmission rates exceeding 9.6 Kbps is mobile video services. Examples of such services include security surveillance by means of cameras, and video databases. The minimum data rate in video transmission may be for example 16 or 32 Kbps.
The transmission rates of the present mobile networks are not sufficient for meeting these new requirements, however.
An arrangement, which is disclosed in a co-pending patent application of the Applicant, WO95/31878 (unpublished on the filing date of the present application), relates to allocating two or more parallel traffic channels (subchannels) on the radio path for one high-speed data connection. The high-speed data signal is divided in the transmitter into these parallel subchannels for the transmission over the radio path, to be restored in the receiver. This approach enables the supply of data transmission services with as high as eight-fold transmission rate compared to the conventional rate, depending on the number of the traffic channels allocated. For example in the GSM system, the total user data rate of 19.2 Kbps is obtained by two parallel 9.6 Kbps subchannels, each channel being rate-adapted in the same manner as in the existing transparent 9.6 Kbps bearer services of the GSM system.
A problem relating to the use of parallel traffic channels is the data rates which cannot be rate-adapted with the existing methods of the GSM system even though these data rates can be evenly distributed between the available parallel subchannels.
For example the user data rate of 14.4 Kbps (according to e.g. ITU-T Recommendation V0.32bis) requires two transparent GSM traffic channels the data rate in each of which should be 7.2 Kbps (2.times.7.2 Kbps =14.4 Kbps), but there is no rate adaptation in the GSM system for the subchannel data rate of 7.2 Kbps.
Correspondingly, for example the user data rate of 40 Kbps (ITU-T Recommendation V0.120) requires five transparent GSM traffic channels in each of which the data rate should be 8 Kbps (40 Kbps: 5), but there is again no rate adaptation in the GSM system for such a subchannel data rate.
Another problem is the data rates that cannot be evenly divided into a required number of transparent GSM traffic channels. For example the user data rate of 56 Kbps (ITU-T Recommendation V0.110) requires at least six transparent GSM traffic channels, but it cannot be divided into these six parallel subchannels in such a way that the (V0.110) frames of each subchannel carry the same number of data bits (56 Kbps: 6=9333.333 bps).
Furthermore, the high-speed data transmission should be sufficiently flexible so that it could also support possible future high data rates that have not yet been standardized.

High-speed data transmission in mobile communication networks


A code protection scheme for controlling access to a memory region in an integrated circuit includes a processor with an instruction pipeline that includes multiple processing stages. A first processing stage receives one or more instructions. A second processing stage receives address information identifying a protected memory region of the memory from the first processing stage and protection information for an identified protected memory region. The protection information indicates a protection state assigned to each protected memory region. Based on the instruction type of the received instruction and the protection information associated with a particular protected memory region, the second processing stage determines whether to enable or disable access to the particular protected memory region by the processor or other external host.

Driven by demand for more computing power in devices with ever decreasing form factors, system-on-chip (SoC) device continue to pack more functionality per die area. These highly integrated devices combine a variety of intellectual property (IP) blocks into a complex distributed computing system. These devices also include a suite of embedded software executed on multiple processor cores for performing task, such as managing power consumption, executing application level software, processing audio/video, and operating wireless transceivers.
Because these devices are highly integrated, interactions among embedded software modules and IP blocks may significantly contribute to the overall performance of the SoC device. And during development and bring-up of the SoC device, SoC providers may collaborate with several embedded software vendors to implement, test, and optimize these interactions to achieve a desired overall performance level of the SoC. But while collaboration may benefit the SoC provider, collaboration also raises concerns about how to protect against piracy and malware of embedded code among embedded software providers.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An autonomous vehicle comprises an environment sensing means for sensing an environment of the autonomous vehicle, and a computing unit configured to perform a mapping function and a localization function. The mapping function is based upon signals supplied from the environment sensing means to build a map. The localization function localizes the autonomous vehicle within the map and generates localization information. The autonomous vehicle further comprises boundary distance sensing means configured to generate a distance signal correlated to a distance between the autonomous vehicle and boundary indication means. The computing unit is configured to receive the distance signal and to perform the mapping function or the localization function based upon a signal from the environment sensing means and the distance signal from the boundary distance sensing means. The system also comprises a boundary wire indicating a border of an area in which autonomous driving of the vehicle can be performed.

Field
The invention relates to an autonomous vehicle with a computing unit to perform a mapping function and a localization function of the vehicle within the map, in particular an autonomous gardening tool such as an autonomous lawn mower or scarifier and a system with such autonomous vehicle and a boundary wire indicating a border of an area in which autonomous driving of the autonomous vehicle shall be performed.
Description of the Related Art
Over the past few years, it became more and more popular to substitute tools like vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers or scarifier by self-propelled devices that are capable of driving on their own. Thus, no operator is needed that pushes and controls direction of such devices. Of course, the functionality of these devices has been improved over the product cycles up to now. Nevertheless, there are some disadvantages that might be annoying for some users. Maybe the biggest problem is that the driving direction of these devices is determined by chance without knowing anything about the layout of the environment and so the vacuum cleaner or the lawn mower drives around randomly which results inefficiently working on the dedicated area. To improve the devices in that regard, so-called SLAM techniques that are known from the robotic's domain have been introduced also for the autonomous vehicles. SLAM (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping) is the ability to generate a map without human intervention combined with the ability to localize within this map. The self-localization of the autonomous vehicle can be performed even if the process of generating the map is still in progress.
For SLAM typically data from odometry, laser scanners and cameras is used. The problem is that the better the SLAM result shall be, the more expensive the sensors that provide good results are. For example, laser scanners yield good results, but are much more expensive than other sensors. On the other side, odometry and camera data, which would be much cheaper to implement than the laser scanners, can be used for indoor environments without any problem, because they lead to robust SLAM results. But unfortunately, outdoor environments are much more difficult. Thus, in order to provide a vehicle with SLAM-function feasible for outdoor environments also, the SLAM results have to be improved.
Previous proposals for outdoor applications describe different solutions for autonomous vehicles that do not use the SLAM technique. Since also for other, for example camera-based, approaches (obstacle detection) there is a problem that in outdoor environment the lighting conditions may change significantly, U.S. Pat. No. 8,958,939 proposes to adjust the speed of the autonomous vehicle to compensate for varying exposure times for the camera.
Further, US 2010/0324731 describes an interaction between a user and a lawn mower via Smartphone. The mower uses a map that is generated by means of parameter teaching, but of course this means a great effort necessary for the user. Such an effort could be avoided if a robust SLAM technique would be available even for outdoor applications.
But all these approaches cannot compete with SLAM and the opportunities resulting therefrom. Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide an autonomous vehicle with an improved SLAM capability
The problem is solved with the autonomous vehicle and the system including such autonomous vehicle according to the independent claims.
To achieve the object, an autonomous vehicle is suggested that comprises a driving means for self-propelling the autonomous vehicle. The vehicle further comprises at least one environment sensing means for sensing an environment of the vehicle. Such sensing means provides a signal including information perceived to a computing unit that is configured to perform a mapping function and a localization function. The mapping function is performed on the basis of the signal or the signals in case of a plurality of sensors in order to generate or build up a map. With a localization function, localization information on the autonomous vehicle within the map is generated.

Autonomous vehicle with improved simultaneous localization and mapping function


An on-chip debug emulator is capable of connecting to the target device and the host device for remotely debugging the program in the target device. The on-chip debug emulator contains a debug communication control unit. This debug communication control unit contains a plurality of serial communication circuits, the plurality of serial communication circuits are commonly provided with a clock signal. The debug communication control unit controls communications with the target device based on commands output from the host device. Each of The plurality of serial communication circuits contains a data buffer and serially transmits data stored in the data buffer to and from the target device while synchronized with the clock signal. Namely, the plurality of serial communication circuits communicate in parallel while operating synchronized with the same clock. The on-chip debug emulator can in this way be made utilizing a low-cost microcomputer not containing any parallel communication circuits.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to technology for remote debugging by utilizing programs executed on a target device, and more specifically relates to technology for debugging by utilizing an on-chip debug emulator.
2. Description of Related Art
The full-function in-circuit emulator (hereafter called full ICE) and the on-chip debug emulator (hereafter called OCD) are known in the art as emulators for remotely debugging programs executed on the target device.
When using full ICE, a target device made up of a target board with a socket connecting to the full ICE is mounted in place of the microcomputer. During debugging, the full ICE is connected to the target board instead of the microcomputer. An emulator chip for emulating CPU functions built into the full ICE or peripheral emulator chips for emulating peripheral functions then emulate (simulate) the microcomputer operation based on commands from a host device such as a debugger on a personal computer. Debug circuits are formed inside and outside the emulator chip in the full ICE, and a probe cable for transferring all signals used by the target device microcomputer is connected to the target board and the full Ice.
The full ICE provides a full range of debugging functions using debug circuits both inside and outside the emulator chip, and can debug nearly all the terminals on the microcomputer. However the full ICE is expensive and must be designed to match the individual microcomputer. Moreover the emulation is performed by the emulator chip so the operation may differ from that of the actual microcomputer.
In the case of the OCD, the debug circuits are in the microcomputer itself in the target device. The OCD connects to the debug circuits within the microcomputer on the target device by way of a debug interface (I/F) and data for commands from the host device are transferred to and from the microcomputer. A dedicated connector for connecting to the OCD is installed on the target device.
The debug circuits inside the OCD take up the available circuit surface area on the microcomputer. The debugging function is also relatively weak compared to full ICE because some terminals cannot be debugged, the debugging can be performed at high speed. Moreover, there is little difference between debugging and actual operation so that OCD is ideal for final debugging and parameter adjustment on the actual device.
Due to these circumstances, OCD has become widely utilized in recent years since it offers the advantage that debugging can be performed while the microcomputer is still mounted on the target device. Many diverse types of debug I/F (hereafter called interface) are utilized with OCD but the JTAG I/F proposed by the JETAG (Joint European Test Action Group. (Currently JTAG) and based on the IEEE std. 1149.1-1990 "Standard Access Port and Boundary-Scan Architecture" created by the US Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers is often used. The JTAG I/F is a standard I/F and therefore offers advantages such as a small number of pins and easy creation of the emulator.
A debug system utilizing OCD is disclosed in JP 2002-366378 A. This debug system as shown in FIG. 12 (FIG. 1 of JP 2002-366378 A) contains a JTAG interface circuit 2 (JTAG I/F) between the target device and a host computer 1. On the target device, a microcomputer containing a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 8 and a memory 19 are installed on the target board 3. A debugger 4 is installed on the host computer. A JTAG debug module 5 serving as the dedicated debug circuit is installed on the CPU8. A parallel cable 6 connects the debugger 4 and the JTAG interface circuit 2. A wire 9 on the substrate, and the JTAG dedicated cable 7 connect the JTAG interface circuit 2 and the JTAG debug module 5.
To improve the debugging efficiency, communication must be performed in parallel between the JTAG interface circuit 2 and the host computer 1, and also between the JTAG interface circuit 2 and the target board 3. The JTAG interface circuit 2 can perform parallel communication with the JTAG debug module 5 and the debugger 4 by way of the JTAG dedicated cable 7 and the parallel cable 6.
The JTAG interface circuit 2 includes a host I/F circuit for communication and (communication) control of the debugger 4 in the host computer 1, and a JTAG controller for communication and (communication) control of the JTAG debug module 5 on the target board 3. The JTAG interface circuit 2 communicates with the JTAG debug module 5 on the JTAG interface communication system, and converts the host computer 1 communication system to JTAG interface communication system.
The JTAG controller is normally a dedicated circuit and in most cases is made up of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or gate arrays. The FPGA and gate arrays are high-priced and therefore have the problem that the OCD itself is also expensive.
To resolve the aforementioned problems, a method was contrived for using an inexpensive general-purpose microcomputer to perform certain JTAG controller functions or more specifically, control functions. In this method, the general-purpose microcomputer makes up a section of the JTAG controller so a FGPA is not used in that section. The cost of the JTAG controller can therefore be lowered, and consequently the OCD itself can also be inexpensively made.
However in the present times where companies are striving to reduce costs as much as possible, demands are being made to reduce the OCD cost even further. Executing all the JTAG controller functions on a general-purpose microcomputer is preferable for lowering the cost even more than in the above methods. Using a general-purpose microcomputer instead of the JTAG controller would eliminate the need for a high-priced device such as an FGPA and therefore lower the OCD cost even further.
Besides the control section however, the JTAG controller also contains a parallel target I/F circuit for transmitting data in parallel to and from the microcomputer on the target board.
The present inventor has recognized that there is no inexpensive general-purpose microcomputer containing an internal parallel I/F circuit and so a high-priced microcomputer containing a parallel I/F circuit serving as the target I/F circuit must be utilized making it impossible to reduce the cost.

On-chip debug emulator, debugging method, and microcomputer


A system and method for sensing wave impedance of a material using an RF power source with a sensor structure comprised of a resonant electromagnetic radiative filter (MEF). The wave impedance is determined by processing a differential RF signal level within an interrogator comprising an impedance calculator. A differential RF signal between a source signal level and a response signal level affected by field coupling of the REF with a material of interest. In embodiments based on frequency scanning transmissometry (FST), the impedance spectrometer determines both the real and imaginary part of the wave impedance of the material. In embodiments the impedance spectrometer comprises an RFID transponder. In embodiments, the interrogator is disposed as payload on a UAV drone. In embodiments, the impedance spectrometer is a node within a communications network.

A material's properties can be summarized by a material parameter known as the "wave impedance" (or simply "impedance") of the material, which is a complex number. A good discussion of the relationship between wave impedance and permittivity, permeability, and conductivity is available, at the time of writing this disclosure, in the Wikipedia entry for wave impedance: http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wave impedance.
Many materials of interest are nonconductive and nonmagnetic. For such materials, permeability does not play a role, and there is a simple, one-to-one relationship between the impedance of the material and the material's permittivity, such that measuring the permittivity and measuring the impedance of the material are equivalent. Impedance spectroscopy is also often referred to as dielectric spectroscopy and vice versa.
Instruments for determining the wave impedance of a material have been developed using many different sensing technologies that comprise separate components operating with different electromagnetic modalities. These instruments include capacitive sensors wherein the resonant tank circuit of a Colpitts, Clapp, or Hartley LC oscillator is affected by exposure to a material of interest. The wave impedance of the material affects the oscillation frequency the LC oscillator. An example of such a sensor is disclosed by in U.S. Pat. No. 5,418,466 wherein a tuned circuit oscillates at a frequency representative of the complex dielectric constant of the medium.
In applications wherein the objective is to sense both the real and imaginary parts of a wave impedance, multiple measurements are required. It is fundamentally impossible to derive the values of two independent unknown quantities from a single measurement. In general, sensors such as a capacitance sensor wherein a material of complex permittivity affects the oscillation frequency of an LC resonant circuit, accuracy for measurement of complex impedance is limited due to nonlinear cross modulation effects relating to the real and imaginary parts of material permittivity.
Another class of instruments for sensing wave impedance of a material is based on time delay reflectometry (TDR) and time delay transmissometry (TDT) wherein the propagation speed of a wave along a transmission line is measured. When the transmission line is exposed to a material, the propagation speed of signal through the transmission line is affected. TDR and TDT sensors generally require delay measurements in the picosecond range for useful accuracy. limitations for TDR and TDT sensing include requirement for a length of transmission line adequate to obtain sufficient propagation delay and economic considerations involved with maintaining stability within a picosecond delay timer.
An application wherein wave impedance affects a communication link is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,593,886. The apparatus disclosed here is a planar loop antenna with a balun.
A prior art example of a sensor antenna coupled into an adjacent medium is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,916,528. The signal strength of RF energy emitted by an RFID tag is affected by the frozen or thawed state of a material disposed proximally with the tag.
An RFID sensor arrangement for determining a degradation condition within a material is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application 2010/0090802 A1. Reference to a material wave impedance is not detailed.
An early paper disclosing a split ring resonator with negative permittivity is D. R. Smith et al, "Determination of negative permittivity and permeability of metamaterials from reflection and transmission coefficients", Physical Review B, November, 2001; doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.65.195104.
There is a need for improved impedance spectrometry for determining permittivity of a material with improved accuracy and lower cost for sensing the real and imaginary parts of the wave impedance of a material. Instruments are needed to provide increased accuracy, reduced cost, portability, imbedded sensing and operation within networks including a mesh drone network and a WLAN cellular network.

Impedance spectrometer with programmable elements


According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method of establishing a secure call includes generating a session key at a centralized location. The session key is encrypted with a first public key and transmitted from the centralized location to a first endpoint. The session key is additionally encrypted with a second public key and transmitted from the centralized location to a second endpoint. The centralized location is at a location other than a location of the first endpoint and the second endpoint. The session key is operable to encrypt the call between the first endpoint and the second endpoint.

The digitization of media content has vastly facilitated the ability to communicate media content from endpoint to another. One example is voice over internet protocol (VOIP) communications, which generally allows digital voice communications to be transmitted over a digital network infrastructure. With the growth of such digital communications, so grows concerns as to how to secure such communications. For example, a general concern may be how to ascertain who is on the other end of the communication line. Yet other concerns involve attacks that may occur in such communications including, among others, remote access manipulation, sniffing, selective denial of service (DoS), data exfiltration, brute-force DoS, signaling attacks, IP spoofing, man-in-the middle attacks, PIN intercept/guessing, and Spam over Internet Telephony.

System and method for securing calls between endpoints


The present invention provides a novel biosensor and measuring method. The novel biosensor of the present invention comprises an electrode having a nanopore structured and catalytically active cyclodextrin attached thereto. The biosensor of the present invention has demonstrated robust analytical performance for direct glucose measurement without mediators or without using native enzyme, which is especially beneficial in the hypoglycemia range.

Monitoring blood glucose levels regularly is very important in proper diabetes management, especially for children with type I diabetes. The conventional glucose sensor technologies have limited the development of glucose sensors, especially in its measurements of blood glucose in the hypoglycemia range (see reference 23). The third generation glucose sensors based on DET phenomena were widely reported (see references 6-8). The third generation biosensors for direct glucose measurements are based on an intriguing phenomenon known for the last decade as the bioelectrocatalysis with the direct electron transfer (DET) between the electrode and the redox active sites of bio molecules (see references 1-5). Direct measurement of analyte without using mediators is one the advantages that this type of sensors offer, because the mediators are leachable from the polymer network and are toxic.
Nano-structured material used for developing novel sensors have been reported in the last decade. Colloidal nano gold particles have been extensively studied for the utility of promoting DET between enzymes and the nano particles (see references 9-10). Joseph Wang had extensive review articles in this field (see references 11-12). The carbon nanotube modified glucose oxidase (GOD) enzyme electrode capable of promoting electron transfer is reviewed in his articles. Vaseashta and Irudayaraj have a review paper on nanostructured sensors (see reference 13).
Nanowire and nanopore based sensors have drawn great interest recently because they are extremely sensitive and well suited for multiple target detection, which overcame the disadvantages of previous technology. However, as the reviewers Vaseashta and Irudayaraj point out, the technology is still in the development stage and the robustness has not been established (see reference 13). It has been shown that the nanopores played an important role in enabling multiple step reactions with higher reaction rate in comparison with the same system immobilized on polystyrene without nanopores (see reference 14).
Cylcodextrins (CD) existing in nature consists of 6 to 12 glucose units. The shapes of cyclodextrins are like donuts, or a truncated conical basket. These CDs have an internal hydrophobic property and external hydrophilic property. The internal pore diameter is 0.78 nm for β-CD, and its height is 0.78 nm. In the reports on recent development in this field, biosensors were developed utilizing the unique properties of CDs to form nanopores or nanotubes with polymers and biological materials (see references 17-22) to detect various toxic substances which are undetectable by conventional sensors.
As indicated above, however, robust nanopore structured sensors have yet to be reported. Therefore, there is a need for a biosensor for accurate glucose measurement, especially in the hypoglycemia range. In addition, there is a need for biosensors that do not utilize a mediator. These and other needs have been met by the present invention.

Nanopore structured electrochemical biosensors


A method, system and computer readable medium for folding a document page object are provided. A method for folding a document page object in a graphical user interface using multi-touch gestures includes establishing at least two contact points on a display; moving at least one of the two contact points to create a fold on the document page object; and displaying the folded document page object.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to interactive document visualization, and specifically, a method, system, and computer readable medium for document visualization using interactive folding gesture techniques on a multi-touch display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Interactive document visualization is used in displaying images, such as three dimensional (3D) images, on a display. There currently exist multi-touch displays which are now commonly used for visualization on a display. Further, different methods of displaying information on such displays currently exist.
An effective principle for visualizing information on a display is the focus-plus context principle. A method that uses the focus-plus-context principle displays content in a focus region which is rendered at high fidelity with minimal distortion, and displays content in a peripheral context region with a certain amount of distortion so as to make efficient use of screen space or computational resources. An example of a method that uses the focus-plus-context principle is the fisheye view. However, the fisheye view works poorly for displaying documents since the fisheye view transforms straight lines into curved lines which causes poor legibility.
Another form of the focus-plus context principle for visualizing documents is folding. The objects or pages of the document are rendered so that each part of the document is flat and parallel to the screen without distortion. The context regions are folded off to the sides with perspective distortion. In Mackinlay, The Perspective Wall: Details and context smoothly integrated (1991), three "walls" are used for displaying a document in 3D. A Perspective Wall style visualization is shown in document 101 of FIG. 1, in which a center wall faces the user and renders the document without distortion in a plane parallel to the screen. Two side walls of the document are rendered with the effects of perspective distortion. Perspective distortion causes the contents that are farther into the screen to be rendered smaller, as shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, straight line segments (e.g. in the text characters) are rendered to straight line segments on the side walls in FIG. 1.
Elmqvist, Melange: Space folding for multi-focus interaction (2008), is another example of an information visualization method using the focus-plus context principle with folding. A 3D space folding metaphor is used and multiple focus regions of the space are rendered facing the user without distortion and the context regions are rendered with perspective distortion. Specifically, Elmqvist uses a 3D space folding metaphor with multiple focus regions parallel to the screen and the rest of the space is folded up.
Mackinlay exemplifies document visualization using folding techniques. However, they do not provide users with an adequate display and folding of a desired document.
Further, in the field of document visualization on a display, there currently exist different ways of manipulating a document. As shown in FIG. 2, documents can be displayed on a display 201 overlapping each other. However, portions of the document appearing on the face of the document are not visible to the user in the overlapping portions.
Another type of document visualization is origami folding. However, origami has different goals than folding for document visualization.
Therefore, there exist deficiencies in the current art with respect to folding visualizations. In Mackinlay and Elmqvist, for example, a standard mouse and keyboard setup is used. This does not exemplify how a physical piece of paper would be physically folded by a person, which is usually done with more than one finger and with two hands. Therefore, the current art does not properly provide interaction techniques that allow a user to fold documents on a display.

Method, system and computer readable medium for document visualization with interactive folding gesture technique on a multi-touch display


A power management circuit is provided. The power management circuit includes a plurality of detectors, wherein each of the plurality of detectors are configured with a different reference threshold voltage level; and a controller coupled to the plurality of detectors and configured to activate a subset of the plurality of detectors at any given time, wherein a subset of the plurality of detectors, when activated, are configured to provide a multi-level voltage level indication on a state of a voltage supply.

The Internet of things (IoT) is the inter-networking of physical devices, vehicles, buildings, and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity that enable these objects to collect and exchange data. IoT is expected to offer advanced connectivity of devices, systems, and services that goes beyond machine-to-machine (M2M) communications and covers a variety of protocols, domains, and applications.
IoT can be encapsulated in a wide variety of devices, such as heart monitoring implants; biochip transponders on farm animals; automobiles with built-in sensors; automation of lighting, heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) systems; and appliances such as washer/dryers, robotic vacuums, air purifiers, ovens or refrigerators/freezers that use Wi-Fi for remote monitoring. Typically, IoT devices encapsulate wireless sensors or a network of such sensors.
Most IoT devices are wireless devices that collect data and transmit such data to a central controller. There are a few requirements to be met to allow widespread deployment of IoT devices. Such requirements include reliable communication links, low energy consumption, and low maintenance costs.
To this aim, IoT devices and wireless sensors are designed to support low power communication protocols, such as Bluetooth low energy (BLE), LoRa, and the like. However, IoT devices utilizing such protocols require a battery, e.g., a coin battery. The reliance on a power source (e.g., a battery) is a limiting factor for electronic devices, due to, for example, cost, size, lack of durability to environmental effects, and frequent replacements.
An alternative to using batteries is power supply which may be harvested from sources such as light, movement, and electromagnetic power such as existing radio frequency transmissions. The harvested power is stored in a capacitor or a rechargeable battery, and typically managed by a power management unit (PMU). A PMU is a circuit block that performs general circuit power related operations, such as supply regulation, voltage and current references, power on indication, brown-out indication, power modes control, management of power storage units, and more.
Specifically, in power harvesting systems, a PMU provides energy storage and voltage threshold crossing indications based on measurement of the voltage over the storage capacitors. Commercially available power harvesting solutions are typically implemented in radio-frequency identification (RFID) and based on a Schmitt trigger.
FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a conventional RFID tag 100 based on a harvester 110. The harvester 110 is coupled to a PMU 120 including a Schmitt trigger 122. The harvester 110 receives RF signals transmitted by a RFID reader (not shown). The energy of the received RF, signals and charges a capacitor 112, where the conversion of energy to current is performed by means of a voltage multiplier 114. A voltage multiplier is an electrical circuit that converts AC electrical power to a DC voltage and cascades its DC outputs to multiply the output voltage level, typically using a network of capacitors and diodes. An example for such a multiplier is a Dickson multiplier.
The PMU 120 determines when the voltage level at the capacitor 112 is sufficient so that the RFID tag 100 can respond to the RFID reader. To this end, a reference voltage threshold (Vref) is compared to the voltage level (Vin) at the capacitor 112. Once the voltage level Vin is over the threshold 121, the Schmitt trigger 122 switches from zero to one, signaling that the RFID tag 110 device can respond to the RFID reader. The response is typically a sequence of predefined bits. In the conventional prior art solutions, the PMU 120 is always based on a single threshold (Vref) and a non-stringent power requirement.
A Schmitt trigger 122 is a comparator circuit with a hysteresis 124 implemented by applying positive feedback to the noninverting input of a comparator or differential amplifier. A Schmitt trigger is an active circuit which converts an analog input signal to a digital output signal. As such, power is required to operate the Schmitt trigger 122. The power is provided by the harvester 110.
Typically, RFID tags provide simple, low power consuming, processing and computing capabilities. Their operations are based on very strong (up to 4 Watts) signals transmitted from RFID readers over the air. The input sensitivity (e.g., lowest operation power received over the air) is about −15 dBm.
The harvester 110 implemented in RFID tags cannot be efficiently utilized to power other low-power communication devices (e.g., BLE devices). The reason is that the BLE protocol is not designed to transmit strong RF signals by external sources. Further, any existing commercial BLE consumes power in a way that RF harvesting is not possible, as the BLE standard has not been designed for battery-powered devices. An attempt to design a harvester based on parasitic RF signals in the air would require a high sensitive harvester, loaded by extremely low power devices. That is: a harvester that operates on very low power RF signals. Further, the power consumption by the harvester and the PMU should be minimized, so that the harvested power would not be completely utilized to power the harvester and the PMU.


A double pin tumbler cylinder for a security lock in which a pin tumbler rotates in a cylinder housing. The cylinder housing is composed of an axial stack of discs punched from a sheet of chrome-nickel steel. The individual discs are soldered or welded together to constitute a rigid element. The discs have a tang portion in which an opening is made so that the assembled stack defines a channel for receiving a bar of chrome-nickel steel for additional reinforcement of the cylinder. The bar has an enlarged central portion with a threaded bore for receiving a locking screw.

Double pin tumbler cylinders of the type described above are known for example from U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,671. Described there is a cylinder housing in which the housing pins and their springs are located in separate chambers within the housing and in which the cylindrical housing is subdivided into, for example, a number of sintered, pressed parts for the purpose of reducing the cost of production and increasing the security against tampering.
It has been shown in practice however that the assembly of tumbler cylinders from separately produced parts represents great difficulty due to the variation of the dimensions of the individual parts, resulting in cylinder cores which tend to jam in the cylinder and which present excessive resistance to the insertion and removal of the keys.

Double sided tumbler cylinder for a security lock


An RF identification system having an interrogator operable to send RF interrogations to a transponder and to receive RF responses from the transponder. The interrogator is in electrical communication with a closed slot antenna. The closed slot antenna is formed by an an outer virtual magnetic loop and an inner virtual magnetic loop such that the antenna has a superior magnetic field when compared to a balanced double loop antenna with an equal area and a superior far-field noise suppression when compared to the single loop antenna. The antenna receives said RF responses from the transponder and provides said RF responses to said interrogator. Other devices, systems and methods are also disclosed.

Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with tire identification systems, as an example. In tire interrogation systems a transponder is provided in a vehicle tire for interrogation by a reader or interrogator. The interrogator typically operates with an antenna that is at a fixed location by which the tire will pass. Other embodiments include applications in which an interrogator is mobile and is moved about to identify tires with which the interrogator comes in proximity. It is desirable for the interrogator and antenna to be sensitive to signals received from the transponder located in close proximity, but relatively insensitive to noise from sources located at a greater distance.
Prior art approaches include using single loop antennas with or without interrogator filters that filter all but a small frequency band of interest from the received signal. Other prior art approaches include using balanced double loop antennas that have two or more loops of opposite polarities and equal size to cancel far field or homogeneous noise.

Closed slot antenna having outer and inner magnetic loops


The invention relates to a high-capacitance capacitor which is monolithically integratable on a semiconductor substrate doped with a first type of dopant and accommodating a diffusion well which is doped with a second type of dopant and has a first active region formed therein.. A layer of gate oxide is deposited over the diffusion well which is covered with a first layer of polycrystalline silicon and separated from a second layer of polycrystalline silicon by an interpoly dielectric layer.. Advantageously, the high-capacitance capacitor of the invention includes a first elementary capacitor having the first and second layers of polycrystalline silicon as its conductive plates, and the interpoly dielectric layer as the isolation dielectric, and a second elementary capacitor having the first layer of polycrystalline silicon and the diffusion well as its conductive plates and the gate oxide layer as the isolation dielectric.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high-capacitance capacitor.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a high-capacitance capacitor which can be monolithically integrated on a semiconductor substrate doped with a first type of dopant, the substrate containing a diffusion well doped with a second type of dopant and formed with a first active region therein, and a gate oxide layer being deposited onto said diffusion well which is covered with a first layer of polycrystalline silicon and separated from a second layer of polycrystalline silicon by an interpoly dielectric layer.
The present invention further relates to a process for integrating a high-capacitance capacitor on a semiconductor substrate doped with a first type of dopant, which process includes the steps of defining a well doped with a second type of dopant, implanting and then diffusing a first defined region doped to a higher concentration of dopant of the second type, depositing a gate oxide layer over the diffusion well, covering said oxide layer with a first layer of polycrystalline silicon, and depositing a second dielectric layer referred to as the interpoly dielectric.
The present invention further relates, to a voltage step-up circuit for non-volatile semiconductor memories, the voltage step-up circuit including an integrated high-capacitance capacitor. The description which follows will make specific reference to this field of application for convenience of illustration.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
As is well known, there are many applications, involving electronic circuits integrated on a semiconductor, wherein higher voltages than a supply voltage Vcc need to be generated. Voltage step-up or "booster" circuits provide such higher voltages, even internally of the integrated circuit.
In particular, electrically programmable non-volatile memories, e.g., Flash EEPROM type memories, require a write voltage far above the conventional 5-volt supply. In programming integrated read-only memories of this kind, the individual storage cells must be applied a programming voltage Vp of relatively high value, close to about 12 volts. This programming voltage is usually generated inside the integrated circuit by means of a voltage-multiplying circuit or "booster".
A voltage-multiplying circuit is known, for example, from European Patent Application No. EP-A-0 540 948, published on May 12, 1993. The voltage multiplier described in that patent application is of a type known as "charge pump" and requires at least two capacitors. A first capacitor functions to draw and transfer electric charges from the input terminal of the multiplier to the output terminal. A second capacitor functions to store up the charges. A set of switches driven by respective signals that do not overlap in time, allow an output voltage Vout to be generated which is approximately twice as high as the supply voltage.
Generating this high programming voltage involves, however, the provision of large-size capacitors, normally outside the integrated circuit. The efficiency of a charge pump circuit is, in fact, proportional to the capacitive value of the capacitors used in the charge pump.
But increasing the capacitance of a capacitor requires increasing the area for it on the circuit, and hence increasing the physical size of the memory device which contains it. In addition, enlarging the plate area of a capacitor results in increased risk of breaks within the dielectric and makes its integration more difficult.
Alternatively, smaller capacitors connected in series or parallel configurations to provide an equivalent capacitor of greater overall capacitance could be used. However, the last-mentioned approach also implies increased area requirements to accommodate the aggregate capacitors, and hence a device of larger size.
In general, for all voltage booster circuits used in apparatus to which only a very low (up to 1 volt) DC supply voltage is available--e.g. many telecommunications line apparatus, portable appliances, etc.--there exists a demand for capacitors of high capacitance and reduced physical size.
The underlying technical problem of this invention is to provide a high-capacitance capacitor whereby the ratio of electric charge storage capacity to occupied area can be optimized, overcoming the drawbacks with which prior solutions are beset.

High capacity capacitor and corresponding manufacturing process


The pressure-testing apparatus comprises a manifold having a pair of conduits extending therefrom and being substantially parallel. Quick connectors at the free ends of the conduits have receptacles the axes of which are substantially parallel. A pair of adapters are respectively attached to the fittings of a broken coupler in a vehicle. The quick connectors are respectively applied to the adapter elements. The apparatus also comprises a pressure gauge on the manifold and/or means on the manifold for connection to a gauge.

The fuel-delivery system in a vehicle, such as an automobile, includes a fuel tank, a fuel pump, a filter and an injection unit which has a set of injectors that spray the fuel into the manifold/cylinders. There are two basic types of injection units currently in use. A single-point or throttle-body injection unit has one or two injectors which spray the fuel into the manifold. A multi-port injection unit has at least one injector per cylinder. A line couples the fuel pump to the injection unit. There is also a return line from the injection unit back to the tank. There are couplers in the lines at selected points, as well as couplers between the lines and the pump, the tank and the injection unit.
In order to test the components of the fuel-delivery system, namely, the pump, the injectors, the regulator associated with the injection unit, the filter, the lines and/or the couplers, mechanics commonly use a pressure-testing apparatus that can be inserted into the system. Such apparatuses inform the mechanic of the pressure at selected points in the system. The amount of the pressure, as well as variations thereof, will inform the mechanic of defects in the fuel-delivery system. For example, the pressure may indicate that the fuel pump is defective or an injector or the regulator are leaking or there is a leak in a line or in a coupler.
Apparatuses of this type currently in the marketplace comprise adapters which are applied to a selected point in the fuel system. The adapters are installed with a wrench. Such an apparatus includes additional components which must be assembled and then attached to the adapters also using tools. When the mechanic has determined the pressure, he must reverse the steps, detaching the apparatus from the adapters and the adapters from the fuel system. Sometimes it is necessary to install the testing apparatus at a different point in the fuel system or simply reverse the apparatus. Either action requires detaching the adapters, detaching the rest of the mechanism from the adapters, both with the use of tools, coupling different adapters at the selected point in the fuel system and then reattaching the rest of the testing apparatus.
The couplers of other vehicles are likely to have different constructions and, in order to apply the pressure-testing apparatus, each of them require different adapters and different components to connect to the adapters. Each time an adapter is applied, tools are necessary and each time the balance of the testing apparatus is attached, tools are again required.
These testing apparatuses are also useable to deliver solvents to the injection unit for use in cleaning the injectors. But, the need for tools, again, to attach the adapters and the rest of the apparatus is undesirable.
Certain fuel-injection units include a testing port to which the testing apparatus may be applied. Current pressure-testing apparatuses can be used with the port, but they suffer similar disadvantages as those described above. An adapter is applied to the port using tools and then the balance of the testing apparatus is attached to the adapter.


Techniques for determining a position of a mobile device are provided. A method according to these techniques includes obtaining assistance data comprising information for cells associated with a plurality of wireless transmitters of a wireless communications network based on the coarse location of the mobile device, selecting a plurality of the cells from the assistance data, wherein selecting the plurality of cells includes identifying sets of colocated cells and selecting one cell from each of the colocated sets of cells; measuring signals from the plurality of cells to generate positioning signal measurements; and sending the positioning signal measurements to a location server. A colocated set of cells may include a narrowband cell and a non-narrowband cell, and the narrowband wireless cell may comprise a narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) cell and a non-narrowband cell colocated with the NB-IoT cell at an Evolved Node B (eNodeB).

The proliferation of location-based services available to mobile devices has created a need for efficient positioning methods that can be used to determine the locations of these mobile devices. Mobile devices can measure signals received from wireless transmitters, such as base stations and/or wireless access points. These signal measurements can be used by the mobile device and/or a location server associated with the wireless network to determine the location of the mobile device.

Optimized positioning method for mobile devices


Various embodiments accelerate high-resolution magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI). Various embodiments are built on a low-dimensional subspace model exploiting the partial separability of high-dimensional MRSI signals. For two and three dimensional MRSI with one spectral dimension, various embodiments sparsely sample the corresponding (k,t)-space in two complementary data sets, one with dense temporal sampling and high signal-to-noise ratio but limited k-space coverage and the other with sparse temporal sampling but extended k-space coverage. The reconstruction is then done by estimating a set of temporal/spectral basis functions and the corresponding spatial coefficients from these two data sets. The imaging technique of various embodiments can be used for high-resolution MRSI of different nuclei.

This disclosure relates generally to diagnostic imaging and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method of high resolution magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging.
When a substance such as human tissue is subjected to a uniform magnetic field (such as a polarizing field B0), the individual magnetic moments of the spins in the tissue attempt to align with this polarizing field, but precess about it in random order at their characteristic Larmor frequency. If the substance, or tissue, is subject to a magnetic field (excitation field B1) in the x-y plane and which is near the Larmor frequency, the net aligned moment, or "longitudinal magnetization", Mz, may be rotated or "tipped" into the x-y plane to produce a net transverse magnetic moment Mt. A signal is emitted by the excited spins after the excitation signal B1 is terminated and this signal may be received and processed to form an image.
When utilizing these signals to produce images, magnetic field gradients (Gx, Gy, and Gz) are employed. Typically, the region to be imaged is scanned by a sequence of measurement cycles in which these gradients vary according to the particular localization method used. The resulting set of received signals are digitized and processed to reconstruct the image using one of many known reconstruction techniques.
Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) is a noninvasive imaging method that provides spectral information in addition to the structural information that is generated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) alone. Traditional MRI generates a black-and-white image in which brightness is determined primarily by the water molecule concentrations, and the T1 and/or T2 relaxation times of the tissue being imaged; the spectral information obtained in MRSI provides additional information about metabolic activity. MRSI can be performed on a standard MRI scanner, and has broad applications in medicine, oncology, and general physiological studies. And, when hydrogen is the target element, MRSI is also called 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging. Similarly, we have 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging and 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging.
MRSI has been recognized as a powerful tool for noninvasive metabolic studies, but clinical and research applications of this technology have been developing more slowly than expected. Reasons for the slow development of the technology include but are not limited to long data acquisition time, poor spatial resolution, and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), as examples.
Significant efforts have been made to address the above issues, resulting in a large number of new data acquisition and reconstruction methods for spectroscopic imaging. For fast data acquisition, one approach is to incorporate echo-planar-type of data acquisition schemes with spectroscopic imaging. Many methods (and pulse sequences) have been proposed to implement this data acquisition strategy. And, although echo-planar spectroscopic imaging (EPSI) methods can significantly reduce the data acquisition time for spatiospectral encoding, it is at the expense of SNR. Another approach to accelerated spectroscopic imaging is to use parallel imaging in which parallel data acquisition occurs using phased array coils.
Advanced MRSI reconstruction has focused on using prior information to compensate for the lack of sufficient measurements or SNR. To this end, a number of reconstruction models have been proposed, but reconstruction methods alone may not provide adequate levels of improvements in spatial resolution, data acquisition speed, and SNR needed to have a major impact on in vivo MR spectroscopic imaging.
As such, there is a need for improved MR spectroscopic imaging.

System and method for high-resolution spectroscopic imaging

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS


There is provided a composite gas separation membrane including a gas separation layer, which is formed to include a polyimide resin, on a support layer having gas permeability, in which the polyimide resin includes a repeating unit represented by the following Formula (I)

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a composite gas separation membrane, a gas separation module, a gas separation apparatus, and a gas separation method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A material formed of a polymer compound has gas permeability specific to the material. Based on this property, it is possible to cause selective permeation and separation out of a target gas component using a membrane formed of a specific polymer compound. As an industrial use aspect for this gas separation membrane related to the problem of global warming, separation and recovery from large-scale carbon dioxide sources with this gas separation membrane has been examined in thermal power plants, cement plants, or ironworks blast furnaces. Further, this membrane separation technique has been attracting attention as a means for solving environmental issues which can be achieved with relatively little energy. In addition, natural gas or biogas (from biological excrement, organic fertilizers, biodegradable substances, sewage, garbage, fermented agricultural crops, or gas generated due to anaerobic digestion) is mixed gas mainly containing methane and carbon dioxide, and a membrane separation method is being examined as a means for removing impurities contained in the carbon dioxide and the like (JP2007-297605A).
When natural gas is purified using the membrane separation method, excellent gas permeability and separation selectivity are required in order to efficiently perform separation and purification of gas. Various membrane materials have been examined in order to realize excellent gas permeability and separation selectivity, and a gas separation membrane using a polyimide resin has been examined as a means therefor. For example, Journal of Membrane Science (2003, 211, p 41 to 49) discloses that separation selectivity of a gas separation membrane is improved when a polyimide resin to which a polar group such as a carboxy group or a hydroxyl group is introduced is used.
In order to obtain a practical gas separation membrane, it is necessary to ensure sufficient gas permeability by making a gas separation layer thinner and sufficient gas separation selectivity is further required. A method of making a portion contributing to separation into a thin layer referred to as a dense layer or a skin layer by forming a polymer compound such as a polyimide resin into an asymmetric membrane using a phase separation method is known as a technique of forming a gas separation layer into a thin layer (for example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,410).

Composite gas separation membrane, gas separation module, gas separation apparatus and gas separation method

Abstract: in Formula (I), X represents a group having a specific structure represented by any of the following Formulae (I-a) to (I-h),

Abstract: in Formula (I), Y1 represents a group represented by the following Formula (II-a) or (II-b), and

Abstract: in Formulae (II-a) and (II-b), R3 represents a substituent group, A represents a dissociable group, p represents 0 or 1, p1 represents an integer of 0 to 2, and p2 represents an integer of 2 or greater.


The present invention provides a method for NAT traversal in VPN so that the VPN can detect the rule of port allocation for NAT outside the VPN to achieve NAT traversal. The communication structure according to the present invention includes a public network, a client network, a destination network, a first NAT, a second NAT. A DNAT-T proxy server is installed between the first NAT and the second NAT and has the function for the VPN to conduct a plurality of (N times) registrations before sending data out to detect the rule for NAT port allocation of the DNAT-T proxy server, and then inform the next NAT port allocation to the other side of the VPN so as to achieve NAT traversal for the data packets in VPN.

A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network (such as an Internet), and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public network as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network.
Referring to FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram for VPN to send data by a public network. A client computer 2 in A network 1 is going, to send data 3 through a client VPN service 4, a public network 5 (for instance an Internet), a destination VPN service 6 to a destination computer 8 in B network 7.
Before the data 3 sent from A network 1 through the client VPN service 4, the client VPN service 4 will first allocate a pair of IP of the B network 7 to the client computer 2, therefore two sets of message will be added after the data 3, the first message is a TCP/UDP header, the second message includes a source IP of the B network and a destination IP of the B network. TCP means Transmission Control Protocol, UDP means User Datagram Protocol.
As the data 3 is sent to the public network 5, a third message will be added after the second message, i.e. an external IP of the client and an external IP of the destination, which are allocated by the public network 5 to the client VPN service 4 and the destination VPN service 6 respectively.
After the data 3 is sent by the public network 5 through the destination VPN service 6 to the B network 7, the external IP of the client and the external IP of the destination are peeled off so that the rest of the data 3 are sent to the destination computer 8.
In the present Internet environment, more and more users install NAT (Network Address Translator) servers. Network address translation (NAT) works as a firewall, and is a technique of remapping a source IP address of an IP packet into another while transiting across a network.
Referring to FIG. 2, if an NAT 9 is installed between the public network 5 and a local area network 12, when the data 3 is sent from the local area network 12, the source IP of the local area network 12 will be amended by the NAT 9 to the external IP of the NAT 9, and the source port X will be amended to Z by the NAT 9.
Referring to FIG. 3, if the NAT 9 is installed between the public network 5 and the client VPN service 4, when the data 3 is sent out from the client VPN service 4, the NAT 9 finds that the two sets of message after the TCP/UDP header are not so simple as those of the FIG. 2 to identify, and cannot to amend it to the external IP of the NAT 9, so an abandonment will be processed so as to destroy the continuation of the data.
There is an easy method to solve the problem in FIG. 3, as shown in FIG. 4, when the data 3 is sent out from the client VPN service 4, an extra UDP header is added after the two sets of message of the data 3, and an external IP of the client and an external IP of the destination are added after the extra UDP header, so the NAT 9 can amend the external IP of the client to an external IP of the NAT 9, and the data 3 can be passed through the public network 5 to arrive the destination VPN service 6. This is called an NAT-T (NAT-Traversal) method.
Referring to FIG. 5, if an NAT 10 is installed at the outside of the destination VPN service 6, since the destination VPN service 6 is arranged to receive data, there is no packet to be sent from the destination VPN service 6 to NAT 10, the port Y of the NAT 10 will not open to receive any data, so the data 3 is blocked by the NAT 10.


This disclosure relates generally to an assembly and process for preparing affixing tape. The disclosure also relates to an affixing assembly and process using the prepared tape. The tape can be used, for example, to affix plastic items to mailing pieces. The assemblies and processes disclosed herein provide for added throughput, less down time, higher quality of parts and production control.

When plastic and/or other types of cards are affixed to, for example, mailing pieces and then mailed to consumers, some form of adhesive is generally used to affix the card to the mailing piece. This can be done, for example, in an automated fashion, and the card will stick to the mailing piece until it arrives to the intended consumer, who then removes the card and can discard the adhesive and the remainder of the mailing piece.
Previously used methods for affixing the cards to mailing pieces include using a "blob" of hot melt adhesive (or other liquid). Other methods include using a differential double-coated tape (DCT), also referred to as a "film tape". These DCTs have a high-tack adhesive on one side of a film or paper carrier to adhere to the mailing piece. These DCTs also have a low-tack adhesive on the other side of the film or paper carrier that removes cleanly from the card.
The DCT can be die-cut into a certain shape and then dispensed in a manner to speed the production of affixing the cards to the mailing pieces. There are limitations, however, to these methods. For example, there are limitations on the diameter of the tape (e.g., DCT) used, due to press limitations and handling issues. As a result, the finished product is produced in a limited length, which requires a number of roll changes during a worker's production shift. When a roll change occurs, the production machine almost always must stop, and this, in turn, costs the manufacturer money as a loss of production time. These losses can account for up to, for example, 15% or more of production time in a typical worker's shift.
Additionally, within the process of die-cutting the DCT, the tooling—especially during long runs when using hard base materials like films—will heat up and expand. When this occurs, the die will expand enough to cut deeper than required, which breaks through the release (e.g., silicone coating) on the release liner. This, in turn, allows the adhesive, over time and under certain circumstances, to flow into the same die-cut crevices and cause the parts to stick and not release from the liner as intended, or liner breakage causing failure within the affixing process. These failures can shut down production until new or "fresh" material arrives, which can cost the manufacturer a significant amount of money via lost production time.
A need exists, therefore, for an affixing assembly and process that overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art that will provide for added throughput, less down time, higher quality of parts and production control.
Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

Assembly and process for preparing affixing tape


The present invention discloses a driving method for an in-cell capacitive touch screen panel comprising: providing a common electrode voltage for image display to the common electrodes and each even-numbered one of the touch driving electrodes, and providing a touch driving voltage for touch driving to each odd-numbered one of the touch driving electrodes within a touch drive time period of a N-th image frame display time period; providing the common electrode voltage to the common electrodes and each odd-numbered one of the touch driving electrodes, and providing the touch driving voltage to each even-numbered one of the touch driving electrodes within a touch drive time period of a (N+1)-th image frame display time period. The present invention further provides a in cell capacitive touch screen panel.

Touch screen panel is an input device, which enable users could input users' instructions by choosing the instructions on panel, such as an image display, by fingers or objects. Users' fingers or objects could directly touch the touch screen panel. The applicable fields are increasing nowadays because this kind of touch screen panel could substitute for a keyboard or mouse of a single input device in connecting to an image display.
A touch unit is integrated into a screen display in In-cell touch screen panel so that the screen panel includes touchable functions. In-cell touch screen panel is a touch control unit manufacture which can be achieved in standards procedure without any problems of lamination or alignment, but further has the advantage of being even lighter, slimmer, frameless, full-flatplane-design-achieving and etc.; moreover, it is a hot point in present research of touch screen panel area.
In in-cell touch screen panel, in-cell touch functions are usually achieved by performing time division multiplex access on the common electrodes. A specific process is as following: an image frame display time period is divided into a display driving time period and a touch drive time period; wherein, all the common electrodes are to be provided with a common electrode voltage of image displaying within the touch drive time period; the common electrodes participating into touch driving are to be provided with the touch driving voltage of touch driving within the touch drive time period, but the common electrodes not participating into touch driving are still to be provided with the common electrode voltage of image displaying within the touch drive time period so that the functions of image displaying and touch driving can be implemented.
An image area corresponding to the common electrodes not participating into touch driving displays well due to the common electrodes are to be provided with the common electrode voltage of image displaying within the touch drive time period, but an image area corresponding to the common electrodes participating into touch driving does not display well due to the touch driving voltage of the common electrodes are higher than the common electrode voltage within the touch drive time period. When consecutive frames are displayed, the common electrodes corresponding to the area are to be provided with the touch driving voltage, which causes a non-uniform image displaying. At the same time, aging rate of liquid crystal molecules of the area corresponding to the common electrodes is increased because the common electrodes are consecutively to be provided with the touch driving voltage.

In- cell capacitive touch screen panel apparatus and driving method

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd