An air conditioning system using for a dehumidifying cooling device has developed that comprising a heating source for producing hot water, a heat exchanger for transferring heat from the hot water to circulating water, a circulation pump for circulating the resulting hot water heated in the heat exchanger, a heating pipeline connected to the circulation pump for conveying the hot water to a heat supply target area, a user heat exchanger connected to the heating pipeline for conveying hot water to the heat supply target area, a dehumidifying cooling device connected to a hot water pipe of users heat exchanger and installed in each household within the heat supply target area, the dehumidifying cooling device removing moisture from the air by using hot water supplied from the hot water pipe to deal with latent heat load and to lower the temperature of the dehumidified air via evaporation of water contained in the air.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioning system using a dehumidifying cooling device, and more particularly, to an air conditioning system using a dehumidifying cooling device which can perform the air cooling operation by using hot water, produced by large-scale or small-scale district heating systems or gas-fired or oil-fired boilers installed in individual households, introduced into the dehumidifying cooling device.
2. Description of the Related Prior Art
There is a developing prospect that the recent high oil prices are not a temporary problem, but will be continuously maintained and fixed. Therefore, the main energy consuming countries of the world will increasingly make great efforts to secure stable energy resources. With the effectuation of the Tokyo protocol dealing with reduction in the discharge of greenhouse gas for the sake of preventing global warming, it will be expected that the international pressure for the limitation of fossil energy use, the criterion of energy efficiency, etc., will be strengthened.
According to a published energy report, the amount of energy consumed in domestic and business fields of Korea in 2003 was approximately 55 millions TOE, and was 25.2% of the total national energy consumption. This rate also corresponds to 41.9% on the basis of electricity use. For the past four years, the energy consumption of domestic and business fields shows an average annual rate of increase of 5.3%, whereas the consumption of electricity shows an average annual rate of increase of 12%. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the consumption of electricity particularly has experienced a rapid increase. Estimating on the basis of variance in the monthly energy consumption of residential buildings and sample survey results about non-residential buildings as the subject of energy management, it is analyzed that 50% of the energy consumption of residential buildings and 47% of the energy consumption of business buildings are used for air conditioning. In conclusion, of the energy consumption of buildings, energy required for air conditioning occupies 13% of the national total energy consumption of Korea.
Accordingly, to guarantee the efficient use of energy and the continuous development of the energy industry while observing related international agreements, it is necessary to improve the efficiency of energy use for air conditioning in domestic and business fields. From this viewpoint, there is created a so-called collective-energy industry in which thermal energy and electricity, generated by facilities concentrated in a specific place for improving the efficiency of energy in domestic and business fields, are supplied collectively to multiple users in residential and business areas. It is reported that the collective-energy industry uses waste heat created during power generation as a heating source for space heating and hot water heating, thereby achieving not only a reduction of energy by approximately 20 to 30% by virtue of improved efficiency, but also an improvement of air environment by approximately 30 to 40% by virtue of a reduction of fuel usage and intensive environmental management. The collective-energy industry is evaluated as an effective industry, capable of dealing with related international environmental restrictions including climatic change conventions, etc. In the affirmative evaluation's debt, approximately 1.2 million families in Korea shared in the benefits of district heating in 2003, and in particular, 85% of supplied energy was generated by combined heat and power generation. Korea has a plan to expand the propagation of district heating to 2 million families by 2010.
In combined heat and power generation, called cogeneration, the generation ratio of electricity to heat is fixed at 3:5. Therefore, it is important to keep the ratio of electricity to heat at an appropriate level for maximizing the effect of the collective-energy industry. In Korea, the above mentioned generation ratio can be fulfilled in winter, but summer in Korea produces an increased electrical load for air cooling, and substantially no heat load. As a result, the operation rate of dedicatrd heating in summer decreases to less than 10%, and this causes deterioration in the economic efficiency of cogeneration. Actually, no generation results were reported between June and September in 2003.
To improve the operation rate of collective-energy generation facilities for efficiently using the effects of the industry, reducing the demand of heat in summer is necessary, and in particular, development and propagation of a technology for supplying cooling energy using distinct heating facilities is necessary.
In one example of the above described cooling energy supply technology, an absorption chiller is installed in a receptor, such as a large-scale building, etc., such that the chiller performs a central cooling operation using energy delivered from distinct heating facilities.
The absorption chiller is designed to chill water flowing in a pipe, using heat generated during the evaporation of a liquid-phase refrigerant, and condense the evaporated gas-phase refrigerant for reuse.
However, in spite of various researches and developments for improving the performance of the absorption chiller, there is a limit on the improvement of performance due to the low temperature of a heating source. In addition, the absorption chiller has an uneconomical high water return temperature because it cannot use water having a temperature of 80° C. or less, and suffers from a small differential between the temperature of supplied water and the temperature of returned water.
When the absorption chiller is installed in an apartment, etc. taking up the largest portion of district heating to provide central cooling, there is a problem in that cold water pipes have to be additionally installed regardless of hot water supply pipes.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an air conditioning system using a dehumidifying cooling device which can produce efficient air cooling by incorporating hot water, produced by large-scale or small-scale district heating systems or gas-fired or oil-fired boilers installed in individual households, into the dehumidifying cooling device installed in each household.

Air conditioning system using dehumidifying cooling device


The vehicle air-conditioning system according to the invention has at least one air-conditioning air duct with at least one air outflow nozzle having an automatically adjustable air guiding arrangement, a sun radiation sensing system, and an air-conditioning control unit which generates control commands for automatically adjusting the air guiding arrangement at least as a function of the output signals of the sun radiation sensing system. The air-conditioning control unit uses output signals from the sun radiation sensing system to determine the local distribution of sun radiation in the area of a particular vehicle seat and, as a function thereof, automatically adjusts the air guiding arrangement or arrangements assigned to the respective vehicle seat.

This application claims the priority of German application 196 17 562.3-16 filed in Germany on May 2, 1996, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a vehicle air-conditioning system in which air blown by one or several air outflow nozzles into the vehicle interior can be changed as a function of the sun radiation. For this purpose, an automatically adjustable air guiding arrangement on the air outlet nozzles are appropriately controlled by an air-conditioning control unit.
A vehicle air-conditioning system of this, type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,932. In that system, the air guiding arrangement can be controlled by a control signal of the air-conditioning control unit. When the signal level increases, the air guiding arrangement aims the outflowing air current more at the area of an associated vehicle seat, and when the signal level decreases, it directs the outflowing air more and more away from the area of this seat, or keeps it away from it altogether. The control signal is generated as a function of the output signals of a sun radiation sensing system and an outside temperature sensing system, as well as a determined difference between a predeterminable desired value and an actual value for the interior vehicle temperature (measured by an inside temperature sensing system). The signal level is increased by a certain value to achieve a stronger air-conditioning cooling effect when the measured sun radiation intensity exceeds a given threshold value. In this case, the sun radiation sensing system can be designed to sense separately the sun radiation on the left and right vehicle sides, so that the left and right vehicle seat areas can be air-conditioned separately, dependent upon the sun radiation impinging thereon. In addition, by using a seat occupation sensing system, the air guiding arrangements can be automatically adjusted only for those vehicle seats which are occupied.
The object of the invention is to provide a vehicle air-conditioning system of the above-mentioned type which achieves a comparatively comfortable air conditioning for the individual areas of a respective vehicle by targeted adjustment of the respective air guiding arrangements.
This object is achieved by a vehicle air-conditioning system according to the invention, which is designed such that it can sense not only the intensity but also the direction of the incident sun radiation. By means of this information, and vehicle-specific geometrical data (particularly with respect to the position of the vehicle seats in the vehicle interior and the position of the vehicle window surfaces), the air-conditioning control unit can determine the local sun radiation for each respective vehicle seat, in a locally resolved manner, for each region of the whole area of a vehicle seat, and thus for each body area of an occupant of the seat. The air-conditioning control unit generates control commands for automatic adjustment of the air guiding devices assigned to each seat as a function of this radiation information, so that air can be aimed in a targeted manner at those seat regions (and therefore at those body regions of an occupant of the seat) which are subjected to the greatest sun radiation.
In one embodiment of the invention, a seat position sensing system is provided (as is customary; for example, for automatic seat adjusting systems with a so-called memory function for the user-individually preselected automatic seat adjustment). By means of this seat position sensing system, the air-conditioning control unit can comparatively precisely determine the spatial position of the different areas of the vehicle seat, and thus the spatial position of the individual body regions of an occupant of the seat.
In another embodiment of the invention, cooled air is aimed at those seat regions (and thus at those body regions of a seat occupant) which are subjected to direct sun radiation.
Still another embodiment of the invention includes an air intake blower whose operation can be adjusted as a function of the sun radiation, so that cooled air is blown into the respective seat regions in a direction which depends on both the direction and intensity of the sun radiation.
According to another embodiment of the invention, -at low outside temperatures, warm air can be guided with priority into the seat regions adjacent to the cold vehicle windows, so as to prevent an excessive cooling of the corresponding body regions of a seat occupant.
In still a further embodiment of the invention, when the difference between the actual and the desired interior temperature exceeds a certain amount, so that cold air is supplied with priority into the central upper seat region (and thus at the upper body or head of a seat occupant), the system blows warm air for additionally heating the foot space.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Vehicle air-conditioning system having an air-guiding arrangement which is adjustable as a function of the sun radiation


Various integrated circuits formed using gallium nitride and other materials are described. In one example, an integrated circuit includes a first integrated device formed over a first semiconductor structure in a first region of the integrated circuit, a second integrated device formed over a second semiconductor structure in a second region of the integrated circuit, and a passive component formed over a third region of the integrated circuit, between the first region and the second region. The third region comprises an insulating material, which can be glass in some cases. Further, the passive component can be formed over the glass in the third region. The integrated circuit is designed to avoid electromagnetic coupling between the passive component, during operation of the integrated circuit, and interfacial parasitic conductive layers existing in the first and second semiconductor structures, to improve performance.

The semiconductor industry continues to see demands for integrated circuits and devices having lower cost and size, particularly for monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) devices. MMIC devices encompass integrated circuits (IC) designed for operation over microwave frequencies. MMIC devices can be relied upon for power amplification, mixing, and high-frequency switching, among other operations. The semiconductor industry also continues to see demands for higher voltage and higher power integrated devices, including high voltage and high power MMIC power amplifiers.
In the context of integrated circuits, high-speed power amplifier circuits have a variety of useful applications, such as in radio-frequency (RF) communications, radar, RF power, and microwave applications. Such circuits can include transistors, diodes, and other active devices formed from semiconductor materials, along with a number of other passive circuit components, including resistors, capacitors, inductors, and interconnects. Beyond silicon, gallium nitride semiconductor material has received strong attention for the implementation of active devices, because of its desirable properties and characteristics.

Microwave integrated circuits including gallium-nitride devices on silicon

MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings, Inc.


A housing having three side walls and a cover is provided, wherein an opening for introducing a pipe is formed in one of the side walls. The side walls are arranged in a U-shape, with the opening being provided in the side wall forming the first side thereof, and with a pipe section that aligns with the opening being connectable to the second side forming the opposite side wall thereof. The cross-section of the pipe section, in particular its diameter, is larger or smaller than the cross-section of the pipe. As a result, the pipe and the pipe section can be slid one inside the other.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a housing, in particular for a charging box for an electric vehicle, with three side walls, a floor, and a cover, wherein an opening for the introduction of a pipe is formed in a first side wall.
2. Description of the Background Art
Housings and implementations thereof are known. Depending on the application for the housing, important aspects include: design; costs, especially for mass production; functionality, such as accessibility of the interior; replaceability; and/or other aspects. In the case of a charging box for electric vehicles, virtually all of these aspects must be considered.

Housing, in particular for an electric vehicle charging box


Disclosed are apparatus and methods for monitoring an operation parameter of a process tool, independently of a process system recipe, are provided. In general, an indirect effect that results from implementing an event from a process system recipe on the process system is monitored without using the specific values or setpoints that are entered for such event into the process system to thereby change a state of such process system. In one embodiment, the behavior of a process device as it transitions between different states is monitored for a single cycle of operation or over time to detect trends that indicate a potential failure of the process device. When a trend that indicates a potential failure is detected, an alarm is generated. In one implementation, the time for reaching a particular stage of operation may be repeatedly monitored over a plurality of device cycles. For example, the time to open a valve or door may be monitored. In another example, the time for reaching a stable phase of gas flow after a ramping stage has commenced is monitored. When the time for reaching a particular stage begins to decline by a predetermined amount, an alarm may be generated.

The present invention relates generally to processing of semiconductor wafers in a plurality of processing systems. More specifically, it relates to automatically monitoring the operation of such processing systems.
Generally, the industry of semiconductor manufacturing involves highly complex techniques for fabricating integrating circuits from semiconductor materials that are layered and patterned onto a substrate, such as silicon, by various process systems. For example, a first process system deposits a layer of material, while another process system etches a pattern in such deposited material.
Each process system includes an interface for inputting a recipe for controlling the process. The recipe generally includes a plurality of setpoints that each specify an operating parameter value for a particular device of the process system. For example, a setpoint for a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system may specify a gas flow value for a particular flow control component in the CVD system. Other types of devices may include valves, lifts, pedestals, indexers, robots for wafer handling, etc. These devices are given a particular command for performing an action so as to reach a specified setpoint, and the device then automatically performs such action.
It is often desirable to monitor an operating parameter of a process device to determine whether it has reached a specified setpoint. The problem with providing such a monitoring scheme is that the particulars of a recipe, such as setpoint, are often proprietary. That is, a user of a process system may set up the process system with a proprietary recipe and then not wish the recipe setpoints to be output from the process system, for example, for monitoring purposes by a third party, such as the process system support personnel.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide a mechanism for monitoring the operation of a process system without requiring knowledge of the recipe setpoints or any other proprietary information.

Apparatus and methods for monitoring health of semiconductor process systems


A speech decoder includes a separating circuit, an error correction decoding circuit, an interpolating circuit, and a speech reproducing circuit. The separating circuit separates a code string of a filter parameter, a code string of a parameter associated with a pitch, and a code string of a parameter associated with an index and a gain of a codebook representing an excitation signal of speech from a received code string. The error correction decoding circuit detects a transmission error, which cannot be corrected, in the received code string. When a transmission error which cannot be corrected is detected, the interpolating circuit interpolates between parameters of past and future proper frames, thereby recovering parameters of a current frame. The speech reproducing circuit reproduces a speech signal on the basis of the interpolated parameters and other received codes.

The present invention relates to a speech decoder for properly transmitting and decoding speech signals through a transmission path, e.g., a radio transmission path, in which errors tend to occur.
As a method for coding speech signals at low bit rates of about 8 to 4.8 kb/s, a CELP (Code Excited LPC Coding) method is known, which is described in, e.g., M. Schroeder and B. Atal, "Code-excited linear prediction: High-quality speech at very low bit rates" Proc. ICASSP, pp. 937-940, 1985 (reference 1). According to this method, on the transmission side, a spectrum parameter representing the spectrum characteristics of a speech signal is extracted from a speech signal of each frame (e.g., 20 ms). The frame is divided into subframes (e.g., 5 ms), and a pitch parameter representing a long-term correlation (pitch correlation) is extracted from a past excitation signal in units of subframes. Long-term prediction of speech signals in the subframes is performed using the pitch parameter to obtain a difference signal. For the difference signal obtained by long-term prediction, one type of noise signal is selected so as to minimize the differential power between the speech signal and a signal synthesized by a signal selected from a codebook constituted by predetermined types of noise signals. In addition, an optimal gain is calculated. Subsequently, an index representing the type of selected noise signal and the gain are transmitted together with the spectrum parameter and the pitch parameter.
On the reception side, speech is reproduced using the received parameters.
In the conventional method in reference 1 described above, when no errors are present in a transmission path, high-quality speech signals can be reproduced. If, however, transmission path errors frequently occur as in a radio transmission path, the sound quality of reproduced speech is considerably deteriorated. As an example, in a mobile telephone, burst errors tend to occur due to fading and the like, and the bit error rate is as large as 1% to 3%, thus greatly deteriorating the quality of reproduced speech. In such a transmission path in which errors tend to occur, a forward error correction code (FEC) is used to protect the transmitted parameters. Furthermore, in order to deal with burst errors, an error detection code (e.g., a CRC code) is used. This error detection code serves to detect an error, which exceeds the correction capacity of the FEC, on the reception side. These error correction codes are described in detail in, e.g., Hirata et al., "Application of Forward Error Correction and Voice Coding Techniques to Satellite Communication Systems : Current Trend and Future Technical Problems", Material for Theoretical Research Meeting of the Institute of Electronics and Communication Engineers of Japan, IT84-30, pp. 1-8, 1984 (reference 2).
In the conventional speech decoding method, when an error exceeding the correction capacity of the FEC is detected by an error detection code on the reception side, the received parameter of a frame in which the error is detected is replaced with a parameter properly received in the past. More specifically, in such a frame, speech is decoded by repeatedly using a parameter properly received in the past. Such a decoding method is described in detail in, e.g., R. V. Cox et al., "Robust CELP Coders for Noisy Backgrounds and Noisy Channels", Proc. ICASSP89, pp. 739-742, 1989 (reference 3). Although the speech decoding method described in reference 3 is simple, since it repeatedly uses a past parameter, the sound quality of speech may deteriorate or abnormal sounds may be generated in frames in which the characteristics of speech signals are changed, especially at transitions, due to the repetitive use of the parameter.

Speech decoder for high quality reproduced speech through interpolation


A substantially dust-free solid that is treated with a blend of water or other solvent and certain distillation bottoms. The distillation bottoms are at about 60.degree. C. or less and are obtained from production of an alcohol having the formula: EQU R2--R1--OH,. wherein R1 is substituted or unsubstituted branched, straight chain or cyclic C.sub.4 to C.sub.12 and R2 is OH or H.

The generation of dust in the handling of certain finely divided solid materials or in the handling of "fines" present among larger particles, is a known problem. One area where this problem has been observed is in the handling of fertilizer materials. Dust is frequently generated in the handling of dry fertilizers. Dust can be a nuisance and may pose safety and health hazards. Dust problems are particularly severe in bulk fertilizer production and in distribution facilities that handle large quantities of dry fertilizers. When loading or unloading large quantities of such materials, the dust generated results in poor working conditions. A portion of the solid is lost and the surrounding may be contaminated with the settling dust. The United States Government has issued regulations to control dust exposure in the work place and to limit the amount of dust released into the environment.
The problem of preventing dust formation has been handled by spraying a liquid onto the solid material. Examples of this may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,393,973, to Almy, (tall oil sprayed on potash); U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,555 to Newman, et al. (naphthalene sulfonates and water on ammonium salts preventing caking and dust formation); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,153 to Detroit (lignosulfonate treated inorganic chemicals resist caking and dust).
Waxes and oils have also been applied to fertilizer powders to prevent dust formation. Such is described in European Patent Publication 0 255 665.
Russian Inventor's Certificate 2019535 C1 describes the use of glycerol residuum (bottoms formed in the distillation of crude glycerol) applied to potassium chloride as an anti-dusting agent.
Ammonium sulfate has been granulated to improve particle size distribution. U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,253 to Walter et al. describes the granulation of ammonium sulfate and other fertilizer ingredients.
Lobeco Products Inc. offers an anti-caking and anti-dusting product under the name Galory.TM. ATH 632. Galoryl ATH 632 is a solid at ambient temperature and must be heated (to about 80.degree. C.) to the liquid state before application. This adds to the handling difficulty and contributes to the safety precautions that must be in place to prevent burns from spillage of heated liquids.
In addition to the handling difficulties, such sprays are expensive and add significantly to the production cost of free-flowing, dust-free granules. Therefore, there remains a need for safely and economically producing granules that remain free-flowing and dust-free even after storage and shipping.
Water is an effective anti-dusting agent. Water, however, usually causes the material, e.g., ammonium sulfate, to cake. An effective anti-dusting agent will not contribute to the caking problems observed with many of the solid materials to which the present invention relates.


A method and apparatus for reducing mitral regurgitation. The apparatus is inserted into the coronary sinus of a patient in the vicinity of the posterior leaflet of the mitral valve, the apparatus being adapted to straighten the natural curvature of at least a portion of the coronary sinus in the vicinity of the posterior leaflet of the mitral valve, whereby to move the posterior annulus anteriorly and thereby improve leaflet coaptation and reduce mitral regurgitation.

Mitral valve repair is the procedure of choice to correct mitral regurgitation of all etiologies. With the use of current surgical techniques, between 70% and 95% of regurgitant mitral valves can be repaired. The advantages of mitral valve repair over mitral valve replacement are well documented. These include better preservation of cardiac function and reduced risk of anticoagulant-related hemorrhage, thromboembolism and endocarditis.
In current practice, mitral valve surgery requires an extremely invasive approach that includes a chest wall incision, cardiopulmonary bypass, cardiac and pulmonary arrest, and an incision on the heart itself to gain access to the mitral valve. Such a procedure is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Due to the risks associated with this procedure, many of the sickest patients are denied the potential benefits of surgical correction of mitral regurgitation. In addition, patients with moderate, symptomatic mitral regurgitation are denied early intervention and undergo surgical correction only after the development of cardiac dysfunction.
Mitral regurgitation is a common occurrence in patients with heart failure and a source of important morbidity and mortality in these patients. Mitral regurgitation in patients with heart failure is caused by changes in the geometric configurations of the left ventricle, papillary muscles and mitral annulus. These geometric alterations result in incomplete coaptation of the mitral leaflets at systole. In this situation, mitral regurgitation is corrected by plicating the mitral valve annulus, either by sutures alone or by sutures in combination with a support ring, so as to reduce the circumference of the distended annulus and restore the original geometry of the mitral valve annulus.
More particularly, current surgical practice for mitral valve repair generally requires that the mitral valve annulus be reduced in radius by surgically opening the left atrium and then fixing sutures, or more commonly sutures in combination with a support ring, to the internal surface of the annulus; this structure is used to cinch the annulus, in a pursestring-like fashion, to a smaller radius, thereby reducing mitral regurgitation by improving leaflet coaptation.
This method of mitral valve repair, generally termed "annuloplasty", effectively reduces mitral regurgitation in heart failure patients. This, in turn, reduces symptoms of heart failure, improves quality of life and increases longetivity. Unfortunately, however, the invasive nature of mitral valve surgery and the attendant risks render most heart failure patients poor surgical candidates. Thus, a less invasive means to increase leaflet coaptation and thereby reduce mitral regurgitation in heart failure patients would make this therapy available to a much greater percentage of patients.
Mitral regurgitation also occurs in approximately 20% of patients suffering acute myocardial infarction. In addition, mitral regurgitation is the primary cause of cardiogenic shock in approximately 10% of patients who develop severe hemodynamic instability in the setting of acute myocardial infarction. Patients with mitral regurgitation and cardiogenic shock have about a 50% hospital mortality. Elimination of mitral regurgitation in these patients would be of significant benefit. Unfortunately, however, patients with acute mitral regurgitation complicating acute myocardial infarction are particularly high-risk surgical candidates, and are therefore not good candidates for a traditional annuloplasty procedure. Thus, a minimally invasive means to effect a temporary reduction or elimination of mitral regurgitation in these critically ill patients would afford them the time to recover from the myocardial infarction or other acute life-threatening events and make them better candidates for medical, interventional or surgical therapy.

Method and apparatus for improving mitral valve function


A molecular marker-based method for monitoring and detecting cancer in humans. Aberrant methylation of gene promoters is a marker for cancer risk in humans. A two-stage, or “nested” polymerase chain reaction method is disclosed for detecting methylated DNA sequences at sufficiently high levels of sensitivity to permit cancer screening in biological fluid samples, such as sputum, obtained non-invasively. The method is for detecting the aberrant methylation of the p16 gene, O 6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase gene, Death-associated protein kinase gene, RAS-associated family 1 gene, or other gene promoters. The method offers a potentially powerful approach to population-based screening for the detection of lung and other cancers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cancer detection, specifically a methylation specific polymerase chain reaction method for detecting the presence of gene-specific promoter methylation in tumor cells, and more specifically a nested, two-stage polymerase chain reaction method for amplifying the gene that may be altered in a particular cancer, thereby permitting cancer detection and monitoring by detecting gene inactivation in biological fluids such as sputum and blood. The invention may also find application in the field of pharmacogenomics.
2. Background Art
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. The high mortality from this disease stems from the inability in many cases to detect the cancer at a stage where it can be removed surgically and has not metastasized to other sites in the body. Current radio- and chemotherapy often result in disease remission, but actual cures (long-term term survival) are rare for advanced stage cancer. However, 5-year survival for cancers that are surgically removed with no evidence of distant disease is 60% to 80%. The development of biomarkers usable for early detection, to follow therapy, and to predict outcome of the disease, could greatly aid in managing cancer and increasing long-term survival.
Chemoprevention studies in current and former cancer-free subjects have largely been focused on the effect of defined interventions on cytologic and genetic changes in bronchial epithelium obtained through biopsy. This approach is predicated on the fact that virtually the entire lower respiratory tract is exposed to inhaled carcinogens within cigarette smoke. The resulting "field cancerization" involves the generation of multiple, independently initiated sites throughout the lungs of persons with a long history of smoking. Cytological and genetic changes have been detected throughout the bronchial tree. Many of the genetic changes detected in the bronchial epithelium may have limited utility for assessing lung cancer risk and response to intervention therapy. For example, assays for loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in cytologically normal tissue have limited sensitivity, and quite often subjects will not be informative for the microsatellite marker used to assess LOH at a specific chromosome locus. Moreover, some LOH changes appear less frequently in former smokers compared to current smokers, suggesting they may be associated more with exposure. In addition, the conduct of large population-based prevention trials will necessitate the use of biological fluids such as sputum that can be obtained non-invasively for monitoring drug response. Neither polymerase chain reaction-nor fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH)-based assays have the sensitivity to detect LOH in sputum. At present, there is no extensive data on methylation in the bronchial epithelium in either persons with prevalent lung cancer or cancer-free smokers. Still further, the effect of smoking cessation on these markers has not been evaluated.
The development of cancer involves inactivation of many different types of genes in a cell. It is this inactivation that is largely responsible for a normal cell becoming a tumor cell. One type of gene inactivation that occurs frequently in cancer is called CpG island methylation of gene promoters. This process involves a change in the portion of the gene, the promoter, which is responsible for maintaining its activity. CpG island methylation is responsible for inactivating many different cellular genes.
Because current and even former cigarette smokers have increased bronchial secretions that contain exfoliated cells from the bronchial tree, the analysis of sputum from these individuals has been an area of research for marker development. The late Dr. Geno Saccomanno demonstrated that premalignant cytologic changes can be detected several years prior to a clinical diagnosis of lung cancer in high-risk subjects. Unfortunately, these studies were difficult to replicate, most likely because of the skills required for identifying subtle nuclear changes in cells that often comprise <5% of the sputum slide. Subsequent studies suggested that molecular assays could be used to enhance the predictive value of sputum samples. Mutations within the K-ras gene have been detected in sputum specimens collected prior to tumor resection; identical microsatellite alterations have been detected in primary tumors and corresponding sputum samples. However, the known methods to detect both alterations lack sensitivity, and the overall prevalence of these changes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is less than 25%.
Recently, Drs. James Herman and Stephen Baylin developed a technique, called methylation specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP), to detect the presence of gene-specific promoter methylation in tumor cells. This technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,786,146 to Baylin et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,704 to Herman, et al., the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference. With the MSP approach, it is possible to detect one copy of a specific methylated gene in the background of 1,000 unmethylated gene copies. This approach is useful for detection of specific methylated genes in primary tumors, but has extremely limited utility for detecting gene inactivation in biological fluids such as sputum, plasma, urine, and fecal stool. Evaluating biological fluids is the most noninvasive and economical approach for population-based screening. Because these fluids contain DNA or cells that are mainly normal cells, increased sensitivity of the MSP procedure is essential for detecting the presence of the tumor cells.
Against the foregoing background, the present invention was developed.

Nested methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction cancer detection method


In embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided an approach for performing channel scan by utilizing a target wake time (TWT) mechanism. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a compound AP transmits, to an uplink AP, a request to negotiate a schedule for a TWT session. The compound AP receives a response to the request from the uplink AP. The response comprises timing information of the TWT session. Then, the compound AP performs channel scan during a sleep period determined from the timing information. Data transmission between the compound AP and the uplink AP is disabled during the sleep period. Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an effective way for performing the channel scan, thereby ensuring data delivery and enhancing connection robustness between the compound AP and the uplink AP.

An access point (AP) is a networking device that allows wireless devices such as Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) devices to connect to a network such as Wide Area Network (WAN). Channel scan is a critical function widely used by core features of the AP, for example. Adaptive Radio Management (ARM), Wireless Intrusion Detection System (WIDS). A compound AP supporting both a station mode and an AP mode is faced with an issue that when the channel scan is performed, data frames from an uplink AP cannot be received by the compound AP. A client device (e.g., a cell phone, a computer) which also has the function of channel scan is faced with the same issue.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


Methods, systems, and media for enhancing persistence of a message are disclosed. Embodiments include hardware and/or software for storing of a message in an inbound queue, copying the message to a working queue prior to removing the message from the inbound queue, processing the message base upon the copy in the working queue, and storing a committed reply for the message in an outbound queue. Embodiments may also include a queue manager to persist the message and the committed reply after receipt of the message, to close or substantially close gaps in persistence. Several embodiments include a dispatcher that browses the inbound queue to listen for receipt of messages to process, copy the message to the working queue, and assign the message to a thread to perform processing associated with the message. Further embodiments include persistence functionality in middleware, alleviating the burden of persisting messages from applications like upperware.

Demands on computer systems to perform greater numbers of complex and critical functions has led to the distribution of functions, or portions thereof, to specialized systems. These specialized systems can then be optimized for specific tasks to increase efficiency at the expense of being loosely coupled, which increases the complexities involved with system integration.
For some specialized systems, the complexity of full integration can be infeasible and has been avoided by maintaining redundant data, and applications to process the data. In an engineering company, for example, significant differences exist between systems for accounting and engineering groups. The accounting systems maintain data related to budget, man-hours, pay scales, and taxes, while the engineering systems maintain data related to engineering analyses, materials, designs, man-hours and budget. Although access to data regarding man-hours, budgets, and budgetary projections for the engineering groups by the accounting system is necessary, the costs involved with integrating these systems may be much more than costs involved with maintenance of redundant databases. On the other hand, maintenance of redundant data increases the difficulty associated with ensuring that the data is correct, or updated in a timely manner, and ensuring that processes such as budget projections designed to manipulate the data, do so accurately, especially when databases are revised or differ between various engineering groups or disciplines.
One solution to combat the complexities involved with integration of loosely coupled, specialized systems and the maintenance of redundant databases and processes, is to incorporate a common interface such as a middleware application on each of the specialized systems. The middleware applications, such as IBM's message queuing MQSeries™ and WebSphere™ applications, facilitate messaging systems that allow one system to gather data from another system.
As the messaging systems between the multiple, specialized systems become more prevalent and systems become more dependent upon the communications, system failures become a more critical problem, causing other, linked systems to hang-up or fail. In particular, messages may be lost as a result of a system failure and, for some critical communications, the loss of a message can cause the process that requested data to fail. This problem is exacerbated when an intermediate system is involved with the communications. For example, a workstation may request data associated with a server. The server may generate the data by requesting and processing data from one or more hosts. If the server fails, the original message from the workstation and/or the requests for the hosts may be lost. When the server is restarted, the server may be unable to recover the message and associate the replies from the hosts with the message even though the workstation may still be waiting for the data requested by the original message.
Message persistence is implemented by such systems to attenuate the problems encountered as a result of system failures. Message persistence, or persisting the message, refers to storing the message in a manner that allows the message to be recovered after volatile memory is lost. For instance, a message queue may reside in volatile memory and, as a result of a system failure, the contents of the queue are lost or invalidated. A persisted message for that queue, which is stored in, e.g., non-volatile memory, can then be recovered, allowing the message to be processed. On the other hand, message persistence typically involves a trade-off with response time. In current solutions, upperware applications invoked to process messages may store the message to non-volatile data storage. Messages may be placed in an inbound queue upon acceptance and stored directly to the non-volatile storage after removing the message from the inbound queue. If a system failure occurs while processing the message, the original message can be found in the non-volatile memory and processing can start over. However, persisting the message to non-volatile memory via upperware can increase latencies in response time significantly and leave gaps in the persistence that may allow the message to be lost such as the gap between removing the message from the inbound queue and storing the message in non-volatile memory.

Methods, systems, and media to enhance persistence of a message

International Business Machines Corporation


A memory device includes a memory cell array including normal memory cells and redundant memory cells; first page buffers connected to the normal memory cells through first bit lines including a first bit line group and a second bit line group and arranged in a first area corresponding to the first bit lines in a line in a first direction; and second page buffers connected to the redundant memory cells through second bit lines including a third bit line group and a fourth bit line group and arranged in a second area corresponding to the second bit lines in a line in the first direction, wherein, when at least one normal memory cell connected to the first bit line group is determined as a defective cell, normal memory cells connected to the first bit line group are replaced with redundant memory cells connected to the third bit line group.

Inventive concepts relate to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a memory device for column repair.
Semiconductor memory devices may include many memory cells to store data. When at least one defect occurs in memory cells during mass production/fabrication of memory devices, a defective cell may be repaired, and accordingly, the yield of memory devices may be increased. For the repair of a defective cell, a memory device may separately include a redundant memory cell in a spare area, and may replace the defective cell with the redundant memory cell.
In column repair during the repair of a defective cell, a column line (e.g., a bit line) connected to the defective cell may be replaced with a column line connected to a redundant memory cell. For example, the column repair may be performed by mapping (or converting) a column address, which indicates the column line connected to the defective cell, to or into another column address, which indicates the column line connected to the redundant memory cell.
When at least one memory cell among memory cells connected to a plurality of column lines is determined as a defective cell, memory cells connected to some column lines corresponding to a column repair unit may be replaced with redundant memory cells connected to other column lines. In this case, when the number of column lines corresponding to a column repair unit increases, the number of redundant memory cells required for column repair may also increase. When the number of redundant memory cells increases, the chip area of a memory device may also increase, which may decrease efficiency and/or productivity.


A cover system suitable for windows includes a tape support for maintaining the orientation of the cover and for opening and closing the cover.

This invention relates generally to window cover systems, to window cover drapery systems using various cover materials such as pleated or non-pleated fabrics or slats or blinds and, typically, to vertical cover systems in which the sections of the cover such as the pleats of prepleated material or the blinds or slats are disposed vertically.
The term "window" cover is used here for convenience, but with the understanding that my invention can be used to cover other areas or openings, such as doorways. Also, for convenience frequent reference is made to pleated fabric window cover systems, but this reference is exemplary and not limiting, for as indicated above the invention is applicable to various materials, including non-pleated fabrics and blinds.


A reflective laminated strip includes an aluminum alloy strip having a cleaned and conversion coated outer surface, an adhesive layer adjacent the conversion coated outer surface, and a polymer layer joined to the adhesive layer. An exterior side of the polymer layer is coated with a reflective metal layer that is preferably stainless steel, chromium or aluminum having a thickness of less than about 5000 .ANG..

Shaped strips of stainless steel, stainless steel clad over aluminum, and various polymers combined with reflective metal layers are widely used as decorative trim on automobiles, trucks, boats and other vehicles. This decorative trim must be resistant to chemical attack and must have sufficient mechanical strength to resist denting after it is installed. Prior art steel and polymer based trim materials generally perform adequately but they are expensive. Accordingly, there still remains a need to provide an aluminum alloy based vehicle trim that is less expensive than steel and polymer based trim of the prior art.
The vehicle trim of our invention must be sufficiently reflective that it has substantially mirror-like characteristics, even after it is shaped in a roll-forming die. The term "substantially mirror-like" means that the trim surface has a distinctness of image ("D/I") of at least 80%. The D/I is the sharpness of a reflected image, as measured by the ratio of reflectance at 0.3.degree. from specular to the reflectance at the specular angle. That is, ##EQU1## where D/I=0 for a perfect diffuser and D/I=100% for a perfect mirror. The total reflectance of a surface is irrelevant in a consideration of its D/I.
As used herein, the term "strip" refers to a relatively narrow and thin sheet of an aluminum alloy. The width is about 1-40 cm, preferably about 2-10 cm, and the thickness is about 0.4-3.2 mm, preferably about 0.5-2.5 mm.
Numerous attempts have been made in the prior art to provide reflective metal finishes on the outer surfaces of laminated articles of various shapes for use as vehicle trim. Some prior art patents describing laminated articles having reflective surfaces are Dunning U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,698; Madonia U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,155; Nussbaum U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,349,592 and 4,368,225; Yamamoto U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,762; Yaver U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,657 and Suzuki U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,245. However, there is still a need for vehicle trim strips having a highly reflective surface, light weight and low cost.


An apparatus (10) for recognizing and determining the position of at least one teat cup (401, 402, 403, 404) of at least one teat cup magazine (42, 421, 422). The apparatus (10) emits waves (20) into a region (A) which is expected to contain a teat cup or teat cups (401, 402, 403, 404). The apparatus (10) also includes a detector (260) for detecting reflections of the waves (20). The apparatus (10) also includes a unit (24) for evaluating the reflections in order to determine if the reflections originate from the teat cup or cups (401, 402, 403, 404). Furthermore, the apparatus (10) also includes a unit (26) for determining the position of the teat cup or cups (401, 402, 403, 404) if it is established that the reflections originate from the teat cup (401, 402, 403, 404).

A lot of the steps making up the milking procedure are fully automatic, but not all of them. One of these steps which are not fully automatic, is when the teat cups, e.g. with the aid of a robot arm, are to be fetched from a teat cup magazine. This step needs the attendance by an operator and/or the use of so called historical data about the teat cup magazines.

Method and apparatus for recognizing and determining the position of at least one teat cup


A system and method of providing flexible QoS actions through communication to neighboring network elements of the local QoS actions taken by the local network element. The neighboring network elements may then take into account the QoS actions taken by the local network element when the neighboring network elements are contemplating their own QoS actions to be taken. Thus, a limited range of visibility of QoS actions facilitates subsequent QoS actions taken by the network elements within the limited range of visibility.

While computers are still used for their traditional processing purposes, advances in communication infrastructures and protocols have turned standard computing devices into valuable communication tools. Computers communicate with each other, and with other electronic devices, over networks ranging from local area networks (LANs) to wide reaching global area networks (GANs) such as the Internet. Other electronic devices have experienced similar transformations, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and the like. Today, these wireless devices are being used for a variety of different types of communication. For example, while the analog mobile phone was traditionally used for analog voice communications, the mobile phone of the present and future is a powerful communication tool capable of communicating voice, data, images, video, and other multimedia content. PDAs, once the portable calendaring and organizational tool, now often include network communication capabilities such as e-mail, Internet access, etc. With the integration of wireless and landline network infrastructures, information of all sorts can be conveniently communicated between wireless and landline terminals.
In carrying out such communications between devices, the programs, applications, application instances, and the like (hereinafter "applications") operable on such devices often need to communicate with applications on other devices. For example, an application at the application layer may generate messages that are communicated to lower levels of the software architecture including, e.g., the transport layer, network layer, data link layer, and physical layer, where the encapsulated messages are transmitted over the network to other devices. Messages received at the receiving device move up the software architecture to ultimately provide the original message to an application on the receiving device.
Modern packet data networks, such as Internet Protocol (IP) networks, are in wide use today and they employ such a hierarchical architecture. IP networks are arranged to operate end-to-end between network hosts and corresponding network terminals, where IP routers supply, for example, data packet forwarding functionality. Exemplary transport protocols implemented within the transport layer include: User Datagram Protocol (UDP), which allows a connectionless datagram service where connection setup is not needed or when overhead should be reduced; and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) that allows connection-oriented reliable delivery with congestion control and retransmission for data recovery.
Congestion in a network is loosely defined as a condition where demand for resources, e.g., bandwidth, Central Processing Unit (CPU) time, or memory, exceeds capacity. Congestion control aims to alleviate the problems caused by congestion, where congestion control may be divided to two parts: congestion avoidance; and congestion recovery. Congestion avoidance tries to prevent demand from exceeding capacity, while congestion recovery tries to restore an operative state. It is possible for network entities, such as IP routers, network hosts and network terminals, to contribute to both of these mechanisms. When a network entity, such as an IP router, receives a packet beyond its storage capacity, it must implement a data reduction algorithm in order to prevent data overflow, while maintaining adherence to the applicable Quality of Service (QoS) policy that may be in force. In order to achieve the varying QoS levels enforced by the IP network, the IP router may utilize data packet queues to facilitate, for example: packet drop; packet transfer delay; prioritized packet transmission; or data packet modification and data packet repack.
One example of a QoS network is based upon the Differentiated Services (DiffServ) framework that has been standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The basic idea of DiffServ networks is that ingress data packets receive stamps called DiffServ codepoints at the point of ingress, or at the edge of the DiffServ network. IP routers that subsequently come into contact with the data packet then base their handling of the data packet upon the value of the DiffServ codepoint. For example, if there is a high enough level of congestion in the IP router, then the IP router can start to drop packets with low enough priority classes in accordance with the associated DiffServ codepoint. This QoS handling of the data packet, however, is performed locally by each individual IP router, based upon the initial DiffServ codepoint, without consideration for QoS actions taken by neighboring IP routers.
Voice over IP (VoIP) calls, or video streaming, is one example of an application that may be adversely affected by such localized handling of data packets. Normally, this kind of application can handle data interruptions, such as packet loss or delayed packets, if they are separated in time. Upon such a data interruption, the applications, e.g., audio codecs, may employ data replay, for example, of the last successfully received data packet. In many cases, the data replay results in little, if any, data interruption detection by the user. If, however, the QoS related actions to the same connection occur consecutively, or too frequently, then the application will likely fail due to an intolerable decrease in QoS caused by the consecutive data loss.
Additionally, if other IP routers in the forwarding path select the same data connection for QoS actions, then a possibility exists that the cumulative QoS actions of the daisy chained IP routers will adversely affect the final QoS of the affected connection path. Thus, from an end-to-end (e2e) point of view, the receiving application is still the recipient of excessively delayed, or even dropped, data packets. QoS methods employing the end-to-end (e2e) methodology, e.g., Integrated Services, have been implemented to alleviate problems associated with the local QoS operations. The e2e QoS methods developed by the IETF, however, require heavy control, signalling, and management functions to be implemented within the IP routers and thus have not enjoyed widespread use due to their excessive processing requirements.
It would, therefore, be desirable to implement a QoS solution that provides an expanded view of the cumulative QoS operations being performed on a particular data connection, while decreasing the amount of processing required of the e2e QoS methods. The present invention provides a solution to these and other problems of the prior art, and provides many advantages over prior art QoS methodologies.

System and method for facilitating flexible quality of service


The embodiment of the present application provides a data processing method, wherein the data processing method is applied to a display panel comprising pixels arranged in an M×N array, the method comprising: obtaining voltage data corresponding to pixels of n adjacent columns in the ith row determining, based on stored voltage data corresponding to pixels of n adjacent columns in (m−1) rows previous to the ith row, whether voltage data corresponding to a pixel in the ith row and jth column is abnormal; performing a filtering process on the voltage data corresponding to the pixel in the ith row and jth column if the voltage data corresponding to the pixel in the ith row and jth column is abnormal, such that a difference between a threshold voltage after the filtering process and an actual threshold voltage is less than or equal to a first threshold difference.

Organic Light-Emitting Diode ("OLED") displays are one of current hotspots in the search field of panel displays. As compared with Liquid Crystal Displays ("LCDs"), OLED displays are advantageous for its low energy consumption, low production cost, self-luminance, wide viewing angle and rapid response speed. At present, in display fields of mobile phones, tablet computers, digital cameras and the like, OLED displays have started to replace traditional LCD displays.
Different from LCDs that control brightness using a stable voltage, OLEDs are driven by a current, so a stable current is required to control the luminance thereof. Generally, OLED displays output the current to OLEDs by drive transistors in a pixel driving circuit in each of pixels so as to drive the OLEDs to emit light. Due to inconsistency in electrical characteristics of the drive transistors in the OLED display, there is a difference in brightness among the pixel units. In order to solve the technical problem of inconsistency in brightness caused by the inconsistency in the electrical characteristics of the drive transistors, an external compensation method is proposed in the prior art, which detects a source voltage of a drive transistor corresponding to each of the pixel units and generates a corrected drive voltage in order to ensure consistency in contents displayed by the OLED display.

Data processing method and apparatus, computer-readable medium thereof

Hefei Xinsheng Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


A screw rotor for use in a hydraulic machine which has a pair of rotors engageable with each other to compress fluid, pump fluid or expand fluid, and a method of manufacturing such a screw rotor. The screw rotor comprises a shaft, a screw body including a number of stacked thin plates bonded with one another, and a cavity provided in the screw body and formed by openings of the stacked thin plates. The method of manufacturing a screw rotor comprises the steps of preparing a number of thin plates having at least one opening, stacking the thin plates in such a manner that a through hole of the thin plate receives a shaft, filling a cavity formed by the openings of the stacked thin plates with powdery pressure medium, and bonding the stacked thin plates with one another by diffusion bonding under a hot isostatic pressing process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a screw rotor and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly to a screw rotor for use in a hydraulic machine which has a pair of rotors engageable with each other to compress fluid, pump fluid or expand fluid, and a method of manufacturing such a screw rotor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has been known a screw type of hydraulic machine in which a pair of screw rotors comprising a female rotor and a male rotor are engaged with each other and rotated in a casing, whereby fluid confined in cavities defined between outer surfaces of the screw rotors and an inner surface of the casing is transferred in an axial direction from one end of the screw rotors to the other end thereof, thus compressing fluid or pumping fluid.
In a screw rotor for use in a supercharger of an automobile or a compressor of an aircraft, there has been a strong requirement for reducing weight and moment of inertia thereof. To meet this requirement, there has been proposed a hollow screw rotor in, for example, Laid-Open utility model publication No. 63-198401. The hollow screw rotor disclosed in Laid-Open utility model publication No. 63-198401 is formed by a drawing process, an extruding process or a investment casting.
However, the screw rotor manufactured by the drawing process or the extruding process has the following drawbacks:
(1) It is impossible to manufacture a screw rotor having a large helix angle. PA1 (2) A screw rotor having a uniform helix angle and which is accurate cannot be formed. PA1 (3) A screw rotor having a uniform thickness cannot be manufactured, which results in a deterioration of a dynamic balance. PA1 (4) A screw rotor having small rounded corners or sharp corners on outer and inner surfaces thereof cannot be configured. PA1 (5) A screw rotor having a thin thickness cannot be manufactured, thus failing to reduce weight and moment of inertia of the screw rotor. PA1 (6) The material to be used for a screw rotor is restricted because malleability is indispensable for the material.
On the other hand, the screw rotor manufactured by the investment casting is also problematic in that it is expensive in a manufacturing cost and is not suitable for mass production because of its difficulty of removing sand from a product.

Screw rotor comprising a plurality of thin plates


An apparatus and a method relieve intercell interference in a wireless communication system. In a method for operating a transmission node, a first private message encoding a portion of transmission data of a neighbor transmission node is received. Weight for canceling the first private message of the neighbor transmission node received in a intended reception node is determined. The first private message of the neighbor transmission node multiplied by the weight, a common message encoding a portion of data to be transmitted to the intended reception node, and a second private message encoding the rest of the data are transmitted.

In a wireless communication system, a base station (BS) provides a wireless access to terminals located inside a predetermined physical area, and an area covered by each base station is called a cell. Generally, one terminal receives a Radio Frequency (RF) signal from one base station and accordingly, a signal from other base stations acts as interference. This problem may be a cause of more serious performance deterioration in cells of a narrower radius such as a micro cell, a femto cell, a pico cell, etc. recently suggested for providing even more improved performance and capacity.
As a technology for relieving an intercell interference, an interference align technique, a rate divide technique, an interference neutralize technique, etc. have been suggested. In the interference align technique, a transmission end transmits information using a half dimension, allowing a signal to be received in another reception end, which is not a intended reception end, in an interference align dimension, and allowing a signal to be received in the intended reception end in the other half dimension which is not the interference align dimension. The rate divide technique denotes a method of dividing a message into partial messages of two kinds and transmitting them. The interference neutralize technique is a technique of adding, a signal that may remove a signal acting as an interference to a signal transmitted by a transmission end to cancel the interference signal.
The interference align technique has an advantage of obtaining its signal in perfection with respect to a half dimension without an interference but the other half dimension is not utilized, so that a loss in the given dimension occurs. Also, since all of interference information is thrown away, a characteristic by the size of an interference channel cannot be utilized. Accordingly, in the case where intensity of a signal is small, large performance deterioration may be caused. In addition, there is a limitation that all transmission ends should know all of interference channel information related to other transmission ends in order to perforin the interference align technique. Since the rate divide technique may decode a portion of interference, a higher performance than the conventional art may be obtained under a limited power circumstance. In case of a cooperative model where information exchange between transmission ends exists, an additional supplement for improving performance is needed. The interference neutralize technique has an advantage of utilizing all of given entire dimension compared to the interference align technique which may not utilize a half dimension. However, a problem of a power loss for interference neutralization exists.
Therefore, an alternative for solving a disadvantage while maintaining an advantage by supplementing the above-described techniques is needed.

Apparatus and method for relieving interference in wireless communication system


A substrate processing method includes supplying processing gas from a plurality of gas holes formed along a longitudinal direction of an injector, which extends in a vertical direction along an inner wall surface of a processing container and is rotatable around a rotational axis extending in the vertical direction, to perform a predetermined process on a substrate accommodated in the processing container. The predetermined process includes a plurality of operations, and a supply direction of the processing gas is changed by rotating the injector in accordance with the operations.

There has been known a batch-type substrate processing apparatus capable of performing a film-forming process on a plurality of substrates in the state in which the plurality of substrates is held in multiple stages in a substrate holder in a processing container.
This batch-type substrate processing apparatus has a structure in which a gas flow passage is formed in the side wall of the processing container and a horizontal portion of an L-shaped injector is inserted into the processing-container side of the gas flow passage, so that the injector is fixed to the processing container. In addition, in a vertical portion of the injector, a plurality of gas ejection portions is provided along the direction (vertical direction) in which the substrates are stacked.

Substrate processing method and substrate processing apparatus


An electronic musical apparatus in which operators for changing pages on a musical instrument function-related screen and history pages on a Web screen are shared, so that those pages can be changed using similar operating systems to improve the userfriendliness. A display controller 38 is operable when the Web screen is displayed by the display 19, to change the history pages of the Web screen forward in terms of time in response to operation of a Next switch 47, and the display controller 38 is operable when the Web screen is displayed by the display 19, to change the history pages of the Web screen backward in terms of time in response to operation of a Back switch 48.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic musical apparatus which has a Web (World Wide Web) browser function and causes a display to display a musical instrument function-related screen (hereinafter also referred to as "musical instrument function-related page") and a Web screen (hereinafter also referred to as "Web page") which is obtained via a communication network, as well as a program for controlling the electronic musical apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as disclosed in e.g. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-328770, an electronic musical apparatus such as an electronic musical instrument has been known which causes a display section such as a liquid crystal display to display a "musical instrument function-related screen" such as a setting/selecting screen, which consists of a plurality of pages and is related to musical instrument functions (the first prior art). In this electronic musical apparatus, in the case where a musical instrument function-related page such as a tone color selecting screen and a song data selecting screen cannot be displayed on one screen, due to a large number of tone colors and a large number of song data, the musical instrument function-related page is divided into a plurality of pages according to e.g. tone color groups, and any of tabs attached to the respective pages is selected to display a desired page so that a specific tone color or others can be selected on the displayed page.
Also, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2003-255934, an electronic musical apparatus has been known which has a Web browser program for connecting to a communication network such as the Internet so that Web pages can be browsed (the second prior art).
This electronic musical apparatus is configured such that the Web browser program generates a display image for displaying a browser function-related screen based on image data received from a Web site, and causes a display controller such as a display driver to display the generated display image on a display.
When the Web browser program performs image generation, the CPU of the electronic musical apparatus operates. Due to requirements for e.g. cost reduction, the CPU of the electronic musical apparatus generally has a lower processing capability and a smaller memory capacity as compared with the CPU of a personal computer, for example.
Also, a Web browser used in e.g. a personal computer usually has a so-called history function of storing a history comprised of a plurality of Web pages which have been visited via e.g. the Internet so that the Web pages visited in the past can be easily accessed again. History pages to be displayed can be usually changed using "Back" and "Next" buttons.
The electronic musical apparatus according to the first prior art, however, has the problem that when the musical instrument function-related pages and the Web pages are selectively displayed using the same display screen, if musical instrument function-related pages and history pages of Web pages are changed using different operators, the user has to learn how to operate each operator.
By the way, it is ordinarily configured such that musical instrument function-related pages are sequentially changed in two directions such as the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, and history pages of Web pages are changed forward ("Next") and backward ("Back") in terms of time. The musical instrument function-related pages and the history pages are changed using operating systems which are conceptionally similar to each other, and hence there is room for improvement in realizing an apparatus with improved userfriendliness by making it easier for the user to learn how to operate the apparatus.
On the other hand, the electronic musical apparatus according to the second prior art has the problem that the speed at which the browser-function related screen is displayed is not high since the CPU has a relatively low processing capability as mentioned above.

Electronic musical apparatus and program for controlling the same


A method and apparatus for the downhole disposal of the water component of production fluid while using gas lift techniques to lift the hydrocarbon component to the surface is disclosed. Separation of the hydrocarbon component and the water component takes place downhole by gravity in an annulus formed between the well casing and a tubing string. The water component may be disposed of or utilized to carry out a water-flood of either overlying or underlying subterranean formations. As a result, the lifting, handling and disposal of the water component of the production fluid on the surface is minimized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to a method and apparatus for the downhole disposal or injection of water in a well using natural gas supply. In particular the present invention uses pressurized gas to operate both a downhole pump used for injection and lift the desired petroleum portion and some water of the produced fluid to the surface.
2. Background
Many hydrocarbon and natural gas producing wells generate water from the same subterranean formation that produce the hydrocarbon and gas. In typical practice, the production fluid, a mixture of both hydrocarbon and water, is pumped or "lifted" to the surface. The water is separated from the hydrocarbon at the surface and the water subsequently treated and disposed of on the surface or reinjected back into a suitable disposal formation.
In wells having sufficient underground pressure within the producing formation, the production fluid is lifted "naturally" and the principle operating cost of the well is the disposal of the water in an environmentally conscious manner. However, there are a significant number of wells in which the underground pressure is not sufficient to lift the production fluid to the surface without pumping or some other artificial lifting of the fluid. The artificial lift may be provided by downhole pumps which require either mechanical (e.g. sucker pumps, progressive cavity pumps), electrical (e.g. electric submersible pumps) or hydraulic connections (e.g. hydraulic turbine centrifugal pumps) to the surface. Another technique often used is "gas lifting" in which compressed gas is used to lift the production fluid to the surface. Gas lifting is typically used in situations where the location of the well does not allow for the use of the other pumping techniques due to a lack of space or infrastructure or other factors. Examples of the gas lift technique can be found in several U.S. Patents including U.S. Pat. Nos.: 5,217,067; 4,251,191; 3,718,407; and the references cited therein, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
When the water cut (i.e. percentage of water) of the production fluid is high, the cost of pumping the production fluid to the surface and the disposal of the water makes the well uneconomical to operate. In gas lifting wells, a high water cut makes the well uneconomical or even impossible to operate because of the operating cost, and the cost and space needed for the equipment required to recover the hydrocarbon and dispose of the water. It such cases it may also be desirable to create downhole water floods, conserve supply gas on the surface, reduce the impact of hydrocarbon production on the environment as well as other benefits that will be apparent to one of skill in the art.
Methods for the downhole disposal of the water contained in production fluid have been recently developed to reduce the cost of operating high water cut hydrocarbon wells. One such method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,153 in which a cyclone separator is placed downhole to separate the hydrocarbon and water components of the production fluid. The hydrocarbon component is lifted to the surface either naturally or by a mechanical, electrical or hydraulic downhole pump. A second downhole pump is used to dispose of the water component in an underlying porous formation. In order to drive the dual downhole pumps some sort of mechanical, electrical or hydraulic connection to the surface is required. Further, in order for the cyclone separator to be effective, the water cut is limited to 80%. In addition to the capital cost and maintenance required for operation, the size of the existing well casing string may prevent the installation of downhole pumps. Thus, if the well is to remain productive, a new hole must be drilled and a larger casing installed.
Another method for the downhole disposal of the water component of the production fluid is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,832. In the described method, the upstroke of a sucker rod pump is used to lift a fluid mixture of primarily hydrocarbon to the surface. The downstroke of the sucker rod pump is used to inject the remaining water component into a disposal formation.
Using present technology, the use of downhole water separation and disposal in a high water cut well requires a connection from the surface--be it mechanical (e.g. sucker rod or rotating rod string), electrical (e.g. cables) or hydraulic (e.g. hydraulic fluid lines), or other conventional methods geared to use existing infrastructure to drive the downhole pump system. As noted above, gas lift wells are often located in places were the cost and space for such support infrastructure is prohibitive. For example, there are many coastal water hydrocarbon platforms were space is very limited and the provision of electrical power is not possible. When the water cut from these gas lift wells becomes too high, they are either capped and abandoned or idled for production at a later date.

Downhole disposal of well produced water using pressurized gas


Resin compositions comprising (A) a polyester, (B) a flame retardant, (C) an antimony compound, and (D) a filler selected from the group comprising magnesium silicate and mixtures of magnesium silicate with calcium metasilicate are disclosed. The disclosed compositions exhibit superior heat resistance, flame retardance, arc resistance and tracking resistance.

Non-crystalline plastics such as polycarbonates, polyphenylene ethers and ABS resins have inadequate heat resistance, chemical resistance and arc resistance. On the other hand, crystalline plastics such as polyesters and polyolefins do by themselves have sufficient arc resistance and tracking resistance, but their flame retardance and heat resistance are inadequate. In polyesters, it is known that sufficient flame retardance and heat resistance can be obtained by the addition of fillers such as halogen-antimony flame retardants and glass fibers. However, a notable decrease in the arc resistance and the tracking resistance can be observed as side effects of these additives.
The object of the present invention is to provide a polyester resin composition having a good arc resistance and tracking resistance, as well as a sufficient heat resistance and flame retardance.

Reinforced flame-retardant polyester resin compositions


A semiconductor device includes: a substrate; a line formed on the substrate; and a crystalline semiconductor film containing silicon connected to the line. The crystalline semiconductor film is crystallized by annealing where a constituting material of the line functions as a catalyst.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, such as a thin film transistor, which is appropriately used in a liquid crystal display, an image sensor, a solar cell, etc. The present invention also relates to a method for producing the same and to a method for producing a liquid crystal display apparatus utilizing such a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, when producing a liquid crystal display, an image sensor and the like, there is a need for producing a semiconductor device such as a thin film transistor on a transparent insulating substrate so that the driving circuit, which is to be externally mounted in prior art, is mounted on the same substrate as the liquid display, the image sensor, etc. Accordingly, various production techniques are being developed.
For example, when producing a thin film transistor (TFT) on a substrate, a production method including the step of implanting impurity ions to a semiconductor film which becomes a device formation region (active region) while using the gate electrode as a mask, thereby self-aligningly forming an n-type or p-type source/drain region, is useful because a channel length of the TFT to be formed can readily be shortened for higher levels of performance. Accordingly, its development is in progress.
In order to realize lower production cost, it is preferable to use an inexpensive glass plate as a substrate. For that purpose, it is necessary that the process temperature typically be about 600xc2x0 C. (preferably about 500xc2x0 C. or less) when heat resistivity of the glass substrate is under consideration. However, it is difficult to form a silicon semiconductor film of excellent quality at such a low temperature.
For example, if a polycrystalline silicon semiconductor film is to be formed at a low temperature of about 600xc2x0 C. or less, it is generally preferable that an amorphous silicon semiconductor film is first grown on a substrate. Then, the amorphous silicon semiconductor film is annealed for crystallization (solid-phase growth) so as to obtain the polycrystalline silicon semiconductor film. The reason is that the polycrystalline silicon semiconductor film having a large crystalline granular radius and excellent characteristics can be obtained.
However, in order to have the crystallization mentioned in the above process, it is generally necessary to perform annealing at about 600xc2x0 C. for about 12 hours (preferably for about 24 hours). Heat treatment for longer hours is also required for a semiconductor device having higher field effect mobility or higher reliability.
However, longer hours of annealing results in a low throughput. Moreover, if annealing is performed at high annealing temperature for long hours, then the glass substrate may experience irreversible thermal contraction or warping. In order to resolve this situation, it is necessary to cope with two problems, one of which is to lower the annealing temperature and the other of which is to shorten the processing hours.
Described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-244103 as one of the solutions to the above-mentioned problem is a method where, by using a catalyst such as nickel (Ni) or the like, the crystallization of the amorphous silicon semiconductor film is performed at a temperature lower than the typical crystallization temperature. However, it is also described in the publication that the Ni atoms (catalyst) themselves are not desirable in the silicon film which is present as a semiconductor material. For this reason, in order to guarantee high quality of the crystalline silicon semiconductor film and high performance of the semiconductor device such as TFT which is formed of such a crystalline silicon semiconductor film, it is necessary to remove the Ni atoms (catalyst) which were added and used in the crystallization step.
Alternatively, in the case where such step of removing the catalyst element is not performed, it is necessary to control a concentration of catalyst element to be introduced to such a degree that the concentration is sufficient for prompting the crystallization of the amorphous silicon semiconductor film and, at the same time, the catalyst element which remains in the crystalline silicon semiconductor film does not have a negative effect on the characteristics of the crystalline silicon semiconductor film. However, the concentration of the catalyst element satisfying such requirements is typically very small. Accordingly, it is extremely difficult to realize the step of introducing the catalyst element while accurately controlling its concentration.
In addition to the above-described problem, in order to lower the production cost for a liquid crystal display or the like, it is strongly desired that the number of masks for photolithography needed during production be reduced, thereby simplifying the production steps. If the number of masks is reduced, then the production steps are simplified and a throughput and a production yield improve, thereby greatly reducing the production cost. However, the production method described in the conventional art requires more number of masks than generally needed, and therefore the above-mentioned objective, i.e., the simplification of the production steps, becomes difficult to achieve.
The semiconductor device of this invention includes a substrate; a line formed on said substrate; and a crystalline semiconductor film containing silicon connected to said line; wherein said crystalline semiconductor film is crystallized by annealing where a constituting material of said line functions as a catalyst.
In one embodiment of the invention, the device further includes an insulating film formed on said line, wherein said crystalline semiconductor film is connected to said line through a contact hole formed in said insulating film.
In another embodiment of the invention, the line is formed of a single layer film or of a multi-layer film made of a constituting material containing at least one material selected from the group consisting of nickel, iron, cobalt and platinum.
According to another aspect of the invention, a thin film transistor is provided. The thin film transistor includes a substrate; a line formed on said substrate; a crystalline semiconductor film containing silicon connected to said line; a gate insulating film formed on said crystalline semiconductor film; and a gate electrode formed on said gate insulating film; wherein said crystalline semiconductor film is crystallized by annealing where a constituting material of said line functions as a catalyst.
In one embodiment of the invention, the thin film transistor includes an insulating film formed on said line, wherein said crystalline semiconductor film is connected to said line through a contact hole formed in said insulating film.
In another embodiment of the invention, said crystalline semiconductor film includes a source region and a drain region; and said source region and said drain region are selectively doped with a group III element or a group V element as an impurity.
In still another embodiment of the invention, said impurity is doped self-aligningly with said gate electrode being used as a mask.
In still another embodiment, the thin film transistor further includes a shielding film formed on said substrate in the same step as for said line.
In still another embodiment, said line is formed of a single layer film or of a multi-layer film made of a constituting material containing at least one material selected from the group consisting of nickel, iron, cobalt and platinum.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a liquid crystal display apparatus is provided. The divide includes one of the above thin film transistors.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a method for producing a thin film transistor is provided. The method includes the steps of: forming a line on a substrate; forming a semiconductor film containing silicon and including an amorphous portion so as to be connected to said line; performing annealing for crystallizing said semiconductor film including said amorphous portion with a constituting material of said line being used as a catalyst, so as to obtain a crystalline semiconductor film containing silicon; forming a gate insulating film on said crystalline semiconductor film; and forming a gate electrode on said gate insulating film.
In one embodiment of the invention, the method further comprising: forming an insulating film on said line; and forming a contact hole in said insulating film, and connecting said crystalline semiconductor film to said line through said contact hole.
In another embodiment of the invention, the method further comprising the step of selectively doping a predetermined region of said crystalline semiconductor film with a group III element or a group V element as an impurity so as to form a source region and a drain region.
In still another embodiment of the invention, said impurity is doped self-aligningly with said gate electrode being used as a mask.
In still another embodiment of the invention, a shielding film is further formed on said substrate in the step of forming said line.
In still another embodiment of the invention, a process temperature for the annealing for crystallization is lower than the crystallization temperature for amorphous silicon by about 20xc2x0 C. to about 150xc2x0 C.
In still another embodiment of the invention, the line is formed of a single layer film or of a multi-layer film made of a constituting material containing at least one material selected from the group consisting of nickel, iron, cobalt and platinum.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a method for producing a liquid crystal display apparatus is provided. The method includes one of the methods for producing thin film transistors cited above.
Thus, the invention described herein makes possible the advantages of (1) providing a semiconductor device or a thin film transistor having excellent mass producibility and low production cost, yet having excellent operational characteristics, and a method for producing the same, and of (2) a liquid crystal display apparatus using such devices and having low production cost yet having high display definition, and a method for producing the same.
Hereinafter, the functions of the present invention will be described.
Because of the above-described structure, the semiconductor device or the thin film transistor according to the present invention can be readily produced in a fewer number of production steps. For example, the number of photolithographic masks needed for the production becomes small.
Furthermore, because of the lines formed of a single layer film or a multi-layer film made of a material containing at least one of nickel, iron, cobalt and platinum, the crystallization proceeds with the above-mentioned material functioning as a catalyst, starting with the portion which is in contact with the lines, and the semiconductor film having excellent crystallinity can be obtained in the annealing for the crystallization of the silicon-containing semiconductor film including amorphous portion. Accordingly, as described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-244103, the silicon-containing semiconduct or film having excellent crystallinity can be obtained by annealing at a temperature lower than the typical crystallization temperature for amorphous silicon by about 20xc2x0 C. to about 150xc2x0 C. If the annealing temperature can be lowered, then an inexpensive glass substrate having low heat resistance can be used.
Furthermore, in the above-described structure, the catalyst material for the crystallization also serves as a constituting material of the lines. Therefore, not like the case where a thin film for introducing the catalyst element is provided, it is not necessary to perform the step for removing the portion including the catalyst after the production of the semiconductor apparatus or the thin film transistor. Accordingly, the production steps can be simplified. Moreover, fine control of the concentration of introduced catalyst is not required, and excellent uniformity of devices to be formed as well as excellent repeatability can be achieved. The device is thus suited for mass production.
The bulk resistivities for nickel, iron, cobalt and platinum are about 7.2 xcexcxcexa9xc2x7cm, about 9.8 xcexcxcexa9xc2x7cm, about 6.4 xcexcxcexa9xc2x7cm and about 10.6 xcexcxcexa9xc2x7cm, respectively. These values are lower than those for Ta (about 15 xcexcxcexa9xc2x7cm) or Cr (about 17 xcexcxcexa9xc2x7cm), which are often used as a material for the lines. Therefore, the low resistivity of lines can be realized.
If the shielding film is simultaneously formed when the lines are formed on the substrate, the thin film transistor having excellent light resistivity can be obtained without increasing the number of production steps.
Furthermore, by using the thin film transistor which has the simple structure as described above as well as the excellent crystallinity and operational characteristics, the liquid crystal display apparatus which has high display definition can be easily and inexpensively obtained.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying figures.

Semiconductor device, thin film transistor and method for producing the same, and liquid crystal display apparatus and method for producing the same