A system for determining a combined velocity rotation compensation and sculling compensation in an inertial navigation system includes: gyroscopes configured to provide a measured angular rotation rate with components from three orthogonal axes; accelerometers configured to provide a measured specific force with components from three orthogonal axes; and a processor configured to calculate a first combined velocity rotation compensation and sculling compensation at a single computational rate, the processor configured to: calculate a first cross product of an instantaneous angular rotation rate and a change in the measured specific force during a first interval; and sum the first cross product with a second cross product of a fraction of the change in the specific force during the second interval and the change in the measured angular rate during the first interval; where the first and second intervals are each one cycle of the single computational rate.

Determining location and ground speed in a vehicle is difficult when a point of reference is indeterminable. However, navigation systems now utilize the assistance of global positioning systems for a reference point. In some cases, GPS is unavailable and/or too slow, and the navigation systems are self-reliant. Such systems often utilize a set of gyroscopes to measure the angular velocity and the linear acceleration. This was originally achieved through a motorized gimbal system, using the navigation frame as a set reference frame that is based on the vehicle in which the system is located.
Such a system includes many expensive mechanical parts to ensure proper movement and includes sensors (e.g., accelerometers and gyroscopes) at each of the gimbals for measuring changes in attitude, i.e., where is the orientation of a vehicle in terms of angular parameters of roll, pitch and yaw. Due to the moving parts, gimbaled systems are prone to many error inducing factors, such as gimbal lock, which occurs when two of the gimbals are rotating uniformly in parallel. In addition, bearings and rings of the of the gimbals can stick and/or wear with time. Even more, the bearings are not frictionless, which also causes error in the measurements. When the system experiences errors, it can be removed from the vehicle and recalibrated in very specific conditions before certification for re-use. Accordingly, such a system is only conducive to a very specific market of consumers.
Strapdown inertial navigation systems (SINS) have components that are directly attached to the chassis of the system. The chassis is also secured to the vehicle in which it is located. Accordingly, no parts of the system are mobile. This alleviates error caused by friction and/or faulty components, while also requiring less calibration. Three sensors measure the linear acceleration rate (aSFB) and three sensors measure the angular rotation rate (ωIBB). A velocity update rate (e.g., m) is an interval utilized to perform calculations on raw measurements taken by the accelerometers and gyroscopes, and incrementally update system parameters (e.g., attitude, velocity, position, etc.) over a specified time period. For example, the update rate can be one system computer clock cycle. The raw measurements are taken rapidly over a time interval, t, and processed by a software solution on a computing device due to the high computation load of the calculations.
The sensors provide raw data relating to the non-gravitational acceleration, or specific force, given in vector form and the data is transformed into a reference frame with respect to the instantaneous vehicle attitude of three orthogonal vector components. The reference frame, B, is vehicle body orientation at a time t equaling to tm−1 (i.e., t=tm−1), which is the vehicle body orientation measured during a previous update cycle at rate m. For example, the raw measurements are updated at a rate m, so the vehicle body orientation at the present time t is calculated with the raw measurements taken during a prior update cycle (m−1), as the measurements during the present update cycle (i.e., t=tm) are being taken and calculated for the vehicle body orientation in relation to the original reference frame B. Each movement detected in the system is calculated based on the present vehicle body orientation in relation to the orientation during the prior reference frame B. The three orthogonal vector components of the raw measurements provided by the sensors are given in a set of direction cosines, or quarternions which describe the spatial orientation and movement of the vehicle in terms of roll, pitch and direction. P. G. Savage, "Strapdown Inertial Navigation Integration Algorithm Design Part 2: Velocity and Position Algorithms" Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, vol 21, No. 2, 1998, pp. 208-221; and "Strapdown System Algorithms" Advances in Strapdown Inertial Systems, NATO AGARD Lecture Series No. 133, May 1984, represents the velocity algorithm in the strapdown system in analytical form as:
                              Δ                                                                          v                          SF              m                                      B                              m                -                1                                                    =                                            ∫                              t                                  m                  -                  1                                                            t                m                                                                                C                                  B                  m                                                  B                                      m                    -                    1                                                                                a                SF                B                                                          ⅆ                t                                              =                                    ∫                              t                m                                            t                                  m                  -                  1                                                                                [                                                                                I                        +                                                                                sin                                                                                                                                                  ϕ                                                                                (                                    t                                    )                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ϕ                                                                                (                                  t                                  )                                                                                                                                                                (                                                                                ϕ                                                                                (                                  t                                  )                                                                                ×                                                        )                                                                          +                                                                                1                            -                                                          cos                                                                                (                                                                  ϕ                                                                                (                                    t                                    )                                                                                )                                                                                                                                              ϕ                                                                                (                                  t                                  )                                                                                                                                        2                                                                                (                                                                                ϕ                                                                                (                                  t                                  )                                                                                ×                                                        )                                                    2                                                                                ]                                                          a                SF                B                                                          ⅆ                t                                                                        (        1        )            where: ΔvSFmBm−1 i is velocity change over a time interval tm −1 to tm caused by a specific force (SF) in a body coordinate frame Bm−1;                Bm−1 is the body coordinate frame Bm with axes parallel to nominal right handed orthogonal sensor input axes at time tm−1;        aSFB is the accelerometer measured specific force (SF) in the body coordinate frame Bm−1;        CBmBm−1 is the direction cosine matrix from body coordinate frame Bm to Bm−1; and        φ(t) is a rotation vector which defines the general orientation of frame Bm relative to frame Bm −1 at a time greater than tm−1:Equation 1 is approximated to a first order to:
                                          Δ                                                                                v                              SF                m                                            B                                  m                  -                  1                                                              =                                    v              m                        +                                          1                2                                                          α                m                            ×                              v                m                                      +                                          1                2                                                                            ∫                                      t                                          m                      -                      1                                                                            t                    m                                                                                (                                                                                α                                                                                (                            t                            )                                                                          ×                                                  a                          SF                          B                                                                    +                                                                        v                                                                                (                            t                            )                                                                          ×                                                  ω                          IB                          B                                                                                )                                                                          ⅆ                    t                                                                                ,                                                    Where                                :                                              (        4        )                                                      v                                      (              t              )                                =                                    ∫                              t                                  m                  -                  1                                                            t                m                                                                                a                SF                B                                                          ⅆ                τ                                                    ,                              v                                      (              m              )                                =                      v                                      (                              t                =                                  t                  m                                            )                                                          (        5        )                            ωIBB is the measured angular rotation rate provided by the gyroscopes.Further expansion of the cross product yields:
                                          Δ                                                                                v                              SF                m                                            B                                  m                  -                  1                                                              =                                    ∫                              t                                  m                  -                  1                                                            t                m                                                                                [                                  I                  +                                      (                                                                  α                                                                          (                          t                          )                                                                    ×                                        )                                                  ]                                                          a                SF                B                                                          ⅆ                t                                                                                where                                :                                              (        2        )                                                      α                                      (              t              )                                =                                    ∫                              t                                  m                  -                  1                                            t                                                                  ω                IB                B                                                          ⅆ                τ                                                    ,                                            α                                            (                m                )                                      =                          α                                            (                                  t                  =                                      t                    m                                                  )                                              ;          and                                    (        3        )
After these components are transformed into a coordinate reference frame (e.g., B) through the direction cosine matrix CBmBm−1, a resultant non-gravitational acceleration in terms of the reference frame is yielded. The integration of the resultant non-gravitational acceleration reflects the change in the spatial orientation and movement of the vehicle from its original position. Accordingly, by calculating the difference from the known original attitude, position and speed, the current attitude, position and speed is determined.
Specifically, to compute the approximate speed of a vehicle, the error in the system can also be factored into the overall measurements. The error is represented by the third term of equation (4). This error is known as the sculling error, or compensation, and it can be used to aid in maintaining velocity accuracy in a highly dynamic environment. Accordingly, equation (4) is simplified as:ΔvSFBm−1=vm+Δvrotm+Δvscalm=vm+Δvrot/sculm,   (6)    where: Δvrotm is the velocity rotation compensation, or a change in the velocity due to rotational movement of the vehicle at update cycle m; and            Δvsculm is the sculling compensation, or a change in the velocity due to sculling movement of the vehicle at update cycle m.
A sculling error is a result of the apparent and constant acceleration experienced by the SINS, which is often caused by vibrations and other factors causing sensor errors. The sculling error is periodic in nature and, thus, can be miscalculated if the measurements in transform functions are erroneous.
The aforementioned known method for computing the measured accelerations and rotations in the art is disclosed by P. G. Savage, "Strapdown Inertial Navigation Integration Algorithm Design Part 2: Velocity and Position Algorithms" Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, vol 21, No. 2, 1998, pp. 208-221; and "Strapdown System Algorithms" Advances in Strapdown Inertial Systems, NATO AGARD Lecture Series No. 133, May 1984. Savage further provides two analytical forms to describe the velocity and sculling compensation of equation 6. The two analytical forms properly account for a sculling compensation within the calculation of the overall change in velocity ΔvSFBm−1 of a strapdown system. The calculation of the two analytical forms can be implemented in software. A first analytical form provides a singular term representing a velocity rotation compensation, which is a cross product of the integral of change in the angular rotation rate (i.e., angular acceleration) at cycle m and the integral of the change in the linear acceleration rate (i.e., velocity) of the body at cycle m:Δvrotm=½αm×vm   (7)
A second analytical form provides two terms describing the sculling compensation in the form of integrals, the calculations of which are based on the velocity rotation compensation. In both analytical forms, the velocity compensation is calculated at the velocity update sampling rate, or cycle rate (e.g., 50 Hz) as it aids in determining the velocity update. However, Savage discusses that in the second analytical form, having two terms, the sculling compensation is integrated at a different rate (e.g., l), which is preferably a faster cycle rate than the velocity update rate m. Accordingly, the sculling error may then be computed and updated several times during a velocity update rate interval. Savage represents this computation as a digital recursive algorithm for the sculling compensation terms in the following analytical form:
                                          Δ                                                                                α              l                                =                                    ∫                              t                                  l                  -                  1                                                            t                l                                                                                ω                IB                B                                                          ⅆ                t                                                    ,                              α            l                    =                                    α                              l                -                1                                      +                          Δ                                                                                α                l                                                    ,                              α            m                    =                                    α              l                                                  (                                                t                  l                                =                                  t                  m                                            )                                      ,                                                                α            l                    =                                    0                                                                                at                                                                                t                        =                          t                              m                -                1                                                                        (        8        )                                                      Δ                                                                                v              l                                =                                    ∫                              t                                  l                  -                  1                                                            t                l                                                                                a                SF                B                                                          ⅆ                t                                                    ,                              v            l                    =                                    v                              l                -                1                                      +                          Δ                                                                                v                l                                                    ,                              v            m                    =                                    v              l                                                  (                                                t                  l                                =                                  t                  m                                            )                                      ,                                                                v            l                    =                                    0                                                                                at                                                                                t                        =                          t                              m                -                1                                                                        (        9        )                                                      δ                                                                                v                              scul                l                                              =                                    1              2                                                  [                                                                    (                                                                  α                                                  l                          -                          1                                                                    +                                                                        1                          6                                                                        Δ                                                                                α                                                      l                            -                            1                                                                                )                                    ×                  Δ                                                                                v                    l                                                  +                                                      (                                                                  v                                                  l                          -                          1                                                                    +                                                                        1                          6                                                                        Δ                                                                                v                                                      l                            -                            1                                                                                )                                    ×                  Δ                                                                                α                    l                                                              ]                                                                                Δ                                                                                v                                  scul                  l                                                      =                                          Δ                                                                                v                                      scul                                          l                      -                      1                                                                                +                              δ                                                                                v                                      scul                    l                                                                                ,                                    Δ                                                                                v                                  scul                  m                                                      =                          Δ                                                                                v                                      scul                    l                                                                                (                                      t                    =                                          t                      m                                                        )                                                              ,                                                                              Δ                                                                                v                                  scul                  l                                                      =                                          0                                                                                at                                                                                t                            =                              t                                  m                  -                  1                                                                                (        10        )
Accordingly, this method relies on two computational rates (m, l) at which the system's raw measurements are calculated. Having these two rates greatly increase the computational load of the system compared to a system calculated at just the velocity update rate because with two cycle rates the raw measurements must be separately calculated and the combined.
In another approach to more accurately calculate the sculling error within a system, M. B. Ignagni "Duality of Optimal Strapdown Sculling and Coning Compensation Algorithms" Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Vol. 45, No.2, 1998, pp. 85-95, discusses a method of utilizing coefficients in a set of algorithms. These coefficient algorithms are utilized to factor the system's inherent errors, such as system platform vibrations, in different system environments. Accordingly, Ignagni discusses a specific set of coefficient algorithms to address each of these problems. The coefficient algorithms correspond to defined ratios of fast and slow rates. Due to the specific nature of these coefficients, not all ratios of fast and slow rates are possible. For instance, ratios such as l/m=7 or l/m>10 are not computationally possible with the method provided by Ignagni. Additionally, the technique provided by Ignagni does not improve upon the large computational load of the technique discussed in Savage.
Calculating an incorrect sculling compensation during even one interval (e.g., system clock cycle) can be detrimental to an inertial navigation system, as the algorithm is recursive and prior calculations provide the basis for the proximate calculations (see, equations 8-10). Slight offsets in the system and consequent miscalculations may trigger faulty readings. Several techniques, such as those by Savage and Ignagni, have been developed to account for these defects within the system in order for a proper sculling compensation, or error, to be calculated and removed from the raw measurements taken by the system. These calculations add to the processing load, which inherently adds to the system size (i.e., larger processor). However, both an increased load and system size are undesirable in a navigation system.


A new series of bifunctional chelating agents useful for attaching metal ions to proteins, polypeptides and other polymers and methods for their preparation are described. These reagents are unique in their ability to bind a variety of metal ions and to yield a high metal ion concentration per protein molecule. Using these methods polymeric analogs of these bifunctional chelating agents called Starburst ligands can also be obtained. Protein metal chelates thus obtained will have useful radiophysical, chemical, fluorescent, photochemical and magnetic properties suitable for biomedical applications.

Attachment of metal ions to proteins leads to several useful products. These include fluorescent, radioactive and paramagnetic metal ions attached proteins that can be used as probes in vivo in biological systems and in vitro in analytical systems such as radioimmunoassays. For example, attachment of radionuclides to monoclonal antibodies that recognize tumor associated antigens provides radioimmunoconjugates useful for cancer diagnosis and therapy. The monoclonal antibodies are used as carriers of desired substances to specific sites in vivo. Several chelating agents such as diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), ethylene-diaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and macrocyclics have been reported to form stable complexes when attached to protein. However, kinetic instability of the radioimmunoconjugate or the chelate under physiological conditions results in the breakdown of these complexes. Despite several attempts to modify the mode of binding, structure of chelate and etc., in vivo administration of such radioimmunoconjugates results in accumulation of radioactivity in non-target tissues, particularly the liver. Hence, there is an obvious need for new chelating agents for binding radiometals to antibodies forming complexes that do not disassociate when administered to a patient.

Chelating agents for attaching metal ions to proteins


An AFC (Automatic Frequency Control) device of a QPSK modulation system including a frequency discriminating unit for calculating a real part peak value using frequency discrimination between adjacent I and Q signals of a received sequence and an imaginary part peak value using the frequency discrimination between adjacent I signals and adjacent Q signals, an error detecting unit for detecting an error symbol from the received sequence, and a switching unit for removing the detected error symbol under the control of the error detector. Also included is a frequency difference average calculating unit for calculating a frequency difference of the received sequence without the error symbol.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an AFC (Automatic Frequency Control) of a QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) modulation system, and more particularly to an AFC device and method of a QPSK modulation system capable of raising an accuracy of the AFC by calculating a frequency difference excluding an error symbol.
2. Background of the Related Art
In general, when a channel is changed in a mobile communication system, a transmission/reception frequency is also changed. Thus, a receiving side needs to be tuned with the corresponding changed frequency used by the sending side.
Further, the receiving side uses an AFC device to detect an allocated channel frequency. In addition, the receiving side also uses the AFC device to prevent degradation of the receive sensitivity due to a multi-path fading phenomenon.
A general AFC device calculates frequency differences between adjacent I and Q signals using a frequency discriminator of a cross product type, calculates an average value of the calculated frequency differences, and then performs AFC using the obtained average value.
In this manner, the general AFC device calculates the frequency difference using a symbol of a received training sequence and performs AFC using the calculated frequency difference. However, the general AFC device calculates a frequency difference of the training sequence including an error symbol, which reduces the accuracy of the frequency difference value and degrades the performance of the AFC device.

Automatic frequency control device and method of QPSK modulation system


A CMOS image sensor and a method for fabricating the same are disclosed, in which light that transmits through a microlens is prevented from being beyond a photodiode region to minimize loss of incident light and to improve low illumination characteristics of the CMOS image sensor. The CMOS image sensor includes a semiconductor substrate including a transistor region and a photodiode region, a gate electrode formed on the semiconductor substrate corresponding to the transistor region, an interlayer dielectric layer formed on an entire surface of the semiconductor substrate including the gate electrode, a microlens formed over the interlayer dielectric layer to condense light, and a metal barrier formed in the interlayer dielectric layer to surround a portion of the interlayer dielectric layer corresponding to the photodiode region and to reflect light in the photodiode region that transmits through the microlens but goes beyond the photodiode region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor and a method for fabricating the same, and more particularly, to a CMOS image sensor and a method for fabricating the same in which a metal barrier is formed to surround a periphery of a photodiode region so as to reduce loss of light that transmits through a microlens, thereby improving light-receiving efficiency of the photodiode region.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, a CMOS image sensor employs a switching mode that sequentially detects outputs of unit pixels using MOS transistors. The MOS transistors are formed in a semiconductor transistor to correspond to the number of unit pixels using CMOS technology that uses a control circuit and a signal processing circuit as peripheral circuits. That is, to display images, the CMOS image sensor sequentially detects the electrical signals of the respective unit pixels in the switching mode by forming a photodiode and MOS transistors in each unit pixel.
Since the CMOS image sensor uses CMOS technology, it has advantages in that low power consumption is required and process steps are simplified due to a relatively small number of photo processes. Also, the CMOS image sensor has an advantage in that a control circuit, a signal processing circuit, and an analog-to-digital converter can be integrated in one chip to easily obtain a slim sized device.
FIG. 1 is a structural sectional view illustrating incident light to a photodiode region in a related art CMOS image sensor.
As shown in FIG. 1, the related art CMOS image sensor includes a semiconductor substrate 10 including a photodiode region 10a, a device isolation film 11 formed in the semiconductor substrate 10 to isolate devices from each other, a gate electrode 21 formed on a transistor region of the semiconductor substrate 10, source and drain regions 12 formed in the semiconductor substrate 10 at both sides of the gate electrode 21, an interlayer dielectric layer 20 formed on an entire surface of the semiconductor substrate 10 including the gate electrode 21, a first metal line 40 formed on the interlayer dielectric layer 20, a first contact 30 formed in the interlayer dielectric layer 20 to electrically connect the gate electrode 21 with the first metal line 40, an inter-metal dielectric layer 50 formed on an entire surface of the interlayer dielectric layer 20, a second metal line 70 formed on the inter-metal dielectric layer 50, a second contact 60 formed in the inter-metal dielectric layer 50 to electrically connect the first metal line 40 with the second metal line 70, an oxide layer 80 formed on the inter-metal dielectric layer 50 including the second metal line 70, a nitride layer 90 formed on the oxide layer 80, and a microlens 100 formed on the nitride layer 90 to condense light.
The aforementioned related art CMOS image sensor condenses light through the microlens 100 and transfers the condensed light to the photodiode region 10a of the semiconductor substrate 10 such that the condensed light is stored as an electrical signal in the photodiode region 10a. Therefore, a focal plane of the microlens 100 serves as a main factor that determines low illumination characteristics of the CMOS image sensor.
However, the related art CMOS image sensor has a drawback. If the focus of the microlens 100 is not exact, loss of the light condensed by the microlens 100 may occur. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, if the distance between the microlens 100 and the photodiode region 10a is longer than the originally designed distance, or if the focal distance of the microlens 100 becomes shorter than intended without being uniformly maintained, the light condensed by the microlens 100 may partially be beyond the photodiode region 10a, thereby causing loss of the light.

CMOS image sensor and method for fabricating the same


A method and device for arranging a plurality of peers at distribution levels in a P2P network with respect to a streaming source are described. At least one peer of the plurality of peers having a highest upload capacity may be arranged at the distribution level closest to the streaming source. Remaining peers of the plurality of peers may be arranged at subsequent distribution levels in order of descending upload capacity, such that each peer has an upload capacity that does not exceed the upload capacity of any peer at an immediately preceding level. The peers may be further arranged such that the total upload capacity of the peers at any distribution level is equal to or exceeds total download demand of the peers at an immediately subsequent level. If a predetermined maximal allowed number of distribution levels has been exceeded, one or more peers may be moved or re-arranged.

For live video streaming in a client-server approach, the video stream is downloaded from the streaming server (i.e. the source of content to be streamed) to the client. A video stream consists of a set of consecutive data pieces, or data subset, that the client periodically requests in order to play the video. A scalable live streaming service requires high streaming server bandwidth to satisfy an increasing number of clients over the internet. In order to reduce the cost of the streaming server, Peer-to-peer (P2P) live streaming has been developed. The basic concept of P2P live streaming is to make the clients, referred to as peers in this context, share the load with the streaming server.
P2P live streaming systems has gained a lot of interest in the recent years as it has the advantage of allowing a streaming source to broadcast e.g. a live video event to a large number of peers, without having to provide all the required bandwidth. This is done by making use of the peers' upload capacity to assist the streaming source in broadcasting the content to the peers.
P2P networks comprise any networks composed of entities that each provides access to a portion of their resources (e.g., processing capacity, disk storage, and/or bandwidth) to other entities. The P2P concept differs from traditional client/server architecture based networks where one or more entities (e.g., computers) are dedicated to serving the others in the network. Typically, entities in a P2P network run similar networking protocols and software. Applications for P2P networks are numerous and may for example comprise transporting and/or storing data on the Internet, such as video distribution for content owners.
Many approaches have been developed to efficiently make use of the upload capacity of the peers. These approaches can be divided into two main categories.
Tree-based systems are based on constructing one or more structured trees in an overlay network where peers at the top of each tree feed the peers below them. This approach works well when the peers do not join or leave the system at high frequency as data flow is achieved without any further messages between the peers. However, in a high churn environment, tree maintenance can be very costly and sometimes destruction and reconstruction of the tree(s) are necessary.
Mesh-based systems do not enforce a tree construction, or in other words peer connectivity does not form a specified overlay, and they are connected to each other in an unstructured manner. They exchange data through so called gossip communication or by sending data request messages to each other. A disadvantage with mesh-based systems is that they can have a long setup time, as nodes need to negotiate with each other to find peers. However, many systems use the mesh-based approach as it is very robust to high chrn. In such systems each peer has a number of neighbours that it potentially downloads from and failure of any neighbor is thus not as critical as in tree-based approaches.
Although individual peers take decisions locally without a global view in the mesh-based approaches, they can still reach comparable savings to tree based approaches when peer churn is considered, mainly since they do not have to carry the heavy overhead of maintaining a view of the global connectivity structure.
In a decentralized P2P live streaming network, each peer has k neighbouring peers form which it can attempt to download data content. Thus, the peer will try to find a neighbouring peer that it can download from instead of downloading the data content from the streaming server. Given such a prior art overlay network, if the peers start streaming data content from the same point in time, all the peers will not find an uploading peer that has useful content. Hence, almost all the peers will download from the streaming server, which ultimately leads to minimal savings in streaming server bandwidth utilization.

Method and device for centralized peer arrangement in P2P overlay networks


The diagnostic device that detects a failure of a sensor. The sensor includes memory for repeatedly recording pairs of two absolute pressure values, the absolute pressure values being related to absolute pressures in the first and the second impulse lines, respectively. A processor repeatedly computes, from a prescribable number of pairs of the two absolute pressure values, a correlation value representative of the correlation between the two absolute pressure values. The processor can also compare correlation values to at least one correlation threshold value, and generate a diagnostic output depending on the result of the comparison. It is possible to derive the absolute pressure values from one differential pressure measurement and one absolute pressure measurement.

Such a diagnostic device and diagnostic method is known from the patent publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,109. The device is connected to two impulse lines, which are coupled to a process fluid of a process, and either senses the two absolute pressures in the two impulse lines or one absolute pressure in one impulse line and one differential pressure between the two impulse lines. The device processes the pressure signals so as to extract from them vibration noise signals carried in the process medium (e.g., liquid, gas). Such vibration-related processed signals are then evaluated, with the evaluation ending in an output indicating that the impulse lines are not blocked or that at least one of the impulse lines are blocked.

Diagnostic device for use in process control system


A spray gun for applying an electroless plating solution includes a handle, a trigger connected to the handle, a nozzle assembly connected to the handle, a first fluid passage, a second fluid passage, a switch, and a valve assembly. The nozzle assembly includes a first fluid path having a first outlet and a second fluid path having a second outlet. The first fluid passage is in communication with the first outlet of the nozzle. The second fluid passage is in communication with the second outlet of the nozzle. The switch is selectively activated by the trigger upon movement of the trigger. The valve assembly is in fluid communication with the first fluid passage and the second fluid passage. The valve assembly includes a valve and a solenoid. The valve is operable between an open position and a closed position. The solenoid is in electrical communication with the switch and an associated power source. The switch controls the delivery of power to the solenoid and the solenoid operates the valve. A system for applying an electroless plating solution is also disclosed.

A "chrome" finish is typically applied using a conventional electroplating technique. Chrome finishes are specified on a variety of products, such as shower heads and car door handles. One drawback of conventional electroplated chrome finishes is that the finish can only be applied onto a limited range of substrates. There are also constraints with regard to the size and geometry of work pieces that can be finished, as well as drawbacks related to the toxic nature of the chemicals and expense and complexity of the machines and procedures needed to perform the electroplating process.
A spray-on electroless system for providing a chrome like finish has been developed to overcome the aforementioned shortcomings of the electroplating technique. This electroless system uses two water-based solutions that are applied to the work piece using a dual nozzle spray gun. Specific to the aforementioned electroless system, the first liquid is a silver nitrate solution and the second liquid is referred to as a reducer. For the finish to look as good as possible, equal parts of each liquid mix downstream the respective outlets of the dual nozzle spray gun prior to contacting the work piece.
A known two nozzle spray gun has been used to apply both the liquids onto the work piece. One liquid, e.g. silver nitrate solution, travels through a first nozzle and second liquid, i.e. reducer, travels through a second nozzle. These known spray guns include a needle valve that moves in and out of the respective outlets of the dual nozzle spray gun. The needle valve is mechanically actuated by the user of the spray gun depressing a trigger. By using mechanical actuation, the needle valves may not open simultaneously. The valves also may not open the same distance. Such mechanical actuation can result in the flow path through one of the nozzles being larger than the flow path through the other nozzle therefore affecting the mixture ratio of the mixed solution that contacts the work piece. Additionally, the needle valves can become clogged, especially the needle valve through which the silver nitrate, which includes particulates, travels.

Hand held dual nozzle spray gun and system


Certain aspects of the present disclosure propose methods for identifying machine to machine (M2M) devices and services. Each device may indicate its M2M functionality either for each of the services performed by the device or for all of its services to a core network. The core network may report the M2M functionality of the device to other nodes in the network that may be involved with the M2M functionality of the device.

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, data, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., bandwidth and transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems.
Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system can simultaneously support communication for multiple wireless terminals. Each terminal communicates with one or more base stations via transmissions on the forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the base stations to the terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from the terminals to the base stations. This communication link may be established via a single-in-single-out, multiple-in-signal-out or a multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) system.
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the third-generation (3G) cell phone technologies. UTRAN, short for UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network, is a collective term for the Node-B's and Radio Network Controllers which make up the UMTS radio access network. This communications network can carry many traffic types from real-time Circuit Switched to IP based Packet Switched. The UTRAN allows connectivity between the UE (user equipment) and the core network. The UTRAN contains the base stations, which are called Node Bs, and Radio Network Controllers (RNC). The RNC provides control functionalities for one or more Node Bs. A Node B and an RNC can be the same device, although typical implementations have a separate RNC located in a central office serving multiple Node B's. Despite the fact that they do not have to be physically separated, there is a logical interface between them known as the Iub. The RNC and its corresponding Node Bs are called the Radio Network Subsystem (RNS). There can be more than one RNS present in an UTRAN.
CDMA2000 (also known as IMT Multi Carrier (IMT MC)) is a family of 3G mobile technology standards, which use CDMA channel access, to send voice, data, and signaling data between mobile phones and cell sites. The set of standards includes: CDMA2000 1×, CDMA2000 EV-DO Rev. 0, CDMA2000 EV-DO Rev. A, and CDMA2000 EV-DO Rev. B. All are approved radio interfaces for the ITU's IMT-2000. CDMA2000 has a relatively long technical history and is backward-compatible with its previous 2G iteration IS-95 (cdmaOne).
CDMA2000 1× (IS-2000), also known as 1× and 1×RTT, is the core CDMA2000 wireless air interface standard. The designation "1×", meaning 1 times Radio Transmission Technology, indicates the same RF bandwidth as IS-95: a duplex pair of 1.25 MHz radio channels. 1×RTT almost doubles the capacity of IS-95 by adding 64 more traffic channels to the forward link, orthogonal to (in quadrature with) the original set of 64. The 1× standard supports packet data speeds of up to 153 kbps with real world data transmission averaging 60-100 kbps in most commercial applications. IMT-2000 also made changes to the data link layer for the greater use of data services, including medium and link access control protocols and Quality of Service (QoS). The IS-95 data link layer only provided "best effort delivery" for data and circuit switched channel for voice (i.e., a voice frame once every 20 ms).
CDMA2000 1×EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized), often abbreviated as EV-DO or EV, is a telecommunications standard for the wireless transmission of data through radio signals, typically for broadband Internet access. It uses multiplexing techniques including code division multiple access (CDMA) as well as time division multiple access (TDMA) to maximize both individual user's throughput and the overall system throughput. It is standardized by 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) as part of the CDMA2000 family of standards and has been adopted by many mobile phone service providers around the world, particularly those previously employing CDMA networks.
3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the name given to a project within the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to improve the UMTS mobile phone standard to cope with future requirements. Goals include improving efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum opportunities, and better integration with other open standards. The LTE system is described in the Evolved UTRA (EUTRA) and Evolved UTRAN (EUTRAN) series of specifications.

Signaling identification of machine to machine devices and services


A dock leveler including a ramp having a rear edge movably interconnected with a loading dock, an intermediate member movable relative to the ramp, and an inflatable assembly positioned to cause relative movement between the ramp and the intermediate member upon inflation of the inflatable assembly, thereby resulting in movement of the ramp. The inflatable assembly is operatively associated with a vacuum device to allow for selective removal of gas from the inflatable assembly.

This invention relates to a dock leveler used to bridge the gap between a loading dock and the bed of a truck or carrier parked adjacent the loading dock, and more particularly to improvements in dock levelers incorporating an airbag or other inflatable member for raising the ramp of the dock leveler.
A dock leveler typically includes a frame or supporting structure mounted in a pit or depression in the loading dock. The rear end of a ramp or deck plate is pivotally mounted to the supporting structure so that the ramp is movable between an inclined position in which the ramp is supported by the truck bed, a horizontal inoperative position, and a raised position in which the forward end of the ramp is raised above the truck bed.
An extension lip is pivotally mounted to the forward end of the ramp, and is movable between a downwardly hanging pendant position and an extended position in which the lip forms an extension to the ramp.
After a truck has parked in front of the loading dock in preparation for a loading or unloading operation, the ramp of the dock leveler is raised to its upwardly inclined position. As the ramp is lowered, the lip is pivoted outwardly to its extended position. As the ramp is subsequently lowered, the lip engages the bed of the truck to support the ramp, such that the ramp and the lip in combination bridge the gap between the loading dock and the truck bed. After the loading or unloading operation is completed, the ramp is raised and the lip falls by gravity to its pendant position. The ramp is then lowered to its horizontal position, and the truck can then pull away from the loading dock.
In the past, the ramp has been pivoted to its upward position in response to operation of a mechanical or hydraulic mechanism. However, recent developments in the dock leveler art disclose an inflatable member or bag utilized to pivot the ramp to its upwardly inclined position. These applications disclose a bag inflated with low pressure air by an inflating device such as a fan or blower, and are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
It has been found that certain problems can occur when incorporating an inflatable member into a dock leveler. For example, if the inflatable bag directly interconnects the floor of the pit with the pivoting ramp, the bag can sometimes tear away from its interconnection with the ramp. Further the long distance between the pit floor and the ramp can cause lateral instability of the bag assembly.

Dock leveler raised by deflating an inflatable member


A method for automatically adjusting an optical axis of a laser resonator. Specifically, the angle of a mirror in a laser resonator is changed in a very small stepwise increments, and the laser output before the very little change is compared to the laser output after the incremental change. If the laser output after the very small incremental change is larger than the laser output before the very small incremental change, the angle is automatically changed by a very small amount in the same direction as the previous increment. If the laser output after the very small incremental change is smaller than the previous laser output measurement, the angle is automatically changed by a very small amount in the opposite direction. Thus the optical axis of the laser resonator is adjusted automatically.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to a method for automatically adjusting an optical axis of a laser resonator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, the fields in which lasers are applied have been expanding dramatically. Among these lasers, the helium-cadmium or He-Cd laser (main oscillation wave length: 325 nm) is expected to be used in various fields such as: a source of light to expose photo-resist resin, a source of light to cure photo-curing resin when models and metallic molds are designed by means of the photo-curing resin, a source of light to cure photo-curing resin when models of human frames and bones are made using the data of computed tomography, a source of light for the fluorometric analysis, and so on.
The mirrors in a laser resonator, except the He-Ne laser of the small internal mirror type and a semiconductor laser device, are usually held by three or four rods each having a small coefficient of thermal expansion, such as an iron alloy (Fe 64% . Ni 36%). The optical axis of the mirrors is designed to be kept stable by these rods.
The optical axis of such mirrors changes, however, because a temperature gradient is produced by heat generated inside a laser head when the laser equipment is activated and the residual strain of the laser resonator changes with the passage of time. This change of the optical axis of the mirror leads to variations in laser output, subsequently causing a variety of problems. Furthermore, the laser action must be stopped for some time in order to re-adjust the optical axis.
At present, mirror angle adjustment is made manually by means of the following equipment. Namely, a fixed plate is fixed to the rods. The mirror is fixed to a movable plate which is pulled to the fixed plate by a tension coil spring. Further, adjustment bolts for the mirror angle are screwed in, for example, at two corner parts of the movable plate, and the ends of the bolts are put in contact with the fixed plate. The leakage beam from the reflection mirror of the laser or the output beam and so on are separated into spectral components and detected. While the change of the detection intensity is monitored, the adjustment bolts for the mirror angle are manually screwed to maximize the output intensity of the laser. In this regard, see U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,139 issued to Caruolo et al.
However, the above-mentioned method of manual adjustment takes an inordinate amount of time to properly adjust the mirror angle to maximize the output of the laser. Even after the output of the laser is adjusted properly, the mirror angle changes from the optimal value in a short time, hence requiring repeated cumbersome adjustment operations. This is both disadvantageous and inconvenient.
On the other hand, in recent years piezo-actuators and linear actuators operated by means of direct current (DC) motors have been miniaturized and are available with high performance capabilities. Therefore, these actuators have been considered for application in lasers to automatically adjust the mirror angle.
Under the present conditions, however, the adjustment of the mirror angle by means of these actuators is only a technique at a laboratory level, and no practical and economical methods have been established.
Namely, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Number 3-35579 (1991), a technique is disclosed which converts an analog signal of a laser beam for the measurement into a digital signal by means of an analog-to-digital converter, compares the successive digital signals with each other by means of a program stored in a Read-Only memory, and detects and adjusts the maximal power. However, this technique requires an expensive analog-to-digital converter, a micro-computer and software. While it may be possible to use this technique in conjunction with expensive laser equipment, such as carbon dioxide gas laser equipment, it is not an economical solution for use with ordinary popular laser equipment because of the high cost of the associated equipment used in this technique given the performance that will result therefrom.

Method for automatically adjusting the optical axis of a laser resonator


A method of synchronizing a telecommunications connection in a mobile communications system having at least one base station, and having a first and at least a second mobile station communicating on a direct mode channel, the first mobile station operating on the direct mode channel transmits a registration message to the base station of the mobile communications system on a system channel of the mobile communications system, the registration message indicating a wish of the first mobile station to operate in dual watch mode on the control channel of the mobile communications system. In response to the registration message, a specific control channel of the base station and the timing information related to the control channel are communicated to the first mobile station, the first mobile station switches to dual watch mode in order to communicate either on the direct mode channel or on the allocated control channel during the time indicated by the timing information.

The invention relates to the field of mobile telephone systems. A subscriber of a mobile telephone system, that is, a subscriber station, e.g. a mobile telephone or a mobile station may be connected to a mobile network or system, whereby it is connected to the mobile network via system channels maintained by the base stations of the mobile network, the system channels consisting of control channels and traffic channels.
In addition to the system channels located in mobile telephone systems, so-called direct mode channels may be used in association with the mobile system, i.e. communication takes place in a direct mode. Subscriber stations communicating in the direct mode do not communicate directly with the mobile network or the base stations related to it. Direct mode channels are frequencies on which mobile telephones or other means of communication can communicate without the system directly with each other, or via repeater stations, either with the base stations of the system or with other mobile stations.
Direct mode channels are typically used in situations in which e.g., a group of hand-held mobile phones which communicate with each other are so remote from the base stations that the use of system channels is not possible.
Another important use of direct mode channels is increasing the capacity when the traffic in the system rapidly increases, e.g. due to an incident occuring in some part of the service area of the system, e.g. in some spot-like part.
A direct mode channel is a channel that is typically not used by the system. It may be e.g., a channel whose channel spacing is the same as that in the mobile communications system, e.g. 12.5 kHz or 25 kHz. On direct mode channels, a mode of simplex operation is used. From the group of the mobile stations operating on the direct mode channel, the transmitting party has tuned his or her transmitter onto the channel and is transmitting speech or data information. The other mobile stations that have been activated onto the direct mode channel have tuned their receivers onto the same frequency so that they will directly hear the transmission.
On a direct mode channel, communication may take place by means of analog modulation or digital modulation. A mobile station transmitting on the channel may also use signalling information, such as information on access rights and priorities, or the group communicating on the channel, or data communication. On a direct mode channel, encryption may be carried out, or plain speech can be transmitted.
Subscriber stations operating in the direct mode communicate with other subscriber stations on a direct mode channel without having a direct connection to the base stations of the mobile network. Subscriber stations operating in the direct mode, however, may communicate with the mobile network via repeater stations. A repeater station is a unit in which there are two transceivers connected to each other. A repeater station typically comprises two transceivers. The repeater station forwards information messages transmitted on the direct mode channel to the desired network elements, such as the base stations of the radio network, which will forward the information messages to the exchanges of the radio network. Information messages forwarded by the repeater station may be e.g., speech, or data or signalling messages. When the repeater station is being used, e.g. a semiduplex mode of operation may be used on the direct mode channel.
A problem related to a prior art solution is how to make the mobile station operate upon request in accordance with the dual watch mode, that is, to communicate "simultaneously" on the direct mode channel and the system channels of the mobile communications system. A mobile station operating in the dual watch mode on the direct mode channel may receive transmissions of the system channels of the mobile communications system between time-slots received on the direct mode channel. A dual watch function of this kind has not been implemented before between a mobile station operating on the direct mode channel, and a mobile communications system. This kind of a situation is attended by the drawback that the frame synchronization of the direct mode channel will be changed with respect to that of the mobile communications system, in which case it is difficult or even impossible for the mobile station to make use of the dual watch mode.
Another problem related to prior art solutions is the fact that the mobile communications system does not know whether the mobile station is in the dual watch mode or not, in which case it is difficult for the system to co-operate with the mobile station possibly operating in the dual watch mode.
Yet another problem related to prior art solutions is the fact that the mobile communications system does not know the identifier of the direct mode channel on which the mobile station in the dual watch mode is operating.

Synchronizing a telecommunications connection in a mobile communications system


An apparatus comprises a bearing, a pendant, and a supporting component. The bearing rotatably engages the pendant. The supporting component engages a portion of the bearing. The bearing rotates relative to the pendant upon movement of the supporting component with respect to the pendant and the bearing to maintain the alignment of the pendant.

The present invention relates to stabilization devices, and more particularly, but not exclusively, relates to pendant stabilization devices that maintain the alignment of a pendant when the element supporting the pendant is moved with respect to the pendant.
In certain pendants, it is desirable to maintain the alignment of a pendant when the component supporting the pendant is moved with respect to the pendant. While various pendant stabilization devices have been developed, in certain applications there is still room for improvement. Thus, a need persists for further contributions in this area of technology.


A method and system for synchronizing plural processes executing on a digital data processing system includes the steps of registering each of the processes for notification of at least selected events occurring in the other processes. Those events can include, for example, the addition, deletion or selection of an item in another process, the selection of the menu item in the graphical user interface of another process, and the invocation or termination of another process. An item is any informational entity in a process, such as the datum or display object. The method and system further detect an event in any of the processes and determining whether that event is one for which the process (other than bat in which the event occurred) is registered for notification. If so, that other process is notified of the event, e.g., so that it can take an action based on that effected in connection with the detected event in the process in which it occurred.

The invention pertains to digital data processing and, more particularly, methods and systems for synchronizing processes executing on a digital data processing system.
Early computer programs were typically written for "stand-alone" operation. Since most computers had limited processor and memory resources, they could execute only a single sequence of instructions at a time. Although databases and other resources were sometimes shared among multiple programs, they were typically executed at different times and, often, by different users. Thus, for example, personnel in the bookkeeping department might use one program to enter records into a computerized accounting log, while the personnel in the accounting department would use another program to print that log. As early user interfaces were relatively unrefined, it would not be unusual for those programs to refer to the accounting log and its data in very different ways.
As processor resources increased and interface techniques improved, programmers began writing software packages that operated simultaneously with one another and that displayed and printed shared data on more uniform bases. Developers of these early integrated packages attempted to insure that data files written by one program in a package could be read by another program in that package. Thus, for example, most packages permitted a table generated by a spreadsheet application to be read into the corresponding word processing application. In addition, many packages capitalized on object embedding technologies to "dynamically" link the data files generated by one application program into those of another. For example, a table generated by a spreadsheet application could be embedded in a word processing document so that changes made by the former were automatically included in the later.
A problem with prior art integrated packages is that they are not sufficiently integrated. For example, although data generated by one application can be dynamically linked into another, both applications typically cannot modify that data. Instead, current technologies restrict modification to the "source" application, i.e., the application that generated the data in the first instance. In addition, only the source application can format an embedded item. Thus, for example, the arrangement of a table that is dynamically embedded into a word processing document is restricted to the spreadsheet application that created that table.
An object of this invention is to provide improved digital data processing methodologies and, more particularly, improved methods for synchronizing processes executing on a digital data processing system.
A related object of the invention is to provide such methods as are suited for processes that share common data or that maintain corresponding data sets.
Another object upset of the invention use to permit such synchronization regardless of whether the processes are executing on the same computer or across networked computers.
Still another object of the invention is to provide methodologies that can be implemented at minimum cost for use with a broad range of applications program and across a wide spectrum of hardware and software platforms.

Methods and systems for synchronizing processes executing on a digital data processing system


A method of searching for a seller of a product. The method comprises the steps of: indicating a product; indicating a geographical search location; and searching for a seller of the product that is located within a search distance of the geographical search location.

There currently exist many providers of Internet search engines. Most of these providers present a user (or searcher) with a web-based interface through which the user enters one or more keywords. The keywords relate to the information that the user is searching for. A search engine then returns, as the results of the search, the webpages that appear to be relevant, which are then presented to the user, usually as a list of links to the webpages.
Whilst such Internet searches can provide useful results when the search is very targeted (i.e. when very specific keywords are used), it is often the case that keyword based searches return results which contain many webpages that are of no interest to the user.
Additionally, for some types of search that a user may wish to perform, keyword based searching does not provide a suitable mechanism for accurately representing the desired search.
Accordingly, improved searching techniques are desirable.


An IC design enhancing tool for automatically reviewing and environmentally hardening an IC design layout. The IC design enhancing tool may be realized, for example, in software that scans through an IC netlist generated by an electronic design automation (EDA) tool and replaces components that are not compliant with one or more hardening criteria. The newly created netlist can then be re-checked by the EDA tool and an iterative process takes place between the EDA tool and the IC design enhancing tool until the final design layout is fully compliant for a given environment. Interrogation of the IC design layout involves determining if at least a portion of the hardware layout netlist meets one or more predetermined hardening criteria. If it does not, then one or more of the hardware components are replaced using one or more predefined hardened components.

Integrated circuits (ICs) can contain any number of different components that work together to perform particular functions. These ICs may also be used in different environments, some of which can be very challenging and cause errors in the operation of the ICs. For instance, extreme heat exposure over an extended period of time (e.g., 125° C. or higher over many hours, days, weeks or even years) can cause electromigration within semiconductor devices. Likewise, exposure to radiation can cause so-called soft errors within semiconductor devices such as single event upsets (SEUs) and single event transients (SETs). These environmental effects may cause, for example, some bits to change from logic '0' to logic '1' or vice-versa, which can adversely impact IC performance. Efforts to harden ICs against such environmental effects during the IC design phase are profoundly limited, time consuming, and inefficient as existing electronic design automation (EDA) tools do not check for such environmental effects, which means designers are left to manually inspect register transfer logic (RTL) code to verify the compliance of each component. Thus, the designer effectively has to hand write the RTL code to choose the correct components. This approach does not work with systems that utilize technology independent code (e.g., proprietary systems). Furthermore, such an approach becomes nearly impossible for large, complex IC designs due to the amount of components and/or code and interdependencies involved. Accordingly, there are many non-trivial issues with regards to hardening ICs against environmental effects such as thermal and radiation.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent in light of this disclosure.

Method for radiation hardening of integrated circuits

BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.


A technique for real-time removal of power line interference (PLI) in electrocardiograms (ECG) with sampling rate a relevant integer multiple of the nominal power line frequency (NPLF), comprising band-pass PLI filtering of the ECG, determining expedient weights and weighted Least-Squares parabolic approximating downsampled to the NPLF series of band-pass PLI filtered values. The disclosed technique utilizes only integer arithmetic, includes pre-adjusting for the routine ECG sampling rates, causes negligible ringing and is still accurate in the common occurrences of PLI with deviating from the nominal 60 or 50 Hz frequency and varying amplitude.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the measurement of electrophysiological signals and in particular to the removal of power line interference in electrocardiograms (ECG).
2. Description of the Related Art
Power line interference (PLI) often damages ECG despite proper grounding, shielding and amplifier design, therefore various digital methods for removing 60 or 50 Hz PLI in ECG are known in the art. Some of these methods use external reference signal to facilitate the PLI removal, but require additional hardware and are impracticable in the battery supplied mobile ECG devices. Many of the methods that process solely the ECG use notch filters that involve noticeable distortions and ringing effect at the QRS-complexes in the ECG, that is why others methods of this group divide the treated ECG into "quiet" and "event" epochs and extrapolate the PLI estimates of a "quiet" to the following "event" epoch. The more accurate of these last methods are quite complex and suited only for offline usage, whereas the simpler ones can be realized in real-time, but their performance considerably worsens in the common occurrences of PLI with deviating from the nominal 60 or 50 Hz frequency and varying amplitude.
Another method was proposed by the author of the disclosed invention in a previously published paper (I. P. Mitov, "A method for reduction of power line interference in the ECG", Medical Engineering & Physics, vol. 26, No. 10, December 2004, pp. 879-887). This method is for reduction of 50 Hz PLI in ECG sampled with 250 Hz that fit both the purpose and the ECG spectral range (with equal reason relevant for removing 60 Hz PLI are ECG sampling rates 240, 300 or 360 Hz).
The considered method uses adequate parabolic model of the pure ECG and estimates its inconstant part, that is then subtracted to obtain a residual signal containing PLI, by Least-Squares (LS) solving a system of properly derived equations. Moreover, the squared error of another such system is utilized to determine a weight (that ranges from one in the very "quiet" ECG segments to nearly zero at the large and sharp QRS-complexes) for the subsequent LS approximations.
The residual PLI signal is further subjected to discrete Fourier transform separating the PLI components related to the nominal power line frequency (NPLF) and its harmonics, and the initial estimates of all these PLI components are obtained by apposite averaging.
The separate series of initial PLI estimates are downsampled to the NPLF (thereby due to the "aliasing" phenomenon their frequency content appears near to the spectral origin), LS approximated using third order polynomials and the above-cited weights, and thus obtained final estimates of the PLI components related to the NPLF and its harmonics are subtracted from the corresponding ECG sample.
The considered method is very accurate, even if the PLI is with deviating from 50 Hz frequency and varying amplitude, but its procedures are to a certain extent unduly elaborated and relatively burdensome for real-time implementation in the electrocardiographic (ECG) devices.

Technique for real-time removal of power line interference in ECG


A method and system is disclosed for providing an automatic gain control in signal processing. After receiving a stream of analog signals, a gain is adjusted on the received analog signals using a first set of gain compensation parameters. Then, the adjusted analog signals are converted to digital signals. A predetermined number of digital signals are collected from the converted digital signals within a predetermined time period. The collected digital signals are delayed from being transferred out for further demodulation processing for a predetermined delay time. At the same time, a second set of gain compensation parameters are estimated based on the collected digital signals. The estimated second set of gain compensation parameters are applied to the delayed digital signals.

The present invention relates generally to automatic gain control (AGC) in communication devices, and more particularly to the improvement of AGC feedback systems using a feed forward scheme.
AGC is a signal processing technique used to dynamically compensate for widely-varying channel gains encountered in various wireless and wire-line media at the receiver end. The strength of the wanted signal fluctuates because of changes in propagation conditions. Such conditions include the distance between transmitter and receiver, traveling medium such as air, wire or fiber optics, and the ambient noise around the medium. A receiver therefore includes AGC to maintain the signal at the input to a detector at a constant value despite fluctuations in the signal strength of the antenna or receiver. In a traditional approach, the AGC block forms a loop by estimating the received signal strength at an output by using a peak detector. The AGC adjusts the gain, negatively or positively, so as to bring the further received signal strength to a specified target peak value.
The process of adjusting the gain for incoming signals by processing older signals has its disadvantages. While the signal is being processed, a delay is introduced. This delay could severely affect newer incoming signals. Such delays could also render incoming data erroneous, as the gain for the incoming signal might be too much or too little. Additionally, if the peaks of incoming signals vary rapidly within a given period, the delay of the AGC might completely miss the erratic signal and thus make the data incorrect. Given that digital communications typically require a fast transfer rate, the problem described above is critical and must be promptly addressed.
Desirable in the art of automatic gain control designs are additional designs that provide a gain compensation mechanism to thereby reduce or eliminate the possibility of erroneous data detection.

Gain control in signal processing with feed-forward gain correction


An integrated circuit that has logic and a static random access memory (SRAM) array has improved performance by treating the interlayer dielectric (ILD) differently for the SRAM array than for the logic. The N channel logic and SRAM transistors have ILDs with non-compressive stress, the P channel logic transistor ILD has compressive stress, and the P channel SRAM transistor at least has less compressive stress than the P channel logic transistor, i.e., the P channel SRAM transistors may be compressive but less so than the P channel logic transistors, may be relaxed, or may be tensile. It is beneficial for the integrated circuit for the P channel SRAM transistors to have a lower mobility than the P channel logic transistors. The P channel SRAM transistors having lower mobility results in better write performance; either better write time or write margin at lower power supply voltage.

One of the techniques that has been under development to improve transistor mobility is strained silicon. Typically the silicon layer is put under tensile stress to improve the N channel mobility. This has been extended to using an interlayer dielectric (ILD), a dielectric layer between conductive layers, that is under a selected stress to improve transistor performance. For N channel transistors this has meant using tensile stress, and for P channel transistors this has meant using compressive stress.

Interlayer dielectric under stress for an integrated circuit


Adjustments to content to be rendered on top of background content, such as wallpaper, in a graphical user interface are disclosed. One example method can include adjusting a color characteristic of new content to be rendered on top of the background content, based on at least one color characteristic of the background content, so as to preserve the new content's color. Another example method can include adjusting a color characteristic of text to be rendered on top of the background content, based on at least one color characteristic of the background content, so that the text is legible.

Wallpaper images are quite popular to provide an aesthetically pleasing background in a graphical user interface on a display device. Various wallpaper images are readily available and users take advantage of that variety to customize their user interfaces to show a particular wallpaper image or to rotate between a series of images.
However, some user interface elements, e.g., icons, text, graphics, etc., can have colors and/or appearances that often blend in with the colors and textures of wallpaper so as to become almost invisible or illegible. This problem can be exacerbated on portable devices with small displays, where some user interface elements are quite small.
Conversely, some user interface elements can have colors and/or appearance that so starkly contrast with the colors and textures of the wallpaper so as to be distracting to the user. In this case, some user interface elements can open over a larger portion of the display to clash with the underlying wallpaper.

Content adjustment in graphical user interface based on background content


A fluid assembly for a bioelectrode for use in a drug delivery device and a method for using such an assembly. The fluid assembly includes a reservoir for containing a fluid, and a barrier member for securing the fluid therein. The reservoir includes a breaking component positioned therewithin for breaking at least a portion of the barrier member upon application of a downward force to the reservoir. The breaking component is constructed from a material which is substantially chemically non-reactive relative to the fluid to be retained in the reservoir, the interior surface of the reservoir itself, and to at least that portion of the barrier member operatively in contact with the fluid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to drug delivery devices used to deliver ionic medicaments through the skin or other tissues, and, more particularly, to fluid delivery assemblies for delivering a fluid to a bioelectrode element.
2. Background Art
Drug delivery devices have been known in the art for several years. Furthermore, drug delivery devices having fluid delivery assemblies for delivering fluid to bioelectrodes are likewise well known and are the subject of many United States Patents including: U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,775; U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,574; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,817,044.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,775 discloses a fluid transfer device having a rigid portion, a chamber containing microcapsules of fluid, and a layer of permeable material. The microcapsules are ruptured by placing pressure upon the rigid portion, expelling the fluid through the permeable material and onto the surface of application.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,574 discloses a dispenser package having a fault line or cut pattern scored into a relatively stiff material, to which a pouch containing a fluid is attached. The ends of the stiff material are then formed into a xe2x80x9cVxe2x80x9d shape breaking the pouch and delivering the fluid through one or more holes pre-cut in the fault line.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,817,044 discloses an iontophoretic drug delivery device with an electrode reservoir and drug reservoir, where a liner separates the two components. The liner must be peeled or ripped away, allowing fluid to flow from the drug reservoir to the electrode reservoir.
The present invention is directed to a fluid assembly for a bioelectrode for use in a drug delivery device, comprising a reservoir, having an interior region, containing a fluid therein; a barrier member associated with the fluid reservoir for precluding inadvertent release or migration of the fluid out of the reservoir, and means for breaking at least a portion of the barrier so as to allow release of fluid from the fluid reservoir. The breaking means may comprise an inert component positioned within the interior region of the fluid reservoir.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the reservoir includes means for facilitating depression of at least a portion of the reservoir. In this embodiment, the reservoir has a bottom region juxtaposed with the barrier member, and a top region. The depression means is preferably integrally associated with the top region of the reservoir. However, it is also contemplated that such a depression means comprise an external, or internal component attached to, or near the top region of the reservoir. For example, an additional piece of material, such as plastic, can be associated therewith to further facilitate depression.
In another preferred embodiment, at least a portion of the reservoir has a tensile strength greater than the tensile strength of the barrier.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the breaking means is freely positioned within the interior region of the reservoir. In such an embodiment, the breaking means is selected from the group of geometries consisting of spherical, cubical, tetrahedronal, octahedronal, dodecahedronal, icosahedronal, cylindrical, conical, ellipsoidal, toothed, circular, oval, triangular, rectangular, square, or polygonal configurations.
It is further contemplated that the interior region of the reservoir include at least one position retainment member. In such an embodiment, the position retainment member serves to keep the breaking component within a confined area within the reservoir.
In still another preferred embodiment of the invention, the breaking means is attached with at least a portion of the reservoir. Preferably, the reservoir has a top region, and the breaking means is attached with the top region.
In yet another preferred embodiment of the invention, the breaking means is attached with the barrier member. In this, as well as the other preferred embodiments, the breaking means may have a hardness greater than that of barrier member.
The present invention is also directed to a method for releasing a fluid from a fluid assembly to a receiving member of a drug delivery device. The method preferably comprises the steps of: (a) applying a force to an external surface of a fluid reservoir of the fluid assembly; (b) depressing at least a portion of the fluid reservoir upon application of the force; (c) forcing a breaking component located within an interior region of the fluid reservoir, toward and into contact with a barrier member, wherein the barrier member serves to preclude inadvertent migration and release of fluid out of the fluid reservoir; (d) breaking at least a portion of the barrier member with the breaking component; and (e) releasing fluid from within the fluid reservoir, past the barrier member, and toward and into contact with a receiving member.
Although the described method alludes to forcing the breaking component toward the barrier, the present invention is also directed to associating the breaking component with the barrier member, and forcing at least a portion of the fluid reservoir towards that breaking component to, in turn, break at least a portion of the barrier member therewith.
The invention will now be described with the reference to the following drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 of the drawings is a perspective view of the present invention as attached with a drug delivery device;
FIGS. 2A and 2B of the drawings are cross-sectional views of a drug delivery device showing, among other things, the flexibility of associating one or more fluid assemblies with one or more receiving members;
FIG. 3 of the drawings is a cross-sectional view of a drug delivery device in operation;
FIG. 4 of the drawings is a cross-sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the drug delivery device of the present invention;
FIG. 5 of the drawings illustrates a number of possible geometric configurations for the construction of the breaking means; and
FIG. 6 of the drawings is a cross-sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the drug delivery device of the present invention.

Fluid assembly containing a breaking component for release of fluid and method therefore


Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method and fault detection system for detecting and identifying the location of faults in underground power lines that can effectively and quickly identify faults in underground power lines. Embodiments can provide a method and fault detection system that quickly identify faults in a power grid that result from open circuits or short circuits in underground conduits. A specific system for fault detection of power lines in a network having one or more substations and corresponding one or more manholes for access to underground lines, includes: a sensor device for each manhole, wherein the sensor device is capable of detecting a magnetic field generated by a power line and can send a signal through a fiber optic cable, the signal including a unique wavelength identifier; and a communication device for each substation for transmitting the signal from the sensor device to an operator.

Electric power can be distributed to customers through overhead lines, underground lines, or a combination of overhead and underground lines. Faults can occur in the power lines and cause a loss of power to customers. These faults can be a result of an open circuit or a short circuit (e.g., where two phases touch each other). As an example, when a power line has a short, the power supply will stop and leave many customers without power. In the case of the overhead lines, because the lines are visible, the detection of a problem can be easier, and in many instances customers will point the problem out.
However, with underground lines the problem of detection is much more complex. When a short occurs there is little or no indication at the surface, except on a rare occasion of a blown manhole. Accordingly, it can be difficult to identify the line or lines that have a fault. In fact, often the majority of the repair time is wasted on finding the location of the fault.
Often techniques such as reflectometry or time-delayed analysis are used to find the location of a fault. One of such techniques uses an application of a high voltage to an underground cable to break down the insulation defect and induce a transient fault pulse to propagate through the cable to the end. For example, one method for locating a fault that has occurred in an electric power cable in relationship to one or more known locations along the cable includes the steps of applying a high voltage of a predetermined polarity in the cable on one side of the fault to induce the transient fault pulse; sensing the transient fault pulse at two known locations on either side of the fault; determining the pulse direction at each sensing location; and if the directions are opposite recognizing that the fault is between the two sensing locations. Even techniques involving sensors tend to incorporate time delay or reflectometry methods. Moreover, methods involving RF transmitters to send the sensor signals to a central station can have electromagnetic interference from the power lines themselves.
Another common method of detecting a short circuit is to use a ground probe to search for maximum signal strength. Here, the maximum current point will be nearest to the fault. There are three basic methods that might be used to show the direction to fault: DC shift; cable carrier and/or locked carrier reference; and phase deviation. The DC shift method involves either placing a large DC voltage on the cable or using a large pseudo impulse. The method using cable carrier and/or locked carrier reference involves locking an on-board reference to the transmitter. This can be most easily achieved by sending a carrier signal down the same cable and picking it up with an antenna. Alternatively, a radio based carrier system could be used. Another method is to lock the receiver to the transmitter and hold the lock using a very low drift oscillator. The phase deviation method involves using more than one frequency and measuring the direction of phase deviation between the two signals. If the direction of deviation is one polarity, then the fault lies in one direction, otherwise it lies in the other. However, these methods require time to find the fault's location.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and fault detection system for detecting and identifying the location of faults in underground power lines that can effectively and quickly identify faults in underground power lines.

Fiber optic fault detection system and method for underground power lines

University of Florida Research Foundation, Inc.