A multi-ply paper product wherein the plies are adhesively joined together. One or both of the plies may have embossments protruding towards and contacting the other ply. The plies are adhesively joined, preferably at such embossments. The adhesive is selected from a composition that advantageously provides a minimum wet ply bond strength and a dry ply bond strength which falls within a particularly desired range.

Paper products are well known in everyday life. Paper products are frequently referred to as tissue, and are used for paper toweling, facial tissue, and bath tissue.
Tissue paper products may comprise a single ply, but frequently comprise two or more plies. As used herein, a "ply" refers to a single sheet taken off a forming wire, or the equivalent thereof, and dried without additional fibers being added thereto.
Of course, a ply may be layered with different cellulosic fibers. Layering provides the benefits that a central layer may comprise relatively strong fibers to impart strength to the tissue paper product. Outboard of the central layer may be shorter fibers which impart a soft tactile sensation to the user. Layering may be advantageously accomplished by commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,771, issued Nov. 30, 1976 to Morgan, Jr. et al., which patent is incorporated herein by reference.
Frequently, two or more plies are joined together to make the paper product. Joining multiple plies together provides the advantage that the resulting laminate has a lesser bending modulus than a single ply of equivalent thickness. This provides the benefit that, again, a softer tactile sensation is perceived by the user. Absorbency and caliper are typically improved as well. Furthermore, joining three plies together allows the paper product to have different central and outboard plies in the laminate, to provide strength and softness respectively.
Multi-ply tissue products are typically cellulosic. As used herein, "cellulosic" refers to a paper product comprising at least about fifty weight percent or at least about fifty volume percent cellulosic fibers including, but not limited to, cotton linters, rayon, bagasse, and more preferably wood pulps, such as softwoods (gymnosperms or coniferous) or hardwoods (angiosperms or deciduous), which fibers may be recycled. The balance of the fibers may be synthetic, such as polyolefin or polyester.
Cellulosic plies are frequently joined together by the use of an adhesive. Adhesive joining of cellulosic plies is advantageously described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,776, issued Sep. 1, 1992 to Givens, which patent is incorporated herein by reference.
However, adhesive joining of multiple cellulosic plies in a paper product can, and has, led to unsatisfactory performance. Particularly, paper products used as paper toweling, facial tissue, and bath tissue must have the proper ply bond strength. As used herein, "ply bond strength" refers to the force necessary to separate two adjacent plies from one another as described below.
Frequently tissue paper products, particularly paper toweling, are wetted in use. If the wet ply bond strength is insufficient, the plies separate in use and the paper product is destroyed. While it would seem an easy matter to simply increase the wet ply bond strength, the dry ply bond strength is directly coupled to the wet ply bond strength. In the prior art, as the wet ply bond strength increases to the proper level, the dry ply bond strength becomes too great. When the dry ply bond strength is too great, the softness and absorbency are typically reduced.
Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a multi-ply paper product. It is further an object of this invention to provide a multi-ply paper towel product having adequate wet ply bond strength without having a dry ply bond strength which is too great. Finally it is an object of this invention to provide such a paper product which is cellulosic and has the plies adhesively joined.

Paper product comprising adhesively joined plies


A method of treating a substrate comprises depositing silicon oxycarbide on the substrate and removing the silicon oxycarbide from the substrate. The silicon oxycarbide on the substrate is decarbonized by exposure to an energized oxygen-containing gas that heats the substrate and converts the layer of silicon oxycarbide into a layer of silicon oxide. The silicon oxide is removed by exposure to a plasma of fluorine-containing process gas. Alternatively, the remaining silicon oxide can be removed by a fluorine-containing acidic bath. In yet another version, a plasma of a fluorine-containing gas and an oxygen-containing gas is energized to remove the silicon oxycarbide from the substrate.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to removing silicon oxycarbide from substrates, particularly in the reclaiming of test substrates.
In fabricating electronic devices, various materials may be deposited onto a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer or display, or subsequently etched from the substrate to form features such as vias, dopant regions, and interconnect lines. These materials may include metal-containing materials such as for example, aluminum, copper, tantalum, tungsten, as well as their compounds. Other materials deposited onto substrates include dielectrics such as silicon oxide or silicon nitride, and low-k (low dielectric constant) materials to separate layers of wiring and patterning from each other. These various materials may be deposited using a variety of techniques including sputtering (also referred to as physical vapor deposition or PVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and thermal growth. In addition to depositing materials, other fabrication processes may be performed including doping semiconductor layers with impurities, diffusion, ion implantation, etching, chemical and mechanical polishing (CMP), cleaning, and heat treatments.
In these fabrication processes, test substrates comprising silicon wafers are often used to ensure that the processes are operating within the appropriate specifications. Rather than discard the used test substrates after they have been used to test a particular process, the used test substrates can be reclaimed. The reclamation process typically includes removing a deposited layer or material, and optionally, even removing some of the underlying silicon material so that the remaining silicon material of the test substrate is clean and substantially free of added materials or other contaminants. As a consequence, the reclamation process is intended to restore the test substrate to the same specifications as a new test substrate.
Conventional methods for reclaiming a test substrate include techniques such as, for example, chemical etching, grinding, or polishing. Wet chemical etching generally involves dipping the substrate into acidic or basic baths to remove the unwanted material from a substrate. Dry chemical etching, also known as plasma etching, involves the removal of unwanted material from a substrate through exposure to plasma gases in a vacuum chamber. Grinding and polishing involve the removal of layers of deposited material using grinding media and polishing slurries to flatten and thin out the substrate.
In the reclaiming of test substrates, it is particularly difficult to remove deposited silicon oxycarbide because it has both inorganic and carbon components, comprising, for example, amorphous silicon oxide with high carbon content, and which may comprise other materials, such as nitrogen and hydrogen. Silicon oxycarbide can be used as a low dielectric constant material (silicon oxycarbide) when it has a composition that provides a low dielectric constant (k) of less than about 3.5. Low-k dielectrics reduce the RC delay time in integrated circuits allowing corresponding increases in metal interconnect density, and thus, ever smaller circuitry. Accordingly, the deposition of low-k dielectrics such as silicon oxycarbide is important for the fabrication of ever smaller and finer circuits having feature sizes of less than 90 nm. In these deposition processes, test substrates are used to ensure the deposition of silicon oxycarbide having specified low-k properties on the substrate.
It is desirable to reclaim and reuse the test substrates that are used in testing silicon oxycarbide processes. However, conventional silicon oxycarbide removal processes often fail to suitably remove the material from the test substrates. For instance, silicon oxycarbide materials are often difficult to remove chemically, as the combination of organic and inorganic elements renders the material less reactive to chemical compositions, and such compositions can leave a gummy residue on the substrate. Also, conventional means such as grinding and polishing can cause the substrate to warp from the uneven pressures applied to the substrate. Polishing can also cause excessive scratches on the substrate surface or subsurface lattice damage. Such surface damage undesirably affects subsequent deposition process characteristics of the substrate surface, thereby altering deposition process results. As such, conventionally reclaimed substrates are often only suitable as mechanical-grade testing wafers, for example, for robot testing to evaluate accurate wafer positioning, but may not be suitable as test-grade substrates for evaluating deposition or etching processes. Conventional removal methods can also erode away an excessive amount of the substrate surface, limiting the number of times a test substrate can be reclaimed and re-used, before the substrate has to be disposed. Accordingly, conventional silicon oxycarbide removal techniques often do not provide satisfactory removal of these materials to allow re-use of the test substrates.
It is therefore desirable to remove silicon oxycarbide from a substrate with a process that can remove both the inorganic and carbon components of the silicon oxycarbide material. It is also desirable to have a removable method which does not cause warpage, surface scratches, or sub-surface damage of the substrate. It is further desirable to be able to cost effectively remove the silicon-oxycarbide in a production worthy process.

Removal of silicon oxycarbide from substrates


Optical proximity effects (OPEs) are a well-known phenomenon in photolithography. OPEs result from the structural interaction between the main feature and neighboring features. It has been determined by the present inventors that such structural interactions not only affect the critical dimension of the main feature at the image plane, but also the process latitude of the main feature. Moreover, it has been determined that the variation of the critical dimension as well as the process latitude of the main feature is a direct consequence of light field interference between the main feature and the neighboring features. Depending on the phase of the field produced by the neighboring features, the main feature critical dimension and process latitude can be improved by constructive light field interference, or degraded by destructive light field interference. The phase of the field produced by the neighboring features is dependent on the pitch as well as the illumination angle. For a given illumination, the forbidden pitch region is the location where the field produced by the neighboring features interferes with the field of the main feature destructively. The present invention provides a method for determining and eliminating the forbidden pitch region for any feature size and illumination condition. Moreover, it provides a method for performing illumination design in order to suppress the forbidden pitch phenomena, and for optimal placement of scattering bar assist features.

The term "patterning means" as here employed should be broadly interpreted as referring to means that can be used to endow an incoming radiation beam with a patterned cross-section, corresponding to a pattern that is to be created in a target portion of the substrate; the term "light valve" can also be used in this context. Generally, the said pattern will correspond to a particular functional layer in a device being created in the target portion, such as an integrated circuit or other device (see below). Examples of such patterning means include:                A mask. The concept of a mask is well known in lithography, and it includes mask types such as binary, alternating phase-shift, and attenuated phase-shift, as well as various hybrid mask types. Placement of such a mask in the radiation beam causes selective transmission (in the case of a transmissive mask) or reflection (in the case of a reflective mask) of the radiation impinging on the mask, according to the pattern on the mask. In the case of a mask, the support structure will generally be a mask table, which ensures that the mask can be held at a desired position in the incoming radiation beam, and that it can be moved relative to the beam if so desired.        A programmable mirror array. One example of such a device is a matrix-addressable surface having a viscoelastic control layer and a reflective surface. The basic principle behind such an apparatus is that (for example) addressed areas of the reflective surface reflect incident light as diffracted light, whereas unaddressed areas reflect incident light as undiffracted light. Using an appropriate filter, the said undiffracted light can be filtered out of the reflected beam, leaving only the diffracted light behind; in this manner, the beam becomes patterned according to the addressing pattern of the matrix-addressable surface. An alternative embodiment of a programmable mirror array employs a matrix arrangement of tiny mirrors, each of which can be individually tilted about an axis by applying a suitable localized electric field, or by employing piezoelectric actuation means. Once again, the mirrors are matrix-addressable, such that addressed mirrors will reflect an incoming radiation beam in a different direction to unaddressed mirrors; in this manner, the reflected beam is patterned according to the addressing pattern of the matrix-addressable mirrors. The required matrix addressing can be performed using suitable electronic means. In both of the situations described hereabove, the patterning means can comprise one or more programmable mirror arrays. More information on mirror arrays as here referred to can be gleaned, for example, from U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,296,891 and 5,523,193, and PCT patent applications WO 98/38597 and WO 98/33096, which are incorporated herein by reference. In the case of a programmable mirror array, the said support structure may be embodied as a frame or table, for example, which may be fixed or movable as required.        A programmable LCD array. An example of such a construction is given in U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,872, which is incorporated herein by reference. As above, the support structure in this case may be embodied as a frame or table, for example, which may be fixed or movable as required.
For purposes of simplicity, the rest of this text may, at certain locations, specifically direct itself to examples involving a mask and mask table; however, the general principles discussed in such instances should be seen in the broader context of the patterning means as hereabove set forth.
Lithographic projection apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In such a case, the patterning means may generate a circuit pattern corresponding to an individual layer of the IC, and this pattern can be imaged onto a target portion (e.g. comprising one or more dies) on a substrate (silicon wafer) that has been coated with a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist). In general, a single wafer will contain a whole network of adjacent target portions that are successively irradiated via the projection system, one at a time. In current apparatus, employing patterning by a mask on a mask table, a distinction can be made between two different types of machine. In one type of lithographic projection apparatus, each target portion is irradiated by exposing the entire mask pattern onto the target portion in one go; such an apparatus is commonly referred to as a wafer stepper. In an alternative apparatus—commonly referred to as a step-and-scan apparatus—each target portion is irradiated by progressively scanning the mask pattern under the projection beam in a given reference direction (the "scanning" direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate table parallel or anti-parallel to this direction; since, in general, the projection system will have a magnification factor M (generally<1), the speed V at which the substrate table is scanned will be a factor M times that at which the mask table is scanned. More information with regard to lithographic devices as here described can be gleaned, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,792, incorporated herein by reference.
In a manufacturing process using a lithographic projection apparatus, a pattern (e.g. in a mask) is imaged onto a substrate that is at least partially covered by a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist). Prior to this imaging step, the substrate may undergo various procedures, such as priming, resist coating and a soft bake. After exposure, the substrate may be subjected to other procedures, such as a post-exposure bake (PEB), development, a hard bake and measurement/inspection of the imaged features. This array of procedures is used as a basis to pattern an individual layer of a device, e.g. an IC. Such a patterned layer may then undergo various processes such as etching, ion-implantation (doping), metallization, oxidation, chemo-mechanical polishing, etc., all intended to finish off an individual layer. If several layers are required, then the whole procedure, or a variant thereof, will have to be repeated for each new layer. Eventually, an array of devices will be present on the substrate (wafer). These devices are then separated from one another by a technique such as dicing or sawing, whence the individual devices can be mounted on a carrier, connected to pins, etc. Further information regarding such processes can be obtained, for example, from the book "Microchip Fabrication: A Practical Guide to Semiconductor Processing", Third Edition, by Peter van Zant, McGraw Hill Publishing Co., 1997, ISBN 0-07-067250-4, incorporated herein by reference.
For the sake of simplicity, the projection system may hereinafter be referred to as the "lens"; however, this term should be broadly interpreted as encompassing various types of projection system, including refractive optics, reflective optics, and catadioptric systems, for example. The radiation system may also include components operating according to any of these design types for directing, shaping or controlling the projection beam of radiation, and such components may also be referred to below, collectively or singularly, as a "lens". Further, the lithographic apparatus may be of a type having two or more substrate tables (and/or two or more mask tables). In such "multiple stage" devices the additional tables may be used in parallel, or preparatory steps may be carried out on one or more tables while one or more other tables are being used for exposures. Dual stage lithographic apparatus are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,969,441 and WO 98/40791, incorporated herein by reference.
As semiconductor manufacturing technology is quickly pushing towards the limits of optical lithography, the state-of-the-art processes to date have regularly produced ICs with features exhibiting critical dimensions ("CDs") which are below the exposure wavelength ("λ"). A "critical dimension" of a circuit is defined as the smallest width of a feature or the smallest space between two features. For feature patterns that are designed to be smaller than λ, it has been recognized that the optical proximity effect (OPE) becomes much more severe, and in fact becomes intolerable for leading edge sub-λ production processes.
Optical proximity effects are a well known characteristic of optical projection exposure tools. More specifically, proximity effects occur when very closely spaced circuit patterns are lithographically transferred to a resist layer on a wafer. The light waves of the closely spaced circuit features interact, thereby distorting the final transferred pattern features. In other words, diffraction causes adjacent features to interact with each other in such a way as to produce pattern dependent variations. The magnitude of the OPE on a given feature depends on the feature's placement on the mask with respect to other features.
One of the primary problems caused by such proximity effects is an undesirable variation in feature CDs. For any leading edge semiconductor process, achieving tight control over the CDs of the features (i.e., circuit elements and interconnects) is typically the primary manufacturing goal, since this has a direct impact on wafer sort yield and speed-binning of the final product.
It has been known that the variations in the CDs of circuit features caused by OPE can be reduced by several methods. One such technique involves adjusting the illumination characteristics of the exposure tool. More specifically, by carefully selecting the ratio of the numerical aperture of the illumination condenser ("NAc") to the numerical aperture of the imaging objective lens ("NAo") (this ratio has been referred to as the partial coherence ratio—σ), the degree of OPE can be manipulated to some extent.
In addition to using relatively incoherent illumination, such as described above, OPE can also be compensated for by "pre-correcting" the mask features. This family of techniques is generally known as optical proximity correction (OPC) techniques.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,770 (the '770 patent), which is hereby incorporated by reference, the method of using scattering bars (SBs) for OPC is described. The '770 patent demonstrates that the SB method is very effective for modifying isolated features so that the features behave as if the features are dense features. In so doing, the depth of focus (DOF) for the isolated features is also improved, thereby significantly increasing process latitude. Scattering bars (also known as intensity leveling bars or assist bars) are correction features (typically non-resolvable by the exposure tool) that are placed next to isolated feature edges on a mask in order to adjust the edge intensity gradients of the isolated edges. Preferably, the adjusted edge intensity gradients of the isolated edges match the edge intensity gradients of the dense feature edges, thereby causing the SB-assisted isolated features to have nearly the same width as densely nested features.
It is generally understood that the process latitude associated with dense structures is better than that associated with isolated structures under conventional illumination for large feature sizes. However, recently, more aggressive illumination schemes such as annular illumination and multipole illumination have been implemented as a means of improving resolution and known OPC techniques have not always had the desired effects with such illumination schemes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of identifying an extreme interaction pitch region, methods of designing mask patterns and manufacturing masks, device manufacturing methods and computer programs


The present invention provides a method, apparatus, and computer implemented instructions for preemptive downloading and highlighting of web pages with terms indirectly associated with user interest keywords. Associative terms are identified and weighted. The weighted associative terms are used to rate Web pages. The Web pages, which have a rating higher than the specified threshold, are selected and presented to the user. Also, Web pages that contain user interest keywords or subject matter keywords from the currently displayed Web page are selected and presented to the user.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to the preemptive downloading and highlighting of Web pages based on determination criteria.
2. Description of Related Art
The Internet, also referred to as an "internetwork", is a set of computer networks, possibly dissimilar, joined together by means of gateways that handle data transfer and the conversion of messages from protocols of the sending network to the protocols used by the receiving network (with packets if necessary). When capitalized, the term "Internet" refers to the collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols.
The Internet has become a cultural fixture as a source of both information and entertainment. Many businesses are creating Internet sites as an integral part of their marketing efforts, informing consumers of the products or services offered by the business or providing other information seeking to engender brand loyalty. Many federal, state, and local government agencies are also employing Internet sites for informational purposes, particularly agencies, which must interact with virtually all segments of society such as the Internal Revenue Service and secretaries of state. Providing informational guides and/or searchable databases of online public records may reduce operating costs. Further, the Internet is becoming increasingly popular as a medium for commercial transactions.
Currently, the most commonly employed method of transferring data over the Internet is to employ the World Wide Web environment, also called simply "the Web". Other Internet resources exist for transferring information, such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and Gopher, but have not achieved the popularity of the Web. In the Web environment, servers and clients effect data transaction using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a known protocol for handling the transfer of various data files (e.g., text, still graphic images, audio, motion video, etc.). The information in various data files is formatted for presentation to a user by a standard page description language, the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). In addition to basic presentation formatting, HTML allows developers to specify "links" to other Web resources identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL is a special syntax identifier defining a communications path to specific information. Each logical block of information accessible to a client, called a "page" or a "Web page", is identified by a URL. The URL provides a universal, consistent method for finding and accessing this information, not necessarily for the user, but mostly for the user's Web "browser". A browser is a program capable of submitting a request for information identified by an identifier, such as, for example, a URL. A user may enter a domain name through a graphical user interface (GUI) for the browser to access a source of content. The domain name is automatically converted to the Internet Protocol (IP) address by a domain name system (DNS), which is a service that translates the symbolic name entered by the user into an IP address by looking up the domain name in a database.
The Internet also is widely used to transfer applications to users using browsers. With respect to commerce on the Web, individual consumers and businesses use the Web to purchase various goods and services. In offering goods and services, some companies offer goods and services solely on the Web while others use the Web to extend their reach. Many sources of information are available on the Web. The demand and need to gather information quickly is increasing as technology advances. Web browsers with the use of various commercial search engines are used to research information on virtually any topic. Web browsers require the user to manually search for any articles or documents of interest. Many Web pages or documents may need to be downloaded before one of interest is found. It can be time consuming and cumbersome to search for multiple Web pages and documents that interest the user. As processor speeds, bandwidths, and desktop computers increase, the development of better and more efficient ways to deliver and filter user pertinent information to the desktop is desired.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method, apparatus, and computer instructions for searching Web pages and document of interest to the user.

Preemptive downloading of web pages with terms associated with user interest keywords

International Business Machines Corporation


The camshaft tends to change in reaction to pulses which it experiences during its normal operation, and it is permitted to change only in a given direction, either to advance or retard, by selectively blocking or permitting the flow of hydraulic fluid, preferably engine oil, through the return lines (194,196) from the recesses (132a, 132b) by controlling the position of a spool (800) within a valve body (798) of a control valve (792) in response to a signal indicative of an engine operating condition from an engine control unit (808). The spool is centered during normal operation when the hydraulic loads acting on its opposed ends by the action of springs (802, 804) that also act on the opposed ends of the spool are in balance. During periods of operation when system pressure is low, a biasing mechanism forces the spool to its full advance position.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,023 describes a VCT system within the field of the invention in which the system hydraulics includes a pair of oppositely acting hydraulic cylinders with appropriate hydraulic flow elements to selectively transfer hydraulic fluid from one of the cylinders to the other, or vice versa, to thereby advance or retard the circumferential position of a camshaft relative to a crankshaft. The control system utilizes a control valve in which the exhaustion of hydraulic fluid from one or another of the oppositely acting cylinders is permitted by moving a spool within the valve one way or another from its centered or null position. The movement of the spool occurs in response to an increase or decrease in control hydraulic pressure, P.sub.c, on one end of the spool and the relationship between the hydraulic force on such end and an oppositely direct mechanical force on the other end which results from a compression spring that acts thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,804 describes an alternate type of VCT system within the field of the invention in which the system hydraulics include a vane having lobes within an enclosed housing which replace the oppositely acting cylinders disclosed by the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,023. The vane is oscillatable with respect to the housing, with appropriate hydraulic flow elements to transfer hydraulic fluid within the housing from one side of a lobe to the other, or vice versa, to thereby oscillate the vane with respect to the housing in one direction or the other, an action which is effective to advance or retard the position of the camshaft relative to the crankshaft. The control system of this VCT system is identical to that divulged in U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,023, using the same type of spool valve responding to the same type of forces acting thereon.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,172,659 and 5,184,578 both address the problems of the aforementioned types of VCT systems created by the attempt to balance the hydraulic force exerted against one end of the spool and the mechanical force exerted against the other end. The improved control system disclosed in both U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,172,659 and 5,184,578 utilizes hydraulic force on both ends of the spool. The hydraulic force on one end results from the directly applied hydraulic fluid from the engine oil gallery at full hydraulic pressure, P.sub.s. The hydraulic force on the other end of the spool results from an hydraulic cylinder or other force multiplier which acts thereon in response to system hydraulic fluid at reduced pressure, P.sub.c, from a PWM solenoid. Because the force at each of the opposed ends of the spool is hydraulic in origin, based on the same hydraulic fluid, changes in pressure or viscosity of the hydraulic fluid will be self-negating, and will not affect the centered or null position of the spool.
In some instances, however, it is desirable to position the spool valve to one side of null at zero or near-zero pressure, for example, when the engine is first started. The engine control unit would then always have the same known quantity, that is, the full advance position of the spool, with which to perform calculations during initial system calibration. In addition, the engine would be designed to start smoothly with the controlled cams fully advanced. The standard DPCS is unable to achieve these ends.
The aforementioned U.S. Patents are all incorporated by reference herein.

VCT system with control valve bias at low pressures and unbiased control at normal operating pressures


An apparatus and method of motion-compensation adaptive deinterlacing. The method includes detecting whether an input image is a still image using information regarding the input image stored in a memory, estimating a motion of a pixel to be interpolated when the input image is not a still image, and interpolating the pixel to be interpolated using one of using pixel values of previous and next fields with respect to a reference field including the pixel to be interpolated when the input image is the still image, the estimated motion information when the input image is not the still image and has no vertical fast motion, and pixel values of the reference field when the input image has a vertical fast motion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an apparatus and method of motion-compensation adaptive deinterlacing, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method of motion-compensation adaptive deinterlacing in which motion adaptive deinterlacing and motion-compensation deinterlacing are combined to convert interlaced video into progressive scan video.
2. Description of the Related Art
The recent development of digital TV technology and large-screen display devices, such as plasma digital panel (PDP) TVs and projection TVs using digital lighting processing (DLP), liquid crystal display (LCD), and liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS), allows users to enjoy high-definition (HD) video. With the wide spread of such digital video devices, an environment where analog video devices, such as traditional TVs, and digital video devices coexist has become commonplace. Thus, processing with respect to conventional analog NTSC (National Television Systems Committee) screens or standard definition (SD) screens is also required. Since conventional analog TV video generally uses interlaced scanning, a resolution or scanning rate should be improved to adapt to an HD screen. To this end, conversion from the interlaced scanning to progressive scanning is effective.
The interlaced scanning and the progressive scanning are classified according to a method of constructing a frame. In the interlaced scanning, each of two fields is composed of odd or even scan lines and a frame is constructed by interlacing the even scan lines from one field between the odd scan lines from the other field. In other words, the odd scan lines are scanned for one field (a top field), the even scan lines are scanned for the other field (a bottom field), and a frame is constructed using the two fields. On the other hand, in the progressive scanning, a frame is constructed by progressively scanning the lines of a video signal. The progressive scanning has less flicker than the interlaced scanning.
Various algorithms have been developed for conversion from the interlaced scanning to the progressive scanning. For example, there are an algorithm that repetitively uses line information of a current field, an algorithm that inserts line information of a previous field, an algorithm that extracts an edge from video information of a current field and performs interpolation along an edge direction of the edge, a motion-adaptive deinterlacing algorithm, and a motion compensation algorithm. Here, deinterlacing refers to a process of converting interlaced video into progressive scan video.
The algorithm that repetitively uses the line information of the current field is often used in the progressive scanning on a computer screen, but may output step pattern images in a diagonal still picture. The algorithm that inserts the line information of the previous field is also mainly used in the progressive scanning on the computer screen, but may output a double image.
FIGS. 1A through 1C are views illustrating conventional algorithms for converting interlaced video into progressive scan video. FIG. 1A is a view illustrating a conventional deinterlacing algorithm using interpolation along an edge direction. FIG. 1B is a view illustrating a conventional motion adaptive deinterlacing algorithm. FIG. 1C is a view illustrating a conventional motion-compensation deinterlacing algorithm.
As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the conventional deinterlacing algorithm using interpolation along the edge direction does not create a pixel through simple linear interpolation, but instead detects the edge direction and performs interpolation along the detected edge direction with respect to a pixel p(x,y). The conventional deinterlacing algorithm of FIG. 1A removes artifacts from final output video using interpolation along the edge direction and can be implemented with simple hardware. However, in the case of a still image, since this algorithm provides an image quality that is inferior to the conventional motion adaptive deinterlacing algorithm or the conventional motion-compensation deinterlacing algorithm, it is usually combined with the conventional motion adaptive deinterlacing algorithm or the conventional motion-compensation deinterlacing algorithm in HD digital TV applications.
Referring to FIG. 1B, the conventional motion adaptive deinterlacing algorithm determines whether a pixel c[t(n−2)] to be interpolated is moving using a plurality of input fields (i.e. first, second, and third fields) and performs interpolation using pixel information a1[t(n−2)], a[t(n−2)], ar[t(n−2)], b1[t(n−2)], b[t(n−2)], and br[t(n−2)] of a previous field if the pixel c[t(n−2)] to be interpolated is static, or using video information a1[t(n)], a[t(n)], ar[t(n)], b1[t(n)], b[t(n)], and br[t(n)] of lines above and below a line including the pixel c[t(n−2)] to be interpolated in a current field if the pixel c[t(n−2)] to be interpolated is moving. The conventional motion adaptive deinterlacing algorithm can be easily configured with hardware and offers a good price/performance ratio. However, when there is a motion in an image, the output image quality of the conventional motion adaptive deinterlacing algorithm is inferior to that of the conventional motion-compensation deinterlacting algorithm. Moreover, since a pixel should be synthesized only using information within a frame, if there is a little motion, it is impossible to take full advantage of given information.
Referring to FIG. 1C, the conventional motion-compensation deinterlacing algorithm extracts motion information D(x,t) according to a searching area SA from a previous field or a next field of a current field including a pixel to be interpolated and performs interpolation in a direction of motion. Since the performance of the motion-compensation deinterlacing algorithm depends on accurate motion detection, the optimal image quality can be assured with accurate motion estimation. However, the actual hardware configuration for extracting motion information is difficult to implement. Moreover, since inaccurate motion estimation directly leads to quality degradation, it is not easy to use the conventional motion-compensation deinterlacing algorithm in actual applications.

Apparatus and method of motion-compensation adaptive deinterlacing


An evenly-lit instrument assembly adapted to be front-mounted in an opening in a vehicle's dashboard is provided. The mounting of the instrument assembly is concealed. The instrument assembly includes a housing and a circuit assembly fitted inside the housing. The circuit assembly controls a pointer. A dial is located above the circuit assembly, and is secured inside of the housing. A light pipe is further included inside the housing and positioned just above the circuit assembly for evenly disbursing light provided by a light-emitting source across the dial.

Instruments have long been used in the transportation industry for providing information to the operator about the status of a vehicle's internal systems. Instruments which measure characteristics such as the amount of fuel in the fuel tank, the number of revolutions per minute of the engine, or the number of miles per hour being traveled are all very commonly used on a variety of vehicles, including boats, cars, trucks, and even construction equipment.
The number of instruments per vehicle varies considerably. The typical vehicle generally includes four instruments, but many vehicles include more. For example, boats and heavy-duty trucks often require as many as ten instruments, owing to the number of engines per vehicle and the variety of information which is of interest to the operator. Whatever their number, each of these instruments must be firmly mounted to the surface of the dashboard to minimize vibration relative to the operator such that the instrument's dial face may be easily read. Traditionally, this mounting has been accomplished by means of a collection of metal brackets which are mounted behind the vehicle's dashboard and which attach to the back of each of the instruments by means of screw terminals and threaded nuts. This method hides the instrument mounting from the operator, which is highly desirable for purposes of aesthetics and instrument longevity. Instrument installation and removal, however, are extremely difficult, because the back of the dashboard is not readily accessible. In fact, it may take an experienced technician in excess of an hour to assemble a single dashboard having multiple instruments. Much of this time is due to the fact that the dashboard must be completely removed from the vehicle in order to access its back side and the mounting mechanisms for the instruments.
An additional consideration when mounting an instrument is the visibility of that instrument to the driver, especially at night. For this purpose, many instruments have some form of light source within themselves which provides light to the dial face. In order to achieve the desired brightness and even distribution of light across the instrument face, current instrument designs typically include incandescent bulbs as the light sources. However, incandescent bulbs burn out as a matter of course and must be replaced over the course of the instrument's life, making it necessary to periodically access the instrument for bulb replacement. This is undesirable not only because of the inconvenience of removing the "rear-mounted" instrument from the dashboard, but also because of the mere inconvenience of having to replace the burned-out bulb in the first place.
It would thus be desirable to have an instrument assembly which can be securely mounted to the front of the dashboard with a hidden mounting mechanism which is easily accessible. Furthermore, it is desirable to have a lighting mechanism in the instrument assembly which evenly distributes light across the face of the instrument and does not need replacement as a matter of course. The present invention is directed at achieving these objectives.

Method and apparatus for mounting an instrument


Vectors expressible in a host that is the rhaBAD promoter region of the L-rhamnose operon operably linked to a transcriptional unit that is:                a) a nucleic acid sequence which is heterologous to the host, and        b) a prokaryotic signal sequence operably linked to the nucleic acid sequence.The prokaryotic signal sequence is selected from signal peptides of periplasmatic binding proteins for sugars, amino acids, vitamins and ions. The expression of the nucleic acid sequence is controlled by the promoter region. The vector is used for the regulated heterologous expression of a nucleic acid sequence in a prokaryotic host. This is an isolated and purified nucleic acid sequence expressible in a host is the promoter region of the L-rhamnose operon. There is a method for producing a polypeptide in a host using the vector.

Many systems have been described for the heterologous expression of nucleic acids encoding e.g. polypeptides such as recombinant proteins in prokaryotic systems. However, most heterologous gene expression systems in prokaryotic host systems have relied exclusively on a limited set of bacterial promoters. The most widely used prokaryotic promoters have included the lactose [lac] (Yanisch-Perron et al., 1985, Gene 33, 103-109), and the tryptophan [trp] (Goeddel et al., 1980, Nature (London) 287, 411-416) promoters, and the hybrid promoters derived from these two [tac and trc] (Brosius, 1984, Gene 27:161-172; Amann and Brosius, 1985, Gene 40, 183-190). Other inducible promoter systems such as the araB promoter inducible by arabinose (WO 86 04356), the rhamnose promoter rhaSB inducible by L-rhamnose (WO 03068956) or the rhamnose promoter rhaBAD inducible by L-rhamnose (WO 2004/050877) have been described as well for the heterologous expression of proteins. WO 2004/050877 describes the use of a rhaBAD promoter for the heterologous expression of nitrilase in E. coli. After induction with L-rhamnose, nitrilase activity in resting-cell assays could be obtained. However, in particular for the expression of complex polypeptides such as antibodies or antibody fragments it is advantageous to export the polypeptide from the cytoplasma to non-cytoplasmic locations (secretion) by using signal sequences, since the overproduction of heterologous proteins in the cytoplasm is often accompanied by the misfolding and segregation into insoluble aggregates (inclusion bodies). However, since the signal sequence can influence secondary and tertiary structure formation in the mature region of secretory polypeptides, the choice of the appropriate signal sequence in combination with an useful promoter is important for high production of functional polypeptides. Thus, there is a need to provide alternative prokaryotic expression systems for the heterologous expression of nucleic acid sequences.


A main processing thread in a handheld computer processes user input messages and e-mail messages. A second thread is created from the main thread. The main thread has a user input queue for user input messages, and the second thread having a notification queue for e-mail notification messages. The user input messages in the user input queue are processed until the user input queue is empty. A notification send ON signal is sent from the main thread to the second thread after the user input queue is empty. The notification send ON signal indicates when the main thread is available to process e-mail notification messages. The main thread retrieves and processes e-mail notification messages sent from the second thread after the notification send ON signal has been sent from the main thread until the user input queue is no longer empty. When the user input queue is no longer empty, a notification send OFF signal is sent from the main thread, and user input messages are processed by the main thread.

This invention relates to a technique for processing messages to improve response by handheld computer to user input. More particularly the invention relates to managing the processing to handle user input and messages received by a handheld computer from a server computer in a manner such that processing of user input is not delayed as perceived by the user.
Handheld computers, such as handheld personal computers or palm-sized computers are now used to communicate with desktop personal computers or server computers to exchange information and records. Typically, the handheld computers are used to handle personal information management functions such as e-mail, calendars, to-do lists, phone or personal contact lists, notes, etc. One of the most active uses is the management of e-mail, particularly by exchanging e-mail between server computer and handheld computer.
Because of the limitations in hardware and software of the handheld computer and some other personal computers, such computers when operating as client computers to a server computer have operative or performance limitations. Some of these performance limitations are particularly visible by the user.
In the handheld computer, E-Mail messages (data notification) have a priority for processing that is higher than the priority assigned to user interface device (keyboard and mouse) messages. In the past, during massive E-mail downloads, the handheld computer would not respond, or be very slow to respond, to user key strokes or mouse commands until the e-mail download was complete. The e-mail download having a higher priority than user input would lock out the processing of user interface commands. From the perspective of the user, the handheld computer appears slow or locked-up. In effect, there is a problem of system lockout or inability of the user to interface with the handheld computer during massive E-Mail message down loads.
In accordance with this invention, the above and other performance problems on small or handheld computers are solved by a method for managing in a main processing thread in a handheld computer user input messages and e-mail messages. A second thread is created from the main thread. The main thread has a user input queue for user input messages, and the second thread has a notification queue for e-mail notification messages. The method then processes the user input messages in the user input queue until the user input queue is empty. A sending step passes a notification send signal from the main thread to the second thread after the user input queue is empty. The notification send signal indicates when the main thread is available to process e-mail notification messages. The main thread retrieves and processes e-mail notification messages sent from the second thread after the notification send signal has been sent from the main thread until the user input queue is no longer empty.
In another aspect of the invention, the invention is implemented as apparatus for preventing a perception to a user of slow processing or system lockout by a client computer due to extended delay in processing a local item while the client computer processes a server-based item. The apparatus has a notification module and a main processing module. The notification module has a server-based item notification queue storing notices of changes in server-based items awaiting processing. A main processing module processes local items and toggles ON/OFF a notification send signal to the notification module. The notification send signal is toggled ON, when all local items have been processed, and is toggled OFF when local items are waiting to be processed. The notification module sends notification messages to the main processing module for processing, when the notification send signal is toggled ON, and stores notices of changes in the notification queue when the notification send signal is toggled OFF.
In another aspect of the invention, the invention is implemented as a computer program storage medium readable by a computing system and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process in a client computer. The computer process manages the priority of handling user input messages and server-based item messages from a server computer. The computer process begins by opening a first thread for processing user input messages and server-based item messages. The first thread has a user input queue for user input messages. A second thread is opened to hold server-based items for processing by the first thread. The second thread has an item queue for server-based item messages. The process continues by retrieving for the first thread the user input messages from the user input queue until the user input queue is empty. A send condition is set to ON when the user input queue is empty and reset to OFF when the user input queue is not empty. The process sends a server-based item message from the item queue in the second thread to the first thread when the send condition is ON. The first thread processes the user input messages from the user input queue and the server-based item messages from the item queue whereby the user input messages are processed before the server-based item messages are processed.
In a further aspect of the invention a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave readable by a computing system encodes a computer program of instructions to execute a computer process for controlling the priority of processing of first and second messages in a client computer. The computer process has an establishing operation, a holding operation, a toggling operation and a processing operation. First and second queues are established for the first and second messages respectively. The second queue holds the second messages until a retrieve condition is toggled ON. The toggling operation toggles the retrieve condition ON and Off depending on whether the first queue is empty or not empty, respectively. The processing operation processes first messages from the first queue and second messages from the second queue depending upon whether the retrieve condition is OFF or ON, respectively.
A more complete appreciation of the present invention and its scope may be obtained from the accompanying drawings, which are briefly described below, and from the following detailed description of presently preferred embodiments of the invention and from the appended claims.

Message processing technique to improve client computer response to user input


A process for making a pervious concrete comprising a geopolymerized pozzolanic ash. Generally, the process includes mixing a solid aggregate and a geopolymerized pozzolanic ash binder together to form a pervious concrete mixture. Some examples of suitable aggregates comprise recycled carpet, recycled cement, and aggregates of coal-combustion byproducts. The geopolymerized pozzolanic ash binder is made by combining a pozzolanic ash, such as fly ash, with a sufficient amount of an alkaline activator and water to initiate a geopolymerization reaction. The activator solution may contain an alkali metal hydroxide, carbonate, silicate, aluminate, or mixtures thereof. In some aspects, the final concrete forms a solid mass in the form of pavement or a pre-cast concrete shape. The solid mass of concrete may have a void content of between about 5% and about 35%.

Fly ash, bark ash, spray dryer ash, bottom ash, bottom slag, boiler slag, and other pozzolanic ashes are typically produced as waste byproducts from certain combustion or chemical processes. Most of these pozzolanic ashes are disposed of in landfills or similar large waste-containment facilities. Increasingly, however, some pozzolanic ashes are being used as a partial replacement for Portland cement in concrete mixtures. By way of example, while Table 1 shows the majority of the 71 million tons of fly ash produced in the United States in 2004 was treated as waste and disposed of in landfills or surface impoundments, Table 1 also shows that approximately 40% of the fly ash was recycled into various applications. Specifically, Table 1 shows that the largest amount of the recycled fly ash was used as a partial replacement for Portland cement in concrete and grout.
TABLE 1Fate of fly ash from coal combustion in the United States in 2004FateMillions of tons%Landfill disposal42.760Concrete/grout14.520Structural fills4.76.6Waste stabilization2.43.4Mining applications1.11.5Raw feed for cement kiln2.33.2Road base/sub-base0.71.0Flowable fill0.81.1Other1.82.5Total71100
Recent goals, set by several fly-ash-producing industries and the federal government, seek for increased use of fly ash (e.g., 50% utilization of fly ash by 2011) and other pozzolanic ashes. However, under certain current methods, concrete requires Portland cement as a cementitious binder and the amount of fly ash that can be used in the concrete is often limited.
One of the main reasons that only a small amount of fly ash is suitable for use as a concrete additive is that fly ash, which contains carbon, may absorb costly air-entraining agents (AEAs), which are added to concrete in order to improve its workability and resistance towards freeze-thaw damage. When carbon absorbs air-entraining agents, the agents become less available to entrain tiny air bubbles in the concrete that give concrete its protection against freeze-thaw conditions. Because the carbon content of fly ash can vary widely depending upon the fuel source and boiler-burn conditions, some fly ashes are better than others for use in concrete.
Where fly ash is used to fabricate concrete, the fly-ash-containing concrete is often made to be impervious to water. As a result, water is often unable to drain through the impervious concrete to replenish the water table, and the water is directed to storm drains or retention ponds. This implies that traditional concrete can increase stormwater runoff. Similarly, because impervious concrete may not allow water to seep directly through it into the ground, such concrete may increase chances of flooding and prevent urban trees and vegetation from having viable rooting space.
In light of the aforementioned discussion, it would be an improvement in the art to provide an environmentally favorable use for pozzolanic ashes, such as fly ash, that would otherwise be disposed of in landfills or in large waste containment facilities. Additionally, it would be an improvement to provide concrete containing pozzolanic ashes, wherein the concrete is pervious to water.

Pervious concrete comprising a geopolymerized pozzolanic ash binder


This invention relates to the treatment of milk and milk products and more particularly to a method of removing antibiotics and animal drugs from milk without substantially changing the composition of the milk comprising the steps of: a) heating milk contaminated with an antibiotic to a temperature sufficient to solubilize fats; b) contacting the milk with a resin for a period of time sufficient to allow the resin to extract antibiotics contained in the milk; and c) collecting the milk.

Dairy cows are susceptible to many diseases such as mastitis, pneumonia, metritis, retained placenta, dystocia, foot rot, and milk fever. Some of these diseases interfere with the cow's ability to produce milk and may require that the cow be isolated and not commercially milked until cured. Untreated, some of these diseases can lead to death. Because of this potential for economic loss, dairy farmers strive to maintain their dairy cows in a healthy state. Also, healthy cows produce more and better quality milk, thus, increasing the dairy farmer's profit. As a result the dairy farmer needs to periodically medicate sick animals to bring them back to health. It is a common and necessary practice to treat lactating dairy cows for a variety of diseases by medicating them with antibiotics such as penicillin, other beta lactams, sulfas, aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, and gentamicin sulfate. Intravenous, intramuscular, and oral administration is common. These antibiotics may also be directly infused into the udder (intramammmary) in order to treat mastitis which is the most common illness in milk cows. These drugs enter the treated cow's bloodstream and also appear in the milk of the treated cow.
Regulatory agencies require that milk be free of animal drug residues because, e.g., penicillin and sulfonamides can cause allergic reactions in sensitive people ranging from skin rashes to severe respiratory problems and anaphylactic shock. About 80% to about 90% of milk contaminated with antibiotics is contaminated with penicillin. Also, exposure to veterinary antibiotics in milk can negatively affect an individual's resistance to antibiotics made for humans and render them less, or totally, ineffective. In addition, some animal drug compounds are suspected carcinogens. For these reasons, plus the fact that consumers prefer to consume "natural" milk, i.e., free of added chemicals, current regulations require that all milk be tested for the presence of animal drugs prior to use.
Animal drugs are normally kept out of the milk sold to processors by isolating the treated cow and disposing of the milk from treated cows for the period of time specified by the drug manufacturer. In spite of these precautions, milk containing antibiotic residues is sometimes unknowingly acquired by milk processors. Some of the major reasons why contaminated milk finds it way to processors are: some cows retain drugs longer than the average isolation period recommended by drug manufacturers, treated cows are not marked or identified, sellers of recently treated cows do not advise the purchaser of the treatment, lack of communication between the individual responsible for treating the cow and the individual responsible for milking, treating the wrong cow, lack of training of treating and milking personnel, and administering multiple drugs in a single treatment. Most milk is purchased and delivered to the processor in bulk loads. Most bulk loads of milk contain multiple sources of milk. Should a dairy farmer accidentally or intentionally misuse a drug while treating a cow, the milk from even one improperly treated cow will contaminate his entire bulk shipment--which in turn will contaminate the entire bulk load to which it is added.
Currently milk containing antibiotics and other animal drug residues cannot be fed to humans or animals. At the present time, milk found to contain animal drugs cannot be reconditioned, blended or used for human consumption. The United States Food and Drug Administraion has stated that it is not aware of any currently acceptable process that can be used to eliminate drug residues in milk and recondition the milk for human consumption. (See Memorandum from the Chief of the Food and Drug Administration Milk Safety Branch dated Nov. 16, 1990 (FDA Policy regarding the disposition of raw milk that contains drug residue). The contaminated milk is generally disposed of by land spreading at zero value. When the processor must dispose of a bulk shipment containing some contaminated milk (because one of the multiple sources has contaminated the entire bulk shipment), the processor must still pay the dairy farmers supplying uncontaminated milk the full value for their milk. This causes the processor significant economic loss. In addition, at certain times of the year government environmental agencies will not permit land disposal of milk contaminated with antibiotics, thus, giving the processor limited, and expensive, disposal options such as storage, treatment at a municipal waste treatment plant, or incineration.
A means to remove the antibiotics is sought to recover the milk for some acceptable use and recover some or all of its economic value. Removal of these drugs will permit utilization of this milk by humans and animals. The need exists, therefore, for a method of removing antibiotics from milk.

Method of removing antibiotics from milk


The present invention relates to a risperidone sustained release delivery system for treatment of medical conditions relating delusional psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, psychotic depression, obsessive-compulsion disorder, Tourette syndrome, and autistic spectrum disorders. The sustained release delivery system includes a flowable composition containing risperidone, a metabolite, or a prodrug thereof and an implant containing risperidone, a metabolite, or a prodrug thereof. The flowable composition may be injected into tissue whereupon it coagulates to become the solid or gel, monolithic implant. The flowable composition includes a biodegradable, thermoplastic polymer, an organic liquid, and risperidone, a metabolite, or a prodrug thereof.

Risperidone (also known as 4-[2-[4-(6-fluorobenzo[d]isoxazol-3-yl)-1-piperidyl]ethyl]-3-methyl-2,6-diazabicyclo[4.4.0]deca-1,3-dien-5-one and marketed under the trade name RISPERDAL®) is an atypical antipsychotic medication. The chemical structure of risperidone is shown in formula (I).

Risperidone is most often used to treat delusional psychosis (including schizophrenia), but risperidone is also used to treat some forms of bipolar disorder, psychotic depression, obsessive-compulsion disorder, and Tourette syndrome. Risperidone is also used in low doses for treating autistic spectrum disorders. Risperidone's therapeutic activity in schizophrenia is believed to be mediated through a combination of dopamine Type 2 (D2) and serotonin Type 2 (5HT2) receptor antagonism.
Currently, the commercial sustained-release product of an atypical psychotic is RISPERDAL® CONSTA® marketed by Janssen, L.P. RISPERDAL® CONSTA® is an intramuscular microsphere formulation and is intended to deliver therapeutic levels of risperidone for two weeks. However, due to the inherent lag phase of most microsphere products, the patient is required to supplement the first 21 days of RISPERDAL® CONSTA® treatment with daily doses of risperidone. Approximately three weeks after a single intramuscular injection of RISPERDAL® CONSTA® and concurrent daily doses of oral risperidone, the microspheres release sufficient risperidone in the systemic circulation that the patient can discontinue supplementation with daily doses of the oral therapy.
The primary limitation of liposomes and microspheres used in sustained-release delivery systems is, typically, the limited amount of drug that can be entrapped in the dosage form. The amount of space available to entrap drug is restricted by the structure of the particulate. Further, the size of the injection is limited by the discomfort of the patient.
Other sustained-release delivery systems such as solid, biodegradable rods, or nondegradable reservoirs typically require surgical implantation. Furthermore, for the nondegradable delivery systems, a second surgical procedure is required to remove the empty reservoir.
There is a continuing need to develop products providing increased bioavailability of risperidone. In particular, there is a need to develop sustained release formulations of risperidone that do not suffer from low bioavailability, poor release kinetics, injection site toxicity, relatively large volume injections, and inconveniently short duration of release.

Sustained delivery formulations of risperidone compounds


A vapor chamber that includes a housing having a first sheet and a second sheet that oppose each other and that are joined to each other in a peripheral region of the housing; a working liquid enclosed within the housing; and a wick structure on an inside surface of the first sheet or the second sheet. In the vapor chamber, the wick structure includes multiple protruding portions and a grid portion integral with the protruding portions. In addition, surfaces of the protruding portions and a surface of the grid portion opposite the inside surface of the first sheet or the second sheet are positioned on a same flat surface.

In recent years, an amount of heat generated by a microelectronics device has tended to increase due to high degree of integration and demand for high performance. Meanwhile, a product has become smaller in size, which causes heat generation density to increase. Dissipating heat has become an important issue. This situation is found especially in the field of mobile terminals, such as smartphones and tablet devices, and the thermal design thereof faces increasing difficulties. A graphite sheet or the like has been adopted as a heat dissipating member. However, the heat transport capacity of the graphite sheet is not large enough.
One of heat dissipating members having a high heat transport capacity is a vapor chamber, which is a sheet-type heat pipe. The vapor chamber as a whole exhibits an apparent thermal conductivity several times to several tens of times higher than that of a metal, such as copper or aluminum.
As an example of the heat dissipating member utilizing a vapor chamber, Patent Document 1 discloses a sheet-type member that is formed in such a manner that a wick structure, a nonwoven fabric, and a working liquid are enclosed in a sheet-like housing formed by joining metal sheets together.    Patent Document 1: International Publication No. 2016/151916

Vapor chamber and method of manufacturing vapor chamber


The present invention relates to compositions and methods for the improvement of bakery products, in particular for the improvement of the texture of cakes and the tolerance of bakery doughs.

In baking, flour lipids, though representing 2% of flour mass, play an important technological role because they interact with proteins and starch in a dough or a batter, influencing the rheological properties of the dough or the batter, as well as the baked product quality. The lipids can be divided into free lipids and bound lipids, both fractions containing either polar or nonpolar lipids. Approximately, half of the lipids are polar, and the ratio of polar to nonpolar lipids is of great importance in bread making because of its strong correlation with bread volume. The polar lipid fraction is mainly composed of lysophospholipids, phospholipids and galactolipids.
It is important to note that the lipids are located in different places in a dough or a batter. Most of the polar lipids are inside the starch granules. Some free lipids will spontaneously migrate to water gas interfaces, some are on the surface or inside starch granules or attached to gluten molecules and some will only be available after starch gelatinisation.
In general, the major function of lipids is their effect on gas cells stability and gluten strengthening. Also in particular the polar lipids have the ability to reduce starch retrogradation. Gas bubbles stabilization from yeast fermentation leads to larger baked product volume. Strengthening the gluten network leads to a better dough stability and enhances the crumb softness and texture therefore extending the shelf life. However, due to the minor amount of lipids in flour, the native phospholipid fraction of the flour is not enough to give a significant effect by itself on the properties of dough or batter and the quality of baked products. Moreover some of the phospholipid molecules present have no positive effect on dough properties or even a negative effect. Therefore, exogenous phospholipids and/or emulsifiers are used to ensure uniform quality and shelf life stability of baked products. Another way to address this issue is to use lipolytic enzymes (such as phospholipases and lipases) and do an in-situ modification of triglycerides, phospholipids and galactolipids to release the corresponding lysolipids. Lysolipids have better emulsifying properties compared to the original molecules and are more functional as wetting agent in bread and cake making processes.
Furthermore the release of more lysolipids having superior emulsifying properties leads to improved dough or batter rheological properties. Particularly, in cake making, such improved release enhances the air incorporation in the aqueous phase in foam or sponge cake and improves the dispersion of the bakery fat in the batter of layer cakes.
Due to the fact that the lipids are not evenly distributed in dough and batter systems they are not always accessible for hydrolysis by lipases and phospholipases. By changing the pH conditions, the ionic strength and/or the sugar concentration at different temperatures the availability of these lipids will be modified. In such cases one needs enzymes that are active at these different temperatures and conditions and have the desired specificity. On the other hand, hydrolysing the substrates too far will gives rise to molecules with negative effect on baked products quality characteristics.
Although some lipases and/or phospholipases have already been described for their positive properties in the preparation of baked products, the outcome of their use is highly unpredictable, due to their different specificities, their different hydrolysis products, their potential synergies or the process conditions or substrates. Therefore, today, there is still a need for compositions and methods to further improve properties of baked products such as dough or batter tolerance, volume and/or freshness.


Spun yarns are made at high speeds of up to 220 meters per minute, using spinning techniques in which air is used to twist the fibers of a three component blend, one component of which consists of staple fibers made from electrically conductive filaments having a denier no greater than 2.5 times the denier of the filaments of the other components.

The field of art to which this invention pertains is spun yarn. The invention is more specifically directed to a process for making such yarn from a three-component blend of staple fibers using high speed, air spinning techniques with spinning speeds in excess of 70 meters per minute. In a preferred embodiment these speeds can range from 150 to 220 meters per minute.
The fiber blend used in the process is formed from a plurality of selected filaments. One component of the blend comprises staple fibers made from filaments having an electrically conductive carbon black core and a sheath of non-conductive polymer. The other two components, which are heat-resistant, are preferably formed from filaments of poly(m-phenylene isophthalamide) and of poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide).
The deniers of the electrically conductive sheath core filaments are preferably no greater than 2.5 times the deniers of the other filaments. This helps prevent or lessens their migration to the surface of the spun yarn during the spinning operation and thereby improves the appearance of the yarn and of the fabrics woven from such yarn.


A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a dispatch system having a controller element to receive from a communication device a first wireless message including a location coordinate and a request for taxicab service, and determine available taxicab services according to the location coordinate and the request. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) systems and other packet network-based multimedia systems typically utilize one or more multimedia servers to process multimedia content for distribution to viewers via a packet-switched network. These multimedia servers typically provide multiple transmission services simultaneously, such as broadcasting network television programming and multicasting pay-per-view programming while simultaneously handling packet retransmission requests for lost and corrupted packets. Conventional systems often implement a best-effort approach to try to ensure that each service is accorded sufficient resources of the multimedia server, but it often is the case that changing circumstances can leave one or more of the services without sufficient resources to meet quality constraints while other services have more than sufficient resources, thereby degrading some services without necessarily benefiting the quality of other services at the multimedia server.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.

Predictive allocation of multimedia server resources


The present invention provides a tape reel, a recording tape cartridge, a take-up reel, a pullout member and a drive device that can control fluctuation of a recording tape in the axial direction of a hub and can, even when the recording tape is thinned in accompaniment with an increase in recording capacity, prevent the occurrence of tape edge damage. A tape reel 20 includes: a hub 22 on which is wound a recording tape T on which is recorded servo signals S that are a reference for tracking by a recording/playback head 88 of a drive device 70; and flanges 24 and 26 provided integrally at both end portions of the hub 22, wherein the diameter of a substantially central portion of the hub 22 is formed larger than the diameters of each of the end portions of the hub 22.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tape reel and a take-up reel on which is wound a recording tape, such as a magnetic tape or the like, which is used as a recording/playback medium mainly of computers or the like, and to a recording tape cartridge which accommodates the tape reel within a case, to a pullout member which pulls out the recording tape from the recording tape cartridge and is accommodated in the take-up reel, and to a drive device which is provided with the take-up reel and into which the recording tape cartridge is loaded.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are conventionally known recording tape cartridges in which a recording tape, such as a magnetic tape or the like which is used as a data recording/playback medium (for data backup) of computers or the like, is wound on the hub (core portion) of a reel (tape reel), and the reel is singly accommodated within a case. When the recording tape cartridge is loaded into a drive device, the recording tape is pulled out via a leader member from an opening provided in the recording tape cartridge. The pulled out recording tape is, via tape guides and a recording/playback head, taken-up onto a take-up reel within the drive device.
In the recording tape cartridge of this configuration, an increase in the recording capacity of the recording tape is always desired. The main factors supporting the increase in the recording capacity of the recording tape include: (1) improving recording density (improving linear recording density, improving track density); (2) increasing recording area (increasing the tape length by thinning the recording tape); (3) improving servo tracking control; and (4) increasing the traveling speed of the recording tape.
However, there are the following problems in the aforementioned (1) to (4), and solutions for those problems are continuously sought after. In particular, ensuring that tape edge damage with respect to an impact when the recording tape cartridge is dropped or the like when the recording tape cartridge is not in use (during transport, during handling) can be reduced and ensuring that tape edge damage during travel of the recording tape when the recording tape cartridge is in use (when the recording tape cartridge has been loaded into a drive device) are sought after.
(1) When recording density improves, the recording size of the data signal also becomes smaller, and the allowable amount of fluctuation in the width direction of the recording tape during travel inside the drive device, and particularly fluctuation at a high frequency (fluctuation in a short amount of time), becomes smaller. That is, when the recording tape fluctuates significantly in its width direction during travel, the recording/playback head that moves in the width direction of the recording tape on the basis of servo signals on the recording tape becomes unable to follow a sudden fluctuation in the position of the recording tape, errors in reading servo signals occur, and it becomes unable to record and play back the desired data signal.
(2) When the recording tape is thinned, the edge strength of the recording tape drops and it becomes easier for the recording tape to sustain tape edge damage. That is, when the recording tape cartridge sustains an impact during transport or as a result of the recording tape cartridge being dropped or the like, it becomes easier for the edge of the recording tape protruding from the wound surface of the reel to hit flanges and bend. Further, due to thinning of the recording tape, the allowable stress of the recording tape with respect to pressure applied to the recording tape drops when the recording tape is wound on the reel or when the recording tape is stored over a long period of time.
(3) When the size of the servo signal becomes smaller or the recording density of the servo signal itself improves and servo tracking control improves, the allowable amount of fluctuation in the width direction of the recording tape during travel inside the drive device, and particularly fluctuation at a high frequency (fluctuation in a short amount of time), becomes smaller. That is, when the recording tape fluctuates significantly in its width direction during travel, the recording/playback head that moves in the width direction of the recording tape on the basis of servo signals on the recording tape becomes unable to follow a sudden fluctuation in the position of the recording tape, errors in reading servo signals occur, and it becomes unable to record and play back the desired data signal.
When the traveling speed of the recording tape is increased, there is no longer leeway with respect to the response speed of servo tracking control. Further, there is the potential to induce high-frequency vibration. Further, the impact force when the edge of the recording tape contacts flanges of a take-up reel or tape guides of the drive device and moreover flanges of the reel of the recording tape cartridge becomes greater, which becomes disadvantageous to recording tape that has been tinned and whose edge has become weaker.
It is commonly understood that the rigidity of recording tape is affected in cube by a reduction in its thickness. For example, when the thickness of the recording tape is from 8.9 μm to 6.6 μm, it is 6.63÷8.933=0.41 with respect to 6.6÷8.9=0.74, and when the thickness is reduced 26%, the rigidity is reduced 59%. There is a tendency for recent recording tape to be thinned in order to increase recording capacity per one recording tape cartridge, and there is concern for a drop in rigidity, that is, a drop in edge strength, and susceptibility to plastic deformation.
Further, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2005-251283, for example, it has conventionally been disclosed that the wound shape (wound surface) is regulated (regulated windability is improved) in a reel where, as the recording tape is wound on the reel, the hub diameter on one end side of the outer peripheral surface of the hub becomes smaller with respect to the hub diameter on the other end side. However, when a difference in diameter is given to both end portions of the hub and the recording tape is set toward one side, there is the potential for the recording tape to be excessively set toward one flange side due to a combination with the curvature (curvature in the width direction) of the recording tape, whereby there is the potential for the edge of the recording tape to strongly contact flanges or tape guides of the drive device (the potential for tape edge damage to occur).
Further, as described in JP-A No. 6-309837, for example, causing the width direction central portion of the hub to swell (in a convex shape) into a substantially barrel shape in a reel or the like on which recording tape is wound has conventionally been disclosed. In this JP-A No. 6-309837, a helical scan rotating head is disclosed. In this rotating head, the contact angle/contact area with the recording tape is large and the traveling speed of the recording tape is also slow, so control of the width direction position of the recording tape is relatively easy in comparison to a linear recording fixed head, and it is relatively easy to control by the travel system of the drive device.
However, in a rotating head where the contact angle is large and the head is slanted, there is the problem that when it is loaded into a rotating drum, the edge of the recording tape catches on the head and damage occurs to the recording tape. In order to solve this, in JP-A No. 6-309837, correcting the value of the cupping amount in a negative direction when cupping of the recording tape is large (in this JP-A No. 6-309837, when cupping is positive) is disclosed.
That is, large positive cupping of the recording tape is corrected to a small positive, ±0, slightly negative by a substantially barrel-shaped hub. Thus, a situation where the edge of the recording tape catches on the rotating head and damage occurs to the recording tape is prevented, and alignment with respect to the head is improved.
However, when the recording tape is thinned, with the large swelling amount of the barrel shape disclosed in JP-A No. 6-309837, deformation in an undulating shape and cinching occur in the tape edge (though this is not expressly stated in JP-A No. 6-309937). According to an experiment by the present applicant, the swelling amount of the barrel shape of the occurrence boundary thereof was around 0.08 mm when recording tape having a thickness of 6.6 μm, for example, was wound on a hub having a wall thickness of 2.5 μm and made of 10% glass fiber-reinforced PC resin. That is, when it becomes larger than this, deformation in an undulating shape and cinching would occur.

Tape reel, recording tape cartridge, take-up reel, pullout member, and drive device having a recording tape wound therein


The invention is a terminal, system and method for providing inter-frequency and inter-system handovers. A terminal 20′ in accordance with the invention includes at least one radio transceiver including P radio receivers and at least one transmitter (16) with P being an integer at least equal to 2. Each radio receiver includes an antenna (41) which receives M encoded data streams. A terminal controller 18 controls the that at least one radio transceiver. In response to a transmission that the terminal is to operate at least one of the radio receiver chains in at least one frequency band not used to receive the M encoded data streams during at least one identified data frame therein to measure a radio indicator of the at least one frequency band not used to receive the M encoded data streams, the terminal controller causes at least one of the radio receiver chains to be turned to the at least one frequency band during the at least one identified data frame and to make measurements therein and to transmit the measurements with at least one transmitter of the at least one radio transceiver to a station (24).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system, method and terminal for making inter-frequency and inter-system measurements for controlling reliable handovers therein and therein between.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 illustrates "compressed mode" which is used in wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) to make inter-frequency measurements by user equipment (UE). Compressed mode in Release 99 (3GPP TR 25.211-25.215 which describes the physical layer, 3GPP TR 25-331 which describes the radio resource control protocol, and 3GPP TR 25-133 which describes requirements for radio resource management) uses a terminal having a single receiver. The main features of compressed mode in making inter-frequency measurements are: (1) measurement times are controlled by the radio access network (RAN); (2) measurement gaps are within a frame which are typically seven milliseconds in duration during which inter-frequency measurements are made; (3) no data transmission occurs during the gaps; and (4) higher power transmission is used during the other parts of the frame to compensate for the gap. The gap is created by increasing the data transmission rate in the frame so that the data payload transmitted in the frame takes less time providing for the measurement gap.
See the 3GPP Technical Reports TR 25.212 and 25.331 for a description of compressed mode which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
A main disadvantage of inter-frequency measurements using a single receiver is the requirement that the receiver has to process higher data rates in frame(s) with the gaps (frame #2 of FIG. 1) than normal data rates (frames #1 and #3 of FIG. 1). Furthermore, the data transmissions in the frame(s) with the gap are at a higher power level to accommodate the lost transmission energy in the gap period.
FIG. 2 describes a prior art system based upon Section 6.5 "Multiple Input Multiple Output [MIMO] Antenna Processing in the 3GPP Technical Report 25.848 v4.0.0 2001-03 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The diversity system 10 utilizes known multiple downlink transmit antennas for second order applications in the UTRA Release 99 Specifications. These techniques exploit spatial and/or polarization decorrelations over multiple channels to achieve fading diversity gain.
MIMO systems use multiple antennas at the station transmitter and terminal receiver which provide advantages in comparison to transmissions using conventional single antennas. If multiple antennas are used at both the transmitter and the receiver, the peak throughput is increased using a technique known as code re-use. With code re-use, each channelization/scrambling code pair allocated for the HSS-DSCH transmission can modulate up to M distinct data streams where M is the number of base station transmitter antennas. Data streams which share the same channelization/scrambling code must be distinguished based on their spatial characteristics, requiring a receiver with at least M antennas. In principal, the peak throughput with code re-use is M times the rate achievable with a single transmit antenna. Third, with code re-use, some intermediate data rates can be achieved with a combination of code re-use and smaller modulation constellations, e.g. the 16 QAM instead of 64 QAM. Compared to a single antenna transmission scheme with a larger modulation constellation to achieve the same data rate, the code re-use technique may have a smaller required Eb/No, resulting in overall improved system performance. This technique is open loop since the transmitter does not require feedback from the UE other than the conventional HSPDA information required for rate determination. Further performance gains can be achieved using closed-loop MIMO techniques whereby the transmitter employs feedback information from the UE. For example, with knowledge of channel realizations, the transmitter could transmit on an orthogonal Eigen modes eliminating the spatial multiple-access interference. See Section 5.3 of the aforementioned Technical Report TR 25.848.
The system 10 illustrated in FIG. 2 is comprised of a MIMO transmitter 21 having M antennas 25 based on FIG. 6 in the aforementioned Section 6.5 in combination with a MIMO terminal 20′ including a receiver 20 having P antennas based on FIG. 7 of the aforementioned Section 6.5. The diagram of FIG. 6 has been modified to include a receiver 12 associated with the MIMO transmitter 21. The transceiver 24 is used at a station and is controlled by a base station controller/radio network controller 14. Similarly, FIG. 7 has been modified to include a MIMO UE 20′. The UE 20′ includes a transmitter 16 and a controller 18 which are utilized with the MIMO receiver 20. The UE 20′ is coupled by a radio link 22 containing uplink and downlink radio channels to the transceiver 24 containing the receiver 12 and transmitter 21.
The transceiver 24 receives a coded high rate data stream 26 which is inputted to a demultiplexer 28. The demultiplexer 28 demultiplexes the coded high rate data stream 26 into M data streams 30. The M data streams 30 are spread by N spreading codes applied to spread data functions 32. The spread data functions 32 produce MN substreams of the M substreams outputted by the demultiplexer 28. The M substreams (m=1 . . . M) of each group are summed by summers 34 and multiplied in multiplexers 36 by scrambling code and transmitted over the Mth antenna so that the substreams sharing the same code are transmitted over different antennas. Mutually orthogonal dedicated pilot symbols are also added by the summers 34 to each antenna's common pilot channel (CPICH) to allow coherent detection. For M=2 or for 4 antennas, the pilot symbol sequences 4, respectively, two antenna STTD or 4 antenna closed-loop diversity can be used.
The UE 20′ distinguishes the M substreams sharing the same code. P antennas 41 receive the M substreams and spatial signal processing is used to decode the M substreams. For coherent detection at the UE 20′, complex amplitude channel estimates are required for each transmit/receive antenna pair. In a flat fading channel, the channel is characterized by MP complex channel coefficients. In frequency selective channels, the channel is characterized by LMP coefficients where L is the number of RAKE receiver fingers. Channel estimates can be obtained by correlating the received signals with the M orthogonal pilot sequences. Compared to a conventional single antenna receiver, the channel estimation complexity is higher by a factor of M. For data detection, each antenna is followed by a bank of filters matched to the N spreading codes. In general, there are LN despreaders 40 per antenna. For each of the MN distinct data streams, the LP corresponding despreader outputs are each weighed by the complex conjugate of the corresponding channel estimate 42 and summed together by the space time rate combiner 44. The space-time-rate combiner is a multiple antenna generalization of a conventional rake combiner. The space time rate combiner 44 outputs are inputted to a detector 46 which may be VBLAST detector. The outputs of the VBLAST detector 46 are applied to a multiplexer 48 which outputs multiplexed data.
Inter-frequency operation involves the hand-off of the user UE 20′ from one frequency band to another frequency band within a frequency allocation of the system in which the UE is currently registered. Inter-frequency hand-offs may be made for diverse reasons, such as loading of the channels, error rates associated with the transmission of the data, etc.
Inter-system hand-offs involve the hand-off of the UE 20′ from a frequency band in one system in which the UE is currently registered to a frequency band in another system in which the UE is not currently registered.
While the MIMO system 10 of the prior art has improved performance in comparison to a non-MIMO receiver, in order to provide reliable hand-offs to inter-frequencies or inter-system hand-offs, it is necessary for the system 10 to obtain measurements from the UE 20′ which enable the BSC/RNC 14 to make a determination of whether or not a hand-off should be made from the current frequency band in which the UE 20 is operating to another frequency band and furthermore, if such a handoff is to be made, whether it should be inter-frequency hand-off within the same system, e.g. WCDMA or GSM, or between systems e.g., WCDMA to GSM or GSM to WCDMA.

Inter-frequency measurements with MIMO terminals


The present invention relates to an improved transformation and regeneration system for wheat. In particular, the invention relates to enhancements in the glyphosate selection system. The transformation method is efficient and reliable for production of fertile plants with improved agronomic qualities.

This application claims priority to U.S. provisional application 60/314,087, filed Aug. 22, 2001, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to the field of plant biotechnology. More specifically, it concerns methods and conditions for improved Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of regenerable wheat cells or tissues.
During the past decade, it has become possible to transfer genes from a wide range of organisms to crop plants by recombinant DNA technology. This advance has provided enormous opportunities to improve plant resistance to pests, disease and herbicides, and to modify biosynthetic processes to change the quality of plant products (Knutson et al., 1992; Piorer et al., 1992; Vasil et al., 1992). The lack of efficient Agrobacterium-mediated transformation methods suitable for high capacity production of economically important plants has limited this potential opportunity.
Initially, monocot species were transformed via microprojectile bombardment methods. Microprojectile bombardment has several disadvantages including fragmenting of the inserted DNA, insertion of multiple copies, and reduced efficiency. More recently, monocot species have been successfully transformed via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Thus, Agrobacterium-mediated transformation provides a viable alternative to microprojectile bombardment methods.
Notwithstanding the availability of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation methods in the art, there still remains a need for improved methods that permit transformation on production level scale and efficiencies. The present invention provides such an improvement of an Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method. The method is more efficient in delivering target DNA to the plant and more efficient in selecting transformed plants as evidenced by higher transformation efficiencies. Moreover, the present method provides a reduction in labor and cost advantage as compared to conventional methods.