Disclosed are a glass-type portable device and a method of searching an information projecting side thereof. In occurrence of information to be displayed, a screen at which a user is staring is analyzed. Candidate UI regions, on which the information is to be displayed on the analyzed screen, are set. An optimum UI region which satisfies a preset condition is selected from the candidate UI regions. Then the information is displayed on the optimum UI region. Under such configuration, the glass-type portable device can effectively display information without blocking a user's view.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a glass-type portable device, and particularly, to a glass-type portable device capable of effectively displaying information without blocking a user's view, and a method of searching an information projecting side thereof.
2. Background of the Disclosure
A mobile terminal may be configured to perform various functions. The examples of the various functions may include a data and voice communication function, a photo or video capture function through a camera, a voice storage function, a music file reproduction function through a speaker system, an image or video display function, and the like. Some mobile terminals may include an additional function capable of implementing games, and some other mobile terminal may be implemented as a multimedia player. Moreover, recent mobile terminals receive broadcast or multicast signals to allow the user to view video or television programs.
Furthermore, the efforts for supporting and enhancing the functions of the mobile terminal have been carried out. The foregoing efforts may include adding and improving software or hardware as well as changing and improving structural elements constituting a mobile terminal.
A glass-type portable device is a mobile terminal or a glass-type smart phone, which is a head up displayer worn on the head like glasses.
The glass-type portable device has a camera function, a video function and a microphone function, the functions implemented through a small and semi-transparent screen such as a glass lens in front of the eyes. The glass-type portable device also has a Wi-Fi function and a Bluetooth function, so that it can interwork and can be compatible with a smart phone or other types of communication devices. The glass-type portable device is a wearable smart device rather than a simple video player.
The glass-type portable device can capture moving images or still images with a user's view. A display function of the glass-type portable device is a function to display information as if a user views a monitor which is in front of the user by a predetermined distance. Therefore, a user can check e-mails in front of the eyes, and can download various types of applications, through the glass-type portable device.
However, such glass-type portable device still has a lot of problems to be solved, even if the operation and interworking technology thereof have been already disclosed. Especially, in the glass-type portable device, a user interface (UI) region should be displayed on a position not to block a user's view, due to a limitation of a display size.
If a UI region is displayed on a display unit in a fixed manner, a user may not be able to see the front side clearly while viewing the UI region. This may cause safety problems and may lower the user's cognition on the surroundings.

Glass type portable device and information projecting side searching method thereof


A method for processing data performed in a data processing system having a storage unit is provided which includes: creating a spatial index comprising a leaf containing location information and attribute information with respect to a plurality of objects to be searched, and storing the spatial index in the storage unit; and referring to the spatial index stored in the storage unit in response to an input of a search request including location information and attribute information for searching the object to be searched, and extracting the object to be searched that agrees with the search request. With this configuration, a spatial search with subsidiary condition search can be processed at high speed, without merging results of both searches.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for processing stored data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, RDBMS (Relational DataBase Management System) that can manage multimedia data has increased. For example, this system has been used for storing map data as multimedia data, managing update of map data, and delivering map data to thin clients. A spatial search index technique has been also studied in order to search map data at high speed.
Also in a field of built-in device, DBMS (Database Management System) having a spatial search function has been developed, and application to other fields, such as a field of car navigation, is expected.
For the spatial search index, a space division method is frequently used, and there can be mentioned R-tree (see FIG. 11) and quad-tree (see FIG. 12). In these methods, a tree structure is formed by appropriately and consecutively dividing 2-dimensional space, in order to remarkably reduce a data processing number upon searching.
The R-tree shown in FIG. 11 is a method for managing spatial information by managing partial regions with bounding rectangles, and further by recursively and hierarchically managing bounding rectangles in the partial region. For a 1st level (1101) of the pertinent space, a bounding rectangle of the partial region is determined, and if desired, depending on a distribution of geometries to be managed in the 1st level (1101), a bounding rectangle as a 2nd level (1102) is determined. Like the 1st level (1101), if desired, depending on a distribution of geometries to be managed in the 2nd level (1102), a bounding rectangle as a 3rd level (1103) is determined. By recursively repeating this division, spatial information can be managed as a tree structure.
The quad-tree shown in FIG. 12 is a method for managing spatial information by regularly dividing a space into four parts at a predetermined proportion, and by recursively repeating the division. A pertinent space as a 1st level, (1201) is divided into four parts at a predetermined proportion, which are taken as a 2nd level (1202). Like the 1st level (1201), the 2nd level (1202) is divided into four parts at a predetermined proportion, which are taken as a 3rd level (1203). By recursively repeating this division, spatial information can be managed as a tree structure.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing one example of a conventional processing in which a spatial search is performed using an index of a tree structure with a space being divided into pieces, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. First, spatial search conditions are obtained (Step 1301); the tree structure of the spatial search index is recursively searched, to thereby extract a leaf to be searched from a node which agrees with or is included in the spatial search conditions (Step 1302); a pertinent geometry is obtained from the leaf (Step 1303); the obtained geometries are separately compared with the spatial search conditions (it is determined whether or not the pertinent geometry agrees with the spatial search region conditions) (Step 1304); and if the geometry agrees with the conditions, the pertinent geometry is output as a searched result (Step 1305). Next, it is determined whether or not another geometry is present in the pertinent leaf (Step 1306), and if there is a geometry, the procedure returns to Step 1303. When a processing with geometries in the leaf is finished, it is determined whether or not another leaf to be searched is present (Step 1307), and if there is a leaf to be searched, the procedure returns to Step 1302. With such a processing, a geometry present in the target spatial region can be searched at high speed, from among geometries distributed in the space.
With a use of the spatial search index, a search in a spatial region as shown in FIG. 9 can be performed. FIG. 9 shows a searched result for all landmarks within a circle (902) having a certain radius, taking a coordinate (901) of Tokyo station as a center. Landmarks (903) outside the spatial region are not searched, and only landmarks (904) inside the spatial region are searched. In this case, searched landmarks include B restaurant Kanda branch, Y Bank Otemachi branch and X Bank Yurakucho branch.
Such a technique is disclosed in Japanese patent No. 3649430 (Japanese unexamined patent application Kokai No. 2001-14338).
One common application of the RDBMS having the above-mentioned spatial search function is a search under combined conditions of "spatial search conditions" and "other refining conditions". Examples of the spatial search conditions combined with additional conditions include "gas station along a route" in a field of car navigation, "condominium with 3 bed rooms or more located within a 1-kilometer radius of a station" in a real estate search system, "rival store within a 2-kilometer radius of an existing store" in a local area marketing field.
As one advanced search, there can be mentioned a search under combined conditions of spatial search conditions with attribute conditions (see FIG. 10). FIG. 10 shows a searched result for landmarks tagged with "bank" category, from among landmarks located within a circle (1002) having a certain radius, taking a coordinate (1001) of Tokyo station as a center. As in FIG. 9 that shows a processing result of a general spatial search, landmarks (1003) outside the spatial region are not searched. In addition to this, landmarks (1004) inside the spatial region having attributes that do not agree with conditions are not searched. In other words, only landmarks (1005) inside the spatial region having attributes (also referred to as 'attribute information') that agree with the conditions are searched. In this embodiment, B restaurant Kanda branch is located within a circle of the search, but the attribute condition is not bank, and therefore B restaurant Kanda branch is not a targeted landmark. Only Y Bank Otemachi branch and X Bank Yurakucho branch are included in the searched result.
If a conventional RDBMS is used, this search may be performed by adding an attribute column to an existing spatial data column, connecting a plurality of search conditions via AND condition of SQL, and merging and outputting searched result in the RDBMS. In this case, the spatial search alone is not useful for refining the search, since the additional conditions remarkably refines the search. However, high performance is not expected if the searches are separately performed. Moreover, such conditions are frequently used, and thus a search processing takes time. As a result, technique to perform a search processing at high speed has been desired.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a technique to perform a spatial search processing at high speed, by including additional information as hint for combined conditions in a spatial search index, to thereby search additional information during the search of the spatial search index.

Method and system for data processing with spatial search


A body for a skate boot includes a sole portion, a toe portion extending from a front end of the sole portion, two upper portions extending from two sides of the sole portion, and a heel portion extending from a rear end of the sole portion. The sole portion, toe portion, upper portions and heel portion are made of fiber laminations constructed by multiple layers of fiber fabrics and epoxy resin by means of hot-pressing in a die. At least one thermoplastic substratum is provided in the fiber laminations at the upper portions and heel portion, and has two sewn portions respectively formed at two distal ends at the upper portions and extending out from the fiber laminations inside the thermoplastic substratum. Thus, the body is light-weight, has good shock resistance, and can cover the user's foot well.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a skate boot for an ice skate or in-line roller skate, and more particularly to a body of the skate boot.
2. Description of Related Art
Ice skates or in-line roller skates are generally composed of a body, a lining provided inside the body, a vamp spread over the body, and in-line rollers or an ice blade secured under the body. The body is generally made of a thermoplastic material such as PVC (polyvinyl chloride) by means of injection molding. Fiber material is sewn in the body as the lining, and leatheroid or texture fiber is spread outside a toe portion of the body. Thereafter, the rollers or ice blade is installed under a sole portion of the body.
The ice skates or in-line roller skates are used for high-speed sports such as speed skating or ice hockey, so the skates should have a low weight and cover a user's feet well. In the conventional skates, the body is made of the thermoplastic material such as PVC, which has a low strength to resist impact, and will become friable under a low temperature, so a thickness of the body should be maximized. However, the body with a large thickness will make the skate heavy and can not cover the user's feet in an effective manner, so it is difficult for the user to control the skates and move quickly.
Therefore, the invention provides a body for a skate boot to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.


Secure monitoring of a target IP telephone may be obtained simultaneously at a plurality of monitoring stations by requiring authentication to be provided by each of the monitoring stations prior to granting access permission to monitor the call. A single request generates multiple duplicate calls to a plurality of different monitoring location, each of which must be authenticated. When the monitored call arrives at each of the multiple monitoring stations a password is used to achieve authentication permission. The password is entered at each monitoring station by a touchtone keypad that generates Dual Tone Multi-frequency (DTMF) signals (e.g., each signal is a combination of two tones at different frequencies) which is sent to an IP monitoring center, which grants surveillance permission.

This invention relates to surveillance of telephone calls over a public communications link and is particularly concerned with providing assistance for such surveillance to law enforcement agencies. It particularly concerns surveillance of voice over IP (i.e., cable) networks.
Requirements for enabling surveillance of electronic communications have been enacted into public law (e.g., Public Law 103-414 enacted 10/25/94; CALEA Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act) reciting requirements for assuring law enforcement access to electronic communications. Such access is required to be in real time, have full time monitoring capabilities, simultaneous intercepts, and feature service descriptions. The requirements specifically include capacity requirements and function capability. It is incumbent upon communication carriers to provide such capability and capacity.
While initially limited in scope, at present, to certain communications technology it is almost assured that it will be extended to new technologies of communications.
With present technology monitoring is limited to one monitoring location which location is static. It would be desirable to permit monitoring of telephones by more than one monitoring location at the same time and to permit highly secure monitoring at each of such locations.
Secure monitoring of a target IP telephone may be obtained simultaneously at a plurality of monitoring stations by requiring authentication to be provided by each of the monitoring stations prior to granting access permission to monitor the call. A single request generates multiple duplicate calls to a plurality of different monitoring location, each of which must be authenticated. When the monitored call arrives at each of the multiple monitoring stations a password is used to achieve authentication permission. The password is entered at each monitoring station by a touchtone keypad that generates Dual Tone Multi-frequency (DTMF) signals (e.g., each signal is a combination of two tones at different frequencies) which is sent to an IP monitoring center which grants surveillance intercept permission.
The monitored call is muted when the monitor receiver is initially engaged until the operator provides real time authentication. This avoids a pick up by some unauthorized listener.
A monitoring station may be connected to a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) system and hence unable to directly monitor the target IP phone. Such a request is handled through a PSTN Check Point (PSTN-CP) which accepts the DTMF and forwards it to the IP monitoring center for validation. After pickup the PSTN-CP mutes the call until entry of a password granting access to avoid pick up by an unauthorized person.

Secure detection of an intercepted targeted IP phone from multiple monitoring locations


A liquid level transducer for a tank, such as a railroad tank car or the like, includes a mounting head connected to the tank and a sensor assembly extending into the tank from the mounting head. The sensor assembly includes a sensor tube located in the tank and a gauging rod assembly positioned in the sensor tube. The gauging rod assembly can be pulled out of the tank until it magnetically couples with a magnetic float that surrounds the sensor tube. The float moves in response to a change in liquid level and the magnetic coupling provides the user with a visual indication of the liquid level. A sensor board extends along a length of the gauging rod assembly and is responsive to movement of the float for electronically determining the liquid level without the need to magnetically couple the gauging rod assembly to the float.

This invention relates to liquid level transducers, and more particularly to a liquid level transducer having a magnetic float that moves in response to a change in liquid level.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,416 to Dean et al. discloses a prior art apparatus for indicating the level of liquid in a tank car. The apparatus includes a float encircling a guide tube extending down into the tank. The float is magnetically coupled to a gauging rod which bears indicia representing the level of liquid in the tank. The gauging rod is normally retained inside the guide tube via an upper cover removably secured to the tank opening. When it is desirous to check the liquid level within the tank, the cover is removed and the gauging rod is manually raised until it is magnetically coupled with the float. Depending on the liquid level, the length of the gauging rod extending out of the tank will change. The user can ascertain the level in the tank by the visible indicia of the rod. The apparatus also has a mechanism for automatically visually and audibly alerting the user when the level has reached a particular level, such as a near full condition when the tank is being filled. This mechanism includes a tower and a series of reed switches mounted on the tank above the rod opening. A magnet attached to the top of the rod moves past the reed switches to serially actuate them as the tank is filled.
Although such systems are adequate for their intended purpose, they are quite unwieldy, relatively expensive, and require the user to gain access to the top of the tank before a measurement can be taken, which can be both time consuming and dangerous. Moreover, with these types of systems, it is not possible to determine the level of liquid in the tank from a remote location and/or when the tank is in transit.
Moreover, prior art guide tubes are typically filled with antifreeze or the like which surrounds the gauging rod to provide some resistance against movement when the gauging rod is decoupled from the float, such as when the tank is traveling and subjected to rail or road conditions that otherwise may cause the gauging rod to bounce within the guide tube. Unfortunately, the coolant can leak into the area that holds the magnet, thereby destroying the magnet and causing expensive replacement in terms of both components and time, and possibly resulting in less accurate readings, or no reading at all depending on the level of damage to the magnet.
In addition, due to the relatively weak magnetic coupling forces between the float and gauging rod of the prior art, the capacity to obtain consistent readings is diminished, hysteresis is relatively high, and more especially when coolant or other fluids enter the magnetic coupler of the gauging rod thereby changing its weight and the coupling height with the float.
Also, prior art gauging rods are prone to frictional wear and eventual failure as they slide up and down inside the guide tube in response to changes in liquid level and/or a user pulling the gauging rod upwardly to couple with the float or remove the gauging rod from the tank, and pushing the gauging rod downwardly to its seated position. Since a relatively large gap exists between the prior art magnetic coupler and the guide tube, the gauging rod may not couple efficiently with the float since it may be oriented at an angle other than coaxial with the guide tube. Accordingly, both the accuracy and the coupling forces may be compromised.
It would therefore be desirable to overcome one or more disadvantages associated with prior art liquid level transducers.

Dual measurement liquid level transducer


A printed circuit board includes a source interconnect and a ground interconnect, and the circuit board has a two-dimensional geometry having a corner. Protruding portions are provided in circumferences of the source interconnect and the ground interconnect in regions except the corner in plan view, and the source interconnect and the ground interconnect are connected to a common first decoupling capacitor in each of the protruding portions.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a circuit board and a semiconductor device.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, efforts for reducing source noise and ground noise have been implemented by incorporating a filter circuit or a decoupling capacitor into a source line, as a countermeasure for an electro magnet interference (EMI) caused in a printed circuit board that has devices such as LSI mounted thereon.
Typical conventional technologies related to such noise reduction includes a technology described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-237,314 and a technology described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-237,505.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-237,314 describes that a reduction in a generation of a radiated noise can be achieved by disposing a capacitor in a corner of a rectangular circuit board. In addition, it is also described that a reduction in a displacement of a standing wave can be more effectively achieved by disposing capacitors in a plurality of corners.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-237,314 also describes that capacitors are disposed in positions in a side of a circuit board equally distributed by diving the length of the side with n integer number "n" with equal intervals therebetween, in which a displacement of a standing wave generated due to a resonance is increased, so that a generation of a radiated noise is inhibited to reduce a fluctuation of voltage between a source interconnect layer and a ground interconnect layer with an improved efficiency. In addition, it is also described that additional capacitors are additionally disposed arbitrary sides of the circuit board in addition to providing capacitors in one side, so that a displacement of a standing wave is more effectively reduced. According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-237,314, it is described that smaller number of capacitors disposed in smaller number of positions equally distributed in the side of the circuit board with equal intervals therebetween allows further inhibition of a displacement of a standing wave, and in particular, if a capacitor is disposed in a position where a side of the circuit board is divided by two, a maximum reduction in a displacement of a standing wave can be achieved.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-237,314 also describes that capacitors are provided so as to annularly surround an edge of the circuit board and have no section in the cyclic edge of the circuit board without being covered by a capacitor.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-237,505 describes a printed circuit board having a pattern of grounds provided in a periphery of a source interconnect in plane that also includes a source layer. It is also described that the electrodes are formed to have a zigzag-shape or an interdigit-shape in a section where the source interconnect faces the ground pattern. According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-237,505, it is described that a ground pattern is provided in a periphery of a source interconnect, so that capacitors are formed therebetween to provide an inhibition of a source noise reflected from an end of the printed circuit board. It is also described that the electrodes are formed to have a zigzag-shape or an interdigit-shape to provide an increased capacitance of a capacitor for terminal end, thereby further enhancing an advantageous effect of reducing a source noise.
On the contrary, though the technical field is not related to the present invention, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-48,650 discloses a parallel plate track device, which is manufactured by disposing a dielectric film between two opposing metallic members so as to meander through the metallic members to serve as a transmission line.
The present inventors investigated the technology described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-237,314, and found that there is a need to provide a reduced high frequency noise.
Relatively-low frequency noise can be improved to a certain extent by disposing capacitors on four corners or any sides of the rectangular circuit board as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-237,314. On the contrary, when the frequency of noise is increased to, for example, 1 GHz or higher, it is difficult to effectively eliminate a source noise and a ground noise by simply arranging the capacitors in the ends of the rectangular circuit board, and if a noise is to be eliminated by the capacitors arranged along the side of the rectangular circuit board, a number of capacitors are required, and thus such approach is not effective.
Thus, residual high-frequency source noise and ground noise, which are not completely eliminated to remain, repeatedly reflect on the source interconnect in the circuit board and on a circumference of the source interconnect and the ground interconnect, creating resonance points in specified locations in a surface including the source interconnect and the ground interconnect, which are the reasons for creating larger common-mode noises.
A possible approach to eliminating a high-frequency noise may be a process for predicting positions of the resonance points created in the source interconnect and the ground interconnect, and then coupling decoupling capacitors in such positions. However, since the positions of the resonance points depend upon various factors such as positions of the devices serving as noise sources, frequency components of noise, type, number and position of decoupling capacitor, geometries of the source layer and the ground layer or the like, the prediction thereof by utilizing the conventional configuration is difficult.

Circuit board with decoupling capacitors


A system for the representation, editing, evaluation, and inference of graphical models is disclosed which can be used to construct and evaluate a graphical model or graphical network and to calculate inference values. An efficient method of updating graphical models is demonstrated, and provides the basis for an improved system for manipulation and evaluation of probabilistic models. The graphical network editor is useful in the construction of graphical modes such as Bayesian Networks. The graphical network and network graphical user interface (GUI) are used in conjunction with each other to model a system wherein failure probabilities and the current state of components are taken into account to monitor the health and progress of a system for an engineer or engineering software to evaluate and monitor. The evaluation is useful in the monitoring of assets and other real systems having multiple, dependent, and independently operating components such as a pump, a manufacturing plant, a production line, an assembly line, where asset health and quality control is a concern. The asset components each influencing some overall outcome of a system or situation. Success or failure or probability of success, probability of failure and health of the system can be monitored and manipulated by altering the values of prior probability and posterior probability values. Failure correlation between components can be evaluated wherein failure rates of asset is unknown. Production and quality can be monitored and altered.

A fundamental characteristic of graphical modeling is modularity. A complex system can be constructed by the combination of simpler parts, such as sub-graphs, conditional probability tables (CPTs), arcs and nodes. Probability theory can be used to provide the link for the combination of parts, affording a mathematical interface between models, data and information. Graphical modeling further provides an intuitively appealing formalism and interface for the construction and manipulation of sets of variables or data structures acting within a set of interactive models. It also provides an intuitive visual representation of an asset monitor for a user through the use of data, graphical representations, probability theory and visual cueing.
Many of the classical multivariate probabilistic systems studied in fields such as statistics, systems engineering, information theory, pattern recognition and statistical mechanics are special cases of a general graphical model formalism. Some examples include mixture models, directed graphical models, factor analysis, hidden Markov models, Kalman filters and Ising models. The graphical model framework provides a way for a human to view all of these systems as instances of a common underlying formalism. The graphical model formalism provides a natural framework for the design of new systems. This allows joint distribution to factor into a product of conditional distributions. The graphical model structure may indicate direct dependencies among random variables and may indicate conditional independencies among give values of influencing variables.
Through computer science, the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has presented many decision support systems to aid users in the understanding and control of complex systems. Decision support through the use of computers and models has greatly increased a human's ability to control and evaluate real world systems. Decisions and recommendations can be rendered by either of, or both a computer and human. Thus the human can become better informed, increasingly aware and controlling of situations surrounding multivariate systems that would otherwise overwhelm the human capacity of understanding and judgment.
During the creation of decision support systems, computer scientists seek to provide a framework to supply decisions or decision recommendations with the greatest possible accuracy and speed. The decision support system is constructed in an effort to allow for increased awareness, increased accuracy, faster analysis, and increased control in the overall operation of a situation or system under observation. Applications of decision support systems include medical diagnosis, troubleshooting of computer networks, asset monitoring, automotive trouble-shooting and monitoring, electro-mechanical troubleshooting, monitoring of complex systems or the troubleshooting of complex systems, or gene regulatory networks. Decision support systems calculate decisions based upon recognizable, obvious, non-obvious, observable, unobservable, hidden, latent or unrecognizable criteria while incorporating their probabilistic, logistical and mathematical relationships.
Why Use a Bayesian Network?
As an example of an application of graphical models, consider the case of a Bayesian network used in manufacturing. By employing an observer, an asset monitor, or an automated system for the collection of data through the observation of a situation under observation, data for a model system can be collected from sources observing the situation to be modeled with a graphical model. This data can be organized and provided for a domain expert for use in the generation a Bayesian network. Data may be collected and used in real time and may be stored and used for historical analysis. Useful predictions can thus be made on the output of system being modeled, including yield characteristics, failure predictions and the ability to control quality. This increased ability of production control and monitoring, afforded through the use of the Bayesian network, can be realized as increased productivity, decreased costs, decreased waste of material, decrease use of energy and faster production.
Mathematical Background
If an experiment is performed or observations are made on a situation, an acceptable probability of an event may be calculated. If this event, event A, occurs with a given frequency, the value of the probability of event A's occurrence becomes acceptable and usable with a degree of confidence. We can make similar observations of other events within the same situation or within a set of observables. Suppose during our observations that a set of other events occur, including an event B. This leads to a question regarding the occurrence of the event B. How does the knowledge of the probability of event A revise the probability of event B?
For example, given a set of one million bicycles painted blue or red, we have no idea as to the specific amount of blue bicycles. Some bicycles are equipped with an apple seat or a banana seat. Knowing how likely a selection from the set of bicycles will be blue would be helpful, as to the type of seat. Counting all of the bicycles in the set would take an extraordinary amount of time and effort. To lessen our burden, we take a random sample of a substantial size, say one hundred bicycles and count how many are blue and how many are red. After repeating the sample 19 times, we calculate that 35% of the samples are red, while 65% of the sample is blue. We also calculated that 25% of the samples have apple seats while 75% of the bicycles have banana seats. We can evaluate our accuracy and thus establish confidence on our estimates by calculating the standard deviation of the samples. We can further refine our confidence by calculating the sample error and comparing a z-test value against expected values. This will allow us to gauge whether or not the sample size was sufficient for our purposes based upon the set size.
At times, these events may have been observed as occurring simultaneously, independently or dependently. Suppose that N observations have been made, and that event A occurred na times, event B occurred nb times, and it was observed that the combination of event A and event B occurred na∩b times. Consequently, event A occurred a na∩b/nb times among the nb times event B occurred. If the experiment is conducted a large amount of times, N, then we can assume the probability of the event A occurring given the knowledge that event B is occurring can be expressed as (na∩b/N)/(nb/Na) which is equivalent to P(A∩B)/P(B). The conditional probability of event A occurring given the fact that event B is occurring is expressed as P(A∩B)/P(B)=P(A|B). Consequently P(B|A)=P(A|B)P(B)/P(A) and is read as the probability of event B occurring while event A is occurring is equal to the probability of event A occurring given the probability of event B times the ratio of the probability of event B to that of the probability of event A.
These mathematical relationships between events can be extended and generalized into mathematical relationships for more than two events. Give event A, event B and event C, the probability of all three occurring is notated as P(A∩B∩C)=P(A|B∩C)P(B|C)P(C). It is evident that any number of probabilities of any number of events can be evaluated. These mathematical relationships among variables have been formalized for us by Thomas Bayes, and are generally known as Bayes' Theorems.
As with any experiment or observation involving a degree of randomness or chaos, involving weather, games of chance or manufacturing systems, there is an underlying set of assumptions, known variations, and constraints. Given a discrete set of variations, such as the value of a card from a standard set of fifty two playing cards, or the permutations of a pair of thrown dice, or the meteorological event of rain, or the acceptability of a product from an assembly line, a deterministic background may coexist with a randomly varying counterpart. If the events of the situation are limited to a specific or discrete outcome, or a finite set of outcomes, there may be a fixed or acceptable value of expectation of each of those events, yet we are limited in our control and actual realization of those outcomes.
Bayesian Networks
Bayesian networks are an excellent choice of graphical model for decision support modeling. A Bayesian network can be described as a graphical model for probabilistic and deterministic representations of real world situations. Graphically, a Bayesian network is generally constructed using nodes (vertices) and directional arcs (edges). Mathematically, nodes are used to represent events, states of events or variables of the event. Nodes may have probabilities, conditional probability or marginal probabilities associated with the variables of the events and can be used to represent any kind of variable. Arcs may be used to indicate logical influences, logical dependencies, mathematical influences, mathematical dependence, probabilistic dependence and probabilistic influences between nodes. The lack of an arc between nodes indicates independence between events of associated nodes. Graphical models unite mathematical theory, probability theory, logical theory and graph theory seamlessly and are a natural tool for solving problems that occur throughout mathematics and engineering by addressing uncertainty and complexity in user friendly environment which may be used to represent and construct an immediately recognizable visual representation of a complex system. Bayesian networks can also be applied to design and analysis of learning algorithms, among other applications.
Within a Bayesian network, an arc emanating from a first node to a second node indicates the first node is mathematically dependent and logically dependent on the second node. This notion can be associated between multiple nodes connected via a path comprised of a series of consecutive directional arcs. For example, if Node C is dependent upon Node B, and node B is dependent on Node A, then we can assume with certainty that Node C is dependent upon Node A. Node A, Node B and Node C can be described as being conditionally dependent. The lack of an arc between two nodes is indicative of conditional independence. Examples of Bayesian networks are illustrated in FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
A Bayesian network may be used to represent a joint probability distribution over all of the variables represented by the nodes of the graphical model. If the variables X(1), . . . , X(n) represent events 1 . . . , n and Parents(A) are the parental nodes of NodeA. We can say that the joint distribution for variables X(1) through X(n) is represented as the mathematical product of the probability distributions of P(X(i)|parents(X(i)) for i=1 to n. That is, given the probability of the parental nodes of node [X(1), . . . , X(n)|X(1)] [X(2), . . . , X(n)|X(2)]*[X(3), . . . , X(n)|X(3)]* . . . , [X(n−1)X(n)|X(n)][X(n)|X(n)]. If the variable X has no parents, or is represented by a root node, then the probability distribution of X is unconditional, otherwise the distribution of X is conditional.
By visually studying the graphical model of the Bayesian network, questions concerning the dependencies between variables can be realized by the user. The graphical notion of d-separation corresponds to the graphical notion of conditional independence. If Node A and Node B are d-separated, then variable A and variable B are independent given the evidence variables. The set of nodes which Node X is directly dependent upon consists of Node X's Markov blanket 2001, FIG. 2. The Markov blanket of a node, X is the set of nodes consisting of X's parents, X's children, and the parents of X's children.
To perform numerical calculations on the entire Bayesian network, such as performing inference, it may be necessary to specify the probability distribution for each node X with respect to the parents of that node. This approach may become numerically large and consume processor resources. Using discrete distributions, Boolean distributions, or Gaussian distributions limitations may be imposed on the model, based on the knowledge of the distribution. Algorithms are introduced to circumvent this situation by introducing the principle of maximum entropy for the specification of the distribution given known constraints. These known constraints may be coalesced from streaming data or data bases through various methods. To maximize accuracy, assumptions need to be minimized. The introduction of assumptions into the model lends to the increase of entropy, which is preferably avoidable. Typically, conditional distributions rely mathematically on known constraints and parameters which are traditionally coalesced from data, often employing a maximum likelihood algorithm, iterative approximation algorithms, or expectation-maximization algorithms.
The purpose of calculating inference is to determine the conditional distribution of a subset of variables, given the condition of known values or variables for a distinct subset of evidence values or evidence variables. This specific conditional distribution is known as the posterior distribution of the subset of the evidence variables. The posterior distribution allows a user to select values for the variable subset. The Bayesian network can be used as a mechanism for automatically constructing an extension of Bayes' Theorem to calculate distributions for increasingly complex problems. The prior art methodology is limited by inexact methods such as iterative variable elimination (either discrete or continuous) of the variables via distribution of the sum over the product, clique tree propagation which caches computations to query variables iteratively, and recursive conditioning which trades accuracy for time and processing speeds. The mathematical complexity of these methodologies grows exponentially with Bayesian network width, making them unsuitable for many applications. Other approximate inference algorithms incorporate stochastic simulation, mini-bucket elimination and variational methods, all suffer from inherent limitations of either accuracy or time.
Many situations can be modeled using the knowledge based approach. In one such situation, we can model a situation wherein we have two neighbors besides our vacation home, of which we never visit. Our neighbors, John and Mary, call when our alarm sounds. The alarm will sound in the event of a flood or a burglary. From historical records and data, we have concluded that the chances of our vacation home experiencing a flood, P(F)=0.02 and homes in that area have a probability of being burglarized, P(B)=0.01. John is our more diligent neighbor and will call 0.90 (P(J|A)=0.90) of the times the alarm sounds, while Mary will call 0.70 (P(M|A)=0.70) of the times the alarm goes sounds. Either one or both of them call when our house alarm goes sounds. Suppose that a flood occurred, and that P(A|B,F)=0.29 wherein burglary equals false and earthquake equals true. What is the probability that John is going to call? We take the product of P(A|B,F)*P(J|A)=(0.29)(0.90) to get 0.261. In the event that our alarm sounds and we receive a call, our Bayesian network can also be used to calculate the probability that it is John calling. This calculation practice is known as inference. Bayesian inference allows for a prediction to be made based on knowledge or experience.
Bayesian networks are a powerful alternative to a rules-based approach for inference. They allow both a black and white approach as well as a very gray approach to solving problems. Instead of an outcome being "yes" or "no", it now can be "80% yes", and "20% no." The ability to formulate a decision such as "yes" or "no" is helpful yet that ability coupled with a confidence metric is increasingly informative and explanatory. A rendered decision based on possible actions is a better informed decision if coupled with an ability to assess the confidence of the decision variables.
Flexibility of rules-based networks coupled with expert software objects and modules allow for proactive monitoring of equipment and equipment conditions for the prediction of problems at an earlier point in time, thus allowing for alarm operations to take action. Early detection of alarm conditions allows system monitors and custodians to detect problems or potential problems before problems reach typical alarm limits of traditional process control systems. Problems detected comprise problems related to efficiency, equipment failure, environmental regulations, production yields, resource consumption, quality control, unsafe conditions and other factors.
There are several inference techniques available for Bayesian networks which often perform better than traditional art rules-based inference approaches. However, one of the main drawbacks to Bayesian networks is the large amount of information that must be entered either by hand or by some machine learning technique for every single node in the network. Often, in the design of a decision support system, a vast amount of time can be required to enter enough information to build an accurate representation of the domain, or useful inferences for that representation. This is particularly true for Bayesian network nodes whose purpose are to emulate a well-understood rule, such as defined by an "AND" or an "OR" node.
Bayesian Network Construction
The construction of Bayesian networks can be approached in many ways. Two of the most popular and conventional approaches are the "knowledge based approached" and the "data based approach." With the knowledge based approach, a domain expert is employed to identify distinctions of the world which are important for making distinctions within our model. Distinctions made are translated into domain variables to be used within the Bayesian network. The domain is considered to be the set of all variables in the Bayesian network. At times some of the pertinent domain knowledge is unavailable, or is not specifically identifiable. Domain knowledge can be learned by modeling the system with known parameters. Dependencies among the variables are proposed, identified and verified as are probability distributions of the variables. The dependencies and probability distributions are used to quantify the strengths of the influences between variables or the strengths of the dependencies. Dependencies can be graphically illustrated as directional arcs within the graphical representation of the model system or situation. The variables and dependencies thus represented manifest themselves as a Bayesian network.
Using the data-driven approach, the expert identifies and determines the variables of the domain. Data is collected for variable that are used to drive an applicable algorithm for the generation of a Bayesian Network. The data is collected from the real world and instances of decisions made in the domain. Traditionally, the data-driven approach is used when variables are discrete.

Extensible bayesian network editor with inferencing capabilities


As part of carrier assignment and configuration for multicarrier wireless communications, a single uplink (UL) primary carrier may provide control information for multiple concurrent downlink (DL) carriers. Optionally, control information for each DL carrier may be transmitted over paired UL carriers. Carrier switching of UL and/or DL carriers, including primary and anchor carriers, may occur during normal operation or during handover, and may occur in only the UL or only the DL direction. A unidirectional handover is performed when only an UL carrier or only a DL carrier is switched as part of a handover. Switching of UL and/or DL carriers may be from one component carrier or a subset of carriers to another component carrier, another subset of carriers, or all carriers in the same direction.

In multicarrier communications, reporting of downlink (DL) control information on the uplink (UL) is typically done for one DL carrier at a time. Therefore, existing multicarrier communication systems are lacking techniques for reporting control information on the UL for multiple concurrent DL carriers.
An example multicarrier wireless communications system is the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) system that has been introduced into 3GPP Release 8 (R8). The LTE DL transmission scheme is based on an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) air interface. According to OFDMA, a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) may be allocated by the evolved Node B (eNB) to receive its data anywhere across the whole LTE transmission bandwidth. For the LTE uplink (UL) direction, single-carrier (SC) transmission is used based on discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDMA (DFT-S-OFDMA), or equivalently, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA). A WTRU in the UL may transmit only on a limited, yet contiguous set of assigned sub-carriers in an FDMA arrangement. FIG. 1 illustrates the mapping of a transport block 102 to an LTE carrier 110, for UL or DL transmission. Layer 1 (L1) 106 receives information from the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity 104 and the scheduler 108, and uses it to assign a transport block 102 to an LTE carrier 110. As shown in FIG. 1, an UL or DL LTE carrier 110, or simply a carrier 110, is made up of multiple sub-carriers 112. An eNB may receive a composite UL signal across the entire transmission bandwidth from one or more WTRUs at the same time, where each WTRU transmits on a subset of the available transmission bandwidth or sub-carriers.
LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) is being developed by the 3GPP standardization body in order to further improve achievable throughput and coverage of LTE-based radio access systems, and to meet the International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) Advanced requirements of 1 Gbps and 500 Mbps in the DL and UL directions, respectively. Among the improvements proposed for LTE-A are carrier aggregation and support of flexible bandwidth arrangements. LTE-A proposes to allow DL and UL transmission bandwidths to exceed the 20 MHz limit in R8 LTE, for example, permitting 40 MHz or 100 MHz bandwidths. In this case, a carrier may occupy the entire frequency block.
LTE-A proposes to allow for more flexible usage of the available paired spectrum, and is not limited to operate in symmetrical and paired FDD mode, as in R8 LTE. LTE-A proposes to allow asymmetric configurations where, for example, a DL bandwidth of 10 MHz may be paired with an UL bandwidth of 5 MHz. In addition, LTE-A proposes composite aggregate transmission bandwidths, which may be backwards compatible with LTE. By way of example, the DL may include a first 20 MHz carrier plus a second 10 MHz carrier, which is paired with an UL 20 MHz carrier. Carriers transmitted concurrently in the same UL or DL direction are referred to as component carriers. The composite aggregate transmission bandwidths of the component carriers may not necessarily be contiguous in the frequency domain. For example, the first 10 MHz component carrier may be spaced by 22.5 MHz in the DL band from the second 5 MHz DL component carrier. Alternatively, contiguous aggregate transmission bandwidths may be used. By way of example, a first DL component carrier of 15 MHz may be aggregated with another 15 MHz DL component carrier and paired with an UL carrier of 20 MHz. FIG. 2 shows a discontinuous spectrum aggregation with component carriers 205, and FIG. 3 shows a continuous spectrum aggregation with component carriers 305.
FIG. 4 illustrates a reserved time-frequency location for the transmission of the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) according to LTE R8. PUCCH is used for transmitting control data on the uplink. FIG. 4 shows one subframe made up of two timeslots 402, where NRBUL denotes the number of resource blocks (RBs) available for uplink transmission and nPRB is the RB index. RBs on the edges of the frequency spectrum may be used for PUCCH transmission, and RBs on the opposite edges may be used in the two time slots to improve the diversity. By way of example, a WTRU may use the RBs indicated by m=1 for PUCCH transmission. The control data carried by PUCCH may include, but is not limited to, acknowledge/negative acknowledge (ACK/NACK) information for the DL transmission, scheduling requests (SRs), channel quality indicator (CQI) information to enable scheduling for DL transmission, rank indicator (RI) information, and precoding matrix indicator (PMI) information to enable MIMO operation. Herein, the term CQI is generalized to also include PMI and RI. According to LTE R8, PUCCH used for CQI reporting and PUCCH used for scheduling requests (SRs) are configured to be periodic, such that each PUCCH reports information for only one downlink carrier.
The PUCCH configuration in LTE R8 is designed for one component carrier. Therefore, it is desirable to develop new configurations for PUCCH for LTE-A with carrier aggregation, where more than one component carrier may be transmitted at a time in the DL, while supporting CQI (including PMI and RI) reporting for multiple downlink carriers, and efficient SR reporting with low impact from discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles on multiple carriers. More generally, it is desirable to develop techniques for simultaneous reporting of information for multiple concurrent DL carriers in multicarrier communications systems.
A multicarrier system employing carrier aggregation, such as LTE-A, may include anchor and non-anchor component carriers. This may reduce the overhead because system information, synchronization and paging information for a cell may be transmitted on anchor carrier(s) only. The anchor carrier(s) may enable synchronization, camping and access in a heterogeneous network environment where interference coordination may be provided for at least one detectable or accessible anchor carrier.
Multiple carriers may exist in the DL and UL for carrier aggregation. However, the carrier quality may change and/or the amount of DL or UL traffic may change in a dynamic or semi-persistent way. Thus, it would be desirable to provide flexible and efficient DL and UL component carrier assignment and switching to provide improved utilization and transmission quality for multiple carrier systems employing carrier aggregation, such as LTE-A.

Method and apparatus for carrier assignment, configuration and switching for multicarrier wireless communications


In a memory device that operates at high speed, a bit-line sense amplifier driver is provided to overdrive a sense amplifier in a refresh mode. A bit-line sense amplifier driver includes a refresh overdriving control unit that is coupled to an external power supply terminal and a sense amplifier power line signal output terminal, and driven by a refresh flag signal and a sense amplifier power line enable signal to apply an external supply voltage to the sense amplifier power line signal output terminal in a refresh mode.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a bit-line sense amplifier driver, in particular, to a bit-line sense amplifier driver which overdrives a sense amplifier in a high speed operation memory device in a refresh mode.
2. Related Art
The data processing speed of graphics memory devices such as GDDR4 and next-generation general purpose memory devices such as DDR2 or DDR3 are being improved, which is attributable to higher operational frequencies. Therefore, stabilizing operation voltages in a high speed operation is becoming an issue. Further, the above memory devices are susceptible to noises caused by the operating power supply such that the operational characteristics are determined by the noise in the power supply. Accordingly, stabilizing the internal power supply is becoming more important.
In order to drive a sense amplifier which activates bit-line and bit-line bar nodes, memory devices generally use an overdriving method that abruptly applies an external supply voltage VDD to a sense amplifier driver which uses an internal supply voltage VCORE of the memory device in an active mode.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are views showing a bit-line sense amplifier used generally.
When a bit-line equalizing signal BLEQ is at a high level, N-type-transistors 102, 104, 106 are turned on and a voltage between a sense amplifier power line, i.e. RTO signal input line and a sense amplifier ground line, i.e. SB signal input line serves as a first voltage VBLP. Thereafter, when an active command is enabled to make the BLEQ signal reach a low level, and a word line selection signal is enabled, charge sharing is commenced in a bit-line pair, e.g. BL and BLb.
Bit-line sensing refers to sensing the amount of charge shared in the bit-line pair of a memory cell. For that purpose, the voltage applied to the bit-line pair BL and BLb must be amplified. Therefore, in order to activate enable signals SAP and SAN of the bit-line sense amplifier driver, a first enable signal SAP is pulled low, and a second enable signal SAN is pulled high.
Accordingly, a P-type transistor 108 and an N-type transistor 110 are individually turned on so that a voltage level of the sense amplifier power line shifts from the first voltage VBLP to a second voltage of the internal supply voltage VCORE. Furthermore, a voltage applied to the sense amplifier ground line SB shifts from a first voltage to a ground voltage VSS.
Voltages applied to the sense amplifier power line RTO and the sense amplifier ground line SB serve as a power source of the sense amplifier to sense the amount of charge by amplifying the voltage level of the bit-line pair BL and BLb which start to perform the charge sharing. In this case, when the difference between the voltage levels of the bit-line pair BL and BLb exceeds a predetermined value, the charge sensing is performed accurately. Therefore, by enabling an overdriving control signal OVD, the external supply voltage VDD is applied to the sense amplifier power line via a P-type transistor 100 or 200.
In this case, the P-type transistor 100 or 200 which is driven by the overdriving control signal OVD may be coupled to the terminal of the external power supply voltage VDD and the terminal of the sense amplifier power line output voltage RTO (see FIG. 1) or between the terminal of the external power supply voltage VDD and the terminal of the internal power supply voltage VCORE (see FIG. 2).
In a high speed operation memory device, however, it is important to maintain a stable supply voltage. A problem of the above method is that the performance of the memory device is adversely affected because the driving supply voltage serves as noise during overdriving. The stable operation of the memory device is further hindered due to rising of the internal supply voltage VCORE caused by overdriving. That is to say, the external power supply VDD is abruptly consumed in the memory device during the overdriving, which causes the potential of the external power supply VDD to become unstable due to a large application current. Accordingly, the unstable external power supply VDD may result in malfunction or operational error of the memory device that is sensitive to the driving voltage fluctuation.
A length of a column address of the high speed operation memory device is not significant, and due to the development of elements and processing technology, the overdriving operation is not required because, in a normal mode where banks are independently activated, the operation speed is not adversely affected even when the overdriving is not performed. But, in the refresh mode, all banks of the memory device must be activated, which weakens the internal power supply voltage. Therefore, in the refresh mode, the overdriving must be performed to ensure satisfactory restoration of the memory cells.

Abstract: Therefore, it is possible to prevent a driving voltage from serving as noise, which hinders the high speed operation of the memory device.


A method is for detecting a possible collision of at least two objects moving with respect to each other by simulating the intended relative motion of the two objects. At least one of the objects is assigned an envelope surrounding the object, the path line represents the relative motion of the objects is covered in steps of a defined step size, and the occurrence of an overlap of the objects is detected for ascertaining a possible collision of the objects. For at least one object, the outer contour of the corresponding envelope is used as a datum for detecting an overlap. At least one object is assigned an inner and an outer envelope, of which the inner envelope surrounds the object and the outer envelope surrounds the inner envelope. The outer envelope is used as a datum for detecting an overlap of the two objects, and when an overlap is detected in a segment of the path line, the segment of the path line is re-traversed using a smaller, second step size. When the segment of the path line is re-traversed, the inner envelope of at least one of the objects is used as a datum for detecting an overlap.

In such a method, the intended relative movement of the at least two objects moving with respect to each other is simulated, where at least one of the objects is assigned an envelope surrounding the object. The path line representing the relative movement of the two objects is then covered in steps of a defined step size. To detect a possible collision of the objects, the occurrence of an overlap of the two (simulated) objects is detected while the path line is covered. For at least one of the objects, the outer contour of the corresponding envelope is used as a datum for detecting an overlap.
Such methods may be used for monitoring collisions of machine-tool parts moving relative to one another, such as a supporting table, a booth wall, a tool, a spindle head, etc., in order to be able to detect possible collisions early and prevent them with the aid of the machine control unit.
In order to be able to make the calculations necessary for simulating the movement of the individual machine parts at a sufficient rate, the objects to be monitored, e.g., those having a complicated geometric structure, are represented by an envelope that surrounds the object in question. The simulation for the collision monitoring is then conducted not on the basis of the actual geometry of the objects moving relative to each other, but rather on the basis of the geometry of the envelope, which is assigned to a specific object and is normally made of solids having a simple geometry, such as spheres, rectangular parallelepipeds, cylinders, prisms, and pyramids. Therefore, while carrying out the simulation for early detection of collisions of such objects to be monitored, which are assigned an envelope having a simple geometry, the monitoring is not focused on an overlap of the object itself and another object or its envelope, but rather on a possible overlap of the envelope assigned to the object and another object or an envelope assigned, in turn, to the other object.
In this context, the path line representing the relative movement of objects, which are moving with respect to each other and are monitored for a collision, describes the possible relative positions, which these objects may assume during the operation of a specific control program, e.g., one stored in a machine control unit. Therefore, in the case of a machine tool, the individual points of the path line correspond to a particular position of the monitored objects with respect to the machine axes of the machine tool, and namely, in view of both linear movements along the individual machine axes and rotational movements about the machine axes. Accordingly, a path line is generally understood as the set of all the relative positions, which the objects to be monitored for a collision may assume during a defined relative movement, e.g., one selected by a control program. The corresponding simulation for detecting a possible collision is conducted in the machine control unit or in a processor coupled to the machine control unit, so that the machine control unit is able to prevent a collision of the actual objects to be monitored, e.g., by stopping the relative motion or changing the relative motion.
The phrase used below that "the outer contour of the envelope assigned to the specific object is used as a datum" for detecting an overlap, i.e., mutual penetration of two objects, during the simulation means that when an overlap or mutual penetration of two (simulated) objects to be monitored is detected, the specific, actual geometries of the two objects are not used as a datum for determining overlap, but rather the envelope assigned to a specific object and the other object or the envelope assigned to a specific object and the envelope assigned to the other object are used as a datum for determining overlap, if the other object is assigned an envelope. Therefore, in the case in which the two objects to be monitored are each assigned an envelope, the mutual penetration of the two envelopes is taken into account. If only one of the two objects is assigned an envelope, the overlap of this envelope and the other object is taken into account.
A method for collision monitoring of the type described above is described, e.g., in European Published Patent Application No. 0 268 317. In this method, there is believed to be the problem that in order to reliably detect a possible collision of two objects moving with respect to each other, the path line representing the relative positions of the objects to be monitored must be covered using a step size that is as small as possible, since path-line points at which there is the danger of a collision may be skipped when the utilized step size is too large. This conflicts with the need to carry out the collision monitoring, using as little computing time as possible.

Method for detecting a possible collision of at least two objects moving with respect to each other


Methods and apparatuses are provided for use with smartcards or other like shared computing resources. A global smartcard cache is maintained on one or more computers to reduce the burden on the smartcard. The global smartcard cache data is associated with a freshness indicator that is compared to the current freshness indicator from the smartcard to verify that the cached item data is current.

Smartcards are portable devices that include logic and memory circuitry configured to interact with computers and other like devices. In a typical computer implementation, a computer includes or is otherwise connected to a smartcard interface device that operatively interacts with the smartcard to provide connectivity to the circuitry of the smartcard for applications and/or other processes operating within the computer. Once the applicable connections are made, the smartcard circuitry can operate as designed/programmed and begin processing requests received from the computer and/or otherwise support the operations of the computer.
Smartcards and other like mechanisms can be configured to support a wide variety of functions. By way of example, a smartcard may be configured to support user verification, service authorization and cryptographic processes. The circuitry on such smartcards typically includes processing logic and static memory that allows secret/preparatory data to be processed and stored within the smartcard in a secure manner.
Currently there are a variety of different manufactures designing and building smartcards, and hence there are different circuits with these smartcards. The smartcards are each designed to comply with certain standards, e.g., regarding the physical design, power requirements, communication interface, etc. This standardization allows different smartcards to utilize common smartcard interface devices, such as smartcard reader/writer devices that connect to computers.
Once a smartcard is operatively coupled to a computer (or other like device) then processes operating within the computer can send access requests to the smartcard through the established communication interface. For example, a software application running on a computer processing unit may request access to the smartcard by generating a smartcard access request to which the smartcard is responsive in some manner. For example, a smartcard may respond to the command(s) stated in a smartcard access request by processing some data and outputting data to the requesting software application, process and/or other like entity.
Since a smartcard can be accessed by a plurality of such entities, there is a need to control access to the smartcard. Typically, a smartcard is designed to handle only one request, or transaction, at a time. As such, arbitration logic or other like logic is usually provided to prevent multiple simultaneous transactions/access attempts. Such arbitration logic may be provided, for example, within the computer and/or smartcard interface device.
It has been found that at certain times smartcard operations can be relatively slow due in part to the amount of card input/output (I/O) being performed. For example, data read from a smartcard is typically only stored, or cached, locally to the consumer of the data. Here, for example, the consumer of the smartcard data may be a process running on a computer or other like computing device. In some situations smartcard data is not cached at all.
Therefore, certain pieces of smartcard data must be re-read every time the data is needed.
Most contemporary smartcard scenarios are adversely affected by such smartcard caching, or lack thereof, behavior. One example of a common scenario is user authentication, which for these reasons may be uncomfortably slow and therefore is viewed by many as less-desirable than more common, but potentially less secure, alternatives, such as, for example, password-based authentication.
Moreover, even when smartcard data is cached, no prior solution exists for keeping the data consistent and secure across multiple consumers, e.g., across multiple processes running on a computer system.
Consequently, there is a need for improved smartcard caching methods and apparatuses.

Global smartcard cache methods and apparatuses


A fuel pump is disclosed. The fuel pump includes a housing. Further, the fuel pump includes a rotatable pump shaft disposed within the housing. One end of the rotatable pump shaft is attachable to a gear. The housing also includes a retainer disposed within the housing and located about the pump shaft. The retainer includes a first rim and a second rim that are spaced apart from each other. The retainer also includes a side wall extending between the first and the second rims. Further, the side wall of the retainer defines a first volume and a second volume within the housing. The side wall of the retainer has a plurality of apertures configured to allow a fluid flow from the first volume to the second volume while retaining particulate contaminants larger than a size of the apertures within the first volume.

Fuel injectors are configured to inject a pressurized fuel into cylinders of an engine. The fuel injectors receive the pressurized fuel from a fuel pump through a fuel rail. The fuel pump is mechanically coupled and driven by a gear train present within a gear case associated with the engine. Further, the engine may also include an engine oil pump. The engine oil pump supplies a lubricating oil to the fuel pump and various engine components. The lubricating oil may drain from the fuel pump into the gear case.
In some situations, when the fuel pump fails, debris from the failed fuel pump may mix with the lubricating oil. This contaminated oil containing the debris may flow towards and enter into the gear train and/or other components of the engine positioned downstream of the fuel pump. Further, this may lead to failure of the respective gear train and/or the engine components. The failure of these engine components may increase a cost and downtime associated with an operation of the engine.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,699,738 discloses an oil pump structure of an automatic transmission. In the oil pump structure of an automatic transmission using a torque converter, a hydraulic pressure chamber is defined by pump housing and a pump cover, to rotatably accommodate therein inner and outer rotors. First and second inflow ports respectively communicating with an oil strainer and a control valve are formed in the outside surface of the pump cover separately from each other. First and second oil inflow passages communicating with the respective inflow ports, a merged-flow portion that downstream portions of the first and second oil inflow passages are merged with each other, a downstream-side oil distribution channel intercommunicating a downstream side of the merged-flow portion and the hydraulic pressure chamber, are formed in at least one of the pump housing and the pump cover.


A redundant assembly for an air and liquid cooled module is provided. The redundant cooling assembly comprises an air and liquid cooled module having a cold plate in thermal communication with a side attached auxiliary drawer. The auxiliary drawer houses a heat exchanger, a liquid pump with piping such that the heat exchanger, the liquid pump with piping and the cold plate form a closed liquid cooling loop. The auxillary drawer also housing an air moving device such that air can readily pass through the air moving device and the heat exchanger in order to provide air cooling. In one embodiment of the invention, fins are disposed on the cold plate to provide cooling in case the pump or the air moving device or both encounter a failure. In alternate embodiments, multiple pumps and/or multiple air moving devices can be used with or without the cold plate fins to provide redundancies.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cooling of electronic packages used in-computing system environments and more particularly to cooling of electronic components and packages used in mid-range and high-end high volume servers.
2. Description of Background
The industry trend of continuously increasing the number of electronic components inside computing system environments, has led to many challenges in the design and implementation of these systems. In simple computing system environments such as those comprising one or more personal computers, the challenges are easier to meet. In larger system environments, however, that include many computers in processing communication with one another, design challenges are harder to resolve.
One such important design challenge is management of dissipated heat generated by the computer system. Heat dissipation if unresolved, can result in electronic and mechanical failures that will affect overall system performance, no matter what the size of the environment. As can be easily understood, the heat dissipation increases as the packaging density increases. In larger computing system environments, not only are heat generating electronic components more numerous, but thermal management solutions that need to be implemented must be provided in view of other needs of the system environment. Improper heat dissipation can create a variety of other seemingly unrelated problems. For example solutions that involve inclusion of heavy fans, blowers and other such components may lead to weight issues that can affect the structural rigidity of the computing system environment. In customer sites that house complex or numerous computing system environments, unresolved heat dissipation issues may necessitate other cost prohibitive solutions such as supplying additional air conditioning to the customer site.
Heat dissipation issues have become a particular challenge in mid range and high volume computing system environments and prior art has made some attempts to resolve this issue. The problem with such arrangement is that the technology currently being practiced is reaching the end of its extendability, especially in regard to the newer microprocessor technology that uses metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) packages. In recent years, current prior art arrangements are having difficulties resolving heat load and local heat flux issues and these have become a critical factor, especially in the design of mid to high-range, high volume server packages.
Co-pending application POU920050148, introduces a concept where a hybrid liquid and air cooled module is employed. Through the use of its dual air and liquid cooled systems, system performance is greatly enhanced using cost effective, easy to implement methodology. The co-pending application, however, does not provide for a redundant system. In large system environments that incorporate many electronic components, a number of factors can cause one or more cooling elements in any cooling module to fail. Therefore providing a redundant system is desirous in case one or a plurality of these elements shall experience such failure.
Consequently, a new and improved cooling arrangement is desired that can provide the concepts provided in the co-pending application but with some built-in redundancies in case of systemic failures. This would be especially useful in larger environments that incorporate next generation CMOS technology in mid to high range, high volume servers.

Redundant assembly for a liquid and air cooled module

International Business Machines Corporation


Measurements of functional, hemographic, and blood flow parameters use a multiple echo or spin echo gradient pulse sequence whereby an early echo is acquired near the beginning of the pulse sequence which avoids saturation effects and a later echo near the end of the pulse sequence which can provide information with more sensitivity to a contrast agent for a susceptibility weighted image.

This invention relates generally to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and more particularly the invention relates to the use of MRI for the determination of hemodynamic parameters particularly in patients suffering from strokes.
Dynamic susceptibility contrast weighted (DSC) magnetic resonance perfusion imaging (PWI) promises to allow rapid assessment of hemodynamic parameters in stroke patients, which would allow better assessment of tissue viability and outcome prediction of stroke patient. In concert with diffusion weighted/diffusion tensor imaging, DWI/DTI, patients could be triaged on the basis of information derived from such quantitative perfusion measurements. This would have important implications for the treatment of stroke patients, since reperfusion therapy is only effective within the first few hours after the onset of stroke and can increase the mortality rate due to hemorrhagic transformation in later, more severe strokes. Unfortunately, in practice, DSC-PWI usually has limitations. Besides geometric distortions and poor resolution of EPI scans, there are considerable problems in accurately determining an arterial input function (AIF), which is required to determine the tissue residue function by deconvolving the tissue response signal with the AIF. Frequently, the internal carotid arteries (ICA) and parts of the initial branches of the anterior or the middle cerebral arteries (ACA, MCA) are difficult to depict or are contaminated by partial volume averaging.
The prior art suffers from strong signal saturation effects during the peak of the contrast agent bolus passage. Thus, the concentration of contrast material during this phase is underestimated and the arterial input function (AIF) that is deconvolved with the brain tissue response in each voxel is in error.
The present invention is directed to DSC-PWI with improved image quality and quantification capabilities.

Dual gradient echo pulse sequence using interleaved spiral-out spiral-in k-space trajectories

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


A swelling packer system uses modules that can be joined together and mounted over a tubular using a vertical split that can be drawn closed with a tapered pin in overlapping loops. The pins are circumferentially spaced apart as between adjacent modules. End rings can protect the modules for run in and act as extrusion barriers during and after the swelling is complete. The module ends can be overlapped in an interlocking fashion which allows multiple elements to be joined together to make a packer assembly as long as desired with any combination of swelling elements in a single packer assembly. Optionally, interior grooves in the swelling material can hold split ring seals or o-ring type seals that are slipped over a tubular end before a module is clamped on. The sealing elements can be triggered with water or hydrocarbons or with other materials already in the wellbore or introduced to it or other surface or locally actuated triggers.

Packers are used for zone isolation downhole. They are available in a variety of designs and are integrated into a tubular string for proper positioning in a wellbore. Some are set with pressure and others with applied force from the tubular string to which they are attached. More recently packers have been developed that swell in the presence of fluids in or added to the wellbore. Some of these packers swell in the presence of water and others in the presence of hydrocarbons. Such packers can be used on casing or tubular strings running through casing.
These swelling packers are prefabricated into a pup joint that can be made part of a longer string. Generally the swelling element is wrapped around the pup joint, bonded and cured directly to the outer wall of the pup joint. Other designs have used a swelling material on a cylindrical housing that is slipped over the casing or tubing. However, such designs are a set length and do not provide a means of joining additional segments to make the packer longer or combine both water and oil swell elastomers in a single packer assembly. Also the rigid housing can cause problems running in the hole and can make sealing between the housing and the tubular difficult. In essence, they act as a barrier in the annulus but not as a pressure seal between wellbore sections. Clamp on pipe protectors which attach to drill pipe are used to protect the casing from wear caused by rotating and reciprocating the drill pipe. An example of such clamp type pipe protector is U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,578.
The present invention provides a swelling seal that has a split to allow encircling the tubular and securing it to the tubular. It is a modular design that can use an interlocking feature among sealing modules. Multiple element modules can be joined together to make a packer assembly as long as desired using all oil swell, all water swell, or a combination of oil and water swell elements. End rings can serve to protect the assembly during run in and to act as extrusion barriers once the packer is in position and the elements are swollen. The modules can have an embedded body that closes around a tubular with offset tapered loops that can be drawn together with a tapered pin that is driven into position to tighten the element onto the tubular. Excess length of the tapered pin is trimmed off to allow additional elements to be added which interlock with the previously installed element. The pins and the joints they close are circumferentially offset to prevent straight through leak paths among modules. The split design also allows these packer assemblies to be installed on tubulars other than casing such as sand screens, drill pipe, or other tools with a round profile. These and other features of the present invention will be more readily understood by those skilled in the art from a review of the preferred embodiment and the associated drawings while recognizing that the full scope of the invention is to be determined by the claims appended below.


The present invention provides enhanced methods of producing soluble, active fibroblast growth factor-20 (FGF-20), FGF-21, neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), growth hormone (GH), granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), or glucocerebrosidase proteins in microorganisms that have an oxidizing environment.

Many recently developed pharmaceuticals are therapeutic proteins. Therapeutic protein products were not routinely administered to patients until molecular biology techniques had evolved to allow production of the protein recombinantly. Therapeutic proteins are typically from a mammal, e.g., a human, and are generally produced in cultured cells derived from multicellular eukaryotic organisms, e.g., Chinese hamster ovary cells or other mammalian cells. Such mammalian cell production methods are expensive and time consuming, but are believed to allow for optimal post-translational processing of the recombinant protein. Post-translational processing includes, e.g., refolding and formation of correct disulfide bonds and glycosylation of the protein. Microorganisms are an attractive substitute for eukaryotic cells, but have not been successfully used to produce commercial scale amounts of therapeutic proteins. Microorganisms, in particular E. coli, do not promote post-translational processing of eukaryotic proteins. For example, many eukaryotic proteins, including many therapeutic proteins are expressed as insoluble inclusion bodies in microorganisms, including E. coli. Thus, there is a need for improved methods to produce active therapeutic proteins in microorganisms. The present invention solves this and other needs.

Expression of soluble therapeutic proteins


Voltage offset of an integrated circuit amplifier is accurately determined for calibration of the device. Circuit connections are established between the integrated circuit and an external device, such as an IC handler. Internal noise gain resistors formed within the integrated circuit are connected by internal switches to the amplifier and the output voltage is measured so that a value of a voltage offset of the amplifier while the noise gain resistors are connected can be calculated. The use of internal noise gain resistors produces a voltage offset component of the output voltage that is significantly greater in magnitude than effects of thermocouple voltages generated by circuit junction connections.

Precision integrated circuit amplifiers require a calibration process to null out inherent voltage offset for proper operation. Several common methods of voltage offset calibration can be performed by high volume test systems. Typically, a manual adjustment to the amplifier's input stage is performed and ultimately made permanent. A known predictable imbalance is introduced to the differential input stage, which counteracts the effect of voltage offset error VOS. One method of amplifier voltage offset adjustment is described by George Erdi, "A Precision Trim Technique for Monolithic Analog Circuits," IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. SC-10, No. 6, December 1975. Selective shorting of Zener diodes adjusts for imbalances in the differential resistive load seen by the input stage differential pair. Additional circuitry must be included in the input stage which, when activated, will produce a known predictable imbalance to counteract and cancel the effect of VOS. Another method of introducing known predictable input stage imbalance is to purposely skew the W/L ratio of the differential input pair by means of CMOS switching the W/L ratio. In yet another known method, one can access an on-the-same-die integrated circuit digital to analog converter (DAC) to steer current and control a degree of DC current imbalance to the differential input pair's load. Since opamp input differential pairs steer the tail (bias) current to a differential load, a digital word in the DAC can counter balance the effect of VOS.
Common test environments for measuring voltage offset of an operational amplifier embedded in an integrated circuit generally involves an integrated circuit handler with external relays to configure the amplifier for noise gains in excess of 100. Very low offset and offset drift amplifiers, for example less than 1 mv of voltage offset, present difficulties in obtaining an accurate measurement of VOS due to thermoelectric voltage error sources in high volume test environments. Thermocouple voltages, produced by the known Seebeck effect, exist wherever two different conductive materials are joined in series, and two junctions of the two conductive materials are at different temperatures. As dissimilar materials exist throughout the testing system, thermocouple voltages are generated that would not be generated during subsequent normal operation of the amplifier with the testing system detached. Each dissimilar junction contributes a thermocouple emf which varies as a function of junction temperature, making it difficult to distinguish between the amplifier voltage offset and unrelated thermocouple potentials. The handler-IC junctions can be a source of voltage offset error that can be comparable in magnitude to the voltage offset that is desired to be calibrated out.
A simplified diagram of a typical testing arrangement, such as described above, is depicted in FIG. 1. Integrated package 10 includes an operational amplifier 12 having input bond wire and package interface and package interface junctions 14 and 16 and an output bond wire and package interface and package interface junction 18. The internal voltage offset of the operational amplifier is represented by a voltage VOS 20. Handler junctions 22 and 24 connect to the input bond wire and package interface and package interface junctions; handler junction 26 connects to the output bond wire and package interface junction. Test relays connect resistor 28, of value R, across the inverting and non-inverting input and resistor 30, of value KR, between the inverting input and output, form thermocouple junctions 32 and 34 respectively. Noise gain resistors 28 and 30 are utilized during testing to establish an amplifier gain for calibrating out offset voltage. The non-inverting amplifier input is connected to ground. Each of the voltages V14–V34 produced by the eight illustrated thermocouple junctions has been identified in the diagram. In the illustrated example, the actual voltage measured at VOUT is as follows:VOUT=(V16+V24−V14−V22+VOS)·(1+K)+V32−K+V34+(V18+V26)·(1+K)/AV where VOS is the voltage offset to be measured and calibrated out, Av is the loop gain of the IC amplifier under test, and Vi is the thermocouple voltage at the ith junction. Because both the amplifier voltage offset (VOS), and the various thermal voltages are both gained up by the noise gain (1+K), it is impossible to distinguish the amplifier's offset voltage contribution by measuring the amplifier's output voltage when the magnitude of the offset is the same order of magnitude as the thermocouple voltages Vi.
The need thus exists for a method and implementation to accurately measure, characterize, and calibrate out voltage offset of precision integrated circuit amplifiers in which thermocouple voltages are significant.

Voltage offset measurement for calibration of an integrated circuit amplifier


A photodiode that can separately detect the intensities of the three wavelength ranges of ultraviolet light of 400 nm or below includes an insulating layer; and a plurality of silicon semiconductor layers having different thicknesses formed on the insulating layer, wherein each of the plurality of silicon semiconductor layers has a low-concentration diffusion layer formed by diffusing one of a P-type impurity or an N-type impurity therein with a low concentration; a P-type high-concentration diffusion layer formed by diffusing a P-type impurity therein with a high concentration; and an N-type high-concentration diffusion layer formed by diffusing an N-type impurity therein with a high concentration, and wherein the P-type high-concentration diffusion layer and the N-type high-concentration diffusion layer formed in a respective one of the plurality of silicon semiconductor layers are arranged to face each other with the low-concentration diffusion layer interposed there between.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photodiode arrangement which receives light, especially ultraviolet rays to generate a current.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional photodiode, an N+ diffusion layer which has an N-type impurity diffused therein with a high concentration and is formed into a comb shape like "E" and a P+ diffusion layer which has a P-type impurity diffused therein with a high concentration and is formed into a shape like "π" are laterally arranged to face each other in a silicon semiconductor layer having an N-type impurity diffused therein with a low concentration on an SOI (Silicon On Insulator) substrate which has the silicon semiconductor layer with a thickness of approximately 150 nm formed on a silicon substrate to sandwich a buried oxide film there between in such a manner that a comb tooth portion of the N+ diffusion layer meshes with a comb tooth portion of the P+ diffusion layer, and a predetermined voltage is applied to a metal wiring line electrically connected with the N+ diffusion layer and the P+ diffusion layer to detect an intensity of an ultraviolet ray (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 162024-1995, p. 4, paragraph 0025-p. 4, paragraph 0035, and FIGS. 2 and 3).
At the present time, the amount of ultraviolet irradiation is increasing due to destruction of the ozone layer and concern over the influence of ultraviolet rays contained in solar light on the human body and/or the environment is increasing.
In general, an ultraviolet ray is invisible light in an ultraviolet range of a wavelength of 400 nm or below. The ultraviolet ray is classified into a long-wave ultraviolet ray (an UV-A wave: a wavelength of approximately 320 to 400 nm), a medium-wave ultraviolet ray (an UV-B wave: a wavelength of approximately 280 to 320 nm), and a short-wave ultraviolet ray (an UV-C wave: a wavelength of approximately 280 nm or below). The influence on the human body and/or the environment varies depending on these wavelength ranges. It is considered that the UV-A wave darkens skin and reaches inner skin to cause aging, the UV-B wave inflames skins to possibly provoke skin cancer, and the UV-C wave has a strong bactericidal function but is absorbed in the ozone layer.
Therefore, demand for development of a sensor which separates ultraviolet rays in these three wavelength ranges and detects intensities of these ultraviolet rays has increased.
However, in the above-explained conventional technology, although a total amount of ultraviolet rays in the ultraviolet range of the wavelength of 400 nm or below can be detected, the three wavelength ranges have not as yet been separated for detection.


Provided is a USB port locking device including: a blocking member having a blocking coupling part to block access of an external device; an external USB port part connected to the blocking member and to which an external USB connection port is insertively coupled; a signal connection part enabling signal transmission between a terminal inside the USB port of the electronic device and the external USB connecting port; a locking member selectively locked to the electronic device so that the blocking member is not forcedly removed; a stopping member selectively blocking an unauthorized external USB connecting port from being inserted into the external USB port part; and a lock member controlling a locking operation of the locking member and a blocking operation of the stopping member by interfering with the locking member and the stopping member when they are inserted into the blocking member.

With the development of industry and technology, the use of personal computers has rapidly increased and most institutes such as companies or government offices handle affairs using personal computers (including notebook PC), and control in various fields including machines and factory equipment, industrial facilities, military facilities, or the like is performed using computers.
Since computer use has become widespread in industry, damage frequently occurs due to the malicious infection of malicious codes or viruses into targeted computers, and loss of important information may occur thereby.
In view of the circumstances, various measures have been proposed to prevent the loss of information in offices, companies, government agencies, military facilities, or the like and to protect against the infection of the viruses or the like. However, recently, the universal application of USB ports together with the development of a memory device has enabled computers to be easily accessed, has enabled third parties to easily access a main computer and thereby frequently infect the computer with viruses and/or to steal important information.
In other words, most computers currently on the market are equipped with at least one or more universally connectable USB ports. Thus, it is possible for anyone to easily access a desired computer by connecting an USB memory device to the USB port.
Thus, an outsider as well as an insider may easily infect a computer with viruses and/or steal information by connecting a USB memory device to a computer. Accordingly, measures for preventing these problems are urgently needed.
Further, it is necessary to actively prevent USB memory devices other than pre-authorized USB memory devices from being inserted into a keyboard or mouse connection port, as well as the USB port, thus allowing only pre-authorized USB devices to be used.