Cassettes contain electronic parts. First and second feeders are operative for feeding the electronic parts from the cassettes. A first mounting head has sucking nozzles for picking up the electronic parts fed by the first feeder. A second mounting head has sucking nozzles for picking up the electronic parts fed by the second feeder. A table arrangement is operative for holding a printed circuit board. The first and second mounting heads are alternately moved along a first direction to a region above the printed circuit board on the table arrangement. The table arrangement includes a mechanism for moving the printed circuit board on the table arrangement in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. Also, the table arrangement includes a mechanisms for rotating the printed circuit board on the table arrangement about an axis perpendicular to both the first and second directions. The sucking nozzles of the first mounting head place the electronic parts on the printed circuit board on the table arrangement when the first mounting head is in the region above the printed circuit board. The sucking nozzles of the second mounting head place the electronic parts on the printed circuit board on the table arrangement when the second mounting head is in the region above the printed circuit board.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for automatically mounting electronic parts on a printed circuit board.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese published unexamined patent application 6-85492 discloses an electronic-parts mounting apparatus which handles electronic parts (electronic components) carried on a tape. The apparatus of Japanese application 6-85492 includes an electronic-parts feeder having a cassette for feeding taped electronic parts one by one. The apparatus of Japanese application 6-85492 also includes a mounting head provided with a sucking nozzle for picking up electronic parts (electronic components) from the carrier tape one by one. The sucking nozzle holds the picked-up electronic component. The mounting head is movably supported by a first drive shaft. The first drive shaft is movably connected with a second drive shaft. The first drive shaft and the second drive shaft are perpendicular to each other. The mounting head can move along an X direction and a Y direction perpendicular to each other. The sucking nozzle and the mounting head cooperate to receive electronic components from the electronic-parts feeder one by one, and to carry each of the electronic components to a specified position relative to a printed circuit board. The electronic components are mounted on the printed circuit board one by one.
The apparatus of Japanese application 6-85492 further includes an electronic-parts recognizing section which detects conditions of an electronic component held by the sucking nozzle. Specifically, the electronic-parts recognizing section detects a positional error between the electronic component and the sucking nozzle. The detected positional error is used in correcting the positioning of the electronic component relative to the printed circuit board by the mounting head.
The apparatus of Japanese application 6-85492 mounts electronic parts (electronic components) on a printed circuit board one by one. Accordingly, the speed or rate of mounting one electronic component tends to be low.
Japanese published unexamined patent application 7-202491 discloses an electronic-parts mounting apparatus which includes a mounting head having a plurality of sucking nozzles arranged along a circle. The mounting head is intermittently rotated. The sucking nozzles pick up electronic parts (electronic components) supplied by an electronic-parts feeder. The sucking nozzles hold the picked-up electronic parts. The apparatus of Japanese application 7-20202491 also includes an XY table supporting a printed circuit board. The XY table can move an X direction and a Y direction perpendicular to each other. The printed circuit board moves together with the XY table. As the mounting head is rotated, each of the electronic parts held by the sucking nozzles is carried to a specified position relative to the printed circuit board. The electronic parts are mounted on the printed circuit board. The apparatus of Japanese application 7-202491 further includes an electronic-parts recognizing section which detects conditions of an electronic component held by each sucking nozzle.
The apparatus of Japanese application 7-202491 tends to be expensive and large in size.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A (photo)thermographic recording material comprising a (photo-addressable) thermosensitive element on one side of a water resistant support and an outermost backside layer on the other side of the water resistant support, the (photo-addressable) thermosensitive element comprising a substantially light-insensitive organic silver salt, an organic reducing agent for the substantially light-insensitive organic silver salt in thermal working relationship therewith(, photosensitive silver halide in catalytic association with the substantially light insensitive organic silver salt) and a binder and the outermost backside layer comprising polymeric beads, characterized in that an outermost layer on the side of the water resistant support with the (photo-addressable) thermosensitive element does not contain a fluorine-containing polymeric surfactant and the static frictional coefficient between the outermost layer on the side of the water resistant support with the (photo-addressable) thermosensitive element and the outermost backside layer is .ltoreq.0.24 and/or the outermost backside layer of the (photo)thermographic recording material has an R.sub.z determined according to DIN 4768/1 of >1.75 .mu.m; and a (photo)thermographic recording process therefor.

Thermal imaging or thermography is a recording process wherein images are generated by the use of imagewise modulated thermal energy.
In thermography three approaches are known:
1. Imagewise transfer of an ingredient necessary for the chemical or physical process bringing about changes in colour or optical density to a receptor element containing other of the ingredients necessary for said chemical or physical process followed by uniform heating to bring about said changes in colour or optical density. PA1 2. Thermal dye transfer printing wherein a visible image pattern is formed by transfer of a coloured species from an imagewise heated donor element onto a receptor element. PA1 3. Direct thermal formation of a visible image pattern by imagewise heating of a recording material containing matter that by chemical or physical process changes colour or optical density. PA1 each of R.sup.5 and R.sup.6 (same or different) represents, an alkyl group, preferably methyl group or a cycloalkyl group, e.g. cyclohexyl group, PA1 each of R.sup.7 and R.sub.8 (same or different) represents, an alkyl group, preferably methyl group or a cycloalkyl group, e.g. cyclohexyl group, and PA1 each of Z.sup.1 and Z.sup.2 (same or different) represents the atoms necessary to close an aromatic ring or ring system, e.g. benzene ring, substituted with at least two hydroxyl groups in ortho- or para-position and optionally further substituted with at least one hydrocarbon group, e.g an alkyl or aryl group. PA1 Aryl represents a monovalent aromatic group, and PA1 Arylene represents a bivalent aromatic group, having the --OH group preferably in para-position to the --SO.sub.2 --NH-- group. PA1 Sulfonamidophenols according to the above defined general formula are described in the periodical Research Disclosure, Febuary 1979, item 17842, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,360,581 and 4,782,004, and in published European Patent Application No. 423 891, wherein these reducing agents are mentioned for use in a photo-thermographic recording material in which photo-sensitive silver halide is present in catalytic proximity to a substantially light-insensitive silver salt of an organic acid. PA1 each of R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 (same or different) represents hydrogen, alkyl, e.g. C1-C20 alkyl, preferably C1-C4 alkyl, cycloalkyl, e.g. cyclopentyl or cyclohexyl, alkoxy, preferably methoxy or ethoxy, alkylthio with preferably up to 2 carbon atoms, hydroxy, dialkylamino of which the alkyl groups have preferably up to 2 carbon atoms or halogen, preferably chlorine or bromine; or R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 or R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 represent the ring members required to complete a fused aromatic ring, preferably a benzene ring, or R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 represent the ring members required to complete a fused aromatic aromatic or cyclohexane ring. Toners within the scope of said general formula are described in GB-P 1,439,478 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,660. PA1 as organic silver salt: silver behenate; PA1 as binder: polyvinyl butyral (BUTVAR.TM. B79); PA1 as reducing agent: ethyl 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate; PA1 as toning agents: benzoe!1,3!oxazine-2,4-dione and 7-(ethylcarbonato)benzoe!1,3!oxazine-2,4-dione; PA1 as levelling agent: silicone oil (Baysilonel.TM. from Bayer AG);* PA1 as stabilizers:
According to U.S. Pat. No. 3,080,254 a typical heat-sensitive (thermographic) copy paper includes in the heat-sensitive layer a thermoplastic binder, e.g. ethyl cellulose, a water-insoluble silver salt, e.g. silver stearate and an appropriate organic reducing agent, of which 4-methoxy-1-hydroxy-dihydronaphthalene is a representative. Localized heating of the sheet in the thermographic reproduction process, or for test purposes by momentary contact with a metal test bar heated to a suitable conversion temperature in the range of about 90.degree.-150.degree. C., causes a visible change to occur in the heat-sensitive layer. The initially white or lightly coloured layer is darkened to a brownish appearance at the heated area. In order to obtain a more neutral colour tone a heterocyclic organic toning agent such as phthalazinone is added to the composition of the heat-sensitive layer. Thermo-sensitive copying paper is used in "front-printing" or "back-printing" using infra-red radiation absorbed and transformed into heat in contacting infra-red light absorbing image areas of an original as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,074,809.
Thermographic materials of type 3 can be rendered photothermographic by incorporating a photosensitive agent which after exposure to UV, visible or IR light is capable of catalyzing or participating in a thermographic process bringing about changes in colour or optical density.
Examples of photothermographic materials are the so called "Dry Silver" photographic materials of the 3M Company, which are reviewed by D. A. Morgan in "Handbook of Imaging Science", edited by A. R. Diamond, page 43, published by Marcel Dekker in 1991.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,904 discloses an image reproduction sheet which comprises a radiation-sensitive heavy metal salt which can be reduced to free metal by a radiation wave length between an X-ray wave length and a five microns wave length and being distributed substantially uniformly laterally over said sheet, and as the image forming component an oxidation-reduction reaction combination which is substantially latent under ambient conditions and which can be initiated into reaction by said free metal to produce a visible change in colour comprising an organic silver salt containing carbon atoms and different from said heavy metal salt as an oxidizing agent and in addition an organic reducing agent containing carbon atoms, said radiation-sensitive heavy metal salt being present in an amount between about 50 and about 1000 parts per million of said oxidation-reduction reaction combination.
WO 94/11198 discloses a recording material comprising on a support (i) a heat sensitive layer comprising a substantially light insensitive organic silver salt, (ii) a protective layer containing a matting agent dispersed in a binder and (iii) a reducing agent being present in the heat sensitive layer and/or another layer on the same side of the support carrying the heat sensitive layer. However, the presence of the large quantities of matting agent required to obtain optimum slip properties will in the case of inorganic matting agents lead to premature failure of the thermal head due to abrasion and in the case of organic matting agents lead to image faults due to accumulation of particles on the thermal head. Furthermore, protective layer thicknesses of at least 2 .mu.m are necessary to avoid deformation of the material during printing and particles of matting agent sink into the protective layer during the thermal development process thereby reducing their slip properties. This can be avoided by using larger matting agent particles, but with adverse effects on the thermal contact of the thermal head with the material and on the image quality obtained.
U.S. Pat No. 5,468,603 discloses a thermographic element comprising a support having coated thereon: (a) a thermographic emulsion layer comprising a non-photosensitive reducible source of silver, a reducing agent for silver ion, and a binder; (b) a layer adjacent to said thermographic emulsion layer comprising a binder and a polymeric fluorinated surfactant; and (c) an outermost layer which is not removed during development of said thermographic element and which is positioned on the side of said support opposite from said thermographic emulsion layer, said outermost layer consisting essentially of a plurality of optically transparent organic polymeric beads. According to the detailed description of U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,603, "The smoothness of the bead surface and shape of the bead are chosen such that the amount of reflected visible wavelengths (400 nm to 700 nm) of light is kept to a minimum. The shape of the beads is preferably spherical, oblong, ovoid, or elliptical. The particle diameter is preferably in a size range of 1-12 .mu.m in average size, more preferably, 1.5 to 10 .mu.m in average size; and most preferably 2-9 .mu.m in average size, particularly with fewer than 25% of the total number of beads being outside a range of .+-.15% of the average size of the beads. The beads may be present on the surface from about 50 to 500 beads per square millimeter; more preferably 75 to 400 beads per square millimeter; and most preferably 100 to 300 beads per square millimeter. The increase in percent haze due to the introduction of the beads into the construction is preferably no more than 15%; more preferably no more than 8%; and most preferably no more than 6%. The optically transparent organic polymeric beads which alter the separation or slip characteristics of the element's surface are provided in the imaging layers in such a manner that they tend to protrude from the surface of the outermost layer. The thickness of the outermost backside layers are typically 0.5 to 6 .mu.m." In the invention examples of U.S. Pat No. 5,468,603, backside compositions are disclosed consisting of 0.5 to 5.8% of polymeric beads, the beads consisting of 7 .mu.m polystyrene methacrylate and 13 .mu.m polymethyl methacrylate beads, 83.5 to 92.7% of cellulose acetate butyrate, 1.2 to 1.3% of a polyester resin, 0.9 to 1.0% of an antihalation dye and 0.08 to 13.4% of antistat L. However, thermal development of thermographic materials with a thermal head is usually carried out with the thermal head in contact with the coating on the thermographic emulsion side of the support. The fluorine-containing surfactant in the outermost layer on the thermographic emulsion side of the support in contact with the thermal head can, at the high temperatures necessary for thermal development, decompose to a small extent resulting in the production of small quantities of hydrogen fluoride, which will attack the outermost layer of the thermal head causing premature failure of the thermal head. Furthermore in the case of photothermographic materials rapid pulsed heating with a thermal head can be used together with image density detection to increase the image density to a predetermined standard level. The presence of a fluorine-containing surfactant in the protective layer of photothermographic recording materials can, therefore, also lead to premature failure of thermal heating components.

(Photo)thermographic material with improved transport performance


A motor and method of assembly of a motor having a stator core and at least a first end shield. The method includes selecting a bearing cap from one of a plurality of bearing caps. Each of the plurality of bearing caps has a different bearing cap length and is dimensioned for attachment to the first end shield. The bearing cap is selected from the plurality of bearing caps as a function of a width of the stator core. The invention is also a motor system that includes a stator core selected from a plurality of stator cores and a bearing cap selected from a plurality of bearing caps. Each of the plurality of stator cores has a different stator core width and each of the plurality of bearing caps has a different bearing cap length. The bearing cap is selected as a function of a width of the selected stator core.

A motor is often used in a consumer, commercial or industrial devices or systems requiring motor control or power. As just one example, a washing machine utilizes a motor for rotation of the washing tub. In such systems, a manufacturer of the system often designs the system or device and provides the specification requirements for the motor including the mounting arrangements. Such mounting arrangement specifications often include one or more mounting attachments for the motor and may include an attachment arrangement such as a mounting hub ring. Additionally, such motor system specifications may also include a distance or total length between two or more mounting attachments or hub rings. In some applications, the application specification specifies the type of hub ring attachment at each of the two opposing ends of the motor and a total hub-to-hub length.
A motor for use in such a system should comply with the system specifications including the power and torque requirements and the attachment specifications. However, while the motor must provide the required power and torque requirements and must be compatible with the physical attachment specifications, the manufacturer of the motor may vary the design of the motor. Such variations may be a result of changing motor technology, changes to the system power and torque requirements, or may be due to other motor manufacturer required or desired changes. For example, the width of the stator core of the motor may be different due to a need for increased or reduced power or torque or due to an increase in motor efficiency.
Additionally, each system manufacture or each application of the manufacture may have a different mounting arrangement and/or a different specified hub-to-hub length.
In these cases, often motor manufacturers have utilized end shields with varying lengths to adapt the total hub-to-hub length of the motor to account for varying stator core widths or hub-to-hub lengths. However, the requirement to design, manufacture, inventory, and assemble a variety of different length end shields to a variety of different length stator cores is administratively and operationally complex, and increases both the administrative and assembly cost of the motor.
As such, the inventors herein have recognized that it would be desirable for a motor to be adaptable to varying applications and mounting arrangements. The inventors recognize that it would be desirable for a motor to utilize a standard length end shield but having a predetermined hub-to-hub length that is independent of the selection of one of a variety of stator cores having various stator core widths. Additionally, it would be desirable for a motor to be adaptable to a variety of hub-to-hub lengths utilizing the standard length end shield so that the motor may be utilized in two or more systems or applications requiring two or more hub-to-hub lengths.

Motor with a multifunction bearing cap and method of assembly


In one aspect of this disclosure, a voice-operated internet-ready ubiquitous computing device and a method implemented by the computing device are disclosed. A sound input associated with a user is received at the first computing device, and in response to receiving the sound input, the first computing device establishes a voice session associated with the user. The first computing device then determines a session quality associated with the voice input, and sends the session quality to a further computing device such as a second computing device or a server. The first computing device will receive a request to transfer the voice session to a second computing device; and in response to receiving the request, transfers the voice session to the second computing device.

This document relates to a voice-operated computers and methods for transferring sessions between such computers.
Voice-enabled software to aid in accessing information on the Internet or for performing tasks has been employed on computing devices. Conventionally, activating this software for use requires the employment of physical inputs, such as using hands with a computer mouse or fingers to press keys or touch a screen. Also, this software and related devices is typically configured for use by a single user on a single device.
For a home or office setting, the user may have their extremities occupied and may not be able to activate the software through physical input. Additionally, personal or mobile computing devices may be located in a separate room or may be occupied with other tasks. The dexterity level required to manipulate some computing devices might also prevent people with little or no motor capability from unassisted use of those devices.
Voice-enabled software and devices are typically employed by the individual user. These are carried by the user and travel with the user. In a home environment, these devices are typically set aside in a fixed location and are no longer easily accessible to the user.
There is a need for a dedicated voice-operated, always-on and always ready device that can allow the user from a distance to look up information on the Internet or send commands to Internet-based and/or local machine services that are initiated through voice and for this information to be acknowledged back to the user either through spoken word or through other mechanisms for acknowledging the receipt of a command.
There is also a need for methods to monitor and enable such a device so that it can be operated only through voice without the requirement of any physical input. There is also a need for multiple such devices to be able to function collectively.

Voice-operated internet-ready ubiquitous computing device and method thereof

Unified Computer Intelligence Corporation


A tape and reel inspection system is provided with OCR testing of devices, network retrieval of device lot information, and automatic teaching of image patterns. Each device lot is typically accompanied by a travel sheet, which includes a history for the device lot. The travel sheet may include a bar code to allow the system to receive the device lot number while reducing the possibility of human error. The system performs OCR on a first device. The system communicates with a database to obtain lot information. The system combines lot information and package information to form marking information. The system then compares the contents of the markings with line information obtained from the marking information. Once a first device passes the OCR test, the system trains an image of the first device. Image training may be done automatically without intervention from the operator. If a subsequent device fails the image test, the inspection system automatically performs OCR on the failed device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to packaging semiconductor devices for mass manufacture of electronic devices and, in particular, to packaging semiconductor devices using tape and reel packaging. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to machine vision and automatic inspection of markings on semiconductor devices in a tape and reel inspection system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Manufacture of electronic devices involves a good amount of automation. Circuit boards move along an assembly line, a robotic mechanism places the chips onto the boards, and the chips are attached to the circuit boards by passing the circuit boards over a pool of hot solder. As the solder cools, it bonds with the metal on the circuit board and the pins of the chips.
Due to the speed of the manufacturing process, manufacturers must provide a large number of chips to the automated equipment. For example, a graphics card may have several memory chips, each having the same size and number of pins. After chips are fabricated, they may be placed in several different containers, such as tubes or trays.
Another type of container is a tape and reel. Often, semiconductor devices, or chips, are placed into a carrier tape, which is a strip of plastic with pockets—each chip is placed into a pocket. As the carrier tape is wound onto a reel, a cover tape is sealed over the carrier tape. A reel may hold as many as 5000 chips, or possibly more. A reel may then be provided to automated manufacturing equipment, which then takes the chips from the tape and places them onto circuit boards.
It is important that all of the chips on a reel are, in fact, the same device. However, the possibility of mixing devices is significant. Many vastly different devices have the same die size and number of pins. A human operator can easily confuse two different chips. Also, each chip has a small area to mark a part number, and the part numbers may be very similar.
Tape and reeler inspection stations have been introduced to inspect the markings on chips as they are placed into the carrier tape. Tape and reeler inspection stations have machine vision systems, which use image pattern matching to ensure that every chip on a reel is the correct device. A human operator trains the system. Thus, tape and reeler inspection stations are susceptible to human error.


Method and system of advertising. The method and system permitting a user to select advertisements for viewing. The user may select the advertisements so that the advertisements appear during access to media services.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and systems of advertising.
2. Background Art
Most advertisements may be categorized as impression ads, targeted ads, and branding ads. Impression ads are commonly used on the Internet and other mediums where the use thereof can be monitored. For example, impression ads used on web pages may be monitored as a function placement, frequency of display, and other factors related to the overall impression the ad has on the web page or other medium. Targeted ads are advertisements that are made available to users based on the user's profile, or based on the types of content or advertisements that a particular user has previously accessed. Branding ads are generally distributed very broadly with the intent of promoting a particular brand or trademark, and without necessarily tracking the number of placements, impressions, individual viewers, or particular consumer demographic.
It is common for Internet users to surf for information on the Internet using various implementations of search engines, including video search engines. Often such searches result in the display of static, animated, or streaming media web-based advertisements associated with the users search, or the user's profile (essentially, targeted ads based on the user's search request, downloaded cookies, or recent Internet surfing history). Internet users may then link from one such advertisement to another, with each successive search resulting in new or duplicate web-based advertisements based on the user's most recent search.
Television has historically broadcasted impression or branding ads to a wide, disperse, and undifferentiated audience. Television advertisers purchase television ad space based primarily on the viewer demographic for particular television programs. For example, advertisements for cleaning supplies and laundry detergent are often broadcast during daytime television, automobile commercials are generally broadcast during prime time, and beer commercials are generally broadcast during sporting events. More recently, digital cable and satellite television networks have pursued targeted advertising based on viewers' profiles.
Distribution of television advertisements is far more expensive than the actual cost to produce the advertisements. It may be advantageous for advertisers to reduce the cost of such distribution by limiting distribution of the ads to only potential consumers, rather than very broad audiences. Thus, the more targeted an ad is, the more value it carries. Very broadly distributed ads, other than branding ads tend to have less value to the advertiser, but are the most expensive for the advertiser due to distribution costs.


An apparatus and related method generate electrical power in a tubular housing, such as a drill collar, disposed in a borehole when drilling fluid flows through the tubular housing. The apparatus includes a stator adapted for being secured within the tubular housing against rotation relative to the tubular housing, a tubular rotor rotatably carried about the stator, and an impeller peripherally affixed to the rotor. The stator has an array of conductive windings therein, and is preferably an alternator stator. The rotor has an array of magnets therein, and is preferably an alternator rotor. Accordingly, drilling fluid flowing through the tubular housing when the apparatus is disposed therein engages the impeller and induces rotation of the rotor about the stator to generate electrical power.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to downhole tools used in oil and gas drilling operations, and more particularly, to means for generating electrical power for measurement-while-drilling (MWD) tools and processes used in such operations.
2. Background of the Related Art
The drilling of oil and gas wells typically involves the use of several different measurement and telemetry systems to provide data regarding the subsurface formation penetrated by a borehole, and data regarding the state of various drilling mechanics during the drilling process. In MWD tools, data is acquired by sensors located in the drill string near the bit. This data is either stored in downhole memory or transmitted to the surface using a telemetry means, such as mud flow telemetry devices.
Both the downhole sensors and the telemetry means of the MWD tool require electrical power. Since it is not feasible to run an electric power supply cable from the surface through the drill string to the sensors or the telemetry means, electrical power must be obtained downhole. The state of the art MWD devices obtain such power downhole either from a battery pack or a turbine-based alternator. Examples of alternators used in downhole tools are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,464, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,625 assigned to Baker Hughes. An example of an alternator-like, electrical torque-generator (for maintaining the angular orientation of a tubular member within a rotary steerable system) is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,682, also assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
Turbine-based alternators employ rotors having impellers that are placed in the high-pressure flow of drilling fluid ("mudflow") inside the drill string so that the impeller blades convert the hydraulic energy of the drilling fluid into rotation of the rotor. The rotors rotate at an angular velocity (speed) that provides enough energy to the MWD tools to power the telemetry means and sensors, and in some cases other tools in the drill string bottom-hole assembly (BHA).
In most conventional designs, the shaft of the turbine (i.e., the rotor) is coupled to an alternator either directly or via a gear train, which may adapt the rotor's rotational speed for optimum operation of the turbine and alternator. The turbine shaft is supported by bearings. Typically, the shaft, bearings, gear train, and alternator are all housed in a pressurized oil chamber in order to function in clean and well-lubricated conditions. Since the turbine shaft is rotating in drilling fluid, a rotary seal is required to isolate the drilling fluid from the oil in the pressurized chamber. As the rotating velocity is high, the face of a typical rotary seal has to be lubricated by something other than the drilling fluid, since the drilling fluid contains erosive particles that will quickly ruin the rotary seal. This lubrication is achieved by ensuring a constant, low-volume oil leak from the chamber towards the rotary seal. This leak also prevents the flowing drilling fluid from invading the oil chamber, which is desirable since the cleanliness of the oil promotes a long operating life for the gears, bearing, and electrical components inside the oil (i.e., drilling fluid particles would erode moving parts and damage the alternator components.)
To achieve this controlled leakage of oil across the rotary seal, the oil in the chamber is slightly pressurized compared the mud pressure by a compensating piston equipped with a spring within the pressurized oil chamber. This piston is required to move over a certain distance over time, which makes the chamber longer and bulkier than it might otherwise have to be. Accordingly, it is well known that the compensating piston and rotary seal tend to make the downhole provision of electrical power expensive.
Furthermore, experience in the art has proven that the majority of the failures and maintenance costs associated with downhole alternators are due to the rotary seals and the length of the oil reservoir pressure-compensation system. A need therefore exists for a downhole power generation system that operates without the need for such components.
A need further exists for a downhole power-generation system that is capable of generating high power in difficult operating conditions, such as the presence of erosive drilling fluid or mud.
Definitions
Certain terms are defined throughout this description as they are first used, while certain other terms used in this description are defined below: "Downstream" means the direction in which drilling fluid is pumped to flow through a drill string, e.g., in the direction of the gravity vector in a vertical well section.
"Particles" means relatively heavy solids, some of which are designed to plug small holes, that are mixed or suspended in a drilling fluid. Particles can exhibit a wide range of sizes, and can include cuttings resulting from the drilling process as well as additives that are used to control the hydrostatic conditions of the borehole.
"Upstream" means the direction opposite to downstream.

Apparatus and method for generating electrical power in a borehole


A 2D array transducer 10 is separated into a plurality of sub-arrays. Four representative sub-arrays from SA1 to SA4 are shown in an enlarged manner. In addition, the 2D array transducer (10) is segmented into a plurality of transducer regions. Four regions of (I)-(IV) segmented by dot-and-chain lines represent four transducer regions. For each sub-array, a delay process corresponding to the sub-array is executed based on a delay pattern defining an amount of delay for each of the plurality of transducer elements belonging to the sub-array. In this process, for each transducer region, a common delay pattern is set for the plurality of sub-arrays belonging to the transducer region. For example, because sub-arrays SA1 and SA2 belong to the same transducer region (IV), a common delay pattern is set for the sub-arrays SA1 and SA2.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, and, in particular, to a technique for forming an ultrasound beam using an array transducer.
2. Background Art
Two-dimensional array transducers constructed by two-dimensionally arranging a plurality of transducer elements are known. The two-dimensional array transducer is formed, for example, with a few thousand transducer elements which are electrically controlled. With the two-dimensional array transducer, ultrasound beams are two-dimensionally scanned, and echo data are three-dimensionally collected.
When a plurality of transducer elements which are a part of the two-dimensional array transducer are controlled, if a signal line is provided independently for each transducer element, a number of signal lines equaling the total number of transducer elements; for example, a few thousand signal lines, would be required for the overall two-dimensional array transducer. When a few thousand signal lines are employed, a probe cable connecting a probe in which the transducer elements are stored and a device body would become thick, and the number of pins of the connector in a connection portion between the probe cable and the device body also becomes large. The increase in circuit size for transmission/reception systems cannot be ignored. In consideration of these circumstances, techniques have been proposed for reducing the number of signal lines (number of channels) connecting the plurality of transducer elements and the device body.
For example, Patent Literature 1 (JP 2008-514335A) discloses a technique in which the two-dimensional array transducer is separated into a plurality of sub-arrays, reception signals of, for example, nine (three in vertical×three in lateral) transducer elements in each sub-array are delay-added, to sum signal of each sub-array into one signal at the side of the probe, and, then, the one signal line is connected to the device body. With such a structure, the number of channels can be significantly reduced to, for example, 1/9.
In order to sum the sub-array signals into one signal, information of amount of delay for each of, for example, nine transducer elements belonging to the sub-array is required, and the information is supplied from the device body to the probe. When the amount of delay is adjusted according to a steering angle of the beam and a depth of focus, the amount of the information to be supplied from the device body to the probe becomes very high. For example, when the amounts of delay for a few thousand transducer elements are transferred, a transfer time of a few tens of microseconds would be required, which may result in other problems, such as reduction in the frame rate.
Patent Literature 2 (JP 2000-33087 A) discloses a technique to apply a control such that the depth of focus is fixed at infinity and only the beam steering is considered, to simplify the control of delay and reduce the amount of information. However, when the depth of the focus is simply set to infinity, converging of the beam etc. may be degraded and the precision of the beamforming is reduced, resulting in reduction in the resolution or the like of the image.
Under such circumstances, the present inventor have researched and developed a technique which maintains the precision of the beamforming while inhibiting increase in the amount of information of the delay process.


The present invention provides a heretofore unknown use for a aqueous reagent composition that serves as a universal rinse for performing and/or improving a variety of hematological analyses on automated analyzers. The universal rinse reagent comprises a phosphate buffer to maintain the rinse solution pH at from about 7.0 to about 7.6; a nonhemolytic nonionic surfactant, such as a Pluronic.RTM. an alkali metal salt, such as NaCi; antimicrobial and anti-oxidant compounds; and has an osmolality of about 285 to 305 mOsmol/kg. The universal rinse reagent composition is highly suitable for use in the rinse phases or cycles of all types of blood cell analysis methods and processes performed on semi- and fully-automated systems. The invention allows the replacement of mutiple and specific rinse solutions with the disclosed universal rinse to obtain accurate and acceptable results, independent of the types of blood cell analyses that are performed. The universal rinse is most particularly useful for automated systems having intricate hardware and a number of different input and output channels. The universal rinse composition serves to economize, streamline, and simplify the design and operation of such systems.

The use of semi- and fully-automated analyzer systems for the quantification, identification, and characterization of the cells in whole blood aids in the efficiency and economy of performing all types of hematology analyses known in the art. Automated systems are used in the analysis of a variety of both normal and abnormal counterparts of all blood cell types, for example, red blood cells (erythrocytes), reticulocytes (immature erythrocytes), white blood cells (leukocytes), platelets, and in the determination of many parameters related thereto. For example, mean cell volume and hemoglobin concentration and content are characteristics of red blood cells which are routinely measured.
Problems in the art arise due to lack of accuracy, precision, and reproducibility of the final results, which may stem from cell contamination due to inefficient and/or suboptimal methods and reagents, as well as from accumulated build-up of reagents in the sample chambers and system hardware, especially when hundreds of samples are processed and analyzed in rapid fashion.
Although automated hematology processes and automated flow systems therefor have been developed to ease the burden of all types of blood cell analysis, the processes and systems must be continously cleaned and kept in optimal working order to insure reliable, accurate, and efficient operativity and results. Specific examples of the various types of hematology analyses, methods, and improvements thereof, that are performed using automated systems include differential white blood cell counting, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,875 to Ansley et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,917 to Kim; and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,801,549 and 4,978,624 to Cremins et al.; blood cell and reticulocyte analyses, including the analysis of a variety of characteristics of these cell types, such as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,695 to G. Colella et al., U.S. Patent Nos. 5,360,739 and 5,411,891 to S. Fan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,504 to Tycko, and in C. Brugnara et al., 1994, Am. J. Clin. Path., 102(5):623-632. Many of the automated hematology systems rely on electrooptical measurements and absorbance/light scatter or fluorescence/light scatter flow cytometry techniques to obtain and present the final results as cytograms or useful output.
In general, for the performance of each type of hematology analysis performed using an automated system, the system is designed to have several different channels which are responsible for carrying out distinct functions during the analysis and/or displaying information about individual cell types or the particular parameters being measured. As a consequence of the various operational channels and the numbers of samples to be routinely processed, the automated systems, including all sample chambers, and the system hardware, including channels, pumps, tubing, valves, containers, joints, and the like, must be routinely rinsed with one or more reagent solutions to avoid build-up and contamination by the reaction mixture, which comprises the blood sample and other reagent components, after repeated aspirations of the samples and the sample reagent solutions undergoing rapid analysis. A particular example is demonstrated by current automated hematology analyzer systems, such as those commercially available under the trade designation TECHNICON H.circle-solid..TM., e.g., H.circle-solid.1.TM., H.circle-solid.2.TM., and H.circle-solid.3.TM., and the like, and sold by the assignee of the present invention, in which more than one type of rinse reagent is used, depending on the type of analysis being performed. As more particularly exemplified, the aforementioned hematology systems generally require one type of rinse reagent formulation for the hemoglobin (i.e., Hb) and red blood cell/platelet (i.e., RBC/PLT) channels, and a different type of rinse reagent for the peroxidase and basophil channels used in performing hematology analyses.
As indicated, problems and interference result from the carryover of one reaction mixture into another reaction mixture in the chambers of automated analyzers, particularly when the chambers are used again and again for multiple sample analyses. By reaction mixture is meant a whole blood sample mixed with a reagent composition comprising appropriate concentrations or amounts of reagent components.
Rinse solution carryover, when it contributes reactive chemical components, such as lytic surfactant, to a reaction mixture undergoing analysis in a method (i.e., when it "participates" in any way in a reaction mixture) may adversely affect the analytical results and lead to erroneous, inaccurate, and imprecise determinations and cytogram readings. That rinse carryover varies from system to system also presents problems and adversely affects the results of and information obtained from an analytical method. For example, too little rinse carryover volume in a method can result in excess noise at the origin of cytograms. Alternatively, excess rinse carryover volume in a method can cause the white blood cells to be attacked by the presence of active lytic surfactant in the carryover volume. Such adverse effects compromise the accuracy and reliability of hematological results, particularly, for example, in the peroxidase method of white blood cell differential counting performed on automated hematology analyzers.
Thus, there is a clear need in the art for improved rinse reagent solutions or diluents for use in methods in which blood samples are processed and analyzed using automated hematology systems. Such reagent solutions and methods using such reagent solutions are needed to thoroughly cleanse all of the reagent chambers, the channels, and other mechanical hardware of the automated analyzers (e.g., the system hydraulics, including pumps, tubing, valves, and the like) following aspiration of the samples from the chambers to remove residual debris and to alleviate the formation of buildup in the hydraulic path. Also, such reagents and methods would fulfill the need to maintain the optimum integrity of the resulting cytograms after many rounds of sample analysis. Also needed in the art are reagents that are capable of simplifying the design and operation of automated hematology systems, which are frequently quite versatile and suitable for several different types of hematology methods and procedures for performance on such systems. A further need in this art is the elimination of unecessary redundancy of reagents, particularly rinse reagent solutions, for economy and for the streamlining of blood sample analyses.
Reagent compositions have historically been developed for use in automated systems for very specific purposes. As is conventional in the art, a reagent composition formulated, tested, and used over time to achieve a particular purpose and to perform a particular function in a system, is recognized and routinely used in the art solely for that purpose and function in that system. Thus, under routine circumstances, a reagent composition, which is optimized for a particular purpose and function, is appreciated, used, and most frequently taken for granted by those in the art based on its known and intended purpose and for no other purpose. It is only rarely and unexpectedly that a reagent or material designed and used for a specific purpose in the art happens to be found useful in a completely different way and/or for a completely different and unique purpose that is unrelated to its original and intended use. Such a new use or application of a reagent is neither expected nor predicted by those having skill in the art.
An example of one reagent composition used routinely to perform a particular function on automated hematology systems is known as a red blood cell/basophil sheath ("RBC/Baso sheath"). The RBC/Baso sheath was designed for use on the abovementioned automated analyzers of the TECHNICON H.circle-solid..TM. series to surround the sample stream by a concentric layer of liquid to prevent the cells in the reaction mixture sample streams of the red blood cell and basophil channels from contacting or touching the walls of the analyzer flow cell. The sheath is thus a "passive" or noninteractive reagent, since it does not physically interact with blood cells to any significant degree; it was not designed or used to contact samples. The sheath contains a surfactant in order to prevent the formation of bubbles which interfere with the automated methods by causing the sample stream to wander out of alignment, thereby producing distorted optical registration by the detector. Other ingredients in the RBC/Baso sheath reagent are phosphate buffered saline having an osmolality of about 290 mOsmol/kg and an antioxidant to protect the surfactant from autooxidation. The osmolality of the sheath reagent was designed to be isotonic to red blood cells so that their mean cell volumes would not change if there was inadvertent contact between blood cells in the sample stream and the sheath surrounding the sample stream. A preferred surfactant, Pluronic.RTM. P105, is present in the sheath reagent at a concentration that is nonlytic to red blood cells, in case there was unexpected contact between cells in the sample stream and in the surrounding sheath stream.
The RBC/Baso Sheath conventionally operates in a closed system as follows: the Sheath is introduced into the RBC/Baso flow cell by negative pressure from a syringe pulling the sheath out through the top of the flow cell, at the same time that a larger positive pressure diaphragm pump delivers the sheath through a concentric flow module at the bottom of the flow cell. The sample stream enters the concentric flow module at a different point. The velocities of the optically transparent sheath fluid and the sample stream (which have the same refractive indexes) are controlled so that laminar flow (i.e., non-turbulent) conditions exist. The sample and the sheath streams flow independently through the flow cell. It is the hydraulic pressure of the sheath stream that constricts the sample stream to its appropriate diameter. Thus the sheath performs its function of protecting the sample stream from touching the parts of the automated system hardware.
However, prior to the present invention, neither the RBC/Baso sheath nor other reagents employed to perform their particular functions in automated hematology analyzers have been recognized or used for the purpose of a rinse solution having universal applicability to all types of blood cell analysis. Thus, there is still a need extant in the art for providing a universally applicable reagent that can be used as a rinse reagent to keep systems free of buildup over extended periods of continous and varied operations. The use of such a widely-acceptable reagent promises to simplify and streamline the designs of current systems, to alleviate background noise caused by unwanted cell debris generated during the performance of hematology methods, and to generally improve the operativity of automated systems used in the field of blood sample analysis.

Universal rinse reagent and method for use in hematological analyses of whole blood samples


Techniques pertaining to designs of a compensation voltage controlled current source (VCCS) used in low dropout voltage regulators are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, a compensation voltage controlled current source (VCCS) is so designed to meet the low input/output voltage requirements. Various features of the VCCS are demonstrated through several embodiments.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voltage regulator, more particularly to a low dropout voltage regulator with an improved voltage controlled current source.
2. Description of Related Art
Voltage regulators with low dropout (LDO) are widely used in power management systems of PC motherboards, notebooks computers, mobile phones, and many other products. As a voltage supply, the LDO voltage regulator demonstrates many advantages in the field. Perfect line and load regulation, high power supply rejection ratio (PSRR), fast response, very small quiescent current, and low noise make the LDO voltage regulator irreplaceable. Stabilizing the LDO voltage regulator with 1 uF low ESR (equivalent series resistance) ceramic capacitor under a large output current is still a challenge.
FIG. 1 shows a typically conventional LDO voltage regulator 100 with a compensation voltage controlled current source (VCCS). The specific description to the conventional LDO voltage regulator may be referred in a reference entitled "A Frequency Compensation Scheme for LDO Voltage Regulators", invented by Chaitanya K. Chava and Jose Silva-Martinez, published on IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 51, pp. 1041-1050, June 2004, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The LDO voltage regulator 100 comprises a differential amplifier circuit 102, an intermediate amplifier circuit 104, an output pass circuit 106, a feedback circuit 108 and a voltage controlled current source (VCCS) 110. These circuits are intercoupled to form a voltage negative feedback loop.
The differential amplifier circuit 102 includes a differential amplifier gm1, a resistor R1 and a capacitor C1 coupled in parallel between an output terminal of the differential amplifier gm1 and a ground reference. The resistor R1 and the capacitor C1 may be an equivalent series resistance (ESR) and an equivalent series capacitance (ESC) of the differential amplifier circuit, respectively.
The intermediate amplifier circuit 104 includes an amplifier gm2 a resistor R2 and a capacitor C2 coupled in parallel between an output terminal of the amplifier gm2 and the ground reference. An input terminal of the amplifier gm2 is coupled to the output terminal of the differential amplifier gm1. The resistor R2 and the capacitor C2 may be the ESR and the ESC of the intermediate amplifier circuit, respectively.
The output pass circuit gm3 106 includes a pass transistor MPass and an output capacitor Co. The pass transistor MPass is usually a P-type MOS field effect transistor. A control terminal of the pass transistor MPass such as a gate electrode of the MOS transistor is coupled to the output terminal of the amplifier gm2. An input terminal of the pass transistor MPass such as a source electrode of the MOS transistor is coupled to a power supply Vcc. An output voltage Vout is leaded from an output terminal of the pass transistor MPass such as a drain electrode of the MOS transistor. The output capacitor Co and a resistor RL representative of a load are coupled in parallel between the output voltage Vout and the ground reference.
The feedback circuit 108 includes a pair of ladder resistors Rf1 and Rf2 coupled in series between the output voltage Vout and the ground reference. One terminal of the resistor Rf1 is coupled to the output terminal of the pass transistor MPass. A middle node B between the resistor Rf1 and the resistor Rf2 is coupled to an input terminal of the differential amplifier gm1 for feedback. Another input terminal of the differential amplifier is coupled to a predetermined reference voltage.
An input terminal of the VCCS 110 is coupled to a node A between the pass transistor and the feedback circuit, and an output terminal of the voltage controlled current source circuit is coupled to the node B. The VCCS 110 is designed for outputting a constant current into the node B depending on a voltage of the input terminal thereof. The VCCS 110 includes a NMOS transistor MN1, a current mirror, a first current source I1, a second current source I2 and a compensation capacitor CC. A gate electrode of the MN1 serves as the input terminal of the VCCS, a drain electrode of the MN1 is coupled to an input terminal of the current mirror and a source electrode of the MN1 is coupled to a terminal of the first current source I1. The other terminal of the first current source I1 is grounded. One terminal of the compensation capacitor CC is coupled to the source electrode of the MN1, and the other terminal of the compensation capacitor CC is grounded. One terminal of the second current source I2 is grounded, and the other terminal of the second current source I2 serves as the output terminal of the VCCS 110. An output terminal of the current mirror is coupled to the output terminal of the VCCS 110.
A small signal transfer function of the VCCS 110 is shown below:
                                          I            fb                                V            O                          =                              SC            C                                1            +                                          SC                C                                            gm                                  MN                                                                                1                                                                                (        1        )            where Ifb denotes an output current of VCCS, VO denotes a control voltage of the VCCS namely the output voltage Vout, SCC denotes a conductance of the compensation capacitor CC and gmMN1 denotes a transconductance between the drain and source electrodes of the MN1.
A minimum operating supply voltage for the LDO voltage regulator is Vdrop—I1 +Vdrop—CurrentMirror+Vdsat—MN1, wherein Vdrop—I1 denotes a dropout voltage on the first current source I1, Vdrop—CurrentMirror denotes a dropout voltage on the current mirror and Vdsat—MN1 denotes a saturated dropout voltage between the drain and source electrodes of the MN1. A minimum output voltage of the LDO voltage regulator is Vth—MN1+Vdrop—I1, wherein Vth—MN1 denotes a threshold voltage of the MN1.
In the standard CMOS, a body effect of the NMOS transistor can't be neglected. Usually, the NMOS transistor is formed on a substrate thereof directly. In FIG. 1, the body effect of the MN1 may degrade its performance. If the body effect is considered, the equation (1) may become:
                                          I            fb                                V            O                          =                              SC            C                                1            +                                          SC                C                                            (                                                      gm                                          MN                                                                                1                                                        -                                      gmb                                          MN                                                                                1                                                                      )                                                                        (        2        )            An item gmbMN1 which denotes a body effect conductance of the MN1 is added.
The minimum output voltage of the LDO voltage regulator is adversely affected because the threshold voltage of the MN1 Vth—MN1 has a relation to the body effect of the MN1 according to following equation.Vth—MN1=Vth0+γ(√{square root over (VSB+2φF|)}−√{square root over (|2φF|)})  (3)where Vth0 denotes an intrinsic threshold voltage of the MN1, γ denotes a body effect constant, VSB denotes a dropout voltage between the source electrode and the substrate of the MN1 and φF denotes a fermi potential. The threshold voltage of the MN1 Vth—MN1 may become higher because the dropout voltage VSB is larger than zero, thereby the minimum output voltage can't be low enough. This should limit the applications of the LDO voltage regulator.
The LDO voltage regulator is mainly used to supply power for system level chips. With the size of system level chips gradually being reduced, supply voltages required by the system level chips are reduced in proportion. Hence, the LDO voltage regulator is required to operate with the low input voltage and the low output voltage. In some cases, the output voltage of the LDO voltage regulator may be 1.2V or more lower, and the input voltage of the LDO voltage regulator may be 2V or more lower.
However, the threshold voltage Vth of the NMOS transistor in standard CMOS process commonly is 0.7V˜1.1V and can't be adjusted. Furthermore, a maximum technical error 1.0V should be considered usually. The dropout voltage Vdrop—I1 commonly is 0.4˜0.8V since it is twice of the saturated dropout voltage Vdsat, which is 0.2˜0.4V, between the gate and source electrodes of the NMOS transistor in standard CMOS process. Hence, the minimum output voltage Vth—MN1+Vdrop—I1 of the LDO voltage regulator shown in FIG. 1 may be higher than 1.5V. At the same time, the dropout voltage Vdrop—CurrentMirror on the current mirror is approximately equal to Vdsat+Vth, thereby the minimum operating supply voltage Vdrop—I1+Vdrop—CurrentMirror+Vdsat—MN1 for the LDO voltage regulator may be higher than 1.9V. As a result, the conventional LDO voltage regulator may not completely satisfy the low input/output voltage requirements.
Thus, there is a need for LDO voltage regulators with an improved VCCS to overcome the above disadvantages.

Low dropout voltage regulator with improved voltage controlled current source


Navigation systems, methods, and programs acquire deviated point information regarding a deviated point where a vehicle traveling a set route has deviated the route, and acquire post-deviation travel history information regarding a travel history after a deviated vehicle has deviated the route at the deviated point. The systems, methods, and programs determine based on the post-deviation travel history information for each of the deviated vehicles whether the deviated vehicle has traveled along a reroute set after deviating the route at the deviated point, and judges whether a rate of the deviated vehicles which were determined as having traveled along the reroute is a first predetermined value or more. If the rate of the deviated vehicles which were determined as having traveled along the reroute is the first predetermined value or more, the systems, methods, and programs determine that guidance of the route is not appropriate.

Conventionally, navigation devices that search for a route based on map data and provide guidance on the route are known. For example, in Japanese Patent Application; Publication No. JP-A-2008-241474, if a vehicle has deviated a guided route, a route is searched based on travel histories such that roads that are often included in the travel histories are used by priority.

Navigation device, navigation method, and program


A compact ceramic fuel property sensor comprises a plurality of laminated ceramic layers. The heater, temperature sensor, and capacitance measurement electrodes are embedded between the layers. The capacitance electrodes include interdigitated electrodes and fuel traps for containing a sample of liquid fuel disposed between the interdigitated electrodes. The dimensions of the fuel traps are selected so that the fuel traps remain filled with liquid after said sensor has been bathed in fuel. A method for monolithically preparing the sensors provides a reduced cost method and a sensor that can survive indefinitely in liquid fuel.

One way to decrease the quantity of harmful species emitted in engine exhaust, such as hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, is to better control the engine's air-to-fuel ratio during the cold start period. Such control can be improved if the volatility of the fuel is known. To obtain satisfactory engine performance and low emissions, it is also important to know the concentration of ethanol in the fuel. If the concentration of ethanol and the volatility of the fuel are known, the engine calibration can be optimized to provide satisfactory performance while controlling the hydrocarbons in the exhaust emissions.
The ethanol concentration in gasoline can be determined by measuring the capacitance between electrodes that produce an electric field in a volume that contains a sample of the fuel. The dielectric constant of gasoline fuel that contains ethanol increases with ethanol concentration. The volatility of fuel can also be found by heating a fuel sample and monitoring its evaporation as a function of temperature (or time) by measuring the capacitance between electrodes. As the sample evaporates, liquid fuel with a dielectric constant greater than about 2 is replaced by a mixture of air and fuel vapor that has a dielectric constant of approximately 1.
Sensor structures are known that can be used to measure a fuel's ethanol concentration and volatility. One approach has used closely spaced parallel plates. The gap between the plates is filled with liquid fuel while the structure is at ambient temperature by contacting the structure with liquid fuel and allowing the liquid fuel to be drawn between the plates by the capillary effect. The capacitance measured with the gap filled with liquid fuel determines the concentration of ethanol in the fuel.
To determine fuel volatility with such a structure, electrical current is passed through a heater to raise the temperature of the fuel sample. The temperature is monitored as a temperature dependent resistance. The increase in temperature causes the fuel sample to evaporate. Measured temperature and capacitance as functions of time are used to quantify the evaporation of the fuel sample. Such data are used to determine a measure of the volatility of the fuel. Driveability index (DI) is one such measure of fuel volatility.
However, devices of this type that have been demonstrated are costly to fabricate. One source of difficulty has been the effect of fuels, which are solvents, on the glues or adhesives used to join the heater, which is typically a ceramic, with the other components of the sensor. Another source of difficulty has been the effect of the repeated thermal cycling, required by the measurement, on the adhesives.

Compact ceramic sensor for fuel volatility and oxygenate concentration


A telecommunication system comprises a mobile station, or handset, usable by a user, at least one switching center connectable to the mobile station. The system is arranged such that when an attempt to establish a connection between the mobile station and the switching center fails, information relating to the cause of the connection failure is provided to the mobile station. The mobile station is able to provide this information to help a center.

Wireless cellular networks are known in which the area covered by the network is divided into cells. Each cell has a base station associated therewith, which is arranged to communicate with mobile stations or other suitable devices in the respective cell. The communications between the mobile stations and the base stations use radio frequency signals. Typical mobile stations are arranged to provide voice and data services.
The GPRS standard allows mobile stations to send and receive data. Using this standard, it is possible to send and receive faxes and also to make connections with the Internet, usually to download data therefrom. It is also possible with the GPRS standard to receive and send email messages. With these data services, particularly those where the user is accessing the Internet, the user may find that it is not possible to establish a connection. The failure to establish a connection may be due to problems with the network, the result of a user error when establishing connection, be a service which is not available, or because the requested service is not available to the particular user. Currently, the user either succeeds in establishing a connection or fails. The user will not know why a connection has failed. If a user fails to establish a connection, he will usually repeatedly try to establish the connection. Repeated failure to establish a connection, for example due to a user error or the like can be particularly frustrating for the user.
An additional problem is that if the user contacts the network operator to request assistance, it is not simple for the network operator to determine the cause of the failure to establish a connection.


A process of the invention analyzes a moving speed using acceleration data by an acceleration sensor and calculates a moving distance of the object. The process removes each of given candidate values of drift components from angular velocity data by a gyro sensor and generates relative azimuths data pieces. Based on the respective relative azimuths data pieces, the process calculates moving directions of the object. Using the moving distance and moving directions calculated, the process creates plural moving loci corresponding to the candidate values of drift components. By comparing the positions of actual starting and end points of moving in a building with the positions of starting and end points of each moving locus, the process evaluates the moving loci and determines an optimal moving locus out of the moving loci, based on the evaluation result.

A positioning method using GPS satellites, as typified by car navigation, is widely used and high precision location detection is realized. However, in indoor or shadowed places, because it is unable to receive signals from GPS satellites, location detection using GPS satellites cannot be performed. For cars, because most routes they run are outside, time during which they run through a shadowed place is short and location detection only becomes impossible transiently. On the other hand, walkers often move indoors or underground and it is difficult to continuously detect the location of a walker solely by GPS. Therefore, in indoor or underground places, it is needed to detect the location of a walker using a positioning technique other than GPS.
In this respect, for instance, as set forth in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-237452, there is a technique that analyzes which speed and in which direction a walker is moving using data acquired by various sensors such as an acceleration sensor and a gyro sensor and infers the location of the walker. This technique makes it possible to detect the location of a walker even in a building.

Information processing apparatus and information processing method


A receiver of digital data bursts is provided comprising an antenna array, a first space time filter having filter coefficients initialized by estimation over just training data in a received burst and providing symbol estimates and a second space time filter having filter coefficients initialized by estimation over the received burst and providing symbol estimates. In use at least one pass to determine a symbol estimate in the received burst is undertaken by each space time filter and a selector operates to determine which of the first and second filters provides the symbol estimate closer to an expected value.

Adaptive or smart antennas for base stations have recently become recognized as a powerful tool for capacity and data-rates enhancement, mainly because of their co-channel interference (CCI) rejection capability. Usually, timeslot synchronization is assumed between the desired signal and interference. Known antenna array processing techniques can be applied in that case, see for example, Z. Zvonar, P. Jung, L. Kammerlander, (Editors), "GSM evolution towards 3rd generation systems", Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston/Dordreht/London, 1999. This assumption of time slot synchronisation between the desired signal and interference is valid if the neighboring base stations are synchronized and the cells are small. If unsynchronized base stations or large cells are employed, timeslot synchronization between signals is challenging. FIG. 1 shows a typical short burst scenario with (a) synchronous co-channel interference (CCI) and (b) asynchronous co-channel interference (CCI). The desired signal and two-component co-channel interference (CCI) bursts are plotted. In the asynchronous case the co-channel interference (CCI) bursts arrive with the random delay gi,i=1, . . . , M, where M is the number of the co-channel interference (CCI) components. In the synchronous case all bursts arrive simultaneously, i.e. gi=0,i=1, . . . , M. Random change of the interference structure during the desired signal burst causes significant performance degradation for known algorithms in the asynchronous case. Such known algorithms are described in the Zvonar reference mentioned above, and also J. Karlsson, "Adaptive antennas in GSM systems with non-synchronized base stations", Licentiate's thesis, Dept. of Signals, Sensors and Systems, Royal Inst. of Technology, Sweden, 1997, and also E. Villier, L. Lopes, S. Aftelak, "On the application of uplink optimum combining to base station reception", in Proc. IEEE 48th VTC, pp. 747-752, Ottawa, 1998.
It has been pointed out in M. C. Wells, "Increasing the capacity of GSM cellular radio using adaptive antennas", IEE Proc. Communications, 1996, vol. 143, no. 5, pp. 304-310, that a stationary Space-Time Filter (STF) can be used to equalize the desired signal and reject the asynchronous co-channel interference (CCI) if the dimension of the space time filter (STF) is large enough; where stationary in this context means weight coefficients are fixed over a burst received under stationary propagation channels. The problem is that the known training based weight estimation algorithms, e.g. a Least Squares (LS) estimator, may not be effective because of the burst structure when the training sequence is concentrated in one part of the burst, e.g. the midambles of bursts in systems in accordance with Global System for Mobiles (GSM) or EDGE telecommunications standards, or preambles of bursts in systems in accordance with HIPERLAN/2 telecommunications standard. The GSM midamble case is shown in FIG. 1. One can see from FIG. 1(b) that, for GSM bursts, the training sequence of the desired signal may not even partially overlap with some of the co-channel interference (CCI) components due to other bursts.
One possible solution, which is proposed in the Wells paper mentioned above, is based on using the semi-blind algorithm with projections to the finite alphabet (FA), in other words selection of which of the finite number of symbols (e.g. 2 in a binary modulation scheme, 4 in a Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) modulation scheme) was intended. Finite alphabet (FA) projection involves the whole timeslot of the desired signal and can be used for adjusting coefficients of a space time filter (STF) in the asynchronous case. Other semi-blind techniques e.g. based on the Constant Modulus property of the desired signal can also be exploited as described in , A. M. Kuzminskiy, P. Strauch, "Space-time filtering with suppression of asynchronous co-channel interference", in Proc. Symposium 2000: Adaptive Syst. for Signal Proc., Commun., and Control, Lake Louise, October. 2000, and European Patent Publication EP-A-1100211.
FIG. 2 shows the structure of the receiver known from the Wells paper mentioned above with the following notations:
A is a receive antenna of K elements,
LST(which denotes Least Squares estimation over Training data) is the least squares (LS) estimator of the initial space time filter (STF) weight vector over the training interval of the burst, and
STF-LSP(I0) is the space time filter (STF) adjusted by means of the least squares (LS) algorithm with projections (LSP) to the finite alphabet (FA), where I0 is the number of iterations.
The estimator 10 in FIG. 2 works as follows. A multiple element antenna A, 12 receives the received signal 14 which is an additive mixture of the desired signal and the co-channel interference (CCI). The symbol sampled received signal is collected into data matrix X. The LST estimator block 16 is provided with training data and estimates the weight vectorŴLST={circumflex over (R)}XtXt−1{circumflex over (P)}StXt,  (Equation 1)
where {circumflex over (R)}XtXt and {circumflex over (P)}StXt are the correlation matrices of the received signal and the cross correlation vector of the desired and received signals estimated over the training interval, St is the vector of the training data and Xt is the input data matrix corresponded to the training interval (sub-matrix of matrix X). These initialising estimates 18 are provided to the space time filter-least squares estimator with projections (STF-LSP(I0)) estimator block 20 which iteratively estimates the vectors of the desired signal based on the least squares (LS) estimation of the weights over the whole burst:Ŝj=Q{XŴj−1},  (Equation 2)Ŵj={circumflex over (R)}XX−1{circumflex over (P)}ŜjX, j=1, . . . , I0,  (Equation 3)
where Q is a projector to the finite alphabet (FA) (slicer), I0 is the number of iterations and Ŵ0=ŴLST, i.e. the output of the LST estimator block 16 is used for the initialization of STF-LSP(I0) as shown in FIG. 2.
The disadvantage of such LST initialization is that it may suffer from insufficient amount of training data overlapping with the asynchronous co-channel interference (CCI) leading to the performance degradation of the iterative receiver in FIG. 2, especially in situations with no overlapping at all.
It has been noted, for example in the Zvonar and Villier papers referred to above, that the training data is not required for estimation of the correlation matrix in Equation 1. Thus the correlation matrix can be calculated over the whole burst of the received signal leading to the modified burst-based estimator (mentioned in the Zvonar paper referred to above)as follows:ŴLSB={circumflex over (R)}XX−1{circumflex over (P)}StXt.  (Equation 4)
This initialisation according to Equation 4 is included in a further known iterative receiver 10′ which is shown in FIG. 3. The FIG. 3 system is similar to the one shown in FIG. 2 except as regards the initialization. An advantage of this initialization is that it always contains information about the interference even if there is no overlapping with the training interval of the desired signal. A disadvantage of this solution is that the known least squares (LS) estimator of Equation 1 strictly and significantly outperforms the estimator defined by Equation 4 in the case that the interfering bursts overlap the training data in the signal burst (see for example the references in A. M. Kuzminskiy, "Finite amount of data effects in spatio-temporal filtering for equalisation and interference rejection in short burst wireless communications", Signal Processing, Elsevier, vol. 80, no. 10, pp. 1987-1997, October 2000.).
In the asynchronous scenario illustrated in FIG. 1(b) any combination of temporal positions of the desired signal and co-channel interference (CCI) can occur on random basis. Thus, a fixed receiver as shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3 may not be suitable for some received bursts of data.

Receiver of digital data bursts comprising an antenna array, and a method of receiving


There are provided k operators to be used for performing parameter setting. A channel strip screen displays a plurality of parameters for each of selected k channels. In response to selection operation to select a desired one of the parameters displayed on the channel strip screen, a parameter window related to the selected parameter is opened on a display. The parameter window displays, for each of selected k channels, a parameter of a same type as the selected parameter. Each of the parameters displayed for the selected k channels is assignable to any one of the k operators. When selection operation to select any desired one of first-type parameters has been performed, the parameter window is opened immediately, but, when selection operation to select any desired one of second-type parameters while the desired second-type parameter is in a non-selected state, the selected desired second-type parameter is set to a selected state without the parameter window being opened and then the parameter window is opened in response to further selection operation of said desired second-type parameter having been set to the selected state. When the second-type parameters are set in the selected state with the parameter window not opened, each of the second-type operators in the selected state, displayed on the channel strip screen, is assigned to any one of the k operators.

The present invention relates to digital mixers which receive input signals of a plurality of channels and perform various signal processing on the input signals to output the resultant processed signals.
There have known mixer apparatus which input audio signals from various audio signal sources, such as microphones, perform mixing processing, effect impartment processing, tone volume level control processing, etc. on the input audio signals and then output the resultant processed signals to various output equipment, such as amplifiers and speakers. In recent years, digital mixers have been developed, which perform internal signal processing through digital processing. The digital mixers include an operation panel where are provided with many operators operable by a human operator and displays. One example of the digital mixers is disclosed in "Instruction Manual of Digital Production Console DM2000" published by Yamaha Corporation.
On the display device of the digital mixers, there can be selectively displayed a screen (or parameter page) prepared, for each of various types of parameters, to make display settings of the parameter for a plurality of channels, or a screen (selected channel page) prepared, for each of the channels, to make display settings of a plurality of parameters for the channel. Also known are digital mixers where the display device is implemented by a touch-sensitive panel having a position sensor for detecting a position touched with a finger of a user or human operator. With the digital mixers provided with a touch-sensitive panel, the human operator can change a value of a desired parameter by touching a corresponding parameter operator, displayed on a display screen, with a finger and then moving the finger while still touching the corresponding parameter operator (i.e., drag operation).

Digital mixer and display control method therefor


Fluorine-containing, chiral liquid crystal compounds comprise (a) a chiral fluorochemical terminal portion containing at least one methylene group and optionally containing at least one catenary ether oxygen atom; (b) a saturated, chiral or achiral, hydrocarbon terminal portion; and (c) a central core connecting the terminal portions. The compounds have smectic mesophases or latent smectic mesophases and are useful, for example, in liquid crystal display devices.

Devices employing liquid crystals have found use in a variety of electrooptical applications, in particular those which require compact, energy-efficient, voltage-controlled light valves, e.g., watch and calculator displays, as well as the flat-panel displays found in portable computers and compact televisions. Liquid crystal displays have a number of unique characteristics, including low voltage and low power of operation, which make them the most promising of the non-emissive electrooptical display candidates currently available.
One of the most important characteristics of a liquid crystal display device is its response time, i.e., the time required for the device to switch from the on (light) state to the off (dark) state. In a ferroelectric or anti-ferroelectric device, response time (.tau.=.eta./P.sub.s E) is proportional to the rotational viscosity (.eta.) of the liquid crystal compound(s) contained within the device and is inversely proportional to their polarization (P.sub.s) and to the applied electric field (E) Thus, response time can be reduced by using compound(s) having high polarizations or low viscosities, and such compounds are greatly desired in the art. In addition to fast response times, compounds should ideally possess broad smectic temperature ranges to enable operation of the device over a broad range of temperatures (or should be capable of combination with other liquid crystal compounds having different smectic temperature ranges without adversely affecting the smectic phase behavior of the base mixture).

Liquid crystal compounds having a chiral fluorinated terminal portion


In an Internet interface device such as a gateway managing a local network, a processor obtains a packet received from a device via a local network interface. The processor can determine whether or not the packet originates from a device in the local network deemed to be part of a particular group. The processor can also determine if the packet is addressed to an internet domain for which it stores identifying information in memory. In this case, the processor inspects the packet in search of a cookie. In case no cookie is found, the packet is output as is; if a cookie is found, the processor modifies cookie information in the packet by inserting a cookie specific to the Internet interface device, which results in a modified packet that then is output through the internet interface. Using the original cookie and the added cookie, it is possible to link cookies sent from different devices in the local network.

This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art, which may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure that are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
There are many reasons for tracking persons and usages on the Internet, for example to determine the effectiveness of advertisements on the Web. Current solutions for this generally rely on so-called cookies or authentication tokens, or a combination of the two.
Cookies are usually generated by advertising companies or marketing companies and then tracked by these same companies or by companies contracted to do so. For reasons of efficiency, it is desired to generate and track a single cookie per end user. The cookie approach has several limitations:                The cookies are not linked to a user, but rather to a browser on a specific machine employed by the user. The cookies thus only allow tracking navigation on a particular browser and device; they cannot be used to track a person across several devices.        The cookies cannot be used to link persons that belong to one family or household. It is thus not possible to generate profiles and ads targeted at the whole household.        The cookies are specific to one company, which makes it difficult to merge information from cookies generated by two different companies.
To get around the latter drawback, it is possible to use a technique called 'cookie matching'. The objective of this technique is to link cookies from different companies that relate to the same browser, which allows merging profiles and a wider coverage in terms of tracking. This technique, however, does not allow to link cookies across distinct machines. Cookie matching is further described in "Selling Off Privacy at Auction" by Lukasz Olejnik, Tran Minh-Dung, Claude Castelluccia.
Another technique is 'access tokens' (using the terminology of OAuth, an open standard for authorization), which relate to an identity provided by so-called identity providers such as Facebook or Google. These tokens can be used as to track users and to link cookies that relate to the same identity. The authentication tokens allow tracking a person across several devices. While more powerful than cookie tracking, this technique still has some limitations:                The identity providers cannot easily aggregate multiple identities of a single person or of a family.        The user has to have used an identity provider such as Facebook or Google.
Cookies and access tokens may also be used to track and analyse the IP addresses from which a browser sending a cookie connects. This can provide an approximate estimation of the location of a user and may in some cases this may help to determine whether or not a user is at home. However, as many IP addresses are dynamic, it is not reliable information.
Another approach for linking cookies is based on the IP addresses used by the user's device. If several devices (and therefore cookies) connect using the same IP address, it is possible to create a link between the cookies and then aggregate the corresponding profiles. However, this method can be error prone: with some network architectures (enterprise networks, building networks, carrier grade Network Address Translation (NAT) . . . ), a single public IP address is shared by a large network. It can be seen that in case the IP address is used to link cookies, a link can be created between persons and profiles that have very little in common.
"Moose" is a worm that targets home gateways. Once installed on a home gateway, this worm tries to collect access tokens and cookies by inspecting outgoing traffic. The worm then sends the collected tokens and cookies to a repository from which they can be sold or used to generate fake likes or clicks. More information on Moose can be found in Olivier Bilodeau and Thomas Dupuy: "Dissecting Linux/Moose: The Analysis of a Linux Router-based Worm Hungry for Social Networks", May 2015—http://www.welivesecurity.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Dissecting-LinuxMoose.pdf.
It will be appreciated that there is a desire for a solution that addresses at least some of the shortcomings of the conventional solutions. The present principles provide such a solution.

Device and method for data packet processing


The present invention is directed to a database and database management system and method designed to store and manipulate any type of data and any combination of data types. The underlying data architecture is uniquely flexible, and thus to the DBMS, the data in the database will appear to be of a type consistent with the access method of the DBMS. Further, the present invention allows a number of simultaneous, different access methods to the same underlying data, delivering the ability to work with complex data within one easily managed system. One of the key aspects of the present invention is the "atomization" of the data. Atomization is the separation of the storage of data content from its definition, as well as from its occurrences or instances in the database. An atom is the most basic element in the database. Data content is stored in content atoms, data definitions are stored in type atoms, and each instance of the same data value/property is represented by instance atoms. When connected, the three different atom types form a molecule. Complex data may be represented in the database by linking together instance atoms from several molecules to form inner relations, and then by further linking together inner relations to form outer relations.

A database consists of one or more large sets of persistent data. Typically, users can update and query the database using software associated with the database.
A database is the data stored by a database management system (DBMS). A DBMS is a set of software programs that control the organization, storage, and retrieval of data in a database. A DBMS also controls the security and integrity of the database. Typically, a DBMS also provides an interactive query facility, which allows a user to interactively search and analyze data from the database.
There are several prior art methods available for organizing data in a database. The three most common types of prior art databases are hierarchical, network, and relational. A DBMS may provide one or more of these, and other, types of database organization.
In a hierarchical database, the data items are referred to as records, and are stored in a tree structure. Hierarchical databases link records together in a manner similar to a typical organization chart. This means that each record can be owned by only one owner record. For example, a department record may "own" fifteen employee records. However, each employee record may only be owned by one owner record, in this case by its department record. This makes it difficult to model real world situations using a hierarchical database. For example, an employee may be both a member of a department and a member of a team made up of employees from several departments. However, a hierarchical database would not allow the same employee record to be owned by both a department record and a team record.
A network database is similar to a hierarchical database, however, data records may be freely interconnected, with no requirement that the data records fit in a tree structure. In a network database, an employee record could be owned by both a department record and a team record.
Both hierarchical databases and network databases are time-consuming to search and difficult to change. Changing the data structures in a hierarchical or a network database typically requires shutting down the database and rebuilding it.
Another type of prior art database is a relational database. In a relational database, all data is stored in simple tables, referred to as relations. Relational databases remove the complex relationships between records found in hierarchical and network databases. The design of the records in a relational database provides a common field, such as employee number, for matching. Often, the fields used for matching are indexed in order to speed up searching.
However, there are several disadvantages to relational databases. Relational databases are complex and unnatural for many data structures (i.e. network type data structures). Relational databases are redundant, as many fields are stored in more than one relation. While the use of index fields can increase query speed, the space needed to store the indexes can sometimes become significantly larger than the space needed to store the data in the database. The use of indexes is also redundant. This redundancy, along with the redundant storage of data fields in more than one relation, can cause performance degradation when there are a high volume of updates to the database. Finally, the administration cost of a relational database is high, as data must be frequently reorganized to keep performance acceptable.
Because of the many disadvantages of prior art databases, such as hierarchical, network, and relational models, some software manufacturers have begun developing object-oriented databases (OODBs). However, the OODBs that exist today use traditional storage technology (i.e. relational and other) to actually store the data. Current OODBs and object database management systems (ODMSs) are really object-oriented interfaces to old database technologies and old database management systems. Current OODBs and ODMSs actually try, although not very successfully, to use today's currently existing technology (i.e. relational and other) to store object-oriented data.
Consequently, it would be desirable to have a database, and database management system and method, for organizing data so that it can be accessed as if it were any conceivable database organization, including those discussed above. It would be desirable if the system and method could support many simultaneous, different access methods and storage/retrieval syntaxes. Further, it would be desirable if the system and method allowed fast and efficient searching, dynamic schema evolution with no need to take the database off-line for restructuring, and automatic history generation.

System and method for storing and manipulating data in an information handling system


An incontinence treatment device and method of treating urinary incontinence in a person includes fabricating an artificial urethra to have a flow diameter formed inside of a circumferential wall and a closure device attached directly to a portion of an outer surface of the circumferential wall of the artificial urethra. The artificial urethra is sized to be spliced to a natural urethra for alignment of the flow diameter of the artificial urethra with a lumen of the natural urethra. A pump is provided for moving liquid out of a reservoir and into the closure device to push the outer surface of the circumferential wall into the flow diameter of the artificial urethra, which operates to close the flow diameter of the artificial urethra.

Devices for treating urinary incontinence include slings, supports, artificial urinary sphincters and other devices that are implanted in a patient's body to support and/or coapt the urethra.
A sling is a device that is surgically implanted under the urethra to support the urethra and inhibit urine from leaking out of the urethra during a provocative event such as coughing or sneezing. Slings are typically implanted through one or more incisions and anatomically secured to supporting tissue(s).
An artificial urinary sphincter is generally provided as an inflatable ring or cylinder that is surgically implanted around a portion of the urethra. Some people become incontinent after having some or the entire prostate removed, which can result in a loss of some or all of the function of the prostatic urinary sphincter. An artificial urinary sphincter implanted around the compromised prostatic urinary sphincter can provide the patient with improved control of urinary function. However, the placement of an artificial urinary sphincter around a section of natural urethra can lead to undesirable erosion of the tissue of the urethra, which has the potential to reduce the efficacy of the artificial sphincter.
Improved incontinence treatment devices would be welcomed by both the patient and the surgical staff.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Incontinence treatment device and method of treating urinary incontinence