A distributed systems and methods for generating composite media including receiving a media context that defines media that is to be generated, the media context including: a definition of a sequence of media segment specifications and, an identification of a set of remote devices. For each media segment specification, a reference segment may be generated and transmitted to at least one remote device. A media segment may be received from each of the remote device, the media segment having been recorded by a camera. Verified media sequences may replace the corresponding reference segment. The media segments may be aggregated and an updated sequence of media segments may be defined. An instance of the media context that includes a subset of the updated sequence of media segments may then be generated.

Generating coherent media from disparate and distributed sources can be difficult and expensive. Generally, media can be obtained from devices and sent to a central location where an editor reviews the media frame-by-frame. Editors use specialized hardware to review one or more sets of frames simultaneously and manipulates frames or whole scenes so that the composite set of frames appears as coherent media. Since editors are separate for the individuals who filmed a particular scene, the editor cannot simply re-shoot a set of frames or scenes once a particular set of frames or scenes does not correspond to other frames or scenes. In some instances, directors may order a particular scene to be filmed multiple times in different ways to give the editor some flexibility when generating the composite media. However, often the director does not know what particular scenes or frames need to be modified or how. Further editors must then sift through thousands of hours of media just generate a two-hour composite media.

Systems and methods for generating composite media using distributed networks


In an automated trading system wherein orders in an instrument in a specified currency are received and a trade in the instrument is performed when, for a certain volume of the instrument, a bid price matches an ask price, a method is provided for automatically generating an order in the instrument in said specified currency. The method comprised the steps of receiving from e.g. a currency market or a market maker a current exchange rate between a currency other than said specified currency and the specified currency; receiving from a trader an order in the instrument in said other currency; calculating a price of the order in the specified currency based on the received order and the current exchange rate; and generating the order in the instrument in the specified currency.

When trading shares and other financial instruments in an automated trading system, both buyers and sellers want to be capable of buying and selling instantly and to get the best possible price. Thus, a very liquid market is desirable since such a market provides for instantaneous trading, low spread, and a price, which reflects the market at each instant.
Sometimes a trader may want to sell or buy a specified volume of a particular financial instrument in another currency than the one used for that instrument in the automated trading system. Typically, the trader has then to give a price in the currency used for that instrument, and then, provided that the order is met on the market, his broker sells or buys the currency used for that instrument depending on whether a sale or a purchase has been made.
Usually, the trader does not have knowledge in advance of the exchange rate for such currency transaction, nor may the trader give conditional orders depending on the exchange rate obtainable. Further, it is believed that the trader does not obtain a price of the exchange rate, which always is the best possible price at the exact moment of the sale or purchase. Typically, the currency transaction and the sale or purchase are performed at different times, and a minor trader may often only obtain a current exchange rate on a day-to-day basis.

Automatic generation of an order in an instrument in a specified currency


An expansion joint curb assembly includes one or more pre-formed component structures fabricated from a non-corrosive, durable material. Each of the component structures include an anchoring flange for attachment to the roof structure, an upper flange defining a mounting base for attachment of various roofing components, such as expansion joint covers thereto, and an intermediate portion between the anchoring flange and the upper flange. The intermediate portion is provided with vent holes for venting gasses and moisture which accumulate within the roof structure, thereby reducing the likelihood of premature roof failure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to blocking for use in roof systems and, more particularly, to an expansion joint curb comprising one or more preformed, uniform component structures fabricated from a non-corrosive, durable material, such as galvanized steel, steel, aluminum or plastic and including a lower anchoring flange for attachment to the roof structure, a central portion including vent means formed therein, and an upper flange defining a mounting surface for attachment to various roof components and equipment thereto.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, roof systems used on most building structures, and particularly commercial buildings, require some type of blocking to provide a base for the attachment of roofing components such as, but not limited to, gravel stops, eves, drips, fascia, gutters, vent stacks, roof top equipment, expansion joints, roof curbs, copings and cant strips. Traditionally, wood is used for roof blocking and typically consists of one or more stacked wood boards (e.g., 2 inch by 4 inch or 2 inch by 6 inch boards) which are nailed to the roof structure and each other to provide a built-up base at various locations on the roof system wherein it is necessary to mount the roofing components and equipment. Presently, wood blocking is used on virtually all roof systems which require blocking for the purposes described above.
Despite its widespread use in roof systems, there are significant drawbacks and shortcomings associated with the use of conventional wood blocking. In particular, wood is susceptible to damage and deterioration from moisture, termites, ants, and other natural enemies. Further, because wood is a solid material, it does not provide for venting capabilities to permit escape of moisture and gasses from within the roof. The lack of adequate venting is a contributing factor of premature roof failure. Additionally, wood has limited pull-out characteristics for holding nails and other fasteners, thereby requiring a considerable amount of hardware to attach roofing components. Wood, being a natural product, is also prone to irregularities such as areas of reduced dimension, warping, and splintering. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve a straight, uniform blocking configuration. Furthermore, the dimensions of wood are limited to lumber industry standards which often does not correspond to the dimensions of roofing components, such as roof insulation or lightweight concrete thickness, expansion joint heights and equipment sizes.
In view of the shortcomings of traditional wood blocking used in roof systems, as set forth above, there exists an urgent need in the construction industry for an alternative blocking structure which overcomes the above-described problems. More specifically, there is a need for a blocking assembly which provides for uniform dimensions in accordance with desired size and configuration specifications and which further provides for venting of the roof system. Additionally, there is a need for a roof blocking system which significantly reduces costs for labor and materials associated with the installation of blocking and the attached roofing components.
The present invention is directed to a blocking assembly for roof systems and replaces traditional wood blocking which is currently used on building structures to facilitate the attachment of various roofing components, materials and equipment including, but not limited to, expansion joints and covers (flat type, curb type, or curb to wall).
The blocking system includes one or more components which are preformed in accordance with desired size and shape specifications. The components, fabricated from galvanized steel, steel, aluminum, plastic or other non-corrosive, durable materials, each including an anchoring flange, an upper flange and intermediate portion. The anchoring flange is structured and disposed for mating attachment to the roof structure underlying an insulation layer or lightweight concrete layer on the roof system. The intermediate portion extends upwardly from the anchoring flange. The upper flange extends from the intermediate portion and defines a mounting base for attachment of an expansion joint cover or other roofing components, materials and/or equipment thereto. Vent means are provided in the intermediate portion to allow escape of moisture and gasses which otherwise remain trapped within the roof system. This helps to reduce the likelihood of premature roof failure, and thereby extends the life of the roof system.
With the foregoing in mind, the present invention has the following objects and advantages over the conventional wood blocking structure presently used in most roof systems.
It is particularly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a blocking assembly for roof systems comprising one or more pre-formed components manufactured from galvanized steel, steel, aluminum, plastic or other corrosion-resistant materials to replace traditional wood blocking and thereby providing resistance to deterioration from moisture, insects, warping, and the like.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a blocking assembly comprising one or more components which are formed and/or molded in accordance with desired size and configuration specifications for use at specific locations of a roof system.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a blocking assembly having a pullout resistance which is significantly greater than that of wood, thereby requiring less hardware, labor and materials to install the blocking and attached roofing materials.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a blocking assembly which is pre-formed and fabricated to conform to a roof structure.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a blocking assembly for roof systems which includes venting means for allowing moisture and gasses to be released from the roof assembly, thereby reducing the likelihood of premature roof failure.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a blocking assembly for roof systems and, more particularly, an expansion joint curb for use at an expansion joint of a roof system and including means for attachment of an expansion joint cover thereto.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide one or more integral components fabricated from a non-corrosive, durable material for forming an expansion joint curb at an expansion joint of a roof system which, once installed, becomes integrated with the roof structure.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an expansion joint curb assembly for roof systems which is less expensive than wood materials traditionally used for constructing expansion joint curbs.


A method and system of alternatively selecting an encryption key used to transmit a known number data bits and providing sufficient information to inform the receiving part of the selected encryption key is presented. In one embodiment of the invention, a plurality of encryption keys are available to the parties of the communication network. The transmitting party selects an encryption key used to encrypt a message block based on the data content of a previously transmitted message block. The receiving party, having received, and decrypted, a previously transmitted message block has sufficient information to determine the encryption key used to encrypt a subsequent data block and is able to decrypt the subsequently transmitted message.

Increased popularity and use of the communication networks have made possible new methods of doing business, marketing goods and providing services to consumers or users. To insure that sensitive information, such as business strategy, credit card numbers, social security numbers, bank account balances, medical records, etc., are not disclosed when transmitted over unsecured networks, sensitive data items are encrypted (or encoded). Methods of encrypting sensitive information are well known in the art. For example, in a secure communication network, one party may possess an encoding key that is used to encrypt sensitive data items, while the receiving party possess a corresponding decrypting key to return a received encrypted message to its original form. In this method, if the encoding or decoding key becomes known to parties outside the secure network, the entire system is compromised as unauthorized parties are also able to decrypt encoded messages. To prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information, encoding and decoding keys are continuously changed. However, continuously changing encoding and decoding keys is burdensome as it requires the redistribution of new keys to each authorized member. However, during the distribution process, communication among the parties is limited until the new keys are distributed to all authorized members.
Another method of encryption that reduces the burden of redistributing encoding/decoding keys is the use of a public-and-private key system. As is known, a public-and-private key system, a first party issues a non-secret public key, over a communication network, such as a the public telephone system (PSTN), private telephone system, Internet, etc., while retaining, secretly, a private key. The public key is accessible to all parties that have access to the network, while access to the private key is limited solely to the issuing party. Members of the secure communication network can then use a received public key and their own retained private key to generate an encryption key that can be used to encrypt sensitive informational data items. The encrypted sensitive informational data message, when received by the party issuing the public key, can then be decrypted using an encryption key generated from a previously received public key and the retained private key. Thus, sensitive information messages can be securely transmitted between parties without the necessity of transferring secure keys by other methods or coordinating the use of previously transferred secure keys. Public-and-private key systems are well known in the art. Details of their operation are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,770, entitled "Cryptographic Apparatus and Method," dated Apr. 29, 1980, to Hellmman, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,829, entitled "Cryptographic Communication System and Method," dated, Sep. 20, 1983, to Rivest, et al.
However, the public-and-private key systems are subject to unauthorized access also. Public-and private key systems transmit public key parameters without the benefit of any security protection over unsecured networks. Hence, these initial parameters can be intercepted and used to attack the encryption key. Methods of attacking encryption keys, e.g., complex reverse mathematical algorithms, "brute force," etc., are also well known in the art and need not be discussed in detail herein. In these methods, the amount of encrypted data intercepted increases the chance of successfully determining the underlining encryption key. Consequently, a substantially long message may be successfully attacked and the security benefit of the encryption key can be lost.
One method to prevent the transmission of long messages using a single encryption key is to simply change the key during transmission. However, while the transmitting party may change the encryption key dynamically, the receiving party must be informed of the changed encryption key in order to decrypt subsequent messages. This places a burden on the parties as an indicator of a new key must be sent before the transmission. Hence, there is a need to dynamically change encryption keys during the transmission of substantially long messages and to provide the receiving party with knowledge of the encryption key used for the transmission without imposing burdens on the parties.

Method and system for selecting encryption keys from a plurality of encryption keys


Provided is a carbon dioxide separation membrane. The carbon dioxide separation membrane includes porous hollow titanium dioxide nanoparticles whose surfaces are modified with aminosilane having high affinity with carbon dioxide and a crosslinkable functional group. The carbon dioxide separation membrane provides both improved selectivity and improved permeability. In addition, the carbon dioxide separation membrane includes a copolymer matrix having excellent mechanical properties. Thus, it is possible to provide a carbon dioxide separation membrane having excellent selectivity and permeability as well as improved physical strength, chemical stability and temperature resistance.

Use of petroleum as a main energy source has generated air pollutants and green gas, resulting in recent severe environmental problems. To solve these, Kyoto Protocol was signed internationally for the purpose of regulation of carbon dioxide, a typical global warming material. Then, Korea has been included in the countries subjected to such regulation since 2013.
Under these circumstances, many attentions have been given to separation technologies for carbon dioxide. Main separation technologies for carbon dioxide that have been developed to date include pressure swing adsorption, water scrubbing, methanol scrubbing, polyethylene glycol scrubbing, membrane separation, cryogenic liquefaction, etc.
Membrane separation is a gas separation method using a separation membrane to allow a specific ingredient to permeate therethrough selectively. Such gas separation using a separation membrane performs gas separation through dissolution and diffusion, involves no phase change, and requires low energy consumption and a small area for installation to facilitate control and maintenance. By virtue of such advantages, many attentions have been given to membrane separation. In such a membrane separation method, a polymeric membrane has been used frequently. A commercially available separation membrane for carbon dioxide has a problem of trade-off between selectivity and permeability, because permeability is low when selectivity is high and selectivity is low when permeability is high, and shows disadvantages of low physical strength, chemical stability and temperature resistance.
Various polymeric composite membranes have been developed to overcome such problems. For example, a known technological process uses a polymeric separation membrane. However, the technological process requires maintenance of low temperature and provides low selectivity to carbon dioxide, and thus is not amenable to commercialization (Patent Document 1).
Meanwhile, it is known that a method including interfacial polymerization of polyimide onto a polymeric composite membrane increases carbon dioxide/hydrogen selectivity. However, the above method does not provide permeability and selectivity sufficient for commercialization (Patent Document 2).

Carbon dioxide separation membrane comprising porous hollow titanium dioxide nanoparticle and manufacturing method thereof

INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC COOPERATION FOUNDATION, YONSEI UNIVERSITY


A pulley unit made by interposing a one-way clutch in an annular space between a pulley and an axial body providing a deep groove ball bearing on a base end side of the one-way clutch, and a roller bearing on the free end side; setting an inner rolling surface of a roller of the one-way clutch to be an outer diameter surface of the axial body and an inner rolling surface of a rolling member of the roller bearing to be an outer diameter surface of the axial body. The pulley unit permits easy position setting of the pulley, so that stabilized lock and free operation can be expected and productivity can be improved.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pulley unit provided with a one-way clutch. This pulley unit can be installed on an auxiliary machine driven from a crankshaft of an engine of an automobile or the like through a belt. As an auxiliary machine, cited are a compressor for an air conditioner, a water pump, an alternator, a cooling fan and so on of an automobile or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various auxiliary machines installed on an automobile engine are driven through a belt by a crankshaft of the engine. Especially in the case of an alternator among the auxiliary machines, if it is connected in such a manner as to be rotated synchronously with the crankshaft of the engine, when the rotating speed of the crankshaft drops, the power generation capability is lowered.
The applicant of the present invention has considered that the above one-way clutch is built in an alternator, whereby when the rotating speed of a crankshaft drops, the rotation of a rotor of the alternator is continued by its inertia force to heighten the power generation efficiency.
In this case, the one-way clutch is interposed between a pulley of the alternator and the rotor, and according to a rotational difference between the pulley and the rotor, the one-way clutch is switched between the lock state (power transmission state) and the free state (power transmission interruption state) to transmit or cut off power between the pulley and the rotor.
In the described one-way clutch, originally, it is necessary to detent a cage to a member where a cam face is formed for conducting the lock operation and the free operation. As a detent measure for the cage, the applicant of the present invention has considered the construction shown in the specification attached to Japan Utility Model Application No. 5-5162. That is, recessed cam faces formed in several areas of the circumference of an outer ring are extended to one axial end, and projecting parts engaged with the recessed cam faces are provided in the several areas of the circumference of the outer peripheral surface at one axial end of the case, whereby the cage is detented to the outer ring by the circumferential engagement of the projecting parts with the recessed cam faces.
As the conventional one-way clutch is so constructed that the existing recessed cam faces formed on the outer ring are applied to detent the cage, the following disadvantages are caused.
In the first place, the sectional form of the existing recessed cam face does not have a fixed radius of curvature unlike a circular arc. It is considered to be wasteful in respect of cost to work the sectional form of the projecting part corresponding to the recessed cam face with high accuracy only for detent for the cage, so conventionally the projecting part is set to be simply fitted in the recessed cam face. In such a structure, during the lock and free operation of the one-way clutch, the case is liable to be shaken due to the reaction force of an elastic member for energizing a roller, so that the responsiveness at the time of lock and free operation becomes bad and what is worse, there is the possibility that the complete lock state can not be attained. In situations where with the rotating operation of the outer ring body and the inner ring body, vibration is continuously caused, it is pointed out that the cage is sometimes displaced in the axial direction so that the roller is liable to skew and the lock and free operation becomes unstable.
In reflection of the situation as above, there have been proposed the pulley units shown in FIG. 5 through FIG. 8.
The illustrated pulley unit A comprises two, inner and outer ring bodies 1, 2 disposed concentrically, a one-way clutch 3 interposed in an annular space between both ring bodies 1, 2, and two rolling bearings 4, 4 disposed on both sides in the axial direction of the one-way clutch 3 in the annular space.
A groove where a wavy belt B is wrapped is formed on the outer periphery of the outer ring body 1. The outer ring body 1 is driven in rotation through a belt B called V-belt by a crankshaft of an automobile engine or the like. The inner ring body 2 is formed by a sleeve-like member, which is fixed to an input shaft (e.g. a rotor of an alternator) of an auxiliary machine of an automobile, not shown.
The one-way clutch 3 comprises an inner ring 10 having flat key-like cam faces 10a provided in several areas of the circumference of the outer peripheral surface, an outer ring 11 formed to be elongated in the axial direction in such a manner that the rolling bearings 4, 4 are internally fitted to both ends, a cage 12 having a pocket 12a formed to be pierced inside and outside in the radial direction corresponding to the cam face 10a, a plurality of rollers 13 accommodated one by one in each pocket 12a of the cage 12, and coil springs 14 having a substantially rectangular section as an elastic member which are accommodated one by one in each pocket 12a of the cage 12 and adapted to press the roller 13 to the narrow side (lock side) of a wedge space between the cam face 10a and the inner peripheral surface of the outer ring 11. On the inner wall surface of the pocket 12a of the cage 12, as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 8, a projection 12b contracted at the root is integrally formed, one axial end of the coil spring 14 is locked and fitted to the contracted part of the root of the projection 12, and the inner periphery of the coil spring 14 is received by the outer periphery of the projection 12 to prevent distortion when the coil spring 14 is compressed. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, a taper surface for facilitating installation of the coil spring 14 is provided on the outside cylindrical surface of the tip of the projection 12b.
Both of two rolling bearings 4, 4 are formed by a general deep groove ball bearing having an inner ring 16, an outer ring 17, plural balls 18 and a cage 19, and an oil seal 20 as a sealing member is installed only on the axial outer end side between the inner and outer rings 16, 17. That is, the one-way clutch 3 is sealed by two rolling bearings 4, 4, and two rolling bearings 4, 4 and the one-way clutch 3 are lubricated by a common lubricant. Thus, the need of partition construction is eliminated as compared with the case of using the respective lubricants, and also one work operation of injecting a lubricant is sufficient so as to avoid waste.
The operation of the thus constructed pulley unit A will be described. To be short, when the rotating speed of the outer ring body 1 is increased relatively more than that of the inner ring body 2, the roller 13 of the one-way clutch 3 is rolled to the narrow side of the wedge space to be put in the lock state, so that the outer ring body 1 and the inner ring body 2 are integrated and rotated synchronously with each other. However, if the rotating speed of the outer ring body 1 is decreased relatively more than that of the inner ring body 2, the roller 13 of the one-way clutch 3 is rolled to the wide side of the wedge space to be put in the free state, whereby the transmission of rotating power from the outer ring body 1 to the inner ring body 2 is interrupted so that the inner ring body 2 is continuously rotated only by the rotating inertia force.
If the pulley unit A is used in an alternator, regardless of the rotation variation of a crankshaft of an engine as a driving source for a belt B, the rotation of the rotor of the alternator is maintained in a high region to heighten the power generation efficiency. That is, when the rotating speed of the crankshaft is increased, the one-way clutch 3 is put in the lock state to rotate the inner ring body 2 synchronously with the outer ring body 1, and on the contrary, when the rotating speed of the crankshaft is reduced, the one-way clutch 3 is put in the free state so that the inner ring body 2 may be continuously rotated by its rotating inertia force independently of deceleration of the outer ring body 1.
The characteristic construction of the described pulley unit A will now be described. The characteristic construction is mainly that in which the cage 12 of the one-way clutch 3 is immovable in the circumferential direction and in the axial direction. To be concrete, one axial end face of the inner ring 10 of the one-way clutch 3 is provided with a slit-like recessed part 10b which is opened to the shaft end and opened inside and outside in the radial direction, further the inner peripheral side of one axial end of the cage 12 is provided with a projecting part 12c press-fitted in the recessed part 10b from the axial direction, and the circumferential movement of the cage 12 is prohibited by press-fitting of the recessed part 10b and the projecting part 12c. Further, the projecting part 12c is clamped in the axial direction between the inner wall surface of the recessed part 10b and the end face of the inner ring 16 of one rolling bearing 4 disposed on the opening side of the recessed part 10b, thereby prohibiting the axial movement of the cage 12.
The recessed part 10b and the projecting part 12c are provided in two places opposite to each other through 180 degrees in this embodiment. The number may be at least one place or two or more places. If the number is decreased, it is advantageous in that it is not necessary to control the working accuracy not so severely.
If the circumferential and axial movement of the cage 12 of the one-way clutch 3 is thus prohibited, the lock and free operation of the one-way clutch 3 can be conducted stably. That is, If the cage 12 is immovable in the circumferential direction, the reaction force of the resilient energizing force of the roller 13 by the coil spring 14 can be strongly caught, so that the lock operation of the roller 13 can be supported efficiently. On the other hand, if the cage 12 is immovable in the axial direction, even in the situations where vibration and shock are applied from the belt B, the roller 13 is hard to skew. Thus, the lock and free operation of the roller 13 can be stably performed.
Further, since in the proposed embodiment, originally the separation between the recessed part 10b and the projecting part 12c is checked by one rolling bearing 4 provided on the side of the one-way clutch 3, the need of specially using a stop member such as a snap ring or the like can be eliminated to contribute to the reduction in the number of parts and cost.
Further, as the cam face 10a of the one-way clutch 3 is provided on the inner ring 10 in the proposed embodiment, the roller 13 can be prevented from unnecessarily dislocating from the lock position by centrifugal force even in the high speed rotating range. Accordingly, the operational stabilization of the roller 13 can be further heightened by multiplication of the above effect and the effect produced by the movement constraint of the cage 12 so as to contribute to an improvement in reliability.
Though one axial end face of the inner ring 10 of the one-way clutch 3 is provided with a slit-like recessed part 10b extended inside and outside in the radial direction in the proposed embodiment described above, as shown in FIG. 9, the recessed part 10b can be formed like a flat key. In FIG. 9, in order to increased the number of rollers 13 used, the circumferential width of the cam face 10a of the inner ring 10 of the one-way clutch 3 is reduced, and the cam face 10a is a form containing a curve. The part containing a curve is a free rotating position of the roller 13.
Though the coil spring 14 is taken as an example for an elastic member of the one-way clutch 3 in the proposed embodiment described above, it can be replaced by various plate springs and elastic pieces.
Further, though the proposed embodiment described above deals with the case where the cam face 10a of the one-way clutch 3 is formed on the inner ring side, it can be formed on the outer ring side. In the case of the above embodiment, the roller can be prevented from unnecessarily being dislocated from the lock position by centrifugal force even in the high speed rotation range, so it is suitable for use in high speed rotation.
However, the embodiment proposed above is such that the rolling bearings 4, 4 on both sides in the axial direction of the one-way clutch 3 are made into the deep groove ball bearings that have relatively small load bearing capacity. In this connection, it is desired to elevate the load bearing capacity of the belt B to suppress warping of the outer ring body 1 and the inner ring body 2, to make the force skewing the roller 13 of the one-way clutch 3 less easy to be generated, and to further improve stabilization of the locking and free operation of the roller 13.


A technique to form metallic nanodots in a two-step process involving: (1) reacting a silicon-containing gas precursor (e.g., silane) to form silicon nuclei over a dielectric film layer; and (2) using a metal precursor to form metal nanodots where the metal nanodots use the silicon nuclei from step (1) as nucleation points. Thus, the original silicon nuclei are a core material for a later metallic encapsulation step. Metallic nanodots have applications in devices such as flash memory transistors.

Electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) structures are commonly used in integrated circuits for non-volatile data storage. As is known, EEPROM device structures commonly include a floating gate that has charge storage capabilities. Charge can be forced into the floating gate structure or removed from the floating gate structure using control voltages. The conductivity of the channel underlying the floating gate is significantly altered by the presence of charges stored in the floating gate. The difference in conductivity due to a charged or uncharged floating gate can be current sensed, thus allowing binary memory states to be determined. The conductivity difference is also represented by shift in the threshold voltage (Vt) associated with the device in the two different states.
As semiconductor devices continue to evolve, the operating voltages of such semiconductor devices are often reduced in order to suit low power applications. It is desirable for such operating voltage reductions to be accomplished while ensuring that the speed and functionality of the devices is maintained or improved. A controlling factor in the operating voltages required to program and erase devices that include floating gates is the thickness of the tunnel oxide through which carriers are exchanged between the floating gate and the underlying channel region.
In many prior art device structures, the floating gate is formed from a uniform layer of conducting or semiconducting material such as polysilicon. In such prior art device structures, a thin tunnel dielectric layer beneath the floating gate presents the problem of charge leakage from the floating gate to the underlying channel through defects in the thin tunnel dielectric layer. Such charge leakage can lead to degradation of the memory state stored within the device and is therefore undesirable. In order to avoid such charge leakage, the thickness of tunnel dielectric is often increased. However, thicker tunnel dielectric requires higher (programming and erasing) voltages for storing and removing charge from the floating gate as the charge carriers must pass through the thicker tunnel dielectric. In many cases, higher programming voltages require the implementation of charge pumps on integrated circuits in order to increase the supply voltage to meet programming voltage requirements. Such charge pumps consume a significant amount of die area for the integrated circuit and therefore reduce the memory array area efficiency and increase overall costs.
In order to reduce the required thickness of the tunnel dielectric and improve the area efficiency of the memory structures by reducing the need for charge pumps, the uniform layer of material used for the floating gate may be replaced with a plurality of nanoclusters, which operate as isolated charge storage elements. Such nanoclusters are also often referred to as nanocrystals, as they may be formed of silicon crystals. In combination, the plurality of nanoclusters provides adequate charge storage capacity while remaining physically isolated from each other such that any leakage occurring with respect to a single nanocluster via a local underlying defect does not cause charge to be drained from other nanoclusters. That is, by controlling average spacing between nanoclusters, it can be ensured that there is no lateral charge flow between nanoclusters in the floating gate. As such, thinner tunnel dielectrics can be used in these device structures. The effect of leakage occurring in such thin tunnel dielectric devices does not cause the loss of state information that occurs in devices that include a uniform-layer floating gate.
A limiting factor in fabrication of devices that include floating gates made up of a plurality of nanoclusters relates to controlling size, density, and uniformity of the nanoclusters within the floating gate structure. The density of the nanoclusters is important in the determination of the change in the threshold voltage for the device between the states where the floating gate is charged or discharged. Higher densities are desirable as they lead to an increased change in threshold voltage when the density of charges per storage element is fixed. Prior art techniques for forming nanoclusters on the oxide tunnel dielectric were limited to a density as low as 5(1011) nanoclusters per cm2. More recently, nanocluster densities of 1(1012) nanoclusters per cm2 have been reported. With such a limited density of isolated storage elements, the charge density per nanocluster, or number of carriers that each nanocluster must retain, is forced to an elevated level. The higher storage density per nanocluster presents difficulties in storing (i.e., programming) a high number of electrons due to quantum confinement. In contrast to this limitation of higher nanocluster densities, lower nanocluster densities yields a smaller programming window at a given programming time. Furthermore, the programming time required for adding subsequent carriers continues to increase as the charge density per nanocluster is elevated. Even increasing the programming time may be insufficient to produce a proper number of carriers.
In one prior art technique for forming silicon nanoclusters, ion implantation is used to implant silicon atoms into a dielectric material. Following implantation, an annealing step causes these implanted silicon atoms to group together through phase separation to form the nanoclusters. Problems arise using such a technique due to the difficulty in controlling the depth at which the silicon nanoclusters are formed due to the phase segregation in the dielectric material. Since the depth at which the isolation storage elements are formed dramatically affects the electrical characteristics of the resulting device, ion implantation does not provide the level of control desired in a manufacturing situation.
In another prior technique for forming the silicon nanoclusters, a thin layer of amorphous silicon is deposited on the tunnel dielectric material. A subsequent annealing step is used to recrystallize the amorphous silicon into the nanoclusters. In order to produce nanoclusters of a desired density and size, the layer of amorphous silicon should be deposited such that it is on the order of 7-10 angstroms in thickness. Deposition of such thin layers of amorphous silicon is hard to control and therefore impractical in a manufacturing process. In addition to such control issues, additional problems may arise due to preexisting crystalline zones within the amorphous silicon layer. Such preexisting crystallites serve as nucleation sites for crystal growth, which deleteriously interferes with the spontaneous crystal growth desired for formation of the nanoclusters.
In other prior techniques for forming nanoclusters, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques such as low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) are used to nucleate and grow the nanoclusters directly on the tunnel oxide. Such prior art LPCVD techniques typically involve a very short deposition time period, on the order of approximately 10 to 30 seconds. Part of this deposition time period includes an incubation period where an adequate number of silicon atoms are generated on the surface of the dielectric prior to the commencement of the clustering activity that forms the crystalline structures of the nanoclusters. The remaining portion of the time is used to nucleate and grow the nanoclusters to the desired size. Due to the fact that the time period associated with nucleation and growth is so short, slight deviations in the processing parameters have profound effects on the resulting density and size uniformity of the resulting nanoclusters. Moreover, systematic effects can be significant. For example, portions of a silicon wafer being processed that are near the source of the reactant gas may realize a much higher density and size of nanoclusters, whereas portions of the wafers that are more distant from the reactant gas source would see lower densities and smaller sizes of nanoclusters. Such process non-uniformities are undesirable in manufacturing processes.
Prior art techniques exist only to grow semiconductor nanoclusters or nanocrystals. There is no known method to grow metallic nanodots around semiconductor nucleation points (i.e., the nuclei). Existing methods known to exist are merely based on metallic physical vapor deposition (PVD) coatings such as a de-wetting phenomena which occurs during an anneal step or, alternatively, a single-step metallic CVD deposition. However, neither of these techniques allow control of nanocluster density nor nanocluster size.
Advantages of metallic nanodots, as compared with semiconductor nanocrystals, include an ability to store more electrons (e.g., in a flash memory application) since little or no quantum confinement will occur. Therefore, a need exists for a method for including metallic nanoclusters within semiconductor devices in a manner that provides a high density of storage elements while maintaining control over the size dispersion of the storage elements.

Growth of silicon nanodots having a metallic coating using gaseous precursors


An interleaved layer construction of a composite panel and a composite plank constructed of three sub-planks that are adhered together and secured to the panel stiffen and strengthen the panel.

In the manufacturing of composite panels, and in particular composite panels manufactured as aircraft components such as an aircraft wing panel, some type of stiffener is often employed to stiffen the panel. The panel and the stiffener are often manufactured of composite materials, and are often manufactured of the same composite materials.
The composite panel is often constructed of layers of composite material. The layers of composite material are stacked or laid up on each other, and the layers are then co-cured or co-bonded to form the panel. The panel often has a general planar configuration, and could be substantially flat, or have some curvature.
The stiffener is also often constructed of layers of composite materials. Stiffeners have various different configurations. One such stiffener configuration is that of a plank. A "plank" is often defined as a piece of lumber cut thicker than a board, or a heavy thick board. Thus, a "plank" stiffener of composite material has a configuration similar to that of a thick piece of lumber or a heavy thick board.
Since the early days of research and development of composite materials used in the construction of stiffeners for composite panels, stiffeners configured as planks have been studied numerous times. However, these studies of stiffeners configured as planks have failed to produce a workable concept. This was mainly due to planks constructed of layers of composite material stacked or laid up on each other and then co-cured or co-bonded fail to address inherent weaknesses of the layers of composites in the short, transverse or width dimension of the plank configuration with respect to the length dimension of the plank configuration and the thickness dimension of the plank configuration. Also, planks constructed of layers of composite material would exhibit high free edge intralaminar/interlaminar stresses, and high exothermal stresses, all associated with the size of the plank and in particular the thickness dimension of the plank. Mechanical stresses and thermal stresses in a plank constructed of layers of composite material are directly related to the size of the plank and in particular the thickness dimension of the plank. The mechanical stresses and thermal stresses in the plank are also related to the ply percentages of the fibers in the layers of composite material that make up the plank, (or the percentage of 0° fiber layers, + fiber layers, 90° fiber layers and −fiber layers). Also, the stacking sequence of the fiber layers all contribute to the mechanical stress and thermal stress in the construction of the plank.

Interleaved layer construction and a plank for stiffening a panel


An external electrode forming apparatus is used to form external electrodes on the component chips. The external electrode forming apparatus comprises a component conveyer belt, a belt feeding mechanism, a component-inserting machine, a component-reversing machine, a paste-coating machine, and a component-discharging machine. For the component-inserting machine, the component-reversing machine, and the component-discharging machine, pressure pins are used to insert or move the component chips. These pressure pins have at the tip part a taper portion with a tip shape smaller than that of the component holding hole. Since the pressure pins of this type are used, the tip portions of these pressure pins may be prevented from impinging upon the opening edges of the component holding holes, and the pressure pins after the impingement may be hindered from forcibly being inserted into the component holding holes, whereby damage to the interiors of the component holding holes can be extremely diminished.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for forming external electrodes on component chips for a electronic component, an apparatus for inserting the component chips into component holding holes of a component conveyer belt, an apparatus for coating with an electrode paste the component chips that are held within the component holding holes of the component conveyer belt, and the component conveyer belt for conveying the component chips in a state of being resiliently held.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H6-215991 discloses an apparatus for forming external electrodes on both ends of a component chip. The apparatus has an endless belt having resilient masks with small apertures, sprockets having the endless belt wound there around, means for inserting component chips into the apertures in the resilient masks, means for coating with a terminal paste respective end portions of the component chips that are inserted into the apertures, and means for extracting the component chips with the paste coating out of the resilient masks.
In the above-noted apparatus, pins each having the same diameter as each of the apertures are used for inserting the component chips into the apertures in the resilient masks provided on the endless belt, moving the component chips within the apertures, or extracting the component chips out of the apertures. For this reason, if the centerline of each aperture should be slightly incorrectly aligned with the centerline of each pin, the tip of the pin would be caused to strike the opening edge of the aperture. In addition, the colliding pins are forcibly inserted into the apertures, resulting in damage to the apertures.
This misalignment may necessarily occur due to dimensional precision of the endless belt, the resilient mask or the like, which is difficult to be prevented. Therefore, if operations of inserting the components into the apertures, moving the components within the apertures, or extracting the components out of the apertures are repeatedly conducted, the damage to the apertures in the resilient masks will be caused to increase. As a result, there suffers from the disadvantage that the component chips may not be inserted into the apertures, the inserted component chips may be dropped out therefrom, or the like. Therefore, the expected external electrode formation will not be satisfactorily achieved.
An object of the present invention is to provide an external electrode forming apparatus for electronic components while reducing damage to the interiors of component holding holes formed in a component conveyer belt and performing a good external electrode formation on the component chips over a long time period.
In order to attain this object, according to the present invention, the external electrode forming apparatus comprises an endless component conveyer belt including rows of component holding holes in a longitudinal direction of the belt in parallel at equal intervals for resiliently holding the component chips, a belt feeding mechanism for intermittently feeding said component conveyer belt in a predetermined direction, a component-inserting machine for inserting the component chips into the component holding holes, with use of pressure pins, to project one end portion of each component chip from one surface of said component conveyer belt, a component-reversing machine for moving within the component holding holes the component chips that are held within the component holding holes, with use of pressure pins, to project the other end portion of each component chip from the other surface of said component conveyer belt, a paste-coating machine for coating with electrode paste the projection of each component chip that is held within each component holding hole, and a component-discharging machine for extruding the paste coated component chips from the component holding holes with use of pressure pins, wherein each pressure pin used in said component-inserting machine, said component-reversing machine, and said component-discharging machine has a taper portion with a tip shape which is smaller than said component holding hole at the tip part.
In the external electrode forming apparatus according to the present invention, since pressure pins each having a taper portion at the tip are available, impingement may be prevented upon the open-ended edges of the component holding holes. The pressure pins after the impingement may also be hindered from forcibly being inserted into the component holding holes, whereby damage to the interiors of the component holding holes can be extremely diminished. As a result, such inconvenience may be overcome as insertion failure or dropout of the inserted component chips to perform a good formation of external electrodes on the component chips over such a long period.
The aforementioned object and other objects, features and advantages in accordance with the present invention will be apparent in conjunction with the following description and appended claims, and the accompanying drawings.

Apparatus for forming external electrodes of electronic component, component inserting apparatus, paste coating apparatus, and component conveyer belt


Embodiments of the present application provide a method for determining a transmission time interval, a base station, and a radio network controller. A base station receives uplink data sent from a user equipment in an idle state or a cell forward access channel state on an enhanced dedicated transmission channel. The base station determines a transmission time interval (TTI) used by the user equipment for sending the uplink data, and sends the uplink data and a transmission time interval indicator in an enhanced dedicated transmission channel data frame to a radio network controller. The radio network controller acquires the TTI, thereby ensuring that the radio network controller selects and configures an appropriate TTI for the user equipment when the user equipment transits from the Cell_FACH state to the Cell_DCH state.

In a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), a feature of enhanced uplink transmission in an idle or a cell forward access channel (Cell_FACH) state is introduced for a user equipment (UE) in the idle state or the Cell_FACH state, and an enhanced dedicated channel (E-DCH) is used to replace a random access channel (RACH). The UE in the idle state or the Cell_FACH state may send uplink data to a base station (NodeB) by using acquired uplink common E-DCH resources at a pre-configured transmission time interval (TTI).
At an Iub interface between the NodeB and a radio network controller (RNC), the NodeB sends the uplink data of the UE to the RNC through an E-DCH data frame. The E-DCH data frame is used to bear a media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (MAC PDU) of the UE in the Cell-FACH state or the idle state. For the UE in the Cell-FACH state or the idle state, when the TTI length is configured to be 2 milliseconds (ms), the RNC may configure, by configuring a bundling mode indicator information element of a common media access control flow (common MAC flow), a sending mode of the E-DCH data frame of the common MAC flow at the Iub interface.
If a physical shared channel reconfiguration request includes the bundling mode indicator, and the UE uses the 2 ms TTI, the NodeB sends the relevant uplink common MAC flow according to the bundling mode indicator.
In the prior art, for the enhanced uplink transmission feature, each cell can be configured with only one uplink TTI, and the UE, when transmitting the uplink data, can use only the 2 ms TTI or a 10 ms TTI, and therefore, the RNC may acquire the TTI used by the UE in each cell.
However, in a subsequent evolved version, it is possible that each cell is configured with two TTIs, that is, in the same cell, a UE supporting enhanced uplink transmission may dynamically select the 2 ms TTI or the 10 ms TTI for transmitting uplink data. The TTI selection may be performed according to a location where the UE is located. For example, when the UE is located at the edge of a cell and power is limited, the UE may use the 10 ms TTI to enhance coverage of the uplink; when the UE is located at the middle of the cell and the power is sufficient, the UE may use the 2 ms TTI to increase a transmission rate of the uplink. In this scenario, the RNC cannot acquire the TTI used by the UE in the Cell-FACH state or the idle state when transmitting the uplink data, and as a result, when the UE transits from the Cell-FACH state to the cell dedicated transmission channel (Cell-DCH) state, the RNC cannot select and configure an appropriate TTI for the UE.

Method for determining transmission time interval, base station, and radio network controller


A composition comprising a copolyestercarbonate derived from a dihydric phenol, a carbonate precursor, and an aliphatic alpha omega dicarboxylic acid or ester precursor wherein the dicarboxylic acid or ester precursor has from 10 to about 20 carbon atoms, inclusive, and is present in the copolyestercarbonate in quantities of from about 2 to 30 mole percent of the dihydric phenol.

Polycarbonates are well known as a tough, clear, highly impact resistant thermoplastic resin. However the polycarbonates are also possessed of a relatively high melt viscosity. Therefore in order to prepare a molded article from polycarbonate, relatively high extrusion and molding temperatures are required. Various efforts throughout the years to reduce the melt viscosity while also maintaining the desired physical properties of the polycarbonates have been attempted. These methods include the use of plasticizers, the use of aliphatic chain stoppers, reduction of molecular weight, the preparation of bisphenols having long chain aliphatic subtituents and various polycarbonate copolymers as well as blends of polycarbonate with other polymers.
With respect to plasticizers, these are generally used with thermoplastics to achieve higher melt flow. However usually accompanying the plasticizer incorporation into polycarbonate compositions are undesirable features such as embrittlement and fugitive characteristics of the plasticizer.
Increased flow can be fairly readily obtained with the use of aliphatic chain stoppers, however impact resistance as measured by notched izod drops significantly. Embrittlement may also be a problem.
When utilizing a bisphenol having a lengthy aliphatic chain thereon, increases in flow can be observed. However these are usually accompanied by substantial decreases in the desirable property of impact strength.
Reducing the molecular weight of polycarbonate has also been useful to increase flow for applications requiring thin wall sections. However, molecular weight reduction is limited in the extent that it can be practiced before properties such as ductility and impact strength are severely hampered.
Blends of polycarbonate with other polymers are useful to increase melt flow, however the very useful property of transparency is generally lost.
With respect to polycarbonate copolymers it has been well known that a reduced glass transition temperature Tg, can be obtained by introducing aliphatic ester fragments into the polycarbonate backbone. Examples of this work go back as early as the original copolyestercarbonate patent of Goldberg, U.S. Pat. No. 3,169,121 wherein at column 3, line 64 to column 4, line 41 various aliphatic dibasic acids are disclosed as being appropriate for usage in making copolyestercarbonates. Reduced softening points are noted. At column 4, line 11, azelaic and sebacic acids are disclosed. At column 7, example 4, a 50 mole percent ester content bisphenol-A copolyestercarbonate based on bisphenol-A using azelaic acid as the ester linkage is disclosed. Various other patents since that time have broadly disclosed the use of aliphatic acids in the preparation of copolyestercarbonates for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,030,331, 4,238,596, 4,238,597, 4,504,634, 4,487,896 and 4,252,922. Kochanowski U.S. Pat No. 4,286,083, specifically refers to the making of a copolyestercarbonate utilizing hisphenol-A, azelaic acid and phosgene in example 6 at column 9. 25 mole percent of the azelaic acid, based on the moles of hisphenol-A, was contacted with the bisphenol-A together with phenol as a chain stopper, and triethylamine as a catalyst in an interfacial reaction with phosgene wherein the pH was maintained at 6 over a period of 35 minutes and then raised to 11.4 for a period of 36 minutes. Generally these copolyestercarbonates with aliphatic linkages have significantly lowered Tgs than the polycarbonate and therefore are processable at lower temperature. However, these polymers as in Kochanowski do not have other physical properties reported, in particular impact resistance or impact resistance under various environmental conditions such as heat aging and/or reduced temperature.
Chain stoppers have been utilized in making polymers for many decades. The function of the chain stopper in the preparation of the polymer is to control the molecular weight. Generally these chain stopping compounds are monofunctional compounds similar to the functionality of a repeating unit of the polymer. For quite some time scant attention was directed to the structure of the chain stopping agent other than it be reactive with the monomer unit during the preparation of the polymer and be compatible with the polymer. In the last few years more attention has been directed to the structure of the chain stopper. It has been found that the structure of the chain stopping compound can significantly effect the property spectrum of the polymer. For many years, phenol had been the standard chain stopping agent used in the preparation of polycarbonate. At times paratertiarybutylphenol was employed as a chain stopping agent. Lately more attention has been focused on other materials for preparation of the polycarbonate. U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,964, disclosed the usage of isooctyl and isononyl substituted phenols as chain stoppers for polycarbonate. Additionally paracumylphenol and chromanyl compounds have been utilized to chain stop polycarbonates. Both the paracumylphenol and chromanyl compounds have been utilized to chain stop copolyestercarbonates wherein there is a totally aromatic molecule with high ester content, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,315 and 4,788,275. Accompanying the usage of the larger sized endgroups has been the ability to obtain the same or essentially the same physical characteristics of the polycarbonate but at a lower molecular weight. This lower molecular weight provides better flow than a polycarbonate of a higher molecular weight. However these systems reach a point wherein the chain stopping agent cannot solve the problems caused by utilizing a shorter chain length, i.e., lower molecular weight polycarbonate. Embrittlement occurs, therefore there still exists a need for a polymer having lower processing temperature but which is accompanied by substantially increased flow and essentially the full spectrum of polycarbonate properties.
A new polymer system has now been discovered which manages to combine excellent processability due to its extremely high melt flow with essentially maintained physical properties such as toughness, transparency, and impact resistance.

Phenolic compound end capped polyester carbonate


A method for accessing legacy devices via Augmented Reality (AR) devices. The method includes acquiring, via an AR device, an image of a keyboard of a legacy device. The method includes accessing customer commands for initiating of a transaction using the legacy device. The method includes determining a command sequence based, at least in part, on the customer commands, the command sequence mapping to a keystroke sequence to be entered using the keyboard. The method includes generating an overlay indicating a keystroke sequence corresponding to the command sequence. The method also includes displaying, via the AR device, the overlay by visually projecting the overlay over the keyboard of the legacy device.

Embodiments of the inventive subject matter generally relate to the field of augmented reality and, more particularly, to using augmented reality to access legacy transaction terminals.
Augmented Reality (AR) is a computer-generated environment that augments user's view of a real-world environment using computer-generated elements, such as sound, video, and/or other sensory outputs. AR can be implemented using computer-generated images that overlay a user-accessed view of a real-world. AR images can be displayed via AR glasses that are worn by the user, and thus can augment the real-world view seen by the user. For example, AR can be used to display supplemental images about certain elements in a field of vision of the AR glasses. The supplemental images are displayed in a way that aligns with real-world elements seen by the user.
A computer system that implements AR can access images of the real-world in the field of vision of the AR glasses. The computer system can then perform image analysis to detect certain elements in the accessed image. Based on element detection, the computer system can determine AR images to superimpose over the accessed image. The AR images can be moved and/or resized as the user moves the AR glasses and/or when the detected elements move, which can be caused by the user walking, user's head movement, movement of the detected elements, and/or via other movements. The user may also access a legacy transaction terminal, such as a legacy point-of-sale terminal. Such legacy transaction terminals typically are difficult to use for a novice user. The user may not obtain any benefit of using AR devices when accessing such a legacy transaction terminal.

Using augmented reality for accessing legacy transaction terminals


In a case where reception power in a radio access point is high by external noise, the normalcy of the radio access point is tested. In order to judge the normalcy of the radio characteristic of the radio access point, a test is performed through the calling connection between a testing access terminal in the radio access point and a predetermined device. An RSSI is measured before and after the transmission of a test signal. When the RSSI exceeds a threshold value, the path loss of a reverse link connected from the radio access point to the testing access terminal is increased by an attenuator. Then, reception power in the testing access terminal decreases. Thus, initial transmission power in accordance with the reception power from the testing access terminal is raised and the calling connection of the testing access terminal can be performed even under the external noise.

The present invention relates to a radio access point testing apparatus, and more particularly to a radio access point testing apparatus which confirms the normalcy of the radio characteristic of a radio access point in an environment where interfering waves such as external noise mix into the radio access point in a mobile communication system employing a CDMA format.
In servicing the mobile communication system, the stability of the system is one of important factors. For the stable operation of the system, it is required to prevent the occurrence of any failure leading to a system service shutdown, and also to promptly detect the failure and resume the system operation in case of the occurrence of the failure. Accordingly, the failure detection of the radio access point and a diagnostic scheme therefor are very important.
As an example of a method for diagnosing the normalcy of the radio access point, JP-A-2002-271280 (Patent Document 1) discloses a method wherein the normalcy of the radio access point is judged in such a way that packet data are transmitted from a maintenance terminal through the Internet to an access terminal which is connected in branch from the antenna of the radio access point, and that a reply from the access terminal is confirmed.
This method is really capable of detecting such an abnormalcy as the complete cutoff of a main signal line in the radio access point apparatus, but it is difficult of detecting such a trifling abnormal state as some degradation in the radio characteristic.
A transmitter and a receiver are mounted in the radio access point. Regarding the failure of the transmitter of them, the degradation of the radio characteristic can be detected comparatively easily by monitoring signal power in a reverse link (in a direction from the access point toward the access terminal). In a forward link (in a direction from the access terminal toward the access point), however, the level of the signal power in a normal condition sometimes becomes a level lower than thermal noise, especially in case of employing the CDMA as a radio communication format, so that the abnormal state is difficult of detection even when the radio characteristic has somewhat degraded.
As a method for solving this problem, a method capable of detecting the abnormal state is disclosed in JP-A-2005-151189 (Patent Document 2). More specifically, a testing access terminal is connected in branch from the antenna port of the radio access point. The testing access terminal controls transmission power so that the packet error rate of sent packets may become constant, and it confirms the transmission power of this testing access terminal at the time when the packet error rate has fallen within a predetermined range. Thus, even when the degradation of the radio characteristic has occurred, the detection of the abnormal state is possible. By way of example, if the transmission power of the testing access terminal is high, degradation in the reception sensitivity of the radio access point is judged.


The present invention provides a carbon-containing refractory composition comprising a carbon-containing refractory matrix material, and a binder selected from molasses, lignosulphonate, magnesium sulfate, magnesium chloride, and a mixture thereof. The inventive composition having satisfactory good thermal and physical properties causes no environmental hazard.

Carbon-containing refractories have been widely used in various high-temperature processes including steel and iron making processes. A typical composition for forming a carbon-containing refractory comprises a carbon-containing refractory matrix material and a binder, and a phenolic resin has been conventionally used as the binder due to good compatibility, dispersability, press-moldability, strength, and high residual carbon after firing.
However, the phenolic resin binder has a serious disadvantage in that it releases harmful decomposition gases including benzene, toluene, phenol and xylenol when heat-treated or fired at a high temperature.
In order to solve such environmental pollution, U.S. Pat. No. 6,136,227 suggested a carbon-containing refractory composition comprising saccharified starch and/or reduced saccharified starch as a binder. However, this composition has the disadvantage that saccharified starch and/or reduced saccharified starch leads to refractories having poor thermal properties and corrosion resistance.

Carbon-containing refractory composition containing no resinous binder


The present invention relates to compositions for electroporation which are useful in elevating a percutaneous absorbability of drugs, etc. By adding polyhydric alcohols to compositions for electroporation, the percutaneous absorbability of drugs is elevated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to compositions for electroporation which are useful for elevating a percutaneous absorbability of drugs, etc. The present invention is useful in the field of drugs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although percutaneous absorption route has been expected as an administration route for drugs since it gives less pain than injection does and in addition it involves less possibility of forgetting to administrate drugs than oral administration does, it is rather difficult to allow percutaneous absorption due to a preventive function that the skin inherently has so that under the present circumstances the percutaneous absorption route has not been established yet as means for delivering drugs. As one devised method in order to overcome the present problem, a so-called electroporation may be exemplified according to which pores are formed in the skin structure by application of a voltage and a drug is delivered through such pores. Recently, it has become clear that in such an electroporation, the behavior of drugs is different from that in ordinary administration so that it has been desired to develop compositions for percutaneous administration which are suitable for such an electroporation.
On the other hand, no composition for electroporation that comprises polyhydric alcohol or monoterpene has been known at all or it has been unknown that compositions comprising such polyhydric alcohol or monoterpene have excellent percutaneous absorption promoting effects.

Compositions for drug administration by electroporation


An improved brake system is provided for a vehicle including at least front and rear wheels. The brake system comprises a braking force generating mechanism, a brake lever assembly and a foot-operated brake pedal. The brake force generating mechanism applies a braking force to at least a front wheel or a rear wheel of the vehicle. The brake lever assembly includes a hand-operated lever and a force actuator. The force actuator moves between at least first and second positions so as to selectively actuate the brake force generating mechanism to produce a braking force. The force actuator interacts with the hand-operated lever such that movement of the hand-operated lever moves the force actuator from the first position to at least the second position. The force actuator also interacts with the brake pedal, which are coupled together by a cable. Movement the brake pedal also moves the force actuator from the first position to the second position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular brake system comprising a braking force generating mechanism that generates a braking force when either a brake lever or a brake pedal is operated.
2. Description of the Related Art
Brake systems for motorcycles, scooters, ATVs, and the like often include a brake lever, a master cylinder, and one or more sets of brake calipers and brake discs associated with one or more wheels of the vehicle. For example, with a hydraulic brake system, such as the type disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. JP-A-2001-88766, when the front brake lever is operated (e.g., squeezed), a master cylinder assembly generates sufficient hydraulic pressure to cause a first set of brake calipers to close about a front brake disc and to cause a second set of brake calipers to close about a rear brake disc. Similarly, when the rear brake lever is operated, the master cylinder assembly generates sufficient hydraulic pressure to cause both sets of brake calipers to close about the front and rear brake discs. With such a brake system, both the front and rear brakes are operated regardless of when either of the brake levers is squeezed.
Some applications also include a brake pedal in addition to a brake lever to operate one or both set of the vehicle's brakes (i.e., the front and rear brakes). For example, an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) often includes a brake pedal in addition to a brake lever to provide the rider with more than one way to operate the brakes. In some uses, such as when traveling over a rough road, a rider may feel uneasy releasing his or her grip to operate the brake lever. In such cases, the rider can operate the brakes using the brake pedal. In other cases, such as when traversing a slope, a rider may want to use his or her leg and foot to help stabilize the vehicle on the slope. As such, the rider can operate the brakes using the brake lever while his or her leg and foot are used of other purposes during such maneuvers.
Japanese Patent Publication No. A-2000-313318 discloses a brake system in which the rear brakes are operated by either a hand-operated brake lever or a foot-operated brake pedal. The brake pedal includes an arm, which when moves, pushes a piston rod of an associated master cylinder. The master cylinder generates hydraulic pressure in the brake fluid which causes the rear brake calipers to close about the rear brake discs. The brake lever is connected to the arm by a wire cable. The wire transmits the force applied to squeeze the brake lever the arm, which in turn pushes the piston rod to apply a braking force on the rear wheels.
Rider acceptance of wire-operated brake system varies from individual to individual. Some riders dislike the feel of such systems when a hand lever is used to operate the brake. Over time, the wire lengthens and should be re-stretched to provide the original correlation between the braking force and the force applied to the brake lever. Additionally, it may become harder to squeeze the brake lever as the wire cable becomes dirty and warn. Accordingly, some riders prefer to use the brake pedal, rather than the brake lever, to operate the rear brakes.


An antenna assembly (20) is mounted on a metal hinge base (16) of an electronic device, and includes a printed circuit board (PCB) (22), an antenna (24), a metal sheet (26) and a coaxial cable (28). The PCB has a first surface (221) and a second surface (223) parallel to and spaced a distance from the first surface. The antenna and the metal sheet are respectively disposed on the first surface and the second surface of the PCB. The metal hinge base has a metal block (162) connecting with the metal sheet. The cable has a conductive core wire (282) and a ground shield (284) around the core wire. The core wire and the ground shield respectively electrically connect with the antenna and the metal sheet.

The present invention relates to a printed circuit board-mounted antenna, and in particular to a printed circuit board-mounted antenna received in a portable electronic device.
Antennas are usually used in portable electronic devices for receiving/sending signals. Antennas mounted within electronic devices often fail to communicate clearly due to EMI shielding protecting the interior of the electronic device. Communication is easier when the antenna is moved outside the electronic device. However, an antenna mounted to an exterior of the electronic device may have a shortened lifespan due to accidental damage from objects hitting the exterior.
Additionally, smaller size is required for electronic devices to meet the trend toward portability. Accordingly, parts within an electronic device, such as antennas, are required to be of small size. Conventional monopole antennas are generally oriented perpendicular to a reference ground in the electronic devices, and so occupy extra space.
An improved antenna, which minimizes the effects of EMI and which occupies a small space, is desired.
A main object of the present invention is to provide a printed circuit board-mounted antenna for use in an electronic device which effectively prevents EMI.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a printed circuit board-mounted antenna which has small size and occupies a small space in the electronic device.
A printed circuit board-mounted antenna assembly according to the present invention comprises a printed circuit board (PCB) having opposite first and second surfaces, a coaxial cable, a flat antenna mounted on the first surface, and a metal sheet attached to the second surface. The first surface is parallel to and spaced a distance from the second surface. The cable includes a core wire and a ground shield surrounding the core wire. The core wire electrically connects with the antenna while the ground shield electrically connects with the metal sheet. A portable electronic device has a mainframe unit and a display unit rotatably mounted to a metal hinge base of the mainframe unit. The printed circuit board is fixed to the metal hinge base at a position such that the metal sheet electrically connects with the metal hinge base.

Arrangement of a printed circuit board-mounted antenna in a portable electronic device with a metallic hinge base


A transfer rate controller (10) allows the originator of the data to determine when the data is transferred on the communications link. A method of regulating the transfer of ATM cells to maintain rate precision and provide flexibility for dynamically adjusting the rates at which cells are transferred has been described. In accordance with information on the chronology of prior transfers, cell loss priority, set of rate parameters, traffic types, and priorities, a scheduler (12) determines and schedules the relative ordering or placement of virtual connections with respect to one another. The finder (14) selects virtual connections for data transfer. Therefore, the transfer rate controller (10) provides individual transfer rates to virtual connections in accordance with the type of data traffic transferred.

The present invention relates, in general, to integrated circuits and, more particularly, to data transfer rate control in communication systems, including Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) systems.
Terminals or end stations using the Segmentation and Reassembly (SAR) portion of an ATM functional circuit can multiplex thousands of Virtual Connections (VCs) to create an outgoing stream of ATM cells. Each cell contains a five-byte header and forty-eight bytes of data. Cell transmission rates for virtual connections in the network ATM transmitting circuit are based on utilization of fixed time intervals or slots in a cell stream. Time intervals may be derived from counters or time slots derived from addressing memory-based tables. For instance, multiple VCs can be linked to hardware implemented counter circuits for providing the time intervals or slots at which VCs are permitted to transmit. However, the fixed counter time interval limits transmission rates for multiple virtual connections, i.e., VCs associated with the same counter may not have individualized rates for transmitting data. Thus, ATM data cell transmit rates are limited by the inflexibility of fixed counter time intervals generated for regulating the transmission of data cells.
When counter based time slots become available, a particular VC is permitted to transmit a cell. Should data not be ready during the specified time slot, a second attempt to transmit the cell is delayed until the counter generates the next time slot. Thus, fixed interval cell transmission rates in accordance with counter time out signals from hardware counters are inefficient.
Static memory tables are programmed for having word locations with entries that select particular VCs. As a pointer marches through the table and accesses a particular location with an entry for a VC, the data cell associated with that VC is transmitted across the link. Thus, the transmission rate for a particular VC is determined by the pace at which the pointer sequentially accesses time slot locations referencing that VC in the memory table. Although the memory table can accommodate different transmission rates for many VCs in accordance with the number of table entries referencing each VC, the precision of the data transmission rate is limited by the size of the memory table and the cyclic operation of the pointer. In particular, when the pointer has accessed the final entry in the memory table, the pointer is returned to the top of the memory table to access the first memory location. This may cause a discontinuity in the rate.
The filled memory table has data values representing the position or the sequence in which VC cells are to be transmitted. When VC cells are not scheduled for transmission, a particular value for a null ATM cell is stored in the location of the memory table representing that time slot. Using memory tables for setting the VC transmission data rates necessitates a relationship between memory table size and transmission rates, i.e., a slow transmission rate associated with a VC requires a large memory table size. Another limitation in regulating transmission cell rates involves the reloading of the memory table to reposition VC references in the memory table as dynamic changes are required. Reconfiguration of the contents of the memory table is required during the time allotted to the transmission of one cell for preventing data loss.
Adjustments for cell data arriving late can not be corrected when using fixed time interval transmission rates such as intervals generated by counters or the memory time slot tables. The transmission of data is delayed until the next selection for transmission is made in accordance with either the count of a counter or a pointer accessing time slots in the memory table.
Accordingly, a need exists for a method of regulating the transmission of ATM cells to maintain rate precision and provide flexibility for dynamically adjusting the rates at which cells are transmitted. It would be advantageous to provide individual transmission rates to a virtual connection in accordance with the type of data traffic transmitted.

Transfer rate controller and method of operation


A downhole tool for determining laterals in a borehole wall or a borehole casing, comprising a tool housing extending along a longitudinal axis and having a circumference perpendicular to the longitudinal axis and a plurality of sonic transceivers. Each sonic transceiver transmitting sonic signals from the housing and receiving sonic signals reflected from the borehole wall or borehole casing in a predefined angular segment. The sonic transceivers are arranged along the circumference of the tool housing having a mutual distance and are capable of transmitting sonic signals radially away from the tool housing in an entire central angle of 360 degrees towards the borehole wall or borehole casing. During a pulse time, one sonic transceiver transmits a sonic signal in the predefined angular segment of that sonic transmitter, and one sonic transceiver, during a subsequent echo time, receives a reflected sonic signal from the borehole wall or borehole casing.

Wellbores with multiple forked branches and laterals reduce overall costs, increase production and improve reservoir drainage. These types of wells can increase recoverable reserves, make reservoirs easier to manage, and are growing in popularity. However, constructing complicated well profiles is challenging and risky. The latest applications and system developments are convincing operators that multilateral advantages outweigh the disadvantages and therefore the need for navigating tools in multilateral wells are currently increasing. Because of the capability to more thoroughly drain reservoirs vertically and horizontally, recoverable reserves per well and per field are increased considerably while both capital and operating costs per well and per field are minimised. In fact, the cost of achieving the same degree of drainage with conventional wells would be prohibitive in most cases, especially in the case of e.g. deepwater subsea developments. Multilateral wells allow costs to be amortised over several reservoir penetrations and have in some cases eliminated the need for infill drilling. In heterogeneous reservoirs with layers, compartments or randomly oriented natural fractures, more pockets of oil and gas can be exploited and an increased number of fractures can be intersected by drilling multilateral wells. Visual representations using light, lasers, infrared light etc. have the disadvantage of being limited during drilling due to mud flow or during production due to oil-bearing liquids. The use of sonic measurements for positioning and measurement of fluid velocities etc. are therefore increasingly being developed for these purposes. However, determination of laterals is problematic since sonic measurements typically take advantage of repeating pattern measurements with knowledge of Doppler effects, which cannot be applied to the determination of laterals.


In accordance with some embodiments, a floating point number datapath circuitry, e.g., within an integrated circuit programmable logic device is provided. The datapath circuitry may be used for computing a rounded absolute value of a mantissa of a floating point number. The floating point datapath circuitry may have only a single adder stage for computing a rounded absolute value of a mantissa of the floating point number based on one or more bits of an unrounded mantissa of the floating point number. The unrounded and rounded mantissas may include a sign bit, a sticky bit, a round bit, and/or a least significant bit, and/or other bits. The unrounded mantissa may be in a format that includes negative numbers (e.g., 2's complement) and the rounded mantissa may be in a format that may include a portion of the floating point number represented as a positive number, (e.g., signed magnitude).

Considering a programmable logic device (PLD) as one example of an integrated circuit device, as applications for which PLDs are used increase in complexity, it has become more common to design PLDs to include configurable specialized processing blocks in addition to blocks of generic programmable logic resources. Such configurable specialized processing blocks may include a concentration of circuitry on a PLD that has been partly or fully hardwired to perform one or more specific tasks, such as a logical or a mathematical operation. A configurable specialized processing block may also contain one or more specialized structures, such as an array of configurable memory elements. Examples of structures that are commonly implemented in such configurable specialized processing blocks include: adders/subtractors, arithmetic logic units (ALUs), barrel-shifters, various memory elements (such as FIFO/LIFO/SIPO/RAM/ROM/CAM blocks and register files), AND/NAND/OR/NOR arrays, etc., or combinations thereof.
One particularly useful type of configurable specialized processing block that has been provided on PLDs is a digital signal processing (DSP) block, which may be used to process, e.g., audio signals. Such blocks are frequently also referred to as multiply-accumulate ("MAC") blocks, because they include structures to perform multiplication operations, and sums and/or accumulations of multiplication operations.
For example, PLDs sold by Altera Corporation, of San Jose, Calif., as part of the STRATIX® and ARRIA® families include DSP blocks, each of which includes a plurality of multipliers, adders/subtractors, and registers, as well as programmable connectors (e.g., multiplexers) that allow the various components of the block to be configured in different ways.
Floating Point Compiler (FPC) technology has been developed to map floating point datapaths to generic PLD (and other integrated circuit) architectures, which may include DSP blocks, as described above. Aspects of such FPC technology may be found described in commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/625,655 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,865,541), filed Jan. 22, 2007, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. FPC may achieve efficiency gains by fusing together large subsections of a datapath, for example, by clustering similar operations together, and by optimizing the interface between clusters of dissimilar operators. Using Floating Point Compiler (FPC) technology to perform calculations may be important to Altera's DSP offering. Such FPC technology may be used for calculating the sum or product of two double precision numbers. For example, the MATH.H library used in the C/C++ programming languages requires compliant systems to support of double precision multiplication.
The IEEE754 1985 standard is commonly used for floating point numbers. A floating point number includes three different parts: the sign of the number, its mantissa and its exponent. The mantissa may be of different sizes, depending on the desired precision of the floating point number. For example, the mantissa may be 23 bits long for single precision floating point numbers, with an implied leading 1. For example, the mantissa may be 52 bits long for double precision floating point numbers, with an implied leading 1. In comparison with calculations in accordance with the IEEE754 1985 standard, FPC technology may produce higher quality results. In particular, 75% of FPC based calculations may be more accurate than the equivalent calculations performed using the IEEE754 1985 standard. This may be because FPC based calculations may support larger average mantissas and may provide local underflow and overflow support. FPC based calculations may make use of mantissas of a similar size to the IEEE754-1985 standard, but may not round to the same sizes of mantissas as specified in the IEEE754 1985 standard. For example, even if the FPC based calculations are to be the analog of calculations of the IEEE754 1985 standard in terms of precision, single precision FPC based calculations may make use of larger mantissas, e.g., 32 bit mantissas. As another example, single precision FPC based calculations may make use of mantissas of variable sizes, e.g., 24 bits or larger mantissas. However, 25% of FPC based calculations may be less accurate than the equivalent calculations performed using the IEEE754 1985 standard. This may be because of a lack of rounding of numbers, which may be due to the difficulty of inserting/supporting sticky bits in current FPC signed number formats. Specifically, rounding numbers based on the FPC technology may be expensive in terms of the need to include additional mantissa adder structure, which could lead to increased clock latency and an increase in floating point adder area, e.g., by 15%. In addition, rounding numbers based on FPC technology may be expensive due to an absolute value (ABS) calculation performed, after addition using the added mantissa adder structure, and the possible further increased clock latency that results from this ABS calculation. In addition, the use of unsigned numbers in an FPC may be costly in terms of efficiency for the FPC, which primarily makes use of signed non-normalized numbers.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Fused floating point datapath with correct rounding


A method and system for providing an energy assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) disk drive are described. The EAMR disk drive includes a slider, at least one EAMR transducer on the slider, and at least one laser coupled with the slider. The slider has a slider back side, a trailing face, and an intersection. The trailing face and the slider back side meet at the intersection. The trailing face makes an angle different from ninety degrees with the slider back side at the intersection. The laser(s) have an optical axis and are optically coupled with the trailing face of the slider. The optical axis is substantially perpendicular to the intersection and parallel to the slider back side.

FIGS. 1-2 depict a portion of a conventional energy assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) disk drive 10. Top and side views are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively. The conventional EAMR disk drive 10 includes a recording media 12, a conventional slider 20, and a conventional laser diode 30 that are typically attached to a suspension (not shown). Other components that may be part of the conventional EAMR disk drive 10 are not shown. The conventional slider 20 includes a back side 24 and a trailing face 26. The conventional slider 20 is typically attached to the suspension at its back side 24. A conventional EAMR transducer 22 is coupled with the slider 20 on the trailing face 26 of the slider. As can be seen in FIG. 2, the trailing face 26 and back side 24 of the slider 20 are typically perpendicular.
The conventional EAMR transducer 22 includes a grating (not separately shown) on the trailing face 26. Light from the conventional laser diode 30 is provided substantially along the optic axis 32 of the conventional laser diode 30 to the grating of conventional EAMR transducer 22. In order for the light to be coupled into the grating and back reflections reduced, the light is desired to be delivered at a particular angle to the grating. Thus, the laser diode 30 is typically mounted such that the optic axis 32 makes at an angle of eight degrees with a normal to the trailing surface 26, but is parallel to the back surface 24. This angle is shown in FIG. 1. As a result, light from the laser diode 30 is coupled into the grating of the conventional transducer.
In operation, the laser diode 30 provides light substantially along the optic axis 32 to the grating of the conventional transducer 22. The light from the laser diode 30 is coupled into the grating with reduced back reflections, and then provided to a waveguide. The waveguide directs the light toward the conventional media 12, heating a small region of the conventional media 12. The conventional EAMR transducer 22 magnetically writes to the conventional media 12 in the region the conventional media 12 is heated.
Although the conventional EAMR transducer 10 may function, manufacturing the conventional EAMR transducer 10 may be challenging. The conventional laser diode 30 and conventional slider 20 are placed and mounted to the suspension using a conventional pick and place system. As discussed above, the conventional laser diode 30 and conventional slider 20 are to be placed such that the optic axis 32 makes a specific angle, eight degrees, with normal to the trailing face 26. Accurately placing the conventional slider 20 and conventional laser diode 30 using such a conventional system may be difficult. As a result, misalignments may occur. Such misalignments may increase insertion loss of the laser light due, for example to back reflections. In addition, manufacturing yield and/or manufacturing time may suffer. Alternatively, high precision equipment may be used to mount the conventional laser diode 30 with respect to the conventional slider 20. However, such equipment is typically very high in cost.
Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for improving manufacturability of an EAMR transducer.

Method and system for coupling a laser with a slider in an energy assisted magnetic recording disk drive