A system and method is disclosed for managing bandwidth in a wireless probe measurement system that may include receiving an indicator at the wireless probe to begin taking measurements of one or more variables, measuring the one or more variables, calculating a set of statistical values at the wireless probe using the measured one or more variables, and transmitting the set of statistical values to a central station.

Data measurement using measurement probes and tools has been a common practice since the advent of measuring tools. The earliest tools, such as sun dials, wind vanes, sextants, and the like, were manually or naturally driven with the data simply written down or remembered. Newer probes include temperature sensors, weather probes, radio frequency (RF) sensors, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, and the like, are now driven by computers and electronics. The modern trend has evolved to using wireless probes for certain types of measurement tasks. Generally, a measurement task that may be targeted in stationary, remote locations or events that may be tracked across a wide area are all good candidates to use wireless measurement probes. For example, probes measuring wireless communication networks, traffic patterns, pollution levels, environmental conditions, and the like, are each have use for a remote probe that sends its measurements over the airwaves. This process generally relieves the cost to place human resources in the field and also allows for probes to be placed in extreme areas that may not typically be accessible or inviting to humans. By using a wireless probe, there is no need to run cabling to the remote location, which both relieves the costs involved for the cabling, but also may diminish the impact on the environment.
One of the problems with wireless probes, however, is the data bandwidth limitations of the wireless networks. Most measurement probes are capable of taking measurements at a rate well in excess of the rate at which the measured data can be transmitted over the wireless network. This data throughput mismatch creates a problem in getting the measured information to the processing point. Either data will have to be dropped or will have to be saved. Current solutions for mobile-type wireless probes generally involve the probe attached to a large storage facility, such as a large hard disk, or other type of storage. While this allows for a large amount of data to be measured and used in analysis, the measured data needs to be downloaded from the storage at the processing center before any processing may be done. Other solutions have involved the use of "smart" probes, which are probes that have a limited amount of embedded processing functionality. These smart probes may be programmed to control the actual measure-taking in some limiting, yet logical, fashion.
Such smart probes may be used to control the measurement process in bandwidth-sensitive ways. For example, if a phenomenon to be measured is really only interesting for a certain period of time, the probe may be programmed to make its measurements only during the times of interest. Similarly, if the phenomenon were only present in certain locations, the probe may be programmed to make measurements only when it is in those zones or locations of interest. Moreover, there may be phenomena that are interesting over a combination of time and location. In these cases, the probe may be programmed to measure only in the interesting times and locations. By strategically limiting the measurement process, the amount of raw data collected may be greatly reduced. However, while these measurement strategies greatly reduce the amount of raw measurement data is collected, the amount of data that may be collected by a probe within the limited zones of interest may still overwhelm any available bandwidth resources.

Bandwidth management in a wireless measurement system using statistical processing of measurement data


The present invention concerns a method for applying a first metal onto a second metal, an isolator or semiconductor substrate by a Diels-Alder reaction, in particular a Diels-Alder reaction with inverse electron demand. The present invention further concerns the binding units L 1960 and F 160.

Recently, the field of printed electronic application, especially the fabrication of electronic devices based on thin film technology, has drawn immense attention and due to this growing interest, a significant progress has been made in the micro fabrication field using a variety of patterning techniques. Assembling of components for molecular electronics, bioelectronics, and plastic electronics requires gentle lithographic techniques which guarantee the structural and functional integrity of the active building blocks. The so far known disruptive techniques such as evaporation of solids, sputtering, or ion etching generate defective structures in an uncontrolled way (1) (2). Soft lithography techniques (3), based on printing with polymer stamps, are gaining importance since they facilitate the transfer of molecular units and inorganic components at gentle conditions. Several printing approaches have been used so far for transferring metal films/electrodes onto various dielectric or semiconducting material substrates (2) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8). All these techniques require strong adhesion between the substrate and the transferred material. In most cases, however, the adhesion of the starting materials is weak and this may affect the performance of the final device.
Another approach to apply a metal material onto a solid is via linker chemistry. However, the binding chemistry of linker molecules to one solid may interfere with the binding chemistry to the second solid or materials on them. Currently used linker molecules do not provide exclusive binding selectivity for the metal to be transferred. These linker molecules suffer under a lack of versatility to chemically integrate functional (bio-) molecules into electrical (sensing) junctions.
Since the prior art methods are not satisfactory, the present inventors recognized an urgent need to provide a method how metals, preferably group Ib metals such as gold (Au) or copper (Cu), adhere strongly to other metal, isolator or semiconductor surfaces (e.g. SiO2). This method should avoid the generation of defective structures as often recognized with the prior art methods, should be fast and easy to perform and provide high yield products.
In this regard, the inventors have recognized that the surface properties of both the substrate and the metal need to be modified by the introduction of functional groups to overcome the barrier of weak adhesion between the solids and to increase the bonding capacity between them. Surface corrugations have to be compensated in order to provide conformal contact between the solids.

Method for applying a first metal onto a second metal, an isolator or semiconductor substrate, and the respective binding units


An improved metal strapping which has tapered ends such that the sharp corners of conventional strapping do not bite in or mar the product being bound by the strapping. The ends can be tapered over a range of 20.degree.-40.degree. with the planar surface of the strapping.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to a novel strapping for packaging and in particular to a strap which has beveled edges.
2. Description of Related Art
Metal strapping has been used for many years for packaging many items such as steel, wood, plastic cardboard and other items. Strapping is placed about the goods and at the ends of the strapping are joined or sealed while under tension so as to hold the items together. For example, strapping is used to hold steel rods or pipes and conventional strapping is formed with sharp corners or edges and when used can cut in and mar the surface of the pipe or steel rods, thus, weakening the item where it is marred by the strapping. One Japanese company may have deburred strapping with an angle of 10 degrees, but this does not give the advantages of the invention which is more effective in application.


A method of monitoring a network with a test device connected to the network includes monitoring a plurality of packets which pass through the test device, comparing a predefined field of each of the plurality of packets to a predefined pattern so as to identify signature packets, evaluating whether the signature packets satisfy a predefined condition, and, if the predefined condition is satisfied, sending a notification to a user. A system implementing the method is provided.

Communication networks are widely used today; the variety of networks includes the Internet, wide-area networks (WANs), local-area networks (LANs), telephony networks, and wireless networks. The importance of network monitoring and testing is growing as well as the requirements for related methods and equipment.
Monitoring devices may be implemented within a network for monitoring communication along such network. The monitoring devices are referred to as "eavesdropping devices" or "passive probes" because they are generally not a party to the communication but are instead monitoring such communication for some reason, such as for performance monitoring of the network, testing, and/or other reasons. Conventional devices for analyzing traffic packets may be attached directly to a monitor port or passive network tap at a switch or element.
Conventional monitoring systems notify an operator after a problem has already occurred, e.g. when traffic along a particular link has ceased. However, the network traffic contains patterns which may help identifying an issue before a customer or service provider become aware of the problem.
Accordingly, there is a need to mitigate the disadvantages of existing systems and methods and to provide a novel method and a system for network monitoring. In particular, a need exists for a system and method which would notify a user about undesirable patterns in the network traffic.

Method and system for network monitoring using signature packets


A trash tank includes a tank body having an open top, a closed bottom, a horizontally extending slot, and a receiving space. A hollow casing is connected detachably to the tank body adjacent to the horizontally extending slot of the tank body. The hollow casing may receive a rolled-up strip of garbage sacks and has a slit which is communicated with the horizontally extending slot of the tank body.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a trash tank, more particularly to a trash tank in which fresh garbage sacks are available when needed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, garbage sacks are disposed in trash tanks in order to protect the trash tanks from being contaminated. When the garbage sack is full and has to be taken out of the trash tank so as to be replaced by a new sack, the new sack is usually not available. This inconveniences the user.


A method of measuring distance between a target and a receiver in a ranging system may comprise transmitting a first pulse at a first time determined by a sampling clock in a receiver, receiving the first pulse, sampling the first pulse at a predetermined amplitude threshold using the sampling clock and determining the time of arrival of the first pulse in terms of a number of periods of the sampling clock after the first pulse was transmitted. This may be repeated for a second pulse and the average times of arrival of the first and second pulses are determined to obtain an averaged estimated time of arrival. The distance between the target and the receiver may be determined by multiplying the averaged estimated time of arrival by the speed of propagation of the transmitted pulses. There is also disclosed an apparatus for measuring distance.

The measurement of the distance between two objects has wide application in fields such as radar systems, indoor/outdoor positioning systems, robot systems, collision avoidance, game playing, and smart home/office arrangements. The distance measurement may be made by measuring the time-of-flight of wave propagation in air (or in another media) such as electromagnetic, light or sound waves. Multiplying the time-of-flight by the speed of the wave propagation enables the distance to be determined. The accuracy of such a distance measurement is therefore dependent on the measurement accuracy of the time-of-arrival (hereinafter referred to as TOA) or the time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) of the incoming signal.
In a modern conventional ranging system, the incoming signal waveform is normally first sampled in the time domain before the TOA is measured. Although the true TOA is a continuous value, the TOA in a discrete system may only conventionally be estimated based on an integral number of sampling intervals ts. If the incoming time of a signal falls between two successive samples, in a simple ranging system the signal may be estimated as either coming at a first sampling time or a second sampling time, or in the middle of the two sampling times. Therefore, the final range estimation error is determined by the size of the sampling step. The ranging accuracy may be improved by increasing the sampling rate (that is, by shortening the sampling step). However, this increases the hardware complexity, as well as the cost and power consumption of the system.
The range between two objects may be measured in many different ways. Conventionally, determining the TOA of electromagnetic, sound and optical waves propagating in air is a common way to measure the distance between objects. As mentioned above, the accuracy of the TOA measurement will determine the accuracy of the final range (distance) measurement. For example, in an RF range measurement system, if the TOA error is 1 ns, the corresponding range error will be 0.30 m.
In many systems, to measure the range accurately, the arrival time of the leading edge of an incoming signal waveform needs to be accurately determined. In a discrete sampling based system, the estimation error of the leading edge is strongly dependent on the sampling step, that is, the time between samples. If the sampling step is reduced, the error will be reduced accordingly. The publication Time Domain Corporation, "PulsON 210™ Reference Design Training", September, 2005 discloses an ultra wideband (UWB) ranging system based on such a method. However, in the described system, a high sampling rate is used which requires an accurate timing system and very high speed circuit implementation.
To detect accurately the leading edge of a waveform, a method is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,977,958 which suggests the use of a high speed multibit analogue-to-digital (AD) sampling method. The slope of the leading edge of a waveform may be obtained from multiple samples of the incoming waveform and the exact threshold-passing time may be calculated. The TOA estimation may be obtained in sub-sampling step accuracy. However, this method requires the speed of the analogue-to-digital converter to be high enough for several samples to be taken in the signal's leading edge and, at the same time, the analogue-to-digital converter requires multibit resolution.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,587,187 B2 discloses a way of using multiple clocks to sample a waveform and find the leading edge thereof. A coarse clock and a fine clock are described. However, the timing system in this method is quite complex.
The above-mentioned conventional methods appear to require complex circuit implementation and the systems to work at a high clock rate. This results in high costs and high power consumption.
Thus there is a need for a system and method which is simple to implement and low in cost and power consumption.

Method and apparatus for measuring distance between a target and a receiver in a ranging system


Methods and systems are provided for separating polarized UV light. In one example, a method may include passing polarized source light through a first prism, the polarized source light including desired light and undesired light, separating the desired light from the fundamental light, and passing the separated desired light through a second prism. The separated desired light which is passed through the second prism may then be further passed through a spatial filter.

Separation of light may desirable for a wide range of applications. For example, separation of light at particular wavelengths may be desirable for spectroscopy and chromatography, among other applications where a light source at a particular wavelength may be desirable, such as curing and research applications, for example. In applications related to spectroscopy and chromatography, pure extraction of light at a desired wavelength may be important for obtaining accurate measurements.
In the application of generating UV light emission from a visible light source using the second harmonic generation (SHG) principle, desired SHG light is approximately collinear with undesired fundamental light, where the fundamental light is residual light at a fundamental wavelength of the visible original pump light source. An intensity of the fundamental light may be several orders of magnitude higher than that of the desired SHG light due to a low SHG conversion efficiency at low irradiance levels, including UV irradiance levels. Such low SHG conversion efficiency at the low irradiance levels makes it difficult to effectively separate the desired SHG light from the undesired fundamental light.
For example, the high intensity of the fundamental light relative to the SHG light may result in diffraction of the fundamental light within a light separating device such as a spatial filter and lead to incomplete separation of the desired SHG light from the fundamental light. It is noted that the desired SHG light may be UV light in one or more examples.
Spectral filters for separation of UV light have traditionally relied upon the use of specialized materials with a high UV transmission and high refractive index contrast to separate UV light. However, the inventors have recognized several issues with such traditional spectral filters for performing UV light separation.
For example, there are few materials that have both a high enough UV transmission and a high enough refractive index contrast to perform UV light separation, and the materials meeting both the high UV transmission and high refractive index requirements for UV light separation are costly. Such costly materials and requirement of sophisticated filter design lead to increased manufacturing costs for spectral filters, especially with regards to traditional high-performance spectral filters for light separation in a deep UV wavelength range (e.g., lower than 300 nm), where a thin film-based filter is often utilized. In some cases, traditional custom filters may cost tens of thousand dollars to design and fabricate.
Moreover, traditional spectral filters filtering light at deep UV wavelength often yield poor results due to a low transmission efficiency of the desired SHG light in a pass band or a low attenuation of the undesired light in the rejection band. For example, some filters may have lower than 20% transmission of the desired UV light and can only reject 99% of undesired fundamental light (e.g., equivalent to having Optical Density of 2, OD2).
Thus, recognizing these above issues, the inventors have developed an approach to separating UV light that achieves high performance polarized UV light extraction via prism refraction and spatial filtering. Via the approach developed by the inventors, highly effective UV light extraction may be achieved with cost savings compared to traditional spectral light filtration.
In one example, the issues described above may be addressed by a method for passing polarized source light through a first prism, the polarized source light including second-harmonic generation (SHG) light and fundamental light, separating the SHG light from the fundamental light, and passing the separated SHG light through a second prism. The SHG light passed through the second prism may then be further passed through a spatial filter in one or more examples to further reduce scattered stray light.
In this way, substantial spatial and spectral separation between desired light (the SHG light) and undesired light (the fundamental light) may be achieved for efficient desired light extraction, while avoiding the use of costly materials. The throughput of SHG light as high as 99.7% and the attenuation of the fundamental light higher than OD8 has been observed.
As one example, optics included in a light separation system may provide polarized source light, the source light comprising desired SHG light and undesired fundamental light. It is noted that the source light may be visible light in one or more examples. The polarized source light may then be directed through the first prism, and the first prism may refract the source light causing some separation of the desired light, such as SHG light, and the undesired light, such as fundamental light. However, the amount of spatial separation created via the first prism may not be sufficient for extraction of the desired light without pollution from the undesired light due to diffraction from the spatial filtering. Thus, the desired light is further passed through a second prism following refraction at the first prism to create further spatial separation from the undesired light. Via the methods and systems developed by the inventors, desired SHG light may be separated from undesired fundamental light in order to enable efficient extraction of the desired SHG light. Moreover, the approach developed by the inventors may be at greatly reduced cost compared to traditional approaches which may have required specialized materials or inefficient gratings.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

Methods and systems for efficient separation of polarized UV light


Various embodiments provide an ability to load documents and access page content associated with documents while the documents are still being loaded. In at least some embodiments, while a document's structure is being processed in the background, individual pages can be requested. The same can be said for individual documents that comprise a part of a package that contains multiple documents. In at least some embodiments, multiple threads are utilized to enable a document's structure to be built and to enable a user to access portions of the document while the document is being built or loaded.

In many scenarios, electronic documents may have a large number of pages. When a user wishes to load a document and access individual pages of the document, typical scenarios load the entire document before allowing a user to access portions of the document. For small documents this does not constitute much of a problem. However, for larger documents, the overhead associated with loading the entire document prior to allowing user access can create undesirable delays for the user.


A digital signal communication system is described which can operate in harsh wiring networks. The signal processor includes a transmitter circuit and a receiver circuit for transmitting and receiving data signals over noisy wiring networks, such as household AC power networks. The receiver circuit uses a digital signal detector which detects a signal arrive time and a phase of a detected signal, and normalizes an amplitude of the receive signal. The receiver circuit also uses a digital channel equalizer with an auto step selection and a coefficient-relaxing scheme for convergence in harsh wiring environments.

The present invention relates generally to transceiver circuits and in particular the present invention relates to transceiver circuits that can operate in harsh wiring networks.
A data network is a system that permits individual devices to exchange data with one or more other devices. Data network systems encompass computer networks including a number of computers, printers, or other peripheral equipment linked together. Data networks also include communication with automated control and monitoring equipment, telemetry devices, alarm devices, or the like. Historically the devices of a network have been linked together by dedicated wiring. Dedicated wiring, however, has a number of recognized limitations and drawbacks, including the high cost, delay, inconvenience and in some circumstances complexities of installation in existing buildings, and once installed, the cost and inconvenience of expanding or reconfiguring the system. Alternative approaches have emerged using wireless radio-frequency, infrared transmissions or using the AC power lines as the network communications medium.
In power line data communications the transmitted data is piggybacked onto an existing power line in addition to the electrical AC line current already present for delivering electrical power. Using the power line as the medium for communications is particularly convenient because a power line will always be present to provide power to the various nodes of the network, and this avoids the need to retrofit the work area with dedicated wiring. The power line, however, presents an extremely hostile electrical environment. The transmission of data over interconnecting wires suffers from several noise and attenuation phenomena. Specifically, when an AC power line is used as the transmission medium, this type of system generally exhibits unpredictable transmission characteristics such as extreme attenuation at certain frequencies, phase changes along the transmission route, and notches and discontinuities. The power line characteristics may vary significantly as load conditions on the line vary, e.g., a variety of other loads being added or removed from the current-carrying line. Such loads include industrial machines, the various electrical motors of numerous appliances, light dimmer circuits, heaters and battery chargers. To provide communication on such noisy lines, transceiver circuits can be provided which include complicated synchronization and timing recovery circuitry.
Data communication speeds over power lines are currently limited to approximately 100 to 400 Kbps. For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for a high-speed data transmitter and receiver for communicating over household type power lines and telephone circuits.
In one embodiment, a receiver circuit comprises an external coupling circuit for receiving an analog input signal, an amplifier circuit for amplifying the analog input signal, and an analog filter having an input connection to receive the analog input signal which comprises a data signal and noise signals. The analog filter removes some out-of-band noise from the analog input signal and provides an analog output signal. The receiver circuit further comprises an analog to digital circuit coupled to an output connection of the analog filter to convert the analog output signal to a digital signal, and a signal detector coupled to the analog to digital circuit. The signal detector detects an arrive time of the data signal, and normalizes an output signal from the signal detector based upon a detected maximum amplitude. An equalizer circuit is provided which comprises a recursive filter using variable weight functions which are controlled by a calculated error signal.
In another embodiment, a transceiver circuit comprises a receiver circuit and a transmitter circuit. The receiver circuit comprises an analog filter having an input connection to receive an analog input signal which comprises a data signal and noise signals, an analog to digital circuit coupled to an output connection of the analog filter to convert the analog output signal to a digital signal, a signal detector coupled to the analog to digital circuit, and an equalizer circuit comprising a recursive filter using variable weight functions which are controlled by a calculated error signal. The transmitter circuit comprises a pulse generator circuit, and a spectral shaping filter.

High speed data transceiver in harsh wiring networks


A ceramic diaphragm structure includes a ceramic substrate having at least one window portion, and a thin ceramic diaphragm plate laminated so as to cover the window portion, wherein the ceramic diaphragm structure is unitarily formed so that the thin ceramic diaphragm portion is protruded in the direction opposite to the window portion, and a ceramic connecting layer connects the thin ceramic diaphragm plate to the ceramic substrate. The ceramic diaphragm structure has a high resonance frequency, an enhanced strength, an excellent quality and a high reliability.

The present invention relates to a ceramic diaphragm structure and a method for manufacturing the ceramic diaphragm structure. Particularly, the present invention relates to a ceramic diaphragm structure having a specific configuration of a thin diaphragm portion and a method for manufacturing such a ceramic diaphragm advantageously.
There has conventionally been used a diaphragm structure as a member or the like constituting various kinds of sensors. Attention has recently been paid to the diaphragm structure as a member constituting a piezoelectric/electrostrictive actuator. The diaphragm structure includes a substrate having at least one window portion and a thin diaphragm plate formed of flexible, filmy material covering the window portion. When the diaphragm structure is used as a member constituting a sensor, the diaphragm structure is constituted so that a bending displacement caused by an object to be measured by a diaphragm portion is detected by an appropriate means. When the diaphragm structure is used as a member constituting a piezoelectric/electrostrictive actuator, the diaphragm structure is used under the condition that the diaphragm portion is transformed by a piezoelectric/electrostrictive element, causing a pressure in a hollow portion formed inside the diaphragm structure.
Such a diaphragm structure is produced by unitarily combining a substraite with a filmy member which gives a diaphragm. In view of a reliability, thermal resistance, anti-corrosive ability and the like, it was considered to constitute such a diaphragm structure by unitarily firing a ceramic. The present inventors have disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open 63-292032 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open 5-49270 a pressure detecting apparatus or a piczoelectric/electrostrictive actuator, in which a ceramic diaphragm structure obtained by unitarily firing was used.
Such a ceramic diaphragm structure is generally obtained by firing a unitary laminate composed of (1) a ceramic green substrate having a predetermined configuration and a window portion and (2) a thin ceramic green sheet covering the window portion. However, the present inventors found that there are some problems during a unitary firing operation that a diaphragm portion, which is formed of a ceramic green sheet and positioned on the window portion of the ceramic green substrate, deforms into a depressed shape (The shape that a diaphragm portion protrudes in the opposite direction of the window portion is a protruded shape.) or has cracks. Such a depression or a crack in the diaphragm portion hinders a function or an operation of the diaphragm and makes the reliability of the diaphragm deteriorate.
Additionally, in the case of such a ceramic diaphragm structure, it is usually tried to make a diaphragm portion plane. However, in such a plane diaphragm portion, there are some problems. It is difficult to increase the resonance frequency and to thin the portion because the strength is not satisfactory. Further, an electrode film or a piezoelectric/electrostrictive film formed on the surface cannot be satisfactorily sintered.
Therefore, the present inventors have previously disclosed a thin ceramic diaphragm structure having a high reliability in Japanese Patent Application 6-122733. The diaphragm structure is free from a depression, a crack, or the like in a diaphragm portion, and a resonance frequency of the diaphragm can be increased. Further, the diaphragm structure is excellent in strength, and various films formed on the surface of the diaphragm portion can be satisfactorily sintered without being hindered.
The ceramic diaphragm structure was produced by controlling a difference of sintering speed and a firing shrinkage rate between a ceramic green substrate and a thin ceramic green sheet covering a window portion. However, when a substrate is composed of many structures each having a plurality of window portions, a diaphragm portion sometimes has a depression or has a variance of the height of protrusion.

Method for producing ceramic diaphragm structure


A probe assembly for a gas turbine engine is disclosed. The probe assembly may include a probe, and a fastener to retain the probe within a case of the gas turbine engine, the fastener including a sealing arrangement with a heat shield of the gas turbine engine.

Gas turbine engines typically include a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine, with an annular flow path extending axially through each. Initially, air flows through the compressor where it is compressed or pressurized. The combustor then mixes and ignites the compressed air with fuel, generating hot combustion gases. These hot combustion gases are then directed from the combustor to the turbine where power is extracted from the hot gases by causing blades of the turbine to rotate.
The compressor and turbine sections include multiple rotors and stators configured to enable optimal operation. Gas turbine engines maintain an optimal clearance (distance) between the tips of the rotors and an outside diameter of a gas path within the turbine engine, and thereby provide the conditions necessary to achieve a desired performance.
The gas turbine engine performance is validated, in part, by measuring the blade tip clearance. In order to measure the tip clearance, one or more tip clearance probes are installed in the outer air seal wall of the turbine engine. As the tip clearance probes are incorporated onto the outer air seal of the gas turbine after the outer air seal has been manufactured, it is necessary to operate the outer air seal casing to accommodate the tip clearance probe. The operations to the engine hardware for installation of the tip clearance probe typically involve gaps in the heat shields which cause leak paths, thereby changing the heat transfer and thermal expansion of the inner cases.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a reliable method to seal the gaps between the probes and the heat shields. This invention is directed to solving this need and others.


A knee airbag device includes an airbag module and an airbag door. The airbag module includes a gas generation device that is operated when the knee airbag device is operated, and a knee airbag that is stored in a folded state inside a column cover that covers the rear end portion of a steering column. When the knee airbag receives gas from the gas generation device, the knee airbag is inflated and deployed toward the knee of an occupant. The airbag door, provided in the lower portion of the column cover, is made of a flexible material. When the knee airbag is inflated and deployed, the airbag door is opened toward the knee of the occupant due to an airbag inflation pressure.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a knee airbag device that includes a knee airbag that is inflated and deployed from a column cover for a steering column to restrain the knees of an occupant, when a collision occurs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various knee airbag devices have been proposed to protect the knee portion of an occupant. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-37003 (JP-A-2002-37003) describes a knee airbag device in which an airbag module is disposed inside a column cover for a steering column. In the knee airbag device, a tear portion formed in the column cover is torn by an airbag inflation pressure, and thus, an airbag door is opened. A knee airbag is inflated and deployed from an opening formed by opening the airbag door, to restrain the knees of the occupant.
However, in the above-described knee airbag device, because the column cover is made of a relatively rigid resin material, the airbag door may strongly press the knees of the occupant when the knee airbag is inflated and deployed. Accordingly, in view of this, the above-described knee airbag device needs to be improved.


An electrical connector system uses two electrical connector housings and two mating electrical connectors. The electrical connector housings are disposed on a support plate in an end to end relation and spaced apart by a distance smaller than twice the distance from the electrical connector housing to the fastener holding the connector to the connector housing. The fasteners are carried by and engaged with a retainer bar that further engages the connectors to pull the connectors into the connector housings and retain them in connection relationship, ensuring reliability of the connection.

Leaf type electrical connectors are well known in the connector art and typically are mounted onto a base having threaded holes formed therein on each end of the connector housing. The threaded holes accommodate threaded fasteners attached to or incorporated into one portion of the connector which pull the connector on a cable into and maintain reliable, continuous contact between the electrical contacts of connector housing and the electrical contacts of the connector.
Alternatively, some connector housings are provided with wire or "spring" type latches which may be pulled up and engaged with complementary engaging surfaces on the electrical connector to insure that the electrical connector remains reliably attached to the electrical connector housing. The actual electrical connection is made by a male member supporting a plurality of leaf connectors or contacts on typically two sides of the male member, which then is inserted into a complementarily shaped female member containing similar electrical leaf contacts to engage with the contacts on the male member. After plugging the two elements together, the electrical connector housing assembly is engaged by the threaded retaining fastener extending through the support member of a leaf electrical connector and the fastener tightened to hold the two elements together. Alternatively, a spring latch may be used instead of the threaded fastener to maintain reliable electrical contact between the electrical connector and the electrical connector housing.
In some environments, space is extremely constrained and it is still necessary to provide a plurality of such connectors and connector housings of standard size, typically adjacent to each other, but which also consume scarce or non-existent space. Due to these space constraints in some instances, two such connectors and connector housings may not be positioned adjacent to each other and still be positioned within the confines of the allocated space. One alternative is to reduce the size of the connectors and connector housings and, therefore, the size of the contact leafs. This approach may require non-standard devices and threatens the reliability of the connectors and the resultant connection and, therefore, is not desirable.
Where the space constraints are rigid, there is no effective alternative such as increasing the allocated space for the connector. More efficient use of the limited space becomes the alternative. The more efficient use of the available space requires alternatives to the prior art techniques and devices.

Electrical connector system with connector retainer

International Business Machines Corporation


A silver-platinum alloy formulated to provide improved tarnish resistance and hardness as compared to sterling silver. The alloy can be incorporated in various jewelry, flatware, and like articles. The alloy generally includes silver and platinum, with silver being the predominant component. In certain applications, the alloy includes about 90–95.5% silver and about 0.5–6% platinum. A small amount of gallium can also be added to the composition to provide ease of manufacture of the alloy. The resulting alloy has the favorable properties afforded by sterling silver, but also has brighter surface finish, greater tarnish resistance and increased hardness as compared to traditional sterling silver.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to metal alloys, and more particularly relates to compositions of certain silver-platinum alloys for use in jewelry and flatware manufacturing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sterling silver is widely used in the fabrication of jewelry and flatware. It is a metal alloy having a composition typically consisting of at least 92.5% pure silver and about 7.5% copper. Sterling silver is usually provided to jewelry manufacturers in the form of pellet-like shots. The shots can be melted and cast into desired forms using conventional investment casting techniques. Sterling silver is a preferred material for jewelry and flatware largely because silver provides certain desirable properties to the final product, including surface whiteness, malleability, strength, and durability while copper provides other desired properties, such as increased material hardness.
However, one disadvantage associated with sterling silver is that it tends to tarnish easily. It is generally understood that the copper components in the sterling silver alloy tend to react with oxygen to form copper oxide, which typically shows as a darkened area or tarnish in the cast article. Thus, the amount of copper present in the sterling silver alloy can greatly affect the amount of tarnish or blemish appearing on the finished product. In some cases, copper oxide is formed when the sterling silver is still in pellet form, which in turn can cause the tarnish to extend deep into the article during casting and not be easily removed by polishing. In such circumstances, the cast article would have to be scrapped, converted into the elemental metals and then re-alloyed. In view of the foregoing, it will be appreciated that there is a need for an improved silver-based alloy which provides the advantages afforded by sterling silver and yet also has greater tarnish resistance, surface brightness, and increased hardness when compared to sterling silver.

Silver-platinum alloy and methods of manufacturing same

American Bullion Investment Company, Inc.


A swivel connector includes a rotor that is rotatably coupled with a housing stem. In some embodiments a bearing cup is rotatably coupled at one end with an exterior surface of the rotor and anchored at an opposite end with the housing stem. An O-ring seal is positioned between the housing stem and the exterior surface of the rotor. In other embodiments, the bearing cup is rotatably coupled at one end with an exterior surface of the housing stem and anchored at an opposite end with the rotor. In such embodiments an O-ring seal is positioned between the rotor and the exterior surface of the housing stem. A bearing assembly residing within a raceway that is defined by flat surfaces on each of: the rotor, the housing stem, and an interior bearing wall within the bearing cup.

Reels are commonly used to wind fluid delivery lines, such as hoses, that are used in a number of operations that involve fluid handling. Examples of the type of fluids that may need to he handled include water, lubricants, solvents, coolants, and various gases. The reels used in such operations typically employ the use of a swivel for connecting a fluid supply line to the fluid service line, which is wound around the reel. The swivel allows for the winding and unwinding of the service line, not only for ease in using and storing the service line, but also to prevent damage to the same.
Reels are typically supported on axles that further serve as a means to allow the rotation of the reel by the user. While the reel is rotating, the axle is kept in a stationary position. Similarly, the fluid source line, which extends from a fluid source such as a water faucet, must be kept in a stationary position to prevent the twisting or damaging of the line. The swivel allows the connection between the stationary fluid source line and the rotating fluid service line. However, current swivel connectors are either a complex assembly of intricate parts, which increase associated costs and maintenance issues, or made from inferior designs that are limited in use and require frequent repair. Leaking swivels has become a common problem in the hose and reel industry, ranking among the top complaints by users of inferior designs.
In many prior art swivel designs, the rotor and housing rotate with respect to one another in a less than accurate fashion. Frequently, there is a fair amount of concentric play between the rotor and the housing, which is a significant contributor to leaks. In an attempt to provide a swivel that does not leak, various prior art designs increase the pressure on the O-ring seals within the swivel assembly. One problem with this design approach, however, is that the increased pressure on the O-rings also increases the torque required to rotate the swivel. This oftentimes causes premature wear on the O-rings, which can shorten the life of the swivel and cause premature leaking; the very condition the design sought to avoid. Moreover, such increased torque in prior designs can cause the user's hose to kink.
Prior swivel designs are also difficult to assemble. Conventional designs typically include an interrupting feature in the bearing raceway, such as a bearing opening that is cross-drilled into the raceway. Such a design makes it more difficult to assemble, which will cause an end user trouble when it is time to replace a failed O-ring seal. This may happen routinely, increasing the operational costs to the user. With prior art designs, this is a fairly complicated repair in the field and may cause more problems than it resolves.
Another design shortcoming with the bearing raceways of prior swivel designs is the level of operational friction generated by the raceways during use. Conventional raceway designs are mostly circular in cross-section and sized just larger than the diameter of the bearings used therein. Accordingly, each bearing within such a raceway engages the surface of the raceway around an entire circumferential portion of the bearing. When multiplied by several bearings within a single swivel design, the amount of friction becomes significant. Moreover, such designs typically require high precision machining, which increases manufacturing costs and the potential for faulty swivel assemblies.

Swivel connector for a fluid handling system


In some circumstances a generational garbage collector may be made more efficient by “pre-tenuring” objects or directly allocating new objects in an old generation instead of allocating them in the normal fashion in a young generation. A pre-tenuring decision is made by a two step process. In the first step, during a young-generation collection, an execution frequency is determined for each allocation site and sites with the highest execution frequency are selected as candidate sites. In the second step, during a subsequent young-generation collection, the survival rates are determined for the candidate sites. After this, objects allocated from sites with sufficiently high survival rates are allocated directly in the old generation.

This invention relates to automatic reclamation of allocated, but unused memory, or garbage, in a computer system that uses a generational garbage collector and to methods and apparatus for reducing overhead resulting from object pre-tenuring decisions. Modern programming languages like the Java™ programming language or C# allow the use of automatic memory reclamation, or "garbage collection", which relieves programmers of the burden of explicitly freeing, or de-allocating, storage allocated to objects when the objects are no longer used, or reachable, by the application program. Memory reclamation may be carried out by a special-purpose garbage collection algorithm that "collects" memory by locating and identifying as free, dynamically assigned memory (called "heap" memory) that is unused, but has not been explicitly de-allocated. There are many known garbage collection algorithms, including reference counting, mark-sweep, mark-compact and generational garbage collection algorithms. These, and other garbage collection techniques, are described in detail in a book entitled "Garbage Collection, Algorithms for Automatic Dynamic Memory Management" by Richard Jones and Raphael Lins, John Wiley & Sons, 1996.
However, many of the aforementioned garbage collection techniques often lead to long and unpredictable delays because normal application thread processing must be suspended during the garbage collection process and these collectors at least occasionally scan the entire heap memory. For example, many modern applications have large live data sets, sometimes measured in gigabytes. Even on fast modern processors, collecting the entire heap in one atomic operation can take several seconds. Some applications require only minimizing the total garbage collection overhead and may be able to tolerate such delays. Other applications, such as real-time or interactive systems, where non-disruptive behavior is of greatest importance generally cannot use techniques which collect the entire heap in one operation and, thus, cause considerable disruption.
One conventional technique that has been used to reduce these delays is the use of generational garbage collectors that provide performance benefits over non-generational garbage collectors. Generational garbage collectors assume that applications observe a "weak generational" hypothesis, which is that most newly-allocated objects quickly become unreachable or "die". These garbage collectors take advantage of this hypothesis by concentrating garbage collections in an area of the memory heap, called the "young generation," in which all new objects are allocated. Such collections, called "minor" collections, are usually fast because the young generation is typically quite small and most objects in it are expected to be dead. Objects that survive a few minor collections are "promoted" or copied to an area of heap memory called an "old" generation. The old generation is eventually collected by "major" collections, which are typically slower because the old generation is typically larger than the young one. However, since most collections occur in the young generation, the overall delay introduced by garbage collection is reduced.
Pre-tenuring is a technique that identifies objects which are expected to be long-lived and allocates these directly into the old generation heap area. This direct allocation avoids the cost of copying the objects from the young generation to the old generation if the objects are later promoted. In garbage collectors that perform collections by copying objects out of the collected area, called "copying garbage collectors", pre-tenuring also avoids copying the objects during every minor collection.
A decision to pre-tenure an object is generally made at each allocation site for that object. Such an allocation site is a point in the application program code where the object is instantiated, thereby allocating memory space for the object. It is generally known that a particular allocation site tends to allocate objects of similar lifetimes. Thus, several known pre-tenuring methods dynamically decide at which allocation sites objects will be pre-tenured by performing some form of sampling on the allocated objects (at different granularities and using different techniques). The program code at such allocation sites is then modified to allocate the objects directly into the old generation.
One of the disadvantages of all the sampling techniques used by known pre-tenuring techniques is that they impose a small, but non-trivial, constant throughput overhead on the application. The least intrusive conventional techniques typically impose an overhead ranging between three and five percent and, in some applications, such an overhead is wasteful.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for reducing object pre-tenuring overhead in a generational garbage collector


An emulator for use in a multi-process environment for simulating a computer and supporting testing of software, where the emulator detects a first event corresponding to a desired process on the basis of process information; detects a second event corresponding to a desired address on the basis of address information; stores in a memory the output of the first event and sets the output of the first event in the memory, when the desired process is being operated and resets the content in the memory, when a process, which is not desired, is being operated, such that the emulator can detect a final desired event on the basis of both the process information and the address information.

This invention relates to an emulator for multi-processes, more specifically to a device for supporting the testing of software, and in particular to an emulator for multi-processes and an emulation method, which are suitable for the testing of software under a multi-process environment.
In the case where a system, in which a microprocessor of 32 or 16 bits is incorporated, is tested, an in-circuit emulator (hereinbelow called simply emulator) is used often. The in-circuit emulator is described in an article entitled "Real-time emulation of 68000/68010 up to 20 MHz at highest is made possible by using a high speed RAM as a decoder" (in Japanese) published in a journal NIKKEI Electronics, No. 367, (Apr. 22, 1985), pp. 293-315.
It is possible to carry out a test under real use operating environments by connecting an emulator instead of a CPU in a target system.
An outline of the structure and the summary of operation of an emulator will be explained below, referring to FIG. 1. An emulator consists of a main part of emulator 4 and an emulation pod 1. Even if the CPU in the target system 8, which is to be emulated, is changed, it is not necessary to change the main part of the emulator. The emulation pod 1 is replaced in accordance to the CPU in the target system 8. An emulation CPU 3 executes a job in place of the CPU in the target system 8 and should be identical to the CPU in the target system 8. A timing circuit 2 generates a timing signal matching with the CPU 3. The main part of emulator 4 is composed of a control processor 7 controlling the whole emulator, a trace memory 6 storing signals coming from the emulation pod 1 and an event monitor 5 setting, supervising and detecting events.
Operations of such an emulator are to stop the execution of a program, when it proceeds to a certain address and read-out/rewrite the memory content at that time, to stop the execution, when read-out/rewrite data is in accordance with a particular values, and to execute instructions in a program one after another from a certain address, etc.
In an event monitor in an emulator as indicated in FIG. 2, occurrence of an event, which stops the execution of a program, can be defined only by a simple address and in the case where a software in a multi-process is tested, it is independent of which program is in operation.
FIG. 2 indicates an example of the construction of an event monitor effecting generation and supervision of an event in the emulator. Block 51 represents a simple event detector portion.
In the case where it is desired to interrupt the execution of a process (called "break point setting"), the condition for each of registers 37, 39 and 41 is set. A method setting a break point will be described. To define an event which occurs when a certain value is written in a certain address, if it is desired to generate an event, a desired address is set at the address register 37, a desired value is set at the data register 39 and W (Write) is set at the status register 41. Address, data and status information are supplied every moment from the emulation CPU 3 during the execution and they are compared with the values set by three comparators 38, 40 and 42, respectively. These comparators output "1", when they are in accordance with each other. When all of the address, the data and the status are in accordance with the respective values, the output of an AND gate 48 is "1", which indicates the occurrence of an event. Further, the comparators are so constructed that in the case where no conditions are set for the address register 37, the status register 39 or the data register 41, the corresponding comparator outputs "1" .
FIG. 3 is another example of the event monitor. According to this method, sequential events can be defined, that is, it is possible to set the device so as to confirm finally an event occurrence E.sub.F, only when a second event E.sub.2 (called post-event) occurs, after a first event E.sub.1 (called pre-event) has occurred. The event E.sub.1 is generated by an event detecting portion 51S having a structure similar to the simple event detecting portion 51 indicated in FIG. 2. Similarly to the detecting portion 51 the conditions for the event E.sub.1 are set in S registers 31, 33 and 35. The conditions for the event E.sub.2 are set in the simple event detecting portion 51. Here the prefix S means "Sequential" When the conditions for the event E.sub.1 are fulfilled the output of an AND gate 50 is "1"; the S (Set) input of the S event register 43 is "1"; and the E.sub.1 event occurrence is memorized. At this time the output of the S event register 43 is also "1". After that, when the event E.sub.2 occurs at the simple event detecting portion 51, the output of the AND gate 48 is "1". The output of the AND gate 49 is also "1", a sequential event occurs. Here the S event register is an R-S (Reset-Set) flipflop, in which the output is "1", when the S input is "1", this state being kept, until the R input is "1" and the state is reset.
Since, according to the method indicated in FIG. 2, the detection of the event is effected only by a combination of the address, the data and the status in the execution of a single program, if this method were used for a multi-process system as it is, it would give rise to a problem. In a multi-process system a plurality of programs are operated simultaneously (macroscopically). Its address space is indicated in FIG. 4. There are 3 processes A, B and C, each of which has an address space indicated by a thick line. Each of the processes has an independent process space and each of the processes A and C has an address X. The address X of the process A is completely different from the address X of the process C. On the other hand a system space is a space, which is regarded as the same by all the processes and in which a control program (operating system), data shared by different processes, etc. are stored.
It is supposed that, in such a situation, where a plurality of processes are operated, a break point is set at the address X of the process A. According to the method indicated in FIG. 2, since only the address X can be specified, even if the operator is informed of a fact that an event occurs at the address X, the operator cannot know which is operated, the process A or the process C.
According to the method indicated in FIG. 3, since a sequential event can be set, the system can be constructed so as to detect the commencement of a desired process as an event E.sub.1 in the event detecting portion 51S and the address, which should be the desired break point, as an event E.sub.2 in the event detecting portion 51. That is, the address, in which the process identification number of the process, which is currently being operated, is set in the S address register 31 (event detecting portion 51S); desired process identification information is set in the S data register 35; and W (Write) is set in the S status register 33. Additionally by setting address conditions, which defines the break point at the simple event detecting portion 51, it is possible to stop a desired address, when a certain process is operated (i.e. desired process identification information is stored in a particular address). However, there is a problem also in this case. That is, supposing that the event concerning the process identification information is E.sub.1 and the event concerning the break point address is E.sub.2, the desired E.sub.F is confirmed, only when E.sub.2 occurs after E.sub.1. According to the method indicated in FIG. 3, once E.sub.1 occurs, since it is not possible to reset the occurrence of the event E.sub.1 as far as an event monitor 5 is not reset, the following problem takes place.
This problem will be explained again, referring to FIG. 5, which is a diagram indicating mutual relations among the plurality of processes in FIG. 4 in a time series. Now it is supposed that it is desired to set a break point in the address X in the process A. The detecting portion 51S detects the occurrence of event E.sub.1 at t.sub.1, when the process A begins to run. Thereafter, if it is supposed that an execution process is turned over from A to C at t.sub.2 (called process switch) and that the address X occurs at a point of time t.sub.3, according to the method indicated in FIG. 3 an erroneous desired event E.sub.F occurs improperly at t.sub.3.

Multi-process emulator suitable for testing software under multi-process environments


A chain tensioner for a chain saw has a cam member in positive engagement with a flange of a plate attached to the guide bar. Rotation of the cam member forces the guide bar away from a drive sprocket of the chain saw to tension the chain. The cam member is clamped in position to maintain the guide bar in the adjusted position. Flats on the cam member in abutment with the flange resist rotation of the cam member when in the adjusted and clamped position. A slot is provided in the cam member to facilitate rotating the cam to force the guide bar away from the drive sprocket.

A chain saw includes a power head having a drive shaft that drives a sprocket and a guide bar having a peripheral guide edge. The guide bar is mounted relative to the sprocket so that a loop of saw chain is guided in a path from the sprocket onto the guide edge of the bar (a groove in the periphery of the bar). The guide path continues around the nose of the bar in an oval-like pathway that leads back along the opposite side edge of the bar and back onto the sprocket. Because of the forces applied during cutting, the chain is required to tightly fit around the sprocket and guide bar to avoid having the chain jump free of the sprocket and/or bar edge.
Typically the bar is mounted so as to have limited sliding movement toward and away from the sprocket. A screw and nut assembly on the power head controls the sliding movement and a clamping member clamps the relative position of the bar when the desired tension is obtained.
When mounting a chain onto the bar and sprocket, the clamping member is loosened and the screw and nut assembly is manipulated first to allow mounting of the chain and then to tension the chain, at which position the clamping member clamps the bar in that position relative to the sprocket. Unfortunately that is not the end of the tensioning procedure. During operation of the chain saw, the chain develops slack either due to stretching and/or wearing of the components or perhaps due to some slipping of the bar relative to the clamping member. Repeatedly during operation of the chain saw, the operator will have to stop cutting, un-clamp the clamping member, manipulate the screw and nut assembly (typically located on the opposite side of the bar) and re-clamp the clamping member.
As consumer saws have become more and more popular (as compared to professional saws used by loggers), the process of chain tensioning has become more of a problem for the operator. The operator often doesn't remember the process or will attempt manipulation of the screw and nut assembly without releasing the clamping member. This can result in stripping the threads or otherwise damaging the assembly. At the least, the process is seen to be time consuming and a source of frustration to the consumer/operator. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to simplify the chain tensioning procedure to make it safer and more convenient without adding significant cost to the manufacture of the chain saw.


A semiconductor memory device comprises a heater electrode, a phase change portion, and an upper electrode. The phase change portion is connected to the heater electrode in a first direction. The upper electrode has an upper surface, a lower surface and a hole. The hole pierces the upper electrode between the upper and the lower surfaces in the first direction. The hole has an inner wall, which is connected to the phase change portion in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.

This invention relates to a semiconductor memory device and, in particular, to a phase change memory device and to a forming method thereof.
A phase change memory device is disclosed in, for example, US 2005/0185444 A1 or U.S. Pat. No. 6,815,705 B2, these documents being incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
There is a need for a phase change memory device that can effectively supply heat with its phase change portion and can be fabricated easily.

Semiconductor memory device and fabrication method thereof


A circuit for controlling an internal voltage of a semiconductor memory apparatus including a deep power down signal input unit, which receives a deep power down signal indicating that a deep power down mode is starting, and supplies the received signal to a level shifter; and one or more level shifters, each of which performs level shifting from a first voltage to a second voltage or sinks the second voltage to a ground voltage in response to the input of the deep power down signal.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a circuit and method for controlling an internal voltage of a semiconductor memory apparatus, and more particularly, to a circuit and method for controlling an internal voltage of a semiconductor memory apparatus which are capable of reducing a leakage current by sinking the internal voltage of a level shifter to a ground voltage when the semiconductor memory apparatus is in a deep power down mode.
2. Related Art
In general, semiconductor memory apparatuses, such as DRAMs (dynamic random access memories), operate in an active state and in a stand-by state. When the semiconductor memory apparatus is in the active state, circuits inside a chip output data or receive data. On the other hand, when the semiconductor memory apparatus is in the stand-by state, in order to reduce the power consumption of the chip to a minimum, a current is supplied to only the circuits that allow the semiconductor memory apparatus to be transferred to the active state. However, when the semiconductor memory apparatus is kept in the stand-by state for a long time, a current continuously flows through the circuit keeping it enabled, in order to allow the semiconductor memory apparatus to enter the active state, resulting in unnecessary power consumption.
Therefore, in the related art, a method has been used of transferring a semiconductor memory apparatus to a deep power down mode in which, in order to reduce the amount of current flowing in the stand-by state, almost all the current paths of a chip are blocked to reduce a stand-by current to a minimum. In addition, in the deep power down mode, in order to prevent the semiconductor memory apparatus from being unnecessarily operated due to the current remaining in the internal circuits of a chip, all the voltages of the internal circuits, such as an elevated voltage, a core voltage, a bit-line pre-charge voltage, and a substrate bias voltage, are sunk to a ground voltage. As described above, in the deep power down mode, except for a command for instructing the start and end of the deep power down mode, the levels of all data stored in, for example, a memory cell and a register are sunk to the ground voltage.
A level shifter is used between power supplies having different voltage levels in the semiconductor memory apparatus. In particular, since the elevated voltage is the highest voltage of the voltages used in the semiconductor memory apparatus, a level shifter is typically used in a circuit having an external voltage source and an elevated voltage source connected to each other. Therefore, a description will be made below of an example in which the elevated voltage is used as an internal voltage of the semiconductor memory apparatus.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a level shifter according to the related art.
More specifically, FIG. 1 shows a level shifter 10 for converting the external voltage VDD into the elevated voltage VPP in response to the input of a control signal ctrl.
The level shifter 10 is composed of a differential amplifier which uses the elevated voltage VPP and a ground voltage VSS as a power supply voltage and includes four transistors TR1 to TR4 operated in response to the input of the external voltage VDD. In addition, a first inverter IV1 having the elevated voltage VPP applied thereto is provided at an output end of the level shifter 10.
The level shifter 10 operates in response to the input of the control signal ctrl. When the control signal ctrl changes to an enable state and is transmitted to the level shifter 10 as a high-level signal, the fourth transistor TR4 of the level shifter 10 is turned on. At that time, the third transistor TR3 has already been turned on by the external voltage VDD. Since a high-level voltage is applied to a node N1 by the control signal ctrl, a high-level voltage is also applied to the node N2. Therefore, the second transistor TR2 is turned off and the fourth transistor TR4 is turned on, which causes the voltage level of a node N3 to be lowered to the ground voltage VSS. Thereafter, the low-level voltage of the node N3 causes the first transistor TR1 to be turned on, so that the elevated voltage VPP is applied to the node N2.
The low-level voltage applied to the node N3 is inverted into a high-level voltage by the first inverter IV1, and the inverted voltage is output as a signal having the level of the elevated voltage VPP.
At that time, since the voltage level of the node N2 is high, the second transistor TR2 is turned off. Therefore, even when the semiconductor memory level is transferred to the deep power down mode and the generation of the elevated voltage VPP stops, the elevated voltage VPP of the level shifter 10 is not sunk to the ground voltage VSS.
The level shifter 10 does not include a circuit for sinking the elevated voltage VPP to the ground voltage VSS. Level shifters used for various other parts of the semiconductor memory apparatus as well as the level shifter 10 hold a predetermined level of voltage for a long time in the deep power down mode. In the deep power down mode, a leakage current is generated by the circuits whose levels are not immediately sunk to the ground voltage VSS in the deep power down mode.

Circuit and method for controlling internal voltage of semiconductor memory apparatus


An object of the invention is a method for implementing a messaging service between a terminal of a cellular network and a messaging server external to the cellular network. The method comprises receiving a message addressed to said terminal at the messaging server and sending an inquiry from the messaging server to a specific first network element of the cellular network to determine the readiness of said terminal to receive data. The method comprises determining by said first network element the readiness of said terminal to receive data and transmitting a specific first response message from the cellular network to said messaging server in response to said first inquiry. The readiness of said terminal to receive data is indicated in the response message for the purpose of transmitting said message to the terminal. In addition, an object of the invention is a system implementing the method, a messaging server and a network element of a cellular network, as well as computer program products implementing the method.

Wireless communication networks and the Internet network are expanding rapidly and their number of users is increasing. The GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) of the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) provides means for transferring information in packet switched mode in a cellular radio network. GPRS also provides an interface to other packet switched networks, such as the Internet network.
FIG. 1 shows the interconnections of a telecommunication network in a packet switched GPRS service. The main element of the network's infrastructure for providing GPRS services is a GPRS support node. GPRS support nodes are categorised into Serving GPRS Support Nodes SGSN which, in packet switched data transmission, correspond to the Mobile Switching Centers MSC of the GSM network, known in connection with circuit switched data transmission, and Gateway GPRS Support Nodes GGSN. An SGSN is a support node that transmits data packets to a wireless terminal MS (Mobile Station) and receives data packets transmitted by a wireless terminal through a Base Station System BSS, comprising base transceiver stations BTS and base station controllers BSC. In this description, the term wireless terminal MS is used to mean all terminals that communicate over a radio interface. Thus, a computer terminal that communicates through a mobile station or, for example, a radio card attached to the computer will also be referred to as a wireless terminal. The SGSN also maintains GPRS registers (not shown in FIG. 1) that contain information on the location of the wireless terminals that move within its service area. Typically, the SGSN is implemented as a separate network element. The GGSN that communicates with the SGSN provides a connection to and enables co-operation with other networks. Such networks are, for example, another operators GPRS (cellular) network or a private network such as, for example, a company's Intranet network, a public switched packet data network PSPDN such as the Internet or an X.25 network.
For a long time, the user of a computer terminal in communication with the Internet network has had the opportunity to retrieve multimedia components, such as pictures, text, short video clips and audio clips in electronic format, into his computer terminal from a server in the Internet. As data transfer rates increase and the properties of mobile stations improve, an interest in a multimedia messaging service and messaging services in general has now also been awakened in wireless networks. Networks that support packet switched data transmission, such as the GPRS network and 3rd generation mobile communication networks, such as CDMA2000 (Code Division Multiple Access) and WCDMA (Wideband CDMA) are, in particular very well suited for the implementation of multimedia messaging services.
A multimedia messaging service for 3rd generation mobile communication networks has been proposed which will be implemented in a manner similar to the Short Message Service SMS in a GSM network, i.e. substantially in a store-and-forward manner by transferring messages addressed to a wireless terminal, stored in a specific messaging server, to the wireless terminal when it can be contacted. Preferably, the messaging server is located outside the cellular network, for example, in the Internet.
In the following description, a GPRS network will be examined. A wireless terminal "attached" to the GPRS network can transmit and receive data if it has an active PDP-context (PDP=Packet Data Protocol). Activation of the PDP-context may be effected either at the request of the wireless terminal or the network. The PDP-context is activated between the wireless terminal and a GGSN.
The present GPRS specifications support a network-initiated PDP-context activation procedure which can be used to open a data connection before a message is sent to a wireless terminal from a messaging server in a packet data network, such as the Internet. But, according to the GPRS specifications, in order to support the network-intitiated PDP-context activation procedure, the wireless terminal must have a static (permanent) PDP address, for example, a static IP (Internet Protocol) address, which means that the use of dynamic IP addresses in connection with a store-and-forward messaging service would be prevented.
However, from the point of view of cellular network performance, the use of dynamic IP addresses is advisable because in this case a limited number of available IP addresses can be used more effectively than when using static IP addresses. However, dynamic IP addresses can only be used in connection with a messaging service for PDP-contexts where the initiating party was a wireless terminal (wireless terminal initiated PDP-context activation procedure).
The existence of an active PDP-context is only known to the wireless terminal in question, the SGSN serving it and the GGSN with which the PDP-context in question is active. If there is a desire that the messaging service should also operate using dynamic IP addresses, it is necessary to solve the problem of how a messaging server located outside a cellular network can determine whether the wireless terminal to which a message stored in the messaging server is addressed is ready to receive data, i.e. (in the case of a GPRS network) whether the wireless terminal has an active PDP-context with some GGSN.
International patent publication WO 98/19438 presents a solution for implementing a multimedia messaging service in a telecommunication network. The multimedia messaging system presented in WO 98/19438 comprises a multimedia message store, in which a multimedia message addressed to a specific user is stored. The user is provided with an opportunity to communicate the multimedia presentation properties of his terminal device to the multimedia messaging system, which translates said multimedia message either partly or fully, taking into consideration the multimedia presentation properties of the user's terminal stored in a database. After this, the multimedia messaging system sends the multimedia message to the use's terminal. One objective of the invention presented in WO 98/19438 is to provide one common message store, which can be accessed from more than one terminal and network type. WO 98/19438 concentrates almost entirely on the translation of a multimedia message, and it does not identify a problem relating to determining the readiness of a terminal to receive data.


Adaptation objects comprising software extensions for applications of an enterprise system may be developed in a test system. Dependency data for an adaptation object may be generated based on a reference, in the adaptation object, to at least one other adaptation object in the test system. If the adaptation object is assigned to a collection of adaptation objects for export to the enterprise system then checks are performed on the adaptation object based on the dependency data. One check may be for determining whether the at least one other adaptation object is: part of the collection or has already been exported and is unchanged since last being exported. If this check is failed a user interface is provided for: adding a latest version of the at least one adaptation object to the collection; or removing the reference to the at least one other adaptation object from the adaptation object.

With the growth of cloud computing, where remote servers allow for centralized data storage and online access to computer resources, users are adopting enterprise software in the cloud at an accelerating pace. The speed of innovation, ease of consumption, and low total cost of ownership associated with a cloud based enterprise solution will certainly continue to attract more enterprise customers. However, user development of software extensions for enterprise applications in a public cloud-based environment often includes little or no chance to test a software extension developed in a first (test) system just before it is exported to the second (enterprise) system. In standard "on the premises" development environments a quality system may be provided between the first (test) system and the second (enterprise) system in order to conduct meaningful tests in the quality system before importing any software changes to the second system. The lack of meaningful "export/import time" checks for software extensions in the public cloud may result in a high risk for the enterprise system if, for example, a first software extension is based on (and therefore requires) a second software extension and the first software extension is installed on an application of the enterprise system before the second software extension has been imported to the enterprise system. In this situation, the installation of the first software extension will fail and this failure may cause serious harm the enterprise system.

Dependency handling for software extensions


An antenna includes a keypad assembly having a plurality of key buttons, a main antenna unit, and a second antenna unit where a predetermined pattern is formed. The second antenna unit is interposed between components of the keypad assembly. Accordingly, a separate installation space for the antenna radiator is not required in the main board, thus contributing to volume reduction of the terminal. Also, since an installation area corresponding to the total area of the keypad assembly is available, antennas for different bands may be installed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna for a portable terminal, and more particularly, to an antenna for a portable terminal, in which an antenna occupying a relatively large area can be efficiently installed without increasing the volume of the terminal.
2. Background of the Prior Art
With the rapid spread of portable terminals, terminal manufacturers have made an effort to produce slim and lightweight terminals having various functions so as to satisfy users' demands. For example, the user can take a photograph using a small-sized camera module mounted on the terminal and can listen to music using an MP3 player mounted on the terminal. These functions cause the terminal to increase in volume due to the installation of the corresponding devices. Terminal manufacturers have made many efforts to solve these problems and implement various additional functions.
Among the additional functions of the terminal, a near field communication (NFC) technology has become commercialized. Recently, terminals having a 2.4-GHz Bluetooth™ function for NFC have been introduced. Examples of the Bluetooth™ function include data communication between terminals, and wireless communication between an ear microphone and a terminal. To perform the above-described Bluetooth™ function, a Bluetooth™ chip must be mounted on the terminal and a radiator must also be installed in the terminal.
The Bluetooth™ radiator must be separated from an RF radiator used for data transmission and reception. For example, the Bluetooth™ radiator is mounted on an RF board in a Surface Mount Device (SMD) type. A chip antenna and a plate type monopole antenna have been widely used as the Bluetooth™ radiator.
Also, terminals having the NFC function for electronic payment, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) communication, and a card reader function have been introduced. The above-described NFC function must use separate devices, and a separate antenna (other than an antenna radiator for communication) is used for an RF communication with a payment device. To use the above-described NFC function, it is necessary to mount smart Integrated Circuits (ICs), Oscillators (OSCs), and other passive elements on a main board of the terminal. Also, a low-frequency (about 13.56 MHz) antenna radiator for NFC is required. Since the low-frequency antenna radiator is bulky (about 30 mm×50 mm), it has been generally built in a battery pack of the terminal. In addition, since the NFC antenna is bulky, it is installed over an entire rear surface of the battery pack that is a power supply of the terminal. Therefore, an expensive ferrite layer must be used for avoiding the interference between the antenna and the conductive battery cell.
Therefore a separate antenna in addition to an existing antenna for communication, must be installed in the Bluetooth™ antenna or NFC antenna radiator, thus increasing the size of the terminal. Consequently, the conventional antenna does not satisfy the trend toward slim profile, lightweight and multi-function portable terminal.


Secure communication between a keyboard and a component, such as a piece of software running on a computer. A first initial value is known to both the keyboard and the component. The keyboard and the component exchange nonces. The keyboard and the component each compute a second initial value and a third initial value based on the nonces and the first initial value. Both the keyboard and the component perform the same computation, so that the keyboard and the component each have the same second and third initial values. The keyboard encrypts keystrokes destined for the component using CBC-3DES based on the key and the second initial value, and also creates a message authentication code for each keystroke using CBC-3DESMAC based on the key and the third initial value. The component decrypts and verifies the keystrokes using the key and the second and third initial values.

A keyboard communicates user-entered data to an electronic device, such as a computer. When a user presses a key on the keyboard, the keyboard generates data representative of the particular key that was pressed (e.g., the ASCII code for the letter "e"), and this data is received by a component in the computer, such as a device driver. The device driver then presents the data to whatever program running on the computer is currently receiving input (e.g., by placing the data into the input buffer for whichever application program is active).
One problem that arises in using a keyboard to receive data is when the data is sensitive, or otherwise needs to be kept secret. For example, a secure application (or a secure service of an operating system) may ask the user to enter a password, which should not be generally divulged to the public at large. However, the path leading from the keyboard to the software component that will receive the data is not secure, since there are several opportunities to intercept the data. For example, the data will often travel on a bus that is subject to snooping, and will be handled by a device driver that may be subject to tampering (or that the operating system will allow to be replaced with a non-secure device driver that stores and divulges the information that the driver handles). In other words, there are several opportunities to observe or tamper with secret data on its way from the keyboard to its ultimate destination.
In general, it is possible to encrypt data for transmission between two components that are connected by a non-secure channel. However, many encryption techniques cannot easily be applied in the context of a keyboard, due to various factors, such as key management issues, the possibility of replay attacks, and the fact that the relatively small range of data that can be generated by a keyboard would make an ordinary cipher on keyboard communications relatively easy to break if a moderately-sized sample of ciphertext can be intercepted.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a technique that facilitates secure communication with a keyboard.

Secure communication with a keyboard or related device


An organic light-emitting device includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode and at least one organic material layer between the positive electrode and the negative electrode. The at least one organic material layer includes a hole-injecting layer, a hole-transporting layer, an emission layer, an electron-transporting layer, and an electron-injecting layer, and the emission layer includes a host material and a dopant material. In addition, a lifetime enhancement layer including a bipolar compound is positioned between the emission layer and the electron-transporting layer.

1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to organic light-emitting devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) are self-emitting devices that have advantages such as wide viewing angles, excellent (e.g. high) contrast, quick response time, and excellent (e.g. high) brightness, good driving voltage and response speed characteristics, and can provide multicolored images.
A typical OLED has a structure including a first electrode, a hole transport region, an emission layer (EML), an electron transport region, and a second electrode that are sequentially stacked on a substrate. Holes injected from the first electrode move to the EML via the hole transport region, and electrons injected from the second electrode move to the EML via the electron transport region. Carriers (i.e. the holes and the electrons) recombine in the EML to generate excitons. When the excitons drop from an excited state to a ground state, light is emitted.


One embodiment of a foldable and height adjustable playing support for musical instrument that supports an instrument such as a guitar in the playing position while the musician is in the seated position. When in use it supports the instrument's bottom surface with its top instrument supporting surface and its bottom portion, the body contacting surface, rests on the performer's thigh. The support provides the performer various height adjustments to achieve the most comfortable playing position. When not in use it can be flattened to a form that is easy to carry and travel with.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an accessory for a musical instrument and more particularly, but not by way of limitation to, an apparatus for supporting a guitar or like instrument in the manner where the performer is seated and the instrument is held at the proper oblique playing position by resting the underside of the instrument upon the thigh.
2. Prior Art
In the past, a foot stool that elevates ones leg have been used to bring the players leg up, in turn to support the instrument at the desired height. The biggest disadvantage of this technique is that the player's body is positioned in such way that it often leads to back pain, leg cramp or numbness. These conditions will cause discomfort to the player and distract the player from playing or performing. The poor posture may even cause chronicle pain if the foot stool is used for a long period of time.
There has been support apparatus designed for use while the player is in playing position and supports the underside of the instrument to improve the player's posture (patent to Olson U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,492, patent to Diggers et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,062, and patent to Johnson U.S. Pat. No. 6,252,150 B1). The main disadvantage of these apparatuses is that the support is attached to the instrument using attachments such as suction cups. Fine adjustments of the instrument relative to the apparatus are extremely tedious. These supports will not be very useful for instruments with small bottom surface, such as a travel guitar or an electric guitar, since the suction cups will not attach properly. Another disadvantage of these apparatuses is that the attachments may damage the finish of an instrument such as a delicate French polish on a classical guitar.
While there has been other instrument support apparatuses designed for use while the player is in playing position and supports the underside of the instrument without attaching to the instrument such as the Support Cushion for Plucked String Instrument (patent to Proctor U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,993). The main disadvantage of this design is that the cushion height can not be changed, making such cushion difficult to hold or travel with. The lack of height adjustment also does not allow the player to adjust in order to achieve the desired support height. Another disadvantage of this apparatus is that it is attached to the player's leg, therefore will stick out and spoil the appearance when the player bows.
While a variety of instrument support apparatuses have been provided, there has not been a support apparatus that's not attached to the instrument offered for the seated playing position that allows the player to play in a comfortable and desirable position by providing the player the ability to adjust the height of the support between the player's thigh and the underside of the instrument. The subject instrument support apparatus provides the player the choice of a number of heights between the instrument and the player's thigh and reduces the possibility of damaging the instrument surface because it is not attached to the instrument. It can accommodate a greater variety of plucked instrument that could be played in the seated position. It also provides the players the ability to hold and travel with ease because it can be folded to a compact form.

Foldable and height adjustable support for musical instrument used in seated position


The invention concerns a pharmaceutical composition comprising, as active principle, at least a calpain inhibiting substance and at least a substance trapping reactive oxygen species (ROS), and optionally an acceptable pharmaceutical carrier. The invention also concerns a product comprising at least a calpain inhibiting substance and at least a substance trapping reactive oxygen species (ROS), selectively or not, as combination product, the active principle being separate.

Given the potential role of calpains and of ROS's in physiopathology, a composition according to the invention can produce beneficial or favourable effects in the treatment of pathologies where these enzymes and/or these radicular species are involved, and in particular:                inflammatory and immunological diseases such as for example rheumatoid arthritis, pancreatitis, multiple sclerosis, inflammations of the gastro-intestinal system (ulcerative or non-ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease),        cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases including for example arterial hypertension, septic shock, cardiac or cerebral infarctions of ischernic or hemorragic origin, ischemias as well as disorders linked to platelet aggregation,        disorders of the central or peripheral nervous system such as for example neurodegenerative diseases where there can in particular be mentioned cerebral or spinal cord trauma, sub-arachnoid hemorrage, epilepsy, ageing, senile dementia including Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's chorea, Parkinson's disease, peripheral neuropathies,        osteoporosis,        muscular dystrophies, cachexia,        proliferative diseases such as for example atherosclerosis or recurrence of stenosis,        loss of hearing        cataracts,        organ transplants,        auto-immune and viral diseases such as for example lupus, AIDS, parasitic and viral infections, diabetes and its complications, multiple sclerosis,        cancer,        all pathologies characterized by an excessive production of ROS's and or activation of calpains.
In all these pathologies, there is experimental evidence demonstrating the involvement or ROS's (Free Radic. Biol. Med. (1996) 20, 675–705; Antioxid. Health. Dis. (1997) 4 (Handbook of Synthetic Antioxidants), 1–52) as well as the involvement of calpains (Trends Pharmacol. Sci. (1994) 15, 412419; Drug News Perspect (1999) 12, 73–82). As an example, cerebral lesions associated with cerebral infarctions or with experimental cranial traumatism are reduced by antioxidant agents (Acta. Physiol. Scand. (1994) 152, 349–350; J. Cereb. Blood Flow Metabol. (1995) 15, 948–952; J Pharmnacol Exp Ther (1997) 2, 895–904) as well as by calpain inhibitors (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (1996) 93, 3428–33; Stroke, (1998) 29, 152–158; Stroke (1994) 25, 2265–2270). No combination with a therapeutic aim of these two active ingredients, namely a substance inhibiting calpains and a substance which traps reactive oxygen species, has been described in the literature. Moreover, these two active ingredients act synergistically.

Association of calpain inhibitors and reactive oxygen species trapping agents

Societe de Conseils de Recherches et d' 'Applications Scientifiques S.C.R.A.S