A fireproof insulating foamed cementitious composition with thermal energy storage capacity is provided for use in producing wall insulation boards, fireproof claddings for steel structures, inner cores of fire resistant wall or door panels, and the like. The composition demonstrates improved energy efficiency in which phase change materials, such as microencapsulates, are used in conjunction with a cementitious mixture of calcined gypsum and hydraulic cement, lightweight aggregates, a polymer latex, and a foaming solution to create stable air bubbles inside the cementitious matrix. The calcined gypsum and the hydraulic cement are present in a weight ratio range from about 1:3 to about 3:1. The composition may further include reinforced fibers, surfactants, inorganic flame retardants, and other additives. The presence of the phase change material not only increases energy efficiency of the cured cementitious foam material, but also improves compatibility between calcined gypsum and cement during slurry mixing and hardening.

Petroleum-based plastic foam materials, such as Styrofoam, polyurethane foam, and phenolic foam have been used for thermal insulation of commercial and industrial building structures. However, such foams exhibit limited fire resistance even after fire-retardant treatments. When exposed to high temperature flame, plastic foams undergo repaid thermal degradation and decomposition along with the emission of hazardous fumes and smoke.
Fiberglass and mineral wool insulations have found extensive application for residential housing in North America. These inorganic fibers offer better fire protection than petroleum-based foams. But flexibility and "fluffy" nature of such fiber insulations make them hard to retain fasteners, bolts and any other hardware resulting in more difficult and expensive construction and installation for applications, such as exterior wall insulation.
There has been a long-recognized need for rigid thermal insulation materials with good fire resistance and mechanical strength. U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,839 to Crepeau et al. discloses an insulating assembly comprising a low density foamed gypsum material and entrainment air. This gypsum foam has been further reinforced with cement and mineral wool as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,996 to Mulvey et al. But mechanical strength of such foamed gypsum is still unsatisfactory and it needs to be protected by structural surface elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,964 to Burkhart points out that entrainment of air alone will not create a gypsum wallboard with sufficiently low density, and meanwhile, maintain adequate strength. Among ingredients for lightweight gypsum compositions disclosed in this patent, thermoplastic granules have been introduced to balance lightweight requirement and strength reduction. A rubbery polymeric latex is also used for adding strength, integrity and flexibility to the final gypsum structural units. U.S. Pat. No. 6,602,924 to Chiang et al. discloses a foamed gypsum formulation containing mainly gypsum, foaming agents, epoxy resin and a hardener.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,534 to Plunguian et al. discloses a cellular product comprised of mineral cement, a film former, surfactants, lightweight aggregates, and excessive amount of air. U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,450 to Hacker discloses a sprayable insulation composition containing Portland cement, lime, diatomite and a water-soluble foaming agent. U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,624 to Riegler describes a fire retardant insulation material produced from a perlite and zeolite mixture bound together by cement and lime without an air-entraining or foaming process.
Foamed gypsum materials, compared to foamed cement, offer advantages of fast setting, early hardening, high early strength, and better fire protection and thermal insulation abilities. However, gypsum is sensitive to water and limited to interior applications if without any waterproofing treatment. On the other hand, foamed cement demonstrates good water resistance, environmental durability and strong mechanical strength, but also exhibits a long set time which results in long lead time. This could be a significant disadvantage and have a negative impact on productivity and capacity, especially when there are further processing steps needed to be done after cement hardening and setting.
Adding a large percentage of calcined gypsum (calcium sulfate hemihydrates) into Portland cement is usually unfeasible because of the formation of ettringite and thaumasite, which may cause expansion and performance deterioration. Some "pozzolanic" materials, such as silica fume, metakaolin, and furnace slag et al., have been tried in gypsum-cement systems to prevent the deleterious effect of ettringite and thaumasite. Pozzolanic activities of silica fume have been discussed by Kovler in his article published in Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 28, No. 3, pp. 423-437, 1998. U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,815 to Bonen discloses a gypsum-cement system with good water durability, which contains pozzolanic materials to minimize the formation of ettringite and thaumasite. U.S. Pat. No. 5,401,538 to Perito discloses sprayable cement-based fireproofing compositions mainly comprised of Portland cement, a high density aggregate, gypsum stucco, a stucco set retarder and shredded polystyrene aggregate. Densities of the resulted materials are quite high. U.S. Pat. No. 6,290,769 to Carkner discloses a lightweight insulating mixture of Portland cement, plaster of Paris (calcium sulfate hemihydrates), terra alba (calcium sulfate dihydrate) and lightweight aggregates. Above prior-art patents have explored opportunities to combine the advantages of both gypsum and cement. However, none of them has also focused on achieving good thermal insulating properties and energy efficiency.
Phase change materials (PCM) have drawn a lot of interest from architectural and building industries where energy consumption for indoor climate control is becoming one of the major considerations for residential and commercial building design and operation. A phase change material utilizes latent heat of fusion for thermal storage at its melting/freezing point. During solid-liquid phase transitions, phase change materials absorb and release large amounts of heat energy without a change in temperature. Based on this unique function, phase change materials can be incorporated into building component to assist in maintaining interior temperature within a comfort range and saving gas or electrical energy. For example, in summer months, building elements containing phase change materials absorb solar energy and prevent solar heat from directly penetrating into the interior of a room. As a result, the interior temperature can be kept cool for a longer time and the workloads of air conditioning system can be alleviated. In winter months, the phase change materials stop the interior heat generated by indoor heaters or a house furnace dispersing into the cold exterior environment. They absorb and store the heat energy through solid to liquid phase transition, then, release the energy back to the interior when the room temperature drops below their inching points, which leads to a significant reduction in electricity and natural gas consumption.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,279 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,160 to Salyer et al. disclose cementitious building materials directly incorporated with phase change materials. Later, U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,216 to Salyer points out that direct adding phase change materials into cementitious compositions can cause significant reductions in mechanical strength of the final products. In order to avoid this negative impact, phase change materials have been impregnated into finished building products after manufacturing. U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,543 to Houle et al. discloses a method and an apparatus for spraying a phase change material on one side of gypsum wallboards. The impregnation of phase change materials into porous products can be enhanced by exposure to microwave energy as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,150 to Benson et al. However, post-manufacturing impregnation creates building products with high surface phase change material concentrations. Because most phase change materials are flammable, impregnated products need extra flame retardant treatments. U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,912 to Salyer discloses a method of treating porous product surfaces containing phase change materials with a urea fire-retarding agent. U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,216 to Salyer discloses a method of inserting phase change material-containing composites into hollow cores of cementitious building blocks. In addition, unencapsulated phase change materials, when in liquid state, could flow away from their original positions, so it is better to seal them inside of small capsules before being added into the cementitious matrix. U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,240 to Walter et al. discloses phase change capsules incorporated into building materials like a fine aggregate. U.S. Pat. No. 7,166,355 to Jahns et al. teaches the use of microencapsulated phase change materials in gypsum plasterboard compositions.

Fireproof insulating cementitious foam comprising phase change materials


The present invention provides method for locating an entity within a structure using RFID system including a portable RF transmitter/receiver transported by the entity within the structure, a base unit, and a plurality of RFID tags, the method comprising the steps of: (a) emitting an RF interrogation signal at constant, predetermined intervals; (b) powering up and emitting a signal containing location data; (c) receiving the location data and broadcasting the location data to the base unit; and (d) receiving and displaying the location data; wherein steps (a) and (c) are performed by the RF transmitter/receiver, step (b) is performed by an RFID tag when the RF interrogation signal is within an effective range of the RFID tag, and step (d) is performed by the base unit.

Catastrophic events such as Hurricane Katrina and the attacks on the World Trade Center exposed weaknesses in emergency response systems. The primary lesson learned from these disasters is the need for a central command to know exactly where police, fire, and other first-responder personnel are located. Current emergency service agencies have access to systems to track and locate vehicles; however, these agencies lack the ability to rapidly locate an individual.
Many solutions to the problem of rapidly locating personnel have been proposed, including Global Positioning System (GPS) systems, cell phone-based systems, and radio relay systems. Each of these solutions has significant limitations. Vehicle tracking systems use GPS technology with radio transmitters to geo-locate and report the position of a vehicle. In most instances, the problem is two-dimensional, wherein a vehicle is assumed to be ground level and the system needs only solve for latitude and longitude. However, in metropolitan areas, the problem is frequently three-dimensional. For example, personnel can be above ground-level in a building or below ground-level in subways. Commercially available GPS are simply not accurate enough to precisely locate personnel in high rise buildings, and GPS signals do not reach deep under ground in subways or in mines.
Cell phones have also been proposed as a solution for locating personnel and many cell phone manufacturers are adding GPS to their phone for this purpose. However, by incorporating GPS, this proposed solution suffers from the same limitations of any GPS solution. In addition, cell phones also suffer from signal loss or interference such as when located within buildings or when located underground (e.g., in subways). After Hurricane Katrina, much of the communication and power networks were knocked out by the storm, including many cell towers. Katrina taught us that emergency systems should be completely autonomous, such that emergency systems should not depend on cell phones or electricity from a power grid. Emergency agencies, therefore, cannot depend on cell phones in as the primary means of locating personnel.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods for locating an entity within a structure using RFID


A relay set in a network device. The relay includes a first switch, a switch control unit, and a first AC coupling unit. The first switch is coupled between a first receiving end of the network device and a first transmitting end of the network device. The switch control unit is configured to turn off the first switch when the network device is in a first state. The first AC coupling unit is configured to turn on the first switch according to a first signal received from the first receiving end when the network device is in a second state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to network devices, and more particularly, to a technique of providing power to a network device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Power over Ethernet (POE) is a technique that can be utilized to supply power to a network device through communication cable(s) of an Ethernet network. By utilizing this technique, the network device can obtain power required for operation through the communication cable(s) of the Ethernet network.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a Power over Ethernet (POE) system. A network 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes a first network device 110 and a second network device 120, both of which being capable of supporting the POE technique. More specifically, in this example the first network device 110 is a device for providing power, while the second network device 120 is a device being provided with power. For example, the first network device 110 is a switch and the second network device 120 is an end station.
The first network device 110 includes a power supplier (not shown), a transmitter 112 and a receiver 114. The second network device 120 includes a transmitter 124, a receiver 122, and a relay 126 shown in FIG. 1. The relay 126 is coupled to a first receiving end VIP, a second receiving end VIN, a first transmitting end VOP, and a second transmitting end VON of the second network device 120.
When required operational power is not yet provided to the second network device 120, the two switches in the relay 126 should be in "ON" states to let the first receiving ends VIP and VIN be interconnected with the first transmitting ends VOP and VON, respectively. Under these circumstances, a link pulse sent by the transmitter 112 will be returned to the receiver 114 (the link pulse returned to the receiver 114 is attenuated). If the first network device 110 receives the returned link pulse, according to the specification of the POE, the first network device 110 realizes that the second network device 120 supports the POE technique. The first network device 110 can then send power to the second network device 120 through the communication cables connected between the first network device 110 and the second network device 120. When the required operational power is already provided to the second network device 120, the two switches in the relay 126 should be in "OFF" states.
The block "relay 126" shown in FIG. 1 is only a conceptual block. The detailed circuit structure is more complicated than what is shown in FIG. 1, which includes only two switches. It is required to appropriately design the relay 126 utilized in the second network device 120 to let the POE function be properly carried out. Besides, it is also required to integrate the relay 126 in a chip to reduce the overall manufacturing cost.

Relay set in network device and method thereof


A method of attaching an end seal to a manufactured seed is provided. The method includes providing a manufactured seed having an open end and inflating a sealing material to form an enclosure having an interior surface. The method also includes placing the enclosure into contact with the open end of the manufactured seed and attaching the enclosure to the manufactured seed to seal the open end of the manufactured seed.

Asexual propagation for plants has been shown for some species to yield large numbers of genetically identical embryos, each having the capacity to develop into a normal plant. Such embryos must usually be further cultured under laboratory conditions until they reach an autotrophic "seedling" state characterized by an ability to produce their own food via photosynthesis, resist desiccation, produce roots able to penetrate soil and fend off soil microorganisms. Some researchers have experimented with the production of artificial seeds, known as manufactured seeds, in which individual plant somatic or zygotic embryos are encapsulated in a seed coat. Examples of such manufactured seeds are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,699, issued to Carlson et al., the disclosure of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference.
Typical manufactured seeds include a seed coat, synthetic gametophyte and a plant embryo. The seed coat typically is a cylindrical capsule having a closed end and an open end. The synthetic gametophyte is placed within the seed coat, such that the gametophyte substantially fills the interior of the seed coat. A longitudinally extending hard porous insert, commonly known as a cotyledon restraint, may be centrally located within the synthetic gametophyte and includes a centrally located cavity extending partially through the length of the cotyledon restraint. The cavity is sized to receive the plant embryo therein. The well known plant embryo includes a radicle end and a cotyledon end. The plant embryo is deposited within the cavity of the cotyledon restraint cotyledon end first. The plant embryo is then sealed within the seed coat by at least one end seal. There is a weakened spot in the end seal to allow the radicle end of the embryo to penetrate the end seal.
Typically, the end seal is formed from a sheet of polymer material. In the past, a mechanical rod is used to stretch and, therefore, thin or weaken a small spot in the center of the seal. The weakened spot in the end seal is desirable because as the embryo begins to grow, the weakened spot permits tangential distribution of load to assist in the breakthrough of the embryo through the end seal.
A disk of predetermined diameter is then cut from the polymer sheet with the weakened spot in the center of the disk forming the end seal. After the end seals are cut from the polymer sheet, they are pushed out of a punch cavity with a rod and then fall by gravity on top of the seed coat. The seed coat with the end seal is then transferred to a separate station to heat fuse the end seals to the seed coats. Although such a process is effective at forming and sealing end seals to the seed coat of a manufactured seed, it is not without its problems.
First, it is difficult to maintain the exact location of the opening into the cavities of the cotyledon restraint as the manufactured seed passes through the production line. Second, the placement of the end seal over the seed coat is not reliable. Additionally, the end seals tend to stick to the punch or punch cavity. Further, fusing of the end seals to the seed coats is difficult and time consuming because the end seals must be heated to a point where the end seal is fused to the seed coat without damaging the dome or weakened area itself. Sometimes the fusing process melts holes in the weakened spot. The fusing process may cause damage to the plant embryo itself. Also, because of how the material was stretched, the resulting thinned or weakened area is not uniform in thickness. As a result, mass production of manufactured seeds is not only time consuming but also expensive.
Thus, there exists a need for a method of manufacturing and attaching an end seal to a seed coat of a manufactured seed that can produce and attach a large number of end seals to a manufactured seed at a relatively low cost, with a high degree of reliability, and without damaging the plant embryo located within the seed coat.

Method of attaching an end seal to manufactured seeds


An acyclic tricarboxylic compound has been isolated from a culture of MF5453. The compound and its derivatives are active as squalene synthetase inhibitors and are useful in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia.

Hypercholesterolemia is known to be one of the prime risk factors for ischemic cardiovascular disease, such as arteriosclerosis. Bile acid sequestrants have been used to treat this condition; they seem to be moderately effective but they must be consumed in large quantities, i.e. several grams at a time, and they are not very palatable.
MEVACOR.RTM. (lovastatin), now commercially available, is one of a group of very active antihypercholesterolemic agents that function by limiting cholesterol biosynthesis by inhibiting the enzyme, HMG-CoA reductase.
Squalene synthetase is the enzyme involved in the first committed step of the de novo cholesterol biosynthetic pathway. This enzyme catalyzes the reductive dimerization of two molecules of farnesyl pyrophosphate to form squalene. The inhibition of this committed step to cholesterol should leave unhindered biosynthetic pathways to ubiquinone, dolichol and isopentenyl t-RNA.
Previous efforts at inhibiting squalene synthetase have employed pyrophosphate or pyrophosphate analog containing compounds such as those described in P. Ortiz de Montellano et al, J. Med Chem. 20, 243 (1977) and E. J. Corey and R. Volante, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 98, 1291 (1976). S. Biller (U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,721) describes isoprenoid (phosphinylmethyl)phosphonates as inhibitors of squalene synthetase.
Recently certain nonphosphorous containing inhibitors of squalene synthetase have been isolated as natural products. These natural product inhibitors are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,053,425; 5,055,487 and 5,026,554.
The present invention relates to acyclic tricarboxylic compounds which inhibit squalene synthase and are thus useful as cholesterol lowering agents. The parent compound of the present invention has been isolated from a fermentation broth of MF 5453.


Methods and compositions are provided for the diagnosis and treatment of iron misregulation diseases, including HFE polypeptides, agonists, and antagonists, and transferrin receptor agonists and antagonists.

Hereditary hemochromatosis (HH), is a common disease characterized by excess iron deposition in the major organs of the body (Dadone, M. M. et al. AM. J. Clin. Pathol. 78:196-207 (1982); Edwards, C. Q. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 18:1355-1362. (1988); McLaren, C. E., et al. Blood 86:2021-2027 (1995); Bothwell, T. H. et al., The metabolic and molecular basis of inherited disease (ed. C. R. Scriver, E. A.) 2237-2269 (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1995); Bacon, B. R. et al. Hepatoloy. A textbook of liver disease (eds. Zakim, D. & Boyer, T. D.) 1439-1472 (W. B. Saunders, Philadelphia, 1996). A candidate gene for this disease, HFE, was identified by positional cloning (Feder, J. N., et al. Nature Genetics 13:399-408 (1996)). The gene, a novel member of the MHC class I family, was found to have a mutation, Cys282Tyr, in 83% of patient chromosomes (Feder, J. N., et al. Nature Genetics 13:399-408 (1996)). This mutation eliminates the ability of HFE to associate with β2-microglobulin (β2m) and prevents cell-surface expression (Feder, J. N., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 272:14025-14028 (1997)). However, the relationship of this class I-like molecule to the regulation of iron metabolism has remained obscure.
Thus, an object of the instant invention is to provide a molecular basis for the relationship of HFE to iron metabolism, and diagnostic and therapeutic agents for the treatment of iron misregulation diseases.

Methods and compositions for diagnosis and treatment of iron misregulation diseases


In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus includes a hollow tubular body with a polygonal cross-section and a highly reflective interior surface, a first filter, and a second filter. The body includes an input end portion configured to receive and reflect white light having a Gaussian profile to produce a homogenized input beam, a first output leg portion configured to receive and reflect a first reflected beam to produce a first homogenized output beam having a first wavelength characteristic and a top hat profile, and a second output leg portion configured to receive and reflect a second reflected beam to produce a second homogenized output beam having a second wavelength characteristic and a top hat profile. The first filter is configured to receive the homogenized input beam and produce the first reflected beam and a first transmitted beam. The second filter is configured to receive the first transmitted beam and produce the second reflected beam.

Optical devices that split or homogenize an incoming light beam are known, yet such devices typically include heavy, expensive, and delicate components that may limit the application of these useful techniques. Previous attempts have included the use of a hex-shaped glass rod with an exterior cladding configured to provide reflection of light within the glass rod. Such a glass rod is typically very expensive to produce, extremely fragile, and light may leak out of the glass rod if the exterior cladding is damaged. Further, because the incoming light beam typically has a Gaussian, non-uniform intensity distribution, additional components are typically required to produce a uniform intensity distribution. Such additional components contribute to the increased cost, weight, and complexity of the optical system. Thus, there remains a need for an apparatus and method to provide a combined white light splitter and homogenizer in a rugged, compact, and low cost manner.

White light splitting and homogenizing systems and methods


A latch mechanism for fixing a top member to a base member of a foldable electronic device includes a magnet, a locking member, and a first resilient member. The magnet is for being mounted to the top member of the foldable electronic device. The locking member for being movably received in the base member of the foldable electronic device includes a hook at a top thereof that is made of magnetic material, for engaging with the magnet. The first resilient member is for being mounted between the base member of the foldable electronic device and the locking member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to foldable electronic devices, and particularly to a foldable electronic device having a latch mechanism for readily closing or opening a top member thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
A typical foldable electronic device, such as a notebook computer, includes a base member, and a top member with a rear end pivotably mounted to a rear end of the base member by hinges. Generally, the notebook computer includes a latch mechanism mounted to a front side of the top member for fixing the top member to the base member in a closed position.
A conventional latch mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,239. The latch mechanism includes a sliding member slidably mounted to a top member of a notebook computer, an operating member mounted to the sliding member, and two springs located between corresponding ends of the sliding member and the top member. The sliding member includes a plurality of L-shaped latches protruding down therefrom for engaging with locking holes of a base member of the notebook computer. When the top member is open, the latches protrude from a corresponding surface of the top member, which impairs the aesthetics of the notebook. Besides, the latches are easily damaged and unable to function anymore due to inadvertent collision on the latches.
What is desired, therefore, is a foldable electronic device having a latch mechanism which more readily allows opening or closing a top member thereof.

Foldable electronic device having latch mechanism

Bao-an District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.


Methods, apparatus, programs and signals for providing communications network security. The approach is based on using established “standard” protocols, but packets (or cells or frames) are deliberately malformed by the sender, optionally according to a predetermined rule (for example by inverting a packet check digit). A filter forwards only packets identified as being invalid, optionally in accordance with the rule; packets which are valid with respect to the “standard” protocol are dropped. The filter is preferably implemented in hardware to mitigate the risk of its being compromised by a malicious attack.

A critical computer network that receives data from outside is vulnerable to attacks that place code in the data. For this reason, such networks are usually protected by firewall processors which check the data to ensure that it contains no code.
Many products are available to provide this kind of protection, including Firewall-1 from CheckPoint Software Technologies Limited.
However, a sophisticated attacker might use malformed data to take control of the firewall itself. Such attacks work because software that mishandles malformed data often fails in such a way as to execute some portion of the data. The attacker can contrive to cause the software to fail and execute data of their choosing, thus giving them control of the firewall. Once the attacker has control of the firewall they are generally free to access the resources of the critical network in arbitrary ways.
Referring to FIG. 1, communications protocols are built up in layers 1, with the services offered by one layer being used to implement a richer protocol at the next layer. Firewalls 2 operate by intercepting the lower layer communications between two networks and performing some checks on that communication. The number of layers that are intercepted can be varied, providing a trade off between strength and performance.
Firewalls that intercept only the very lowest protocol layer are faster because minimal protocol handling is required. However they have limited strength because attacks or errors occurring above the intercepted layers pass unseen. In contrast, firewalls that intercept all the layers of protocol are slower because they must perform more protocol handling, but are stronger because they can check all information in the communications.
It is well known how to construct firewalls using software and a general purpose computer with two network interface cards. The book "Building Internet Firewalls" by Zwicky et. al. and published by O'Reilly provides a standard reference and Cisco Systems of San Jose, Calif. offer a variety of products.
The security weakness with such application level firewalls is that any flaws, or configuration mistakes, in the network stack may lead to the checks being bypassed.
Referring now to FIG. 2, the weakness of the network stack was noted by Nemoto who disclosed a solution (U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,259) that avoided failures in the protocol stack resulting in the checks being bypassed.
In Nemoto's solution an external computer 3 (referred to in that patent as "outside host") uses an application proxy 4 to intercept communication at the highest level and forward it to the firewall 5 ("inside host") using a simple dedicated communication mechanism rather than a network interface. In this way errors in the complex protocol stack software of the firewall do not lead to the checks being bypassed.
Nemoto's solution relies on the simplicity that can be achieved by using a dedicated communication mechanism. However, Nemoto's solution excludes the use of fast network interfaces, because these allow shared use and require complex software to control them.
If Nemoto's solution were used with a complex communication mechanism, the software required in the firewall would be complex. Any errors in this software would leave the firewall open to attack from the external computer, which is itself open to attack from other computers on the external network.
Hence Nemoto's solution is limited in terms of the performance it can deliver and this cannot be improved without affecting confidence in the security of the solution.
Referring now to FIG. 3, a potential solution to improve a firewall's vulnerability to implementation flaws in the protocol stack is to implement the firewall's function in hardware. Possible techniques are described in Cheng's master's dissertation for the University of Saskatchewan entitled "Silicon Firewall Prototype" and the paper "Specialized Hardware for Deep Network Packet Filtering" by Cho et. al. of the University of California in Los Angeles.
These hardware solutions reproduce the protocol handling 6 and checking 7 functionality of a firewall 8 using logic gates rather than software. Logic gates cannot, under operational conditions, be rearranged while software can be modified "on-the-fly". As a result, the attacker is denied the possibility of gaining control over the firewall's protocol stack.
However, the complexity of standard Internet protocols is such that the techniques are only practical for lower layer protocols, such as TCP/IP, rather than application level protocols such as SMTP.
The fact that these hardware firewalls can, in practice, only apply checks to lower level protocols means they are easily defeated if mistakes occur in the higher level protocols.
Referring now to FIG. 4, an alternative arrangement of hardware logic which works at the application protocol level is described in co-pending international patent application GB05/001844. This describes how a simple hardware device 9 can apply a simple digital signature check 10 to application data passing from one network to another.
This solution avoids relying on the correct operation of any complex network stack by running the check directly in the hardware device that is handling the low level communications. Complex application specific checks are accommodated by performing them on separate computers within the protected network and then applying a digital signature to the data to signify that it has been checked. It is this digital signature that is validated by the hardware device.
Such a solution is not, however, applicable for data sent into a protected network from a potentially hostile network. This is because the application-specific checkers would be hosted on the hostile network and so are prone to attack, allowing an attacker to have a digital signature applied to data that should not be allowed to enter the protected system.


A cab chassis vehicle and a method of assembling a cab-chassis vehicle are provided. A chassis is sub-assembled by connecting a mounting bracket for a truck body to a frame rail via a fastener, installing a chassis-side vehicle harness, and installing a chassis-side body wiring harness. A cab is sub-assembled by installing a connector plate to cover an aperture on an outer panel of the cab, installing a cab-side body wiring harness, connecting the cab-side body wiring harness to the connector plate, and installing a cab-side vehicle harness. The cab is assembled to the chassis to provide a cab-chassis vehicle by connecting the chassis-side body wiring harness to the connector plate, connecting the chassis-side vehicle harness to the cab-side vehicle harness.

Vehicles such as class 7 and class 8 vehicles are often provided as a cab chassis vehicle by a vehicle original equipment manufacturer (OEM), and then have a selected truck body mounted onto the chassis to functionalize the truck for its intended use. Conventionally, a body builder has fitted the truck body onto the cab chassis, which has required significant modification, disassembly, and reassembly of the existing delivered cab chassis.

Cab chassis vehicle and method of assembling


A substrate having a transparent electrode for a flexible display which has flexibility and transparency and is resistant to stress of bending, and a method of fabricating the same are provided. By forming a transparent electrode of nanowires resistant to stress of bending on a substrate formed of a shape memory polymer (SMP) material, an increase in resistance due to bending can be prevented and the original form can be recovered. The method for fabricating a substrate having a transparent electrode for a flexible display includes: applying a nanowire dispersion solution of methanol to a glass substrate to form a nanowire electrode; coating the glass substrate with the nanowire electrode formed thereon, with an acrylic shape memory polymer (SMP) to form an SMP thin film; curing the SMP thin film through UV irradiation to form an SMP substrate; and removing the glass substrate from the SMP substrate.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a substrate having transparent electrode for a flexible display and a method of fabricating the same, and more particularly, to
2. Background
Recently, as interest in information displays has been on the rise and demand for the use of portable information media has been increased, lightweight flat panel displays (FPDs) substituting cathode ray tubes (CRTs) as existing display devices have been actively researched and commercialized.
In the FPD fields, a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, which is lighter and consumes less power, has been spotlighted so far, and recently, a development of a new display device has been actively made to meet various demands.
An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device, one of new display devices, is a self-luminous type device, which thus is excellent in a viewing angle and contrast ratio, is lighter and thinner because it does not need a backlight, and is advantageous in terms of power consumption, relative to an LCD device. In addition, an OLED display device can be driven by a DC and at a low voltage, has a fast response speed, and is especially advantageous in terms of fabrication costs.
A thin film formed of a material having high electrical conductivity, while having transparent optical characteristics, is required to fabricate most flat panel display devices including an OLED display, and currently, a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) such as oxide indium tin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IZO), or the like, on the basis of indium oxide has been commonly used as a material of a transparent electrode.
TCO generally refers to an electroconductive metal oxide having light transmittance, which is defined as material having visible light transmittance of 80% or greater and conductivity of 10−3/Ωcm or less in a 400 nm to 700 nm wavelength region. So far, TCO has been used as an important material in flat panel displays including LCDs, OLED displays, plasma display panels (PDPs), and the like, lighting devices such as solar cells including thin film solar cells, LEDs, and the like.
ITO, one of the most widely used TCO, has various advantages such as high visible light transmission, low electric resistance, and the like. However, an increase in consumption of indium has triggered lack of resources, and a resultant increase in cost of indium and environmental problems due to toxicity of indium lead to requirement of development of a substitute material that may complement the problems.
Meanwhile, flexible displays that may be folded or rolled without being damaged are expected as novel technologies in the flat panel display fields, and in line with the development of technologies, LCDs, OLED displays, or electrophoretic display devices are anticipated to become the mainstream.
In order to apply various transparent electrodes to flexible displays, technologies of substituting ITO to enhance flexibility of thin films have been developed.
Among them, a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) retains high electric charge transfer state due to very low sheet resistance and a formation of mutual networks between SWNTs.
A high length/diameter ratio of SWNT means that SWNT itself may be stretched to 100% or more, providing excellent flexibility to SWNT electrodes.
FIG. 1 is a graph showing a change in sheet resistance of an ITO electrode and an SWNT electrode over a bent angle.
Referring to FIG. 1, the SWNT electrode has sheet resistance of 103 Ω/sq or less, exhibiting excellent electrical conductivity, and has transmittance of 80% or more in a wavelength range of visible light from 400 nm to 800 nm, exhibiting excellent transmittance. For example, the SWNT electrode exhibits 80% of transmittance in a wavelength range of 550 nm and typical sheet resistance of 200Ω per square.
Here, it can be seen that the ITO electrode fabricated through sputtering has excellent electrical conductivity and transparency, but resistance thereof is sharply increased as cracks are generated due to repeated mechanical stimulation, for example, bending.
Thus, although the ITO electrode has sheet resistance superior to that of the SWNT electrode, but when the ITO electrode is folded even once, cracks are formed on the bent surface, rapidly increasing resistance, and thus, it cannot be used as a transparent electrode for a flexible display.
Also, as mentioned above, the ITO electrode involves the problem of an increase in cost due to depletion of indium and is impossible to form a pattern according to a roll-to-roll scheme to be applied to a large scale flexible display.
In comparison, the SWNT electrode and a conductive polymer electrode have excellent mechanical flexibility, but having a high sheet resistance value, and thus, it is somewhat ineligible to be applied to a large scale OLED display or a polymer solar cell.
Also, a glass substrate commonly used as a substrate of the SWNT electrode is advantageous in stability in an electrode formation or a fabrication process. However, since a glass substrate is heavy and solid, it is not appropriate for flexible displays or next-generation displays for mobile communication.
Namely, a glass substrate used as a substrate of a flat panel display is thin, having a thickness of 0.7 mm or some. However, in terms of characteristics, a glass substrate is readily broken, and when it is used as a mobile display such as a cellular phone, or the like, or applied to a large scale display, a protective window formed of glass or acryl is additionally required. Also, a glass substrate is not bent.
Various flexible substrates that may overcome such shortcomings have been developed. Among them, in case of polyimide used as a heat-resistant film, concentration of chains due to chemosystematically strong charge-transfer complex and π-conjugation reveal (or express) yellowish or brownish color, degrading transmission and transparency.

Substrate having transparent electrode for flexible display and method of fabricating the same


Disclosed are a channel estimation method and device for improving accuracy of channel estimation so as to improve the performance of a receiver. The present application provides a channel estimation method, comprising: determining an equivalent pilot sequence by means of a historical effective frequency offset value; determining a sequence for multiple correlation by using the equivalent pilot sequence; and performing multiple correlation calculation of channel estimation by using the sequence for multiple correlation.

In the exiting Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, there is a significant frequency offset of an uplink signal at a base station side while a user equipment is moving at a high speed. An uplink pilot signal is generally a sequence mapped in the frequency domain, and there is a sampling error in the frequency domain due to the significant frequency offset, thus resulting in interference between sub-carriers. And there may be a significant error of channel estimation at a receiver due to the interference between the sub-carriers.
The existing channel estimation algorithms in the base station are not applicable to the user equipment moving at a high speed. In a common channel estimation algorithm, such a time-domain windowing and noise suppressing algorithm is applied that the receiver correlates the uplink pilot signal with a locally generated reference signal sequence, and then transforms it into the time domain through Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT), and finds a valid path according to amplitudes of paths to suppress an influence of noise. However if the original local pilot sequence is still applied in the correlation algorithm, then there will be a significant error of channel estimation due to the frequency offset, thus degrading the performance of the receiver.

DATANG MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT CO., LTD


A flashlight control circuit is provided to control the flash according to an exposure voltage and a predetermined voltage. Either a first comparator, second comparator and logic gate or a comparator, a first inverter, a first transistor, a first logic gate and a second logic gate may be included in the control circuit. The provided circuit enables the capacitor to discharge promptly when the trigger signal stops. Therefore, an additional control signal for discharge is not necessary. Furthermore, the circuit has a clamping circuit to clamp the exposure voltage at a lower level than the predetermined voltage according to a full flash signal.

1. Field of Invention
The invention pertains to a camera flash control circuit and particularly to a flash control circuit with reduced luminance error of a generated flash by use of a phototransistor.
2. Related Art
With the progress digital image processing technology and charge coupling devices (CCDs), digital cameras have become very important. Since computers have become widely used and other kinds of digital technology are improving rapidly, the digital camera has found itself many more applications. With these advantageous contributions, our daily life is pushed rapidly to become more digitized.
The flash is an indispensable part of a camera. Current flash light operation has a preflash stage and a main flash stage. The former is performed for determining the luminance of an object to be photographed. Next, the determined luminance is used to determine a required luminance of the flash in the main flash stage. Specifically, the time for the preflash is considerably short, e.g. 3 μs. Then, a CCD and a central processing unit (CPU) in the camera are used to compute the required luminance of the flash and the corresponding time for the main flash stage, which is typically 0.1 ms to 3 ms. As such, the flash may be controlled to match the required amount of the exposure in any environment.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,441,856, and 6,359,651 and Taiwan patent No. 570206 adopt the two-stage flash technology. However, since the flash is generated by discharge of a large capacitor charged with a high voltage, such as 160 uF/330V, the preflash stage may reduce the maximum energy which may be released at the main flash stage.
Taiwan patent 562986 also disclosed an apparatus and a method for controlling a flash, in which no preflash stage is needed. In the apparatus, a light-adjustment circuit is used to perform an opto-electrical transformation for the reflected light from an object to be photographed, i.e., incident light emitted from the flash, to output an exposure voltage. When the flash voltage is greater than the reference voltage, the flash ceases to emit a light, which means that the luminance of the flash is sufficient. On the other hand, when the exposure voltage is lower than the reference voltage, the flash keeps emitting light.
Although the technology in this patent may improve the disadvantages in the prior art, it still has some technical problems that need to be improved. For example, the flash requires an additional discharge signal, and lacks the function of forcing flash generation. In addition, the control circuit is composed of bi-polar junction transistors, which leads to a slower response speed, a larger transmission delay and has an inclination to over-exposure and imprecise flash control.
Furthermore, too much error may occur in current technology. In a luminance test of a single camera after multiple preflashes, the luminance falls between 130 and 160 and thus has an error of about 10%. Therefore, the technology using preflash to determine the required exposure is not precise enough.
A precise flash control may not be necessary for previous digital cameras with fewer pixels. However, this is not the case for currently used cameras with more pixels, in which the flash control has a considerable effect on the resulting image quality. For precise flash control, many factors must be considered such as number of components, operating range of the voltage and signal delay. Therefore, developing a more precise flash control technology using fewer components has become an urgent need in the technology field.


Embodiments of the invention generally provide a system, method, and memory device for accessing memory. In one embodiment, a first memory device includes command decoding logic configured to decode commands issued to the first memory device and a second memory device, while command decoding logic of the second memory device is bypassed.

Modern computer systems typically include some form of a memory device which stores information. During system operation, a processor may issue access commands to the memory device to access the stored information. The access commands issued by the processor may include read and write commands. For each received access command, the memory device may process the received access command and use the access command to access a memory array which contains the information stored by the memory device.
Many electronic applications use a set of integrated circuit (IC) chips that are packaged together, for example, on a common printed circuit board (PCB). For example, many applications call for a processor and one or more types of memory, such as volatile memory (e.g., dynamic random access memory, or DRAM) and non-volatile (e.g., flash) memory, to be included on the same PC board. It is sometimes more cost effective to package these integrated circuits together into a single multi-chip package (MCP, which may also be referred to as a multi-chip module, or MCM), that allows tight integration of the devices and occupies less space on a printed circuit (PC) board.

Method and apparatus for implementing memory enabled systems using master-slave architecture


A signal adaptive loop filter reduces blocking effects and ringing noise of motion-compensated image data. In the loop filter, binary edge map information on which global thresholding and local thresholding with respect to the motion-compensated image are reflected, is used to judge whether the binary edge map information within a predetermined size of the filter window is either a homogeneous or an edge area. If it is judged as a homogeneous area, predetermined first weight factors corresponding thereto are used for generating a filtered pixel value for the corresponding filter window. While, in the case that it is judged as an edge area, predetermined second weight factors are varied according to the binary edge map information corresponding to pixels, and the filter window having the varied second weight factors is used for generating the filtered pixel value corresponding to respective pixels.

The present invention relates to a loop filtering method capable of reducing blocking effects and ringing noise, and more particularly, to a loop filtering method capable of reducing blocking effects and ringing noise of a motion-compensated image.
Most picture coding standards including H.263 of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 of the International Standards Organization (ISO), use block-based processing for motion estimation and discrete cosine transform (DCT).
This block-based processing induces the well-known blocking effects and a ringing noise, particularly when an image is highly compressed. The blocking effects casue a viewer who views a decompressed image displayed on a screen to see the boundary between the blocks. The typical blocking effects are grid noise in the monotone area and staircase noise along the image edges. The ringing noise induces sinusoidal traces on the practical edges of an image.

Loop filtering method for reducing blocking effects and ringing noise of a motion-compensated image


The subject invention achieves further improvement in recording density for an optical information recording medium using a medium super-resolution effect with a super-resolution film, by reduction of the effective spot diameter in a further effective way. According to the optical information recording medium of the present invention, information is recorded on a recording surface of a substrate 5 in the form of phase pits. On the recording surface, an information layer 4, composed of a reflection film 6, a light-absorbing film 3 and a temperature-responsive film 2, is formed. The temperature-responsive film 2 is made of a ZnO film, which is an inorganic super-resolution film whose complex refractive index changes according to intensity of incident light, the film is also superior in a light transmittance property. The light-absorbing film 3 is made of an Si film 3, which absorbs a part of the incident light so that the temperature of the information layer 4 increases. The reflection film 6 is made of an Al film.

Because of advanced computerization, and development of information communication and multimedia technologies in recent years, demands for a higher density and a greater capacity of optical information recording medium is increasing. The upper limit of the recording density of optical information recording medium is limited mostly by a spot diameter of an optical beam which records or reproduces information. A light spot diameter is substantially expressed by λ/NA, where λ expresses a wavelength of light source, and NA expresses a numerical aperture of an objective lens. To improve the recording density, the light spot diameter needs to be reduced.
However, because of absorption by optical elements and the limit of sensitivity property of a detecting device, the wavelength λ of the light source cannot be reduced less than a wavelength of an ultraviolet range. Moreover, the improvement of NA is substantially limited by the permissible range of the inclination of a medium. On this account, there is a limit in improving the recording density by reducing the light spot diameter.
To overcome the limit, there is a technique called a super-resolution medium technology, which achieves reduction in effective light spot diameter by using the optical characteristics of recording medium. According to the super-resolution medium technology, a part of the light spot is masked by utilizing (a) a temperature distribution on the recording medium and (b) a change in transmittance, which are induced by the light spot, so as to reduce the effective spot for recording/reproducing, thereby increasing a recording/reproducing density. Such an effect is called a medium super-resolution effect.
FIG. 20 schematically illustrates the above-described medium super-resolution effect. A light spot 111 relatively scans the super-resolution medium in a direction indicated by an arrow 113 to carry out recording and reproducing. In general reproduction, all recorded marks 112 positioned in the light spot 111 contribute to reproducing signals. However, in the super-resolution medium, the light spot 111 is masked except for the central region 111a with a high light intensity, so that only the recorded mark 112a in the central region 111a is reproduced. In this way, the diameter of effective light spot for reproducing is practically reduced. On the contrary to the example of FIG. 20, it is also possible to detect the recorded marks 112 in a peripheral region 111b in the light spot 111 by masking the central region 111a.
The followings are conventional methods for carrying out the super-resolution medium technology.
(1) A super-resolution read-out technology using a mask made of an organic dye
(2) A super-resolution technology using a photochromic mask film
(3) A super-resolution technology using an inorganic oxide film
Among these, the method using an organic dye or a photochromic (the methods (1) and (2)) is not sufficiently reliable in information reproduction since a disk including an organic mask layer is easily broken by heat, and is endured readout of approximately 10,000 times or less. For this reason, those methods are not in practical use. In addition, because of the fragility under heat, those methods cannot be employed for rewritable discs.
In contrast, referring to Document 2, a disk according to the super-resolution technology using the inorganic oxide film (the method (3)) allows (repeated) readout of 100,000 times or more, and a phase-change medium applying this super-resolution film is rewritable. This is because, a disk using super-resolution film of an inorganic material is not broken by heat as easily as the disc using the super-resolution film of an organic material, such as the mask using an organic dye or the photochromic mask layer. On this account, the inorganic oxide super-resolution film according to the method (3) is a super-resolution material applicable to both a read-only disc and a rewritable disc.
Further, Document 1 discloses the optical information recording medium which is arranged such that (i) a Co—Si—Na—Ca—O film or a Co3O4 film is used as the inorganic oxide super-resolution film, and (ii) reflectivity of a multilayer film increases with an increase in intensity of the incident light. This optical information recording medium is made in view of such a defect of an inorganic oxide super-resolution film that a decrease in reflectivity with a change in complex refractive index causes an increase in diameter of an effective reproducing spot, thereby failing to ensure a reproducing signal amplitude property, which contributes to improvement in recording density.
Moreover, according to Document 1, when the inorganic oxide super-resolution film (hereinafter referred to as an inorganic super-resolution film) is irradiated with a laser light greater than a certain threshold value, a complex refractive index thereof changes. When applying the inorganic super-resolution film to an optical disc, the inorganic super-resolution film is provided as a part of a multilayer lamination structure. In this structure, when reproducing information recorded on the optical disc, the complex refractive index of the inorganic super-resolution film changes in the center of the light spot where the temperature has increased, and the complex refractive index of this area changes due to a multiple interference of light in the multilayer film. This enables intensive readout of signals in a part of the light spot, thereby reducing the effective spot diameter for reproducing.
Such a multilayer structure containing an inorganic super-resolution film can be improved in function by increasing the change in complex refractive index of the multilayer structure. In order to increase the change in the reflectivity of the multilayer film, it is effective to adequately use the multiple interference of light in the multilayer film.
However, one of the inorganic super-resolution films used in Document 1 is 50 nm in thickness, with a complex refractive index (=n−ki, where i is an imaginary unit) n=2.48, and an extinction coefficient k=0.48, as default values. These values are respectively changed to: n=2.41 and k=0.57 with an increase in intensity of incident light. However, since the extinction coefficient k is large in this structure, there is a limit in effectively increasing the change in the reflectivity of the multilayer film.
That is, in the arrangement in which the extinction coefficient k is such a large value, light is absorbed as it passes through the inorganic super-resolution film, so that the inorganic super-resolution film functions as a translucent film. When the inorganic super-resolution film functions as a translucent film, the light is absorbed while multiple optical interference repeatedly occurs. Thus, the effect of multiple optical interference is not fully ensured.
To more specifically explain this principle, the following explains light absorption in the above-described inorganic super-resolution film with a thickness=50 nm, and an extinction coefficient k=0.48. For ease of explanation that only deals with absorption, the multiple interference is ignored here. Thus, the intensity of transmitted light which passes through the inorganic super-resolution film is expressed by the following equations:I=I0×exp(−αx),
where I0 expresses the intensity of incident light, I expresses the intensity of transmitted light, x expresses the thickness of the film, and a expresses the absorption coefficient, which is denoted by α=4πk/λ, where λ is the wavelength of the incident light.
According to these equations, the intensity I of the transmitted light exponentially decreases as the thickness x and the extinction coefficient k increase.
In the above example, the wavelength A of the light source is 660 nm, which makes the transmittance (=the intensity of transmitted light/the intensity of incident light) 63% according to the foregoing equation. However, because the density of the optical information recording medium is increasing in recent years, the wavelength of the light source tends to decrease, and an optical information recording medium using a blue laser of wavelength 400 nm is now put to practical use. When the light source with a wavelength=400 nm is used in the above example, the transmittance decreases to 47%.
Note that, in this calculation, the multiple interference is ignored to only deal with the absorption. However, if considering the multiple interference, the transmittance further decrease because respective rays of the light weaken each other.
Therefore, when the above structure uses the optical system which emits light of wavelength 400 nm, the amount of light having passed through the inorganic super-resolution film becomes equal to or less than one half of the incident light. This amount is not enough to utilize the multiple interference. In addition, the light is not efficiently used.
The change in the reflectivity of the multilayer film can also be increased by increasing the thickness of the inorganic super-resolution film so as to enhance the effect of change in refractive index. However, when a translucent inorganic super-resolution film is increased in thickness, light cannot pass through the inorganic super-resolution film. The increase in thickness of the inorganic super-resolution film is therefore not desired.
According to the above equations, the transmittance drastically decreases from 63% to 40% for a light source with a wavelength=660 nm, from 47% to 22% for a light source with a wavelength=400 nm, when the thickness is doubled, that is, when the thickness is increased to 100 nm. As the transmittance thus greatly decreases for a short wavelength, it is insufficient to ensure the effect of multiple interference. In addition, the light is not efficiently used.
Especially, when the inorganic super-resolution layer is translucent, the efficiency in use of light decreases in the information layer including the inorganic super-resolution film. Therefore, there is a difficulty in using such an arrangement for a multi-recording-section structure, that contains lamination of a plurality of recording layers for recording information, or of a plurality of recording surfaces where information are recorded in the form of pits which create depression/projection on the recording surface.
Note that, in order to increase the change in reflectivity without changing the thickness of inorganic super-resolution film, one possible method is increasing the amount of change in the complex refractive index of inorganic super-resolution film; however, since the amount of change in the complex refractive index differs for each substance, it is difficult to expect a significant improvement by this method.
(Documents)
1. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001/84643 (Tokukai 2001-84643, filed on Mar. 30, 2001), corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,524,766
2. Toshimichi Shintani, Motoyasu Terao, Hiroki Yamamoto and Takashi Naito, "Jpn. J. Appl. Phys (Japan Journal of Applied Physics) Vol. 38", 1999, p. 1656 to p. 1660
3. Kiyoshi Takahashi, Yoshihiro Hamakawa and Akio Ushirokawa, "Photovoltaics", second impression of the first edition, MORIKITA SHUPPAN, published on Dec. 10, 1980, p. 41

Optical information recording medium, recording/reproducing method, and recording/reproducing device


A semiconductor device fabrication method includes forming a barrier layer upon a dielectric layer, forming a pillar interconnect structure upon the barrier layer, forming solder upon the pillar interconnect structure, reflowing the solder to release solder voids, forming a perimeter material around at least a portion of an exposed sidewall of the pillar, and removing the barrier layer exterior to the pillar interconnect structure. Another fabrication method includes forming the barrier layer, forming the pillar interconnect structure, forming the solder upon the pillar interconnect structure, forming a perimeter material on exposed surfaces of the pillar interconnect structure, and removing the barrier layer on the surface of the dielectric layer exterior to the pillar interconnect structure. Another fabrication method includes forming the barrier layer, forming the pillar interconnect structure, forming a wettable material on sidewalls of the pillar, and removing the barrier layer exterior to the pillar interconnect structure.

A pillar is a semiconductor chip-to-package interconnect technology. The advantages in the pillars lie in the extendibility to finer pitch and the superior electromigration (EM) performance compared to conventional solder C4's (controlled collapse chip connection). The pillar may be made from copper and provides the enhanced EM performance but increases the die stress for chip-to-chip and chip-to-wafer joints (i.e., 3D applications). The finer pitch is due to its vertical sidewall.
In copper pillar technology, a small amount of solder is still required to connect the copper pillars on the chips to the pad on the substrate. Sometimes the solder may wet the sidewall of the pillar. In some applications pillar sidewall wetting may be beneficial. For example, in implementations where solder is attached a receiving pad of a substrate or carrier, the pillar may include wettable sidewalls to ensure adequate electrical connection between the chip and package. However, in other applications sidewall wetting is undesired. For example, referring to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B a conventional copper pillar structure with wettable sidewall is shown. Here, the solder will flow onto the sidewall of the copper pillars. This can cause bridging between adjacent pillars which, in turn, results in shorting (see, FIG. 1B). Also, although the pillars can be used in finer pitch applications, the solder wetting may require the pillars to be placed farther apart than desired. For this reason, it is not possible to provide a denser structure of connections.


A method for moving an optical device of an imaging device includes one or more depth sensors acquiring one or more depth measurements within a predefined spatial coordinate system. Each of the one or more depth measurements indicates a distance from the imaging device to an object within the predefined spatial coordinate system. The method further includes one or more orientation sensors determining orientation information of the imaging device within the predefined spatial coordinate system, estimating an object distance between the imaging device and the object based on the one or more depth measurements and the orientation information, and moving the optical device from a first position to a second position according to the object distance and a focal length of the optical device.

A movable object, such as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), is often equipped with various types of sensors. For example, a UAV may use depth sensors for, e.g., obstacle avoidance and/or target detection. An orientation sensor affixed to a UAV may be used for, e.g., imaging and/or flight control purposes. A movable object may include an imaging device, such as a camera, that captures images as the movable object s operated. Autofocus techniques are widely used across a range of cameras for adjusting the optical system of the device to provide focused image output. Because a UAV is often in motion relative to an image subject, a rapid autofocus process is particularly beneficial for a camera coupled to a UAV.

Autofocus initialization based on target detection


A system for monitoring an ATM cross-connecting apparatus by rewriting a VPI conversion table to various values, inputting a test cell, and examining the test cell after the test cell passes through the ATM cross-connecting apparatus. Entries of a VPI conversion table are accompanied by traffic flags indicating whether or not the corresponding entry is occupied for use for user's signals. First, the traffic flags are examined. Each entry not occupied for user's signals can be freely rewritten. Each entry occupied for user's signals is not rewritten. The examination of the test cell is carried out by comparing the test cell output from the ATM cross-connecting apparatus, with a reference cell which is expected from a normal operation of the ATM cross-connecting apparatus. The virtual path identifier converted in the ATM cross-connecting apparatus and contained in the output test cell, is expected corresponding to the above rewriting operations, and is contained in the reference cell.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for monitoring an operation of an ATM (Asynchronous Transmission Mode) cross-connecting apparatus, and an ATM cross-connecting apparatus having a function of monitoring the operation of itself.
In an ATM communication network, information contained in a cell is transmitted through an ATM cross-connecting apparatus provided in each node of the ATM communication network. Each ATM cell contains a virtual path identifier (VPI) assigned to each virtual path, where, generally, a plurality of virtual paths can be set in each link established between each two adjacent nodes in the network, and the virtual path identifier (VPI) is assigned to recognize each virtual path in each link. When an ATM cross-connecting apparatus inputs an ATM cell from one of a plurality of input ports thereof, the ATM cross-connecting apparatus converts (rewrites) a virtual path identifier in the ATM cell in accordance with a VPI conversion table provided in the ATM cross-connecting apparatus, and then the ATM cell is switched to an output port to be output therefrom, corresponding to the input port from which the ATM cell has come in, where the output port is determined in accordance with a routing table provided in the ATM cross-connecting apparatus. It is necessary to examine the normality of the functions of converting the virtual path identifier and switching the route of the ATM cell. The present invention relates to a system for monitoring the normality of the operations of the ATM cross-connecting apparatus, in particular, to a system for monitoring the normality of the VPI conversion table in the ATM cross-connecting apparatus.
The monitoring of the ATM cross-connecting apparatus is carried out by generating and inputting an OAM (Operation, Administration, and Management) cell, and monitoring the content of the ATM cell output from the ATM cross-connecting apparatus. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a format of an OAM cell which is used for monitoring the operation of the ATM cross-connecting apparatus. In the example of FIG. 1, the ATM cross-connecting apparatus to be monitored is assumed to contain a switch unit of a capacity of 2.4 Gbps, for cross-connecting a plurality of input ports with a plurality of output ports, a plurality of input-side and output-side interface units, a plurality of first-stage multiplexers/demultiplexers of a capacity of 600 Mbps, and a second-stage multiplexer/demultiplexer of a capacity of 2.4 Gbps. The first and second-stage multiplexers/demultiplexers are provided between the switch unit and the plurality of input and output ports. The OAM cell in FIG. 4 contains a header portion of six bytes and an information field of 48 bytes. The two bytes from the top in the header portion are added in the ATM cross-connecting apparatus when the OAM cell is input therein, and the remaining 52 bytes correspond to the format of the usual ATM cells transmitted on transmission lines except that the HEC portion is deleted therefrom. In the format of FIG. 1, "OAM" denotes a two-bit identifier area which indicates that this ATM cell is an OAM cell, P1 denotes a two-bit area for identifying an output port from which a currently flowing ATM cell is to be output in each first-stage multiplexer/demultiplexer of 600 Mbps, P2 denotes a two-bit area for identifying an output port from which a currently flowing ATM cell in the second-stage multiplexer/demultiplexer of 2.4 Gbps, P3 denotes a four-bit area for identifying an output port from which an ATM cell currently flowing in the switch unit of 2.4 Gbps, is input thereto, and the other areas correspond to the well-known areas defined by the CCITT recommendation. For example, "VPI" denotes the above-mentioned virtual path identifier, "VCI" denotes a virtual channel identifier, "PT" denotes a payload type, "R" denotes a reserve field, and "C" denotes a cell loss priority. In the information field in the OAM cell used for monitoring the operation of the ATM cross-connecting apparatus, a PN pattern generated from a generator polynomial, for example, X.sup.11 +X.sup.2 +1. In the above switch unit, the cross-connecting is performed in accordance with the information in the area P3. In each of the above first-stage and second-stage multiplexers/demultiplexers, an output port from which each ATM cell is to be output is determined based on the contents in the above areas P1 and P2, respectively.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a sequence of monitoring the normality of an ATM cross-connecting apparatus by inputting an OAM cell for monitoring the operation of the ATM cross-connecting apparatus. Generally, a plurality of OAM cells for the monitoring are generated and input into the ATM cross-connecting apparatus through the plurality of input ports. Each OAM cell of the format of FIG. 1 is generated at an OAM cell generating point #i corresponding to each input port (i=1 to n, and n is the number of the input ports of the ATM cross-connecting apparatus) at a timing provided from a sequencer 101 to input the ATM cell into the ATM cross-connecting apparatus through a corresponding (i-th) input port. In addition to the above construction, a plurality of VPI conversion units each containing a VPI conversion table, are provided corresponding to the plurality of input ports. Further, a routing table is provided for setting therein information for determining the connection between the plurality of input ports and the plurality of output ports in the switch unit. Each VPI conversion unit converts a virtual path identifier contained in an ATM cell which is input from a corresponding input port, to another virtual path identifier for identifying a virtual path in the outgoing direction, through which the ATM cell is to be transmitted. For each of the plurality of input ports, one VPI conversion table as mentioned above is provided. Before the above input of the ATM cell, the contents of the VPI conversion tables and the routing table in the ATM cross-connecting apparatus are rewritten at a timing provided from a sequencer 111 in the ATM cross-connecting apparatus. When an ATM cell is input, the ATM cross-connecting apparatus rewrites the content of the area VPI for the virtual path identifier in accordance with the above-rewritten VPI conversion table, and outputs the ATM cell from an output port which is determined based on the above-rewritten routing table. At the OAM cell detecting point #j (j=1 to n) corresponding to each output port, the normality of the ATM cross-connecting apparatus is examined by determining whether or not the above content of the OAM cell output from the output port of the ATM cross-connecting apparatus as above coincides with the content of the OAM cell which is expected to be output from the output port when the ATM cross-connecting apparatus normally operates.
However, conventionally, as indicated in FIG. 3, the monitoring of the normality of the ATM cross-connecting apparatus is carried out for portions of each VPI conversion table which are not used for the conversion of the virtual path identifiers in ATM cells of the main signals (users' signals). Therefore, conventionally, other portions of each VPI conversion table which are used for the conversion of the virtual path identifiers when cross-connecting ATM cells of the main signals (users' signals), cannot be examined regarding their normality.

System for monitoring normality of operation of ATM cross-connecting apparatus

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation


The present invention is a collapsible, folding emergency escape ladder having an attachment means for permanently affixing it to a window frame rough opening structural components that are present within the walls of all residential housed, a retention means for securing the ladder in the folded position, and a multiplicity of swivel link means for joining the multiplicity of ladder sections to one another. The attachment means for permanently affixing the emergency escape ladder to a window sill includes a rigid framework having attachment bolts/screws apertures disposed therein at predetermined locations that line up with the inner wall structural framework found surrounding windows in most, if not all, residential dwellings. The retention means for securing the ladder in the folded position includes a pin arrangement that may cooperate with a chain for gathering the collapsed foldable sections in a compact area next to the rigid framework attachment means. A preferred embodiment of the invention dispenses with the need for the gathering chain. Both embodiments are operated by the simple release of a pin thereby allowing a panic-stricken escapee simplicity and ease of deployment. The multiplicity of swivel link means for joining the multiplicity of ladder sections to one another are discreet lengths having apertures that line up and cooperate with apertures disposed in the side rails of individual ladder sections such that a free deployment rotation occurs between individual ladder sections in a vertical direction while eliminating swivel motion between individual ladder sections in all other directions except vertical. Another preferred embodiment of the invention utilizes curvature of the top portion of the top ladder section to form an enlarged bent hook to be used as hand rails during the initial descent from the window frame to the ladder.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a folding emergency escape ladder and in particular to a folding emergency escape ladder having attachment means for permanent affixing/attachment to a window sill, a retention means for securing the ladder in the folded position, and a multiplicity of swivel link means for joining the ladder sections.
2. Description of the Related Art
Emergency escape steps or ladders are installed in general on commercial buildings as a matter of course, usually, if not exclusively, required by building codes. Often these escape steps include a collapsible ladder portion or other means of having at least a retractable or collapsible bottom portion to deter unauthorized use. Municipal building codes do not require emergency escape means, and consequently, they are not to be found on residential units. Residential homes above one story, and certainly above two stories, however, do often have the need for an emergency escape route when a fire, earthquake, or other emergency trap the inhabitants in a location above the first floor. A leap from even the second floor can result in serious injury. Several problems with available foldable emergency escapes make residential use unpopular. These problems largely fall into the categories of attachment means for permanently affixing the ladder, retention means for securing the ladder in the folded position, and inexpensive joint means for attaching sections of the ladder to one another.
The various collapsible emergency escape ladders disclosed in he prior art can be generally categorized as (i) portable escape ladders or (ii) permanently affixed escape ladders:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,834 is one example of (i) in that it is a self-storing, portable fire escape ladder that includes an enlarged hook means for engaging a window sill or similar structure during use. This type of portable ladder is not suitable for use in a residential emergency because without sufficient practice, high stress and panic due to the emergency would interfere with correct deployment of the ladder such that it securely affixes to the window sill. Another drawback of this design of a portable emergency escape ladder is the complicated arrangement of pivotably interconnected rung ladder sections, whose arrangement is costly for residential use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,491 is one example of (ii) in that it is a permanently affixed escape ladder that includes an exit platform having an exit opening formed at the distal end of the platform to facilitate safe access to the unfolded ladder sections. This patent also includes a plurality of folding ladder sections that are retained in the folded position by a retractable ladder retention means that slidably engages retention posts fixedly attached to the respective ladder sections. Although this ladder is suitable for permanent attachment near an opening in the building unit, the expense of fabrication of the above described beneficial attributes make this incompatible with residential use.

Permanently affixed folding emergency escape ladder


Correction of eye refractive errors like presbyopia, hyperopia, myopia, and astigmatism using either pre-tensioned or transcutaneously energized artificial muscle implants to change the axial length and anterior curvatures of the eye globe by bringing the retina/macula region to coincide with the focal point. The implants are scleral constrictor bands, segments or ribs for inducing accommodation of a few diopters, to correct refractive errors on demand or automatically. The implant comprises an active sphinctering band encircling the sclera, implanted under the conjunctiva and under the extraocular muscles to uniformly constrict the eye globe, to induce active temporary myopia (hyperopia) by increasing(decreasing) the length and curvature of the globe. Multiple and specially designed constrictor bands enable surgeons to correct astigmatism. The artificial muscles comprise materials such as composite magnetic shape memory (MSM), heat shrink, shape memory alloy-silicone rubber, electroactive ionic polymeric artificial muscles or etectrochemically contractile ionic polymers bands.

1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The invention relates to surgical correction of human eye refractive errors such as presbyopia, hyperopia, myopia, and astigmatism. More particularly, it is related to surgical corrections of such errors with implantation of a prosthesis for increasing or decreasing the eye length and scleral, as well a corneal, curvatures, and thus bringing the retina/macula region to coincide with the focal point of the eye. The present invention also relates to a signal energized smart prostheses equipped with composite artificial muscles for automatic correction of presbyopia. This invention can also be applicable to any medical problem requiring controlled compression and/or dilation of an internal or external mammalian organ.
2. Background Art
There are many refractive errors associated with the human eye. When the focal point of images is formed in front of the retina/macula region due to too much refraction of light rays, the refractive error is called myopia or near-sightedness. When, on the other hand, the focal point of images lies outside the eye behind the retina/macula region due to too little refraction of light rays, the refractive error is called either hyperopia or far-sightedness or presbyopia. These problems can be surgically corrected by either changing the eye length or scleral/corneal curvatures. In the case of presbyopia, as individuals age, the human eye loses its ability to focus on nearby objects. This condition, known as presbyopia, is due to a progressive loss in the elasticity of the lens of the eye. The ciliary muscles which normally force the lens, through the action of zonule fibers on the lens capsule, which is in a rounded shape, to accommodate near objects, can no longer exert the necessary changes in the lens' shape.
The conventional optometric solution to the problems of myopia, hyperopia, and presbyopia is a prescription of glasses or reading glasses; or, for individuals who already require glasses to correct other refractive errors such as myopia or astigmatism, a prescription of bifocal or multifocal glasses.
This century has witnessed a revolution in the surgical treatment of ophthalmic disorders and refractive errors of the human eye. This revolution ranges from corneal implantations, cataract extraction, phacoemulsification of the lens, intraocular lens implantation, glaucoma implants to control the intraocular pressure, radial keratotomy, excimer laser ablation of the cornea, trabeculoplasty, iridotomy, virectomy and the surgical buckle treatment of retinal detachment. The recent surgical solutions to myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism have been laser photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), Lasik (laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis) and RK or radial keratotomy. Modern techniques proposed to correct human eye refractive errors have been corneal implants (Intacs, Keravision rings, Silvestrini, intrastromal corneal ring (ICR)) and scleral implants (SASI, Prebycorp implants, Schachar Accommodative Scleral Implants).
The effective focal length of the human eye must be adjusted to keep the image of the object focused as sharply as possible on the retina/macula. This change in effective focal length is known as accommodation and is accomplished in the eye by varying the shape of the crystalline lens. This is necessary for the human eye to have clear vision of objects at different distances. Generally speaking, in the unaccommodated normal vision, the curvature of the lens is such that distant objects are sharply imaged on the retina/macula. In the unaccommodated eye, close objects are not sharply focused on the retina/macula and their images lie behind the retinal surface. In order to visualize a near object clearly, the curvature of the crystalline lens is increased, thereby increasing its refractive power and causing the image of the near object to fall on the retina/macula. The change in shape of the crystalline lens is accomplished by the action of ciliary muscles by which the radial tension in the lens is reduced, according to classical Helmholtz theory of accommodation, and it becomes more convex. Based on the Helmholtz theory, in the unaccommodated human eye the lens and its capsule are suspended on the optical axis behind the pupil by a circular assembly of very many radially directed collagenous fibers, called zonules. These are attached at their inner ends to the lens capsule and at their outer ends to the ciliary body, a muscular constricting ring of tissue located just within the outer supporting structure of the eye, is called the sclera. The ciliary muscle is relaxed in the unaccommodated eye and therefore assumes its largest diameter. According to the Helmholtz classical theory of accommodation, the relatively large diameter of the ciliary body in this unaccommodated condition causes a tension on the zonules which in turn pull radially outward on the lens capsule, making it less convex. In this state the refractive power of the lens is relatively low and the eye is focused for clear vision of distant objects. When the eye is intended to be focused on a near object, the muscles of the ciliary body contract. This contraction causes the ciliary body to move forward and inward, thereby relaxing the outward pull of the zonules on the equator of the lens capsule and reducing the zonular tension on the lens. This allows the elastic capsule of the lens to contract causing an increase in the sphericity of the lens, resulting in an increase in the optical refraction power of the lens. Recently, Schachar (whose inventions are discussed later in this patent) has proposed a radically different theory of accommodation which refutes the Helmholtz theory.
Accordingly, the present invention relates to systems and methods of compensating presbyopia, hyperopia, myopia, and astigmatism by actively changing the length of the eye globe in the direction of optical axis or its corneal curvature, on demand, using active constricting (sphinctering) artificial muscles as active scleral bands. The scleral band in the form of an active and smart constricting/expanding band is in the form of an active prosthesis which can be remotely inductively powered by small inductive generators that can be placed near the eye, preferably behind the ears or under the skin on the shoulder or on an arm band. The scleral bands may also be inherently active due to their elasticity or resilience or due to surgically induced initial tension or compression associated with them.
The present invention can also be applicable to any medical problem requiring controlled compression and/or dilation of an internal or external mammalian organ.
There are several prior art devices and methods in the form of implants and prostheses for the surgical correction of presbyopia, hyperopia, and myopia.

Surgical correction of human eye refractive errors by active composite artificial muscle implants


A valve and use of a valve. The valve changes the direction of flow of a fluid in pipings conducting the fluid to and from a heat exchanger. A cylindrical casing and a valve body enclosed therein can be rotated between two positions. The valve body has three flow passages. A fourth flow passage is constituted by the space between the house of the valve and respective walls around the flow passages in the valve body. The entire valve is flushed by the fluid during operation, thereby eliminating the risk for accumulation of dirt in the valve.

The present invention relates to a valve for changing the direction of flow of a fluid in pipe conduits conducting the fluid to and from a heat exchanger, respectively, said valve comprising a rotateable valve body and an enclosing valve house consisting of a cylindrical casing with end plates, wherein said valve body is rotatable around a rotary axis coinciding with a thought centre line of the cylindrical casing, and four flow passages extending through the valve house and being oriented in such a way that two diametrically located flow passages are approximately parallel with the rotary axis of the valve body and that the two other flow passages extend obliquely through the valve house, and, when the valve body is rotated into a first position, the flow passages connect a first connection port in the first end plate with a first connection port in the second end plate, and a second connection port in the first end plate with a second connection port in the second end plate, respectively, and, when the valve body is rotated into a second position, the flow passages connect a first connection port in the first end plate with a second connection port in the second end plate and a second connection port in the first end plate with a first connection port in the second end plate, respectively.
Heat exchangers used in systems in which cooling water is taken from natural water streams, river water, seawater etc. often show problems with clogging. Partly, it may depend on mud and particles jamming the cooling channels and partly on biological growth.
A simple and environmentally harmless way to keep a heat exchanger tolerably clean is to back flush the heat exchanger regularly, i.e. the direction of flow is reversed for example one or a few times each day. By reversing the direction of flow, mud and particles clogging the inlet region of the heat exchanger will be flushed out the same way it came in.
Back flushing of heat exchangers is also used to in some industrial processes in which fluids with large amounts of fibers are present, for example during the production of raw sugar. Fluid with cut down beats is to be heated and cooled in heat exchangers, and in order for the heat exchangers not to be clogged they must be back flushed regularly.
A back flushing valve of a similar kind as the one included by the invention, is previously known from for example SE 504 895, which describes a valve being used together with a heat exchanger to make back flushing possible. This valve consists of a valve house with a cylindrical casing and two end plates, and inside the valve house there is a rotatable valve body, by which the direction of flow can be reversed. The valve body in this valve has four flow passages and in order to keep the size of the valve down at least two of the flow passages have a non circular cross section in the middle portion of the valve body.

Valve for changing the direction of flow of a fluid in pipe conduits


A lift assist weight lifting bench that includes a pair of arm assists disposed connected to a pair of strut member laterally projected from a weight lifting bench proper, in position appropriate for each arm assist to supportively underlie and contact the dorsal side of each of a user's upper arms, whereby a spring member, disposed compressibly connected between each arm assist and each strut member, compresses when each arm assist is moved to a lowered position, by action of a user lowering a weight, each spring member then decompressing when each arm assist is moved to a raised position when said user raises the weight, whereby elastic force exerted by said spring members engages each arm assist to the dorsal side of each of a user's upper arms and thereby assists in lifting the weight without the use of pulleys or another person standing as spotter.

Various types of lift assist weight lifting apparatuses are known in the prior art. Most involve complex arrangements of pulleys disposed to prevent collapse of a user's arms while bench pressing. What is needed, though, is a lift advantage weight lifting bench apparatus that includes a pair of arm assists disposed connected to a pair of strut members laterally projected from a weight lifting bench proper, in position appropriate for each arm assist to supportively underlie and contact the dorsal side of each of a user's upper arms, whereby a spring member, disposed compressibly connected between each arm assist and each strut member, compresses when each arm assist is moved to a lowered position, by action of a user lowering a weight, each spring member thence decompressing when each arm assist is moved to a raised position when said user raises the weight, whereby elastic force exerted by said spring members engages each arm assist to the dorsal side of each of a user's upper arms and thereby assists the user lifting the weight without the use of pulleys or another person standing as spotter.

Lift advantage weight lifting bench apparatus