Technologies pertaining to electronic document understanding are described herein. A document is received, wherein the document includes a section of a type. An image of the document is generated, and a candidate region is identified in the image of the document, wherein the candidate region encompasses the section. A label is assigned to the candidate region based upon text of the section, wherein the label identifies the type of the section. An electronic document understanding task is performed based upon the label assigned to the candidate region.

There are a relatively large number of electronic documents, of different types, that are readily accessible for review by people. For example, there are currently over 5 billion webpages indexed on the World Wide Web, wherein a person can access the webpages through use of a web browser. In addition, people and enterprises have documents retained in computer-readable storage, wherein such documents can be of various types (e.g., word processing documents, portable document format (PDF) documents, web pages, etc.) and can have a variety of different formats (e.g., title in the top center, title in the top right, different size fonts, and so forth).
Documents in general, and webpages in particular, tend to include many different sections of different type positioned in various locations throughout the documents. Exemplary types of sections can include, but are not limited to, a "page header", "primary content", a "Tooter", a "sidebar", a "section header", a "list", a "table", and so forth. Computer-implemented document understanding refers to a computing task that involves extracting semantically relevant text from documents that are included in different sections of the documents. Identifying sections from which to extract text may serve as a foundation to downstream tasks, wherein such downstream tasks can include assisting users with retrieving relevant documents, identifying instant answers to questions, constructing lists, and so forth.
Conventionally, at least with respect to webpages, HTML tags assigned to text of a webpage have been employed in connection with identifying different sections of the webpage. A problem with employing HTML tags to identify sections, however, is that HTML tags may be overly general, may be incorrectly used, or may be missing. For instance, an HTML tag may identify text as being included in a "title" when, in actuality, the text is included in a section heading. For documents, such as PDF documents, that include no metadata that explicitly identities section boundaries, there is currently no suitable approach for identifying different sections of the document, rendering it difficult to perform computer-implemented document understanding with respect to such document.

Constructing a computer-implemented semantic document


Disclosed is an ink composition comprising an aqueous liquid vehicle and pigment particles having attached to the surfaces thereof a polymerized vinyl aromatic salt. In one embodiment, the polymeric vinyl aromatic salt is chemically grafted to the surfaces of the pigment particles; in another embodiment, the polymeric vinyl aromatic salt is adsorbed onto the surfaces of the pigment particles. Preferably, the modified pigment particles have an average particle diameter of less than about 1 micron. The ink composition is suitable for applications such as ink jet printing processes, particularly thermal ink jet printing processes. Images generated with ink compositions of the present invention are sharp, waterfast, lightfast, and of high optical density, exhibiting no feathering, and can be electrically conductive.

The present invention is directed to an ink composition containing modified pigment particles as a colorant. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an ink composition comprising a liquid vehicle and pigment particles that have been treated with a vinyl aromatic salt which has been polymerized and attached to the surfaces of the pigment particles either by chemical bonding (grafting) or by adsorption. The ink composition of the present invention is suitable for use in various applications, such as ink for writing pens, inks for conductive coatings and conductive images, and inks for printing and graphic applications. In addition, ink compositions of the present invention are particularly suitable for ink jet printing processes, including thermal ink jet printing processes, acoustic ink jet printing processes, piezoelectric ink jet and continuous ink jet printing processes.
Ink jet printing systems generally are of two types: continuous stream and drop-on-demand. In continuous stream ink jet systems, ink is emitted in a continuous stream under pressure through at least one orifice or nozzle. Multiple orifices or nozzles also can be used to increase imaging speed and throughput. The stream is ejected out of orifices and perturbed, causing it to break up into droplets at a fixed distance from the orifice. At the break-up point, the electrically charged ink droplets are passed through an applied electrode which is controlled and switched on and off in accordance with digital data signals. Charged ink droplets are passed through a controllable electric field which adjusts the trajectory of each droplet in order to direct it to either a gutter for ink deletion and recirculation or a specific location on a recording medium to create images. The image creation is controlled by electronic signals.
In drop-on-demand systems, a droplet is ejected from an orifice directly to a position on a recording medium by pressure created by, for example, a piezoelectric device, an acoustic device, or a thermal process controlled in accordance with digital data signals. An ink droplet is not generated and ejected through the nozzles of an imaging device unless it is needed to be placed on the recording medium.
Since drop-on-demand systems require no ink recovery, charging, or deflection operations, the system is simpler than the continuous stream type. There are three types of drop-on-demand ink jet systems. One type of drop-on-demand system has an ink filled channel or passageway having a nozzle on one end and a regulated piezoelectric transducer near the other end to produce pressure pulses. The relatively large size of the transducer prevents close spacing of the nozzles necessary for high resolution printing, and physical limitations of the transducer result in low ink drop velocity. Low drop velocity may seriously diminish tolerances for drop velocity variation and directionality, thus impacting the system's ability to produce high quality copies, and also decreases printing speed. Drop-on-demand systems which use piezoelectric devices to eject the ink droplets also suffer the disadvantage of a low resolution. A second type of drop-on-demand ink jet device is known as acoustic ink printing which can be operated at high frequency and high resolution. The printing utilizes a focused acoustic beam formed with a spherical lens illuminated by a plane wave of sound created by a piezoelectric transducer. The focused acoustic beam reflected from a surface exerts a pressure on the surface of the liquid, resulting in ejection of small droplets of ink onto an imaging substrate. Aqueous based inks can be used in this system.
The third type of drop-on-demand system is known as thermal ink jet, or bubble jet, and produces high velocity droplets and allows very close spacing of nozzles. The major components of this type of drop-on-demand system are an ink filled channel having a nozzle on one end and a heat generating resistor near the nozzle. Printing signals representing digital information generate an electric current pulse in a resistive layer (resistor) within each ink passageway near the orifice or nozzle, causing the ink in the immediate vicinity of the resistor to be heated up periodically. Momentary heating of the ink leads to its evaporation almost instantaneously with the creation of a bubble. The ink at the orifice is forced out of the orifice as a propelled droplet at high speed as the bubble expands. When the hydrodynamic motion of the ink stops after discontinuous heating followed by cooling, the subsequent ink emitting process is ready to start all over again. With the introduction of a droplet ejection system based upon thermally generated bubbles, commonly referred to as the "bubble jet" system, the drop-on-demand ink jet printers provide simpler, lower cost devices than their continuous stream counterparts, and yet have substantially the same high speed printing capability.
The operating sequence of the bubble jet system begins with a current pulse through the resistive layer in the ink filled channel, the resistive layer being in close proximity to the orifice or nozzle for that channel. Heat is transferred from the resistor to the ink. The ink becomes superheated far above its normal boiling point, and for water based ink, finally reaches the critical temperature for bubble nucleation and formation of around 280.degree. C. and above. Once nucleated and expanded, the bubble or water vapor thermally isolates the ink from the heater and no further heat can be applied to the ink. This bubble expands rapidly due to pressure increase upon heating until all the heat stored in the ink in excess of the normal boiling point diffuses away or is used to convert liquid to vapor, which removes heat due to heat of vaporization. The expansion of the bubble forces a droplet of ink out of the nozzle located either directly above or on the side of a heater, and once the excess heat is removed with diminishing pressure, the bubble collapses on the resistor. At this point, the resistor is no longer being heated because the current pulse has been terminated and, concurrently with the bubble collapse, the droplet is propelled at a high speed in a direction towards a recording medium. Subsequently, the ink channel refills by capillary action and is ready for the next repeating thermal ink jet process. This entire bubble formation and collapse sequence occurs in about 30 microseconds. The heater can be reheated to eject ink out of the channel after 100 to 2,000 microseconds minimum dwell time and to enable the channel to be refilled with ink without causing any dynamic refilling problem. Thermal ink jet processes are well known and are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,601,777, 4,251,824, 4,410,899, 4,412,224, and 4,532,530, the disclosures of each of which are totally incorporated herein by reference.
Known ink jet ink compositions generally comprise a dye which is soluble in an ink vehicle such as water or a mixture of water and a water soluble or water miscible organic solvent. The colorant in these inks is a soluble dye rather than a pigment. Inks comprising soluble dyes can exhibit many problems, such as poor waterfastness, poor lightfastness, clogging of the jetting channels as a result of solvent evaporation and changes in the dye's solubility, dye crystallization, ink bleeding when prints are formed on plain papers, poor thermal stability, chemical instability, ease of oxidation, and low drop velocity. In addition, many of the dyes contained in inks may be potentially mutagenic. These problems can be minimized by replacing some of the dyes used in ink formulations with insoluble pigments. In general, pigments have superior properties with respect to dyes, such as good waterfastness, good lightfastness, good image density, thermal stability, oxidative stability, the ability to perform intercolor ink mixing, compatibility with both coated/treated and plain papers, and nonmutagenic properties.
Ink jet inks containing pigment particles as colorants are known. For example, in Dunn, "Waterproof Carbon Black Ink for Ink Jet Printing," Xerox Disclosure Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1979), a waterproof colloidal carbon black ink for ink jet printing is disclosed. The ink is prepared by incorporating a water-resistant acrylic polymer binder into an ink jet ink, such that the ink composition comprises about 9 percent by weight of carbon black, about 2 percent by weight of an anionic polymer-type dispersing agent, about 5 percent by weight of polyethylene glycol, about 8 percent by weight of Carboset 514H, and about 76 percent by weight of ammoniated distilled water. Sufficient ammonium hydroxide is added to the ink to adjust the pH to 8.5. According to the article, this ink composition is particularly suited to ink jets run in a continous mode.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,794 discloses an ink jet recording process which comprises forming droplets of an ink and recording on an image receiving material by using the droplets, wherein the ink is prepared by dispersing fine particles of a pigment into an aqueous dispersion medium containing a polymer having both a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic construction portion. The hydrophilic portion constitutes a polymer of monomers having mainly additively polymerizable vinyl groups, into which hydrophilic construction portions such as carboxylic acid groups, sulfonic acid groups, sulfate groups, and the like are introduced. Pigment particle size may be from several microns to several hundred microns. The ink compositions disclosed may also include additives such as surfactants, salts, resins, and dyes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,705,043 discloses an ink suitable for jet printing which comprises a high infrared absorbing coloring component and a humectant in the form of an aliphatic polyol, alkyl ether derivatives of aliphatic polyols, and mixtures thereof in aqueous media. The infrared absorber component may be a high infrared absorptive water soluble dye, a solution of water dispersed carbon blacks, or mixtures thereof. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,887 discloses an ink jet ink having application onto a film base which comprises an aqueous system containing 1 to 5 percent by weight of a dissolved styrene-maleic anhydride resin, 3 to 20 percent by weight of glycol ethers, and up to 4 percent by weight of carbon black in suspension or 1 to 4 percent of orthochromatic dyes in solution, or both, plus additives such as tinting dyes. Example 1 of this patent discloses a general ink formulation containing carbon black and a glycol ether, which may be an ethylene glycol type ether. Further, Japanese Patent 59-93765 discloses a recording liquid for ink jet printers. The ink disclosed therein is designed for dissolution stability at temperatures above 250.degree. C. to prevent damage to the ink jet head, and comprises a dye, a solvent such as water, an organic solvent, an optional surface tension controller, a viscosity controller, and other additives. An amount of C.I. Food Black 2 is used as the colorant, and is present in the liquid in an amount of 0.5 to 15 percent by weight.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,847 discloses a printing ink comprising particles of small size, each having a body portion consisting of a fusible resin with a colorant dispersed therein and an electrically conductive material, which may be carbon particles, situated substantially entirely on the surface of the body portion and comprising 5 to 10 percent of the weight of the ink. The disclosed ink is suitable for use in pulsed electrical printing.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,961 discloses an aqueous dispersion of carbon black grafted with hydrophilic monomers of alkali or ammonium carboxylate bearing polyacrylates, which suspension may be used for manufacturing ink jet inks. The dispersion has a viscosity of about 2 to about 30 centipoise for a carbon black content of about 1 to 15 percent by weight. This composition may also contain surfactants, wetting agents, dyes, mold inhibitors, oxygen absorbers, buffering agents, pH controlling agents, and viscosity controlling agents. Carbon black particles contained in the composition are of a size that permits them to pass easily through 1 to 50 micron mesh filters. Example 9 of this reference discloses three possible ink compositions containing the carbon black suspension. In addition, at column 1, lines 43 to 46, this patent indicates that it is known to graft hydrophobic styrene onto carbon black.
The use of aromatic sulfonates as surfactants is also known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,629,697, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, discloses a liquid composition comprising sodium alkyl aryl sulfonate, liquid hydrocarbon, and an aliphatic hydroxy compound, and optionally also containing water. The compound is useful as an emulsion type cleaning compound. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 2,335,505, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, discloses a typographic printing ink vehicle which comprises alkali metal silicates dissolved in mixtures of water with water-miscible organic solvents. The ink can also contain an aromatic ester sulfonate. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,994, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, discloses an ink formulation useful in lithographic printing processes which is a stable emulsion comprising an oleophilic phase and a hydrophilic phase, comprising one or more polyhydric alcohols, a surfactant, and polystyrene sulfonate.
Additional references of background interest include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,846,141, 4,165,399, 4,409,039, 4,409,040, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,570.
Although known inks are suitable for their intended purposes, a need continues to exist for ink compositions containing pigment particles as colorants. In addition, a need exists for ink compositions wherein pigment particles are stably dispersed in an aqueous medium. A need also exists for ink compositions suitable for ink jet printing. Further, there is a need for ink compositions that generate high quality images on a variety of substrates, including plain and treated papers, transparencies, plastic, and fabric, when employed in ink jet printing processes, including continuous ink jet printing and drop-on-demand processes. There is also a need for ink compositions suitable for use in ink jet printing systems wherein the images generated exhibit excellent image sharpness, lightfastness, waterfastness, and optical density as well as the absence of feathering and the absence of mottling in solid image areas. Further, a need exists for ink compositions that contain conductive pigment particles, wherein images generated with the liquids are electrically conductive and enable preparation of a conductive image or pattern on a nonconductive substrate. A need also exists for ink compositions that are nontoxic and nonmutagenic. There is also a need for ink compositions suitable for ink jet printing that exhibit low viscosities of less than 5 centipoise. Additionally, there is a need for ink compositions containing pigment particles with an average diameter of less than 3 microns, and preferably less than 1 micron. Further, a need remains for ink compositions capable of generating images with optical density of over 1.20 on various plain papers.

Ink compositions containing modified pigment particles


A server device and the like that can make a whole game and SNS more active by promoting the movement of players between groups to enhance the mobility of game participants. A server device comprises: an information storage unit for storing information of a game in which a plurality of players are able to participate and which includes a battle event; and a control unit for accessing the information and executing an operation related to the game. The server device executes a predetermined step that includes performing, when a first player transfers from a first group to a second group, payment and receipt of transfer points as compensation for the transfer between at least two out of the first player, the first group, and the second group.

Disclosed herein are a server device, a control method for a server device, a game system, and a computer-readable recording medium.
Games provided from server devices to mobile terminals operated by players via communication networks have gained popularity in recent years, and many game titles have been released using a plurality of platforms. There are a wide variety of types and categories of such games. Of these, social games that enable a plurality of players to participate in the same game are particularly popular.
A social game uses a community network service called a social networking service (hereafter referred to as "SNS"). For example, a player (game user) logs into or signs into a platform provided by an SNS provider, and subscribes to a specific game or service beforehand according to need. The player can thus play various social games provided on the platform.
As a system (social game system) for a social game utilizing this feature of SNS, a system of performing a battle event such as a battle (combat) in which characters (player characters) operated by a plurality of players attack one or more enemy characters is known as an example. Here, each player can be a member of a specific group such as the below-mentioned guild, party, team, or community. When each player defeats an enemy character, not only the individual player but also the group to which the player belongs may be provided with various rewards such as points and items usable in the game.
Such a battle event intended to defeat an enemy character by a plurality of player characters is conventionally called a "raid battle" in the field of social games. The battle is also called "GvR" ("v" denotes versus, the same applies hereafter) where a group or a guild is denoted by its first English letter (G) and an enemy character in the raid battle is, as a raid character, denoted by its first English letter (R).
Social games of performing an individual battle event in which individual player characters fight each other and a group battle event (including not only a battle but also a competition in a team sport and the like) in which groups fight each other are widely known, too. As an example of the latter game, an online game of a group battle by a plurality of parties is described in JP2013-66524A. In this game, in a coliseum hall which is a predetermined virtual space, a group battle is fought when matching between a plurality of parties to which player characters belong is made. Such a direct battle between groups is conventionally called a "guild battle" in the field of social games. The battle is also called "GvG" where each group or guild is denoted by its first English letter (G) as mentioned above.

Server device, control method for server device, game system, and computer-readable recording medium


A system (130) forwards a telephone call to a user. The system (130) receives a telephone call from a calling party and compares the name of the calling party to a list of names. If the calling party's name matches a name in the list, the system (130) forwards the telephone call to the user.

Currently, when a call arrives at a user's telephone, the telephone always rings. The user determines whether to answer the telephone call by using caller ID or listening to a message left by the calling party on the user's answering machine. Caller ID does not always identify the calling party, however. Therefore, the user may have to listen to the message to determine the identity of the calling party. When the user is expecting a telephone call, the user may have to listen to many messages before answering the expected call.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for systems and methods that forwards calls only when an expected call is detected.

Systems and methods for forwarding telephone calls


A method includes providing a mandrel having an electrical conduit electroformed in the mandrel. The second side of the electrical conduit is blackened while in the mandrel to create a black layer on the electrical conduit. The mandrel is aligned in a flatness fixture such that the mandrel is substantially flat. The mandrel remains flat and in a fixed relationship to the flatness fixture throughout the method. A beam of a laser is controlled toward the black layer. The beam has laser parameters including a power output, a frequency and a mark speed, and selected by setting the power output and the mark speed then determining the frequency. The beam removes a plurality of the portions of the black layer. Each removed portion of the plurality of the portions has a thickness equal to the black layer thickness, and a portion area of 9 mm2 to 18 mm2.

A solar cell is a device that converts photons into electrical energy. The electrical energy produced by the cell is collected through electrical contacts coupled to the semiconductor material, and is routed through interconnections with other photovoltaic cells in a module. The "standard cell" model of a solar cell has a semiconductor material, used to absorb the incoming solar energy and convert it to electrical energy, placed below an anti-reflective coating (ARC) layer, and above a metal backsheet. Electrical contact is typically made to the semiconductor surface with fire-through paste, which is metal paste that is heated such that the paste diffuses through the ARC layer and contacts the surface of the cell. The paste is generally patterned into a set of fingers and bus bars which will then be soldered with ribbon to other cells to create a module. Another type of solar cell has a semiconductor material sandwiched between transparent conductive oxide layers (TCO's), which are then coated with a final layer of conductive paste that is also configured in a finger/bus bar pattern.
Several solar cells may be connected together to form a solar cell circuit. This chaining of solar cells may be repeated to connect several solar cells in series to increase the output voltage of the solar cell circuit. The electrical contacts and interconnections of the light-facing side of the modules are typically a metal material which may be shiny, light-reflective, and have a high contrast in color compared to the solar cell to which it is attached, thus visible to the human eye. The electrical contacts and interconnections are usually composed of silver, which is expensive and its appearance is limited to silver or light gray color. Because of this, the module may not be aesthetically pleasing and detract from the particular application limiting the possible appearances of solar cells on roof tops such as solar shingles, on cars, trucks, or outdoor structures. In some applications, the presence of solar modules need to be undetectable such as in military operations. For example, solar energy may be collected and used for power generators, battery packs or wearable technology but the modules need to be stealth and not visible to the enemy to give away the position of the user.

Method for blackening an electrical conduit


The present invention relates to a control system for hydraulic power units, in particular hydraulic cylinder-piston-assemblies comprising a valve to be controlled by an electronic controller, the valve controlling the fluid path between the power unit, a pressure source and a reservoir. A pressure sensor and a circuit for differentiating the sensed pressure quantity in response to time is provided for sensing a respective output variable of the power unit. The pressure variation signal is utilized to assist operating the valve to improve the control operation, i.e. to dampen fluid vibrations or to decrease the hammering noise produced in the operation of stamping, nibbling or shearing machines.

Hydraulic piston cylinder assemblies are often equipped with a closed loop system controlling the position, the pressure, the force or the speed of the unit. Accordingly the piston stroke for example is determined by a distance transducer and this actual quantity as measured and a desired value are delivered to an electronic controller generating an error signal from both quantities and generating therefrom a positioning variable for controlling a valve controlling the fluid path between the power unit, a fluid pressure source and a reservoir.
The quality of the control system can be improved by feeding back certain output variables in a closed loop.
For example, output variables such as the speed and the acceleration of the power unit are fed back for improving a position control.
The output variables are sensed or, respectively are calculated in using a model generator. Due to the quality of the distance signals a differentiation does usually not result in any improvement.
In piston cylinder assemblies having one-sided or two-sided piston rods the differential pressure in both cylinder chambers can be used for an output variable control.
However, certain operative conditions of hydraulic power units cannot be appropriately controlled by merely sensing the distance, the speed, the acceleration or sensing the differential pressure. In the return stroke of a large press, for example, the open valve for decompressing and returning the fluid displaced from the cylinder space to the reservoir may cause severe vibrations, in particular in elongate pipe lines or, respectively in large fluid volumina which vibrations cannot be counterarted by any known speed or acceleration feedback means since the output variables required are scarcely to be measured. This is particularly true for the output variable control of low frequency hydraulic power units including plunger cylinders which are not equipped with an appropriate distance sensing system. A further application is noise reduction of hydraulic power units, for example in stamping and nibbling machines. Here the noise primarily is generated the tool breaks through the material. Breaking through under load results in a high acceleration of the piston resulting in loud noise.

Control system for hydraulic power units


An acoustic wave device includes: a piezoelectric substrate; a dielectric layer formed on the piezoelectric substrate; and first and second comb-tooth electrodes formed on the dielectric layer, the dielectric layer having a first thickness between the first comb-tooth electrodes and the piezoelectric substrate and a second thickness between the second comb-tooth electrodes and the piezoelectric substrate, the first and second thicknesses being different from each other.

There is known an acoustic wave device configured so that an electrode such as an interdigital transducer IDT is formed on a piezoelectric substrate. A typical example of such a device is a surface acoustic wave (SAW) device. The electromechanical coupling coefficient, which is one of the characteristics of the acoustic wave device, depends on the material and orientation of the crystal of the piezoelectric substrate, and has a relationship with the fractional bandwidth of the acoustic wave device. There is known an art of adjusting the electromechanical coupling coefficient by changing the thickness of a dielectric layer such as a silicon oxide layer or aluminum oxide layer formed below the IDT electrode (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-67289: Document 1).

Acoustic wave device and method for manufacturing the same


A supercontinuum optical source comprises a laser source apparatus comprising at least one laser, the laser source apparatus configured for providing first and second signals; a modulator apparatus downstream of at least one laser of the laser source apparatus for modulating at least one of the first and second signals, the modulator apparatus including at least one modulator; a combiner downstream of the modulator apparatus for combining the first and second signals; an amplifier downstream of the combiner for amplifying the first and second signals after combination; a nonlinear element downstream of the amplifier for receiving the first and second signals after amplification, the nonlinear optical element providing spectral broadening responsive to the first signal and wherein the second signal does not substantially contribute to spectral broadening; and an output for outputting spectrally broadened light from the optical supercontinuum source.

Modulation of the laser beam is desirable in many laser systems. In ultrafast lasers, it is often of interest to have an ability to select individual pulses, burst of pulses, to reduce the pulse repetition rate and to switch on and off the laser beam with extremely short rise and fall times. It can also be desirable to modify the amplitude of a pulse to a selected non-zero value, or to otherwise affect a signal. In CW lasers, it can be of interest to gate the output, for example to turn on and off the laser beam or to add burst mode operation
The MOPA is an attractive configuration of laser technology for producing high average output powers. The MOPA is often configured as an all-optical-fiber laser, where a fiber-based oscillator seeds a fiber-based optical amplifier. However, MOPA's are also designed as a fiber-oscillator seeding a solid-state optical amplifier, a solid-state oscillator seeding a solid state amplifier or a solid-state oscillator seeding an optical fiber amplifier. MOPA's can also exist as semiconductor oscillators and amplifiers and combinations with fiber- and solid-state amplifiers.
In a MOPA configuration, it is possible to modulate the pump source of the optical amplifier in order to have some method of switching on and off the beam and/or modulating the power of the amplifier output. Direct modulation of a fiber or solid state amplifier is limited in the switching speed due to carrier lifetimes within the amplifier gain media.
For low pulse repetition rates, the duty cycle of the pulses can be insufficient to saturate the amplifier, resulting in the amplifier producing high noise levels in between pulses. In this situation, the amplifier gain can become too high and unsustainable leading to catastrophic damage typically by self-Q-switching.


An infrared dye, characterized in that the dye comprises a compound that comprises a molecule that can be described by claim 1.

Recently there has been renewed interest in "innovative" or "functional" dyes. One area of interest is that of optical recording technology where gallium aluminium arsenide (GaAlAs) and indium phosphide (InP) diode lasers are widely used as a light source. Since dyes absorbing in the near infrared (near-IR) region (i.e., beyond about 700 nanometers in wavelength and less than about 2000 nanometers in wavelength) are required and the oscillation wavelengths fall in the near-infrared region, they are suitable candidates for use as infrared dyes.
Infrared dyes have applications in many areas. For example, infrared dyes are important in the optical data storage field, particular in the DRAW (Direct Reading After Writing) and WORM (Write Once, Read Many) disk, which is used for recording. Currently, indolinocyanine dyes, triphenylmethane dyes, naphthalocyanine dyes and indonanaphthalo-metal complex dyes are commercially available for use as organic colorants in DRAW disks. Cyanine dyes can only be used if additives improve the lightfastness.
Another application of infrared dyes is in thermal writing displays. In this application, heat is provided by a laser beam or heat impulse current. The most common type of infrared dyes used in this application are the cyanine dyes, which are known as laser dyes for infrared lasing.
Infrared dyes are also used as photoreceptors in laser printing. Some infrared-absorbing dyes are used in laser filters. They also find application in infrared photography and even have application in medicine, for example, in photodynamic therapy.
The compounds of the present invention will now be described in the context of printing inks and the like, but it will be understood by the skilled reader that the compounds described hereunder may be used in other applications, for example, those set out above.
Fast, error-free data entry is important in current communication technology. Automatic reading of digital information in printed, digital and analog form is particularly important. An example of this technology is the use of printed bar codes that are scannable. In many applications of this technology, the bar codes are printed with an inks that are visible to the unaided eye. There are, however, applications (eg security coding) that require the barcode or other intelligible marking to be printed with an ink that invisible to the unaided eye but which can be detected under UV light or infrared light (IR).
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,147 describes a method exploiting the process of fluorescence in which a dye is excited by ultra-violet (UV), visible or near-IR radiation and fluorescent light emitted by the dye material is detected. This reference describes a jet printing process used to apply a compatible liquid or viscous substance containing an organic laser dye that is poorly absorptive of radiation in the visible wavelength range of about 400 nm to about 700 nm, and is highly absorptive of radiation in the near-IR wavelength range of about 750 nm to about 900 nm. The dye fluoresces at longer wavelengths in the IR in response to radiation excitation in the near-IR range.
Another example is described in U.S. Pat. No. U.S. Pat No. 5,460,646 (Lazzouni et al) which describes the use of a colorant which is silicon (IV) 2,3-naphthalocyanine bis((R1)(R2)(R3)-silyloxide) wherein R1, R2, and R3 are selected from the group consisting of an alkyl group, at least one aliphatic cyclic ring, and at least one aromatic ring.
The infrared absorbing dyes Squarylium and Croconium dyes have been extensively described in the literature (see for example, T. P. Simard, J. H. Yu, J. M. Zebrowski-Young, N. F. Haley and M. R. Detty, J. Org. Chem. 65 2236 (2000), and J. Fabian, Chem. Rev. 92 1197 (1992)). These prior art compounds have a central squarylium or croconium moiety connected to traditional electron donors. These donors act to donate an electron to the central squarylium or croconium moieties. However, these particular dyes do not absorb at a high enough wavelength and/or also absorb too strongly in the visible spectrum. Secondly, it is the infrared absorbing property of the molecule when it is not in solution that is more important in this particular application than when it is solvated. That is, whether the ratio of infrared absorption to visible absorption (εratio) of the colorant on a surface is still acceptable for use as a security ink or like applications. This was brought into question by such groups as D. Keil, H. Hartmann and C. Reichardt, Leibigs Ann. Chem. 935 (1993). For example, they showed that when a croconate dye was deposited onto a polymer surface that the sharp infrared absorption peak becomes a very broad peak that contains a large shoulder in the visible part of the spectrum. This may be explained by the lack of rigidity of the molecule, which may be maintained while in a solvent, and/or that intermolecular interactions with other molecules, while not in a solvent, causes a hypsochromic shift of the absorption peak. A molecular dynamics simulation of a typical squarylium dye shows that the infrared absorption peak becomes spread out so much so that εratio decreases by about two orders of magnitude. Hence the rigidity of conventional infrared dyes needs to be addressed and/or a possible method is used to decrease intermolecular interactions when they are deposited onto a surface.


Methods and devices are provided for overcoming detrimental diffusive effects in a sample liquid stream by forming segmented liquid bodies (e.g., droplets) from a sample liquid stream in an immiscible liquid stream. The liquid bodies are formed at the intersection of a channel providing the sample liquid stream and a channel providing the immiscible liquid stream. The formed liquid bodies compartmentalize the portion of the sample liquid stream from which the liquid bodies are formed, thus minimizing the detrimental effects of diffusion that occur in a continuous liquid stream.

The basic unit of a biological system is a single cell, and malfunctions at the single-cell level can result in devastating diseases, such as in cancer metastasis, where a single cell seeds the formation of a distant tumor. Given that a single cell contains a diverse set of molecules at low copy numbers, high-resolution and high-sensitivity techniques in microscale chemical separation play an important role in single-cell analysis. For many single-cell studies, it is insufficient simply to detect a series of separated peaks using fluorescence. Because of the complexity of the cellular contents, the detected peaks likely need to be further separated (e.g., a second-dimensional analysis) or analyzed with complementary high-sensitivity techniques.
In microscale separation, the goal is to separate individual analyte species of a complex mixture into distinct bands. After the detection of each band, however, the integrity of the separated components cannot be easily preserved for additional analysis or manipulation, owing to molecular diffusion. This challenge is especially acute in high-resolution liquid separation techniques, such as in capillary electrophoresis (CE) and microscale high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), because of the extremely small volumes and narrow bands involved and because molecular diffusion scales quadratically with the inverse of distance.
In CE, for example, sample volumes are often in the nanoliter range or smaller, and where the number of theoretical plates often range up to the millions. In some chip-based systems, or when very small-bore capillaries are used, sample volumes can range down to the femtoliter regime. In such systems, it is extremely difficult to maintain the contents of the separated peaks after their detection.
Attempts have been made to address the issue of material compartmentalization after separation. For example, elastomeric valves and sub-nanoliter chambers have been used to capture separated CE bands for single-molecule studies. In the context of two-dimensional (2D) CE separation, methods have been developed for interfacing two fused-silica CE capillaries such that the separated CE bands can be transferred from one capillary onto another for 2D separation and analysis.
Despite recent advances, a technique that allows for the preservation of chromatographically-separated liquid materials, such that further analysis of the materials can be performed while maintaining the integrity of the original separation, would allow for further improvements in liquid chromatography and related analytical techniques.
Relatedly, on-line sampling is required to monitor the progress of many chemical and biological processes, such as in chemical synthesis and bioreactors. In real-time sampling, however, the withdrawn samples are dispersed throughout the sampling tubing as a result of axial dispersion generated by the parabolic profile of the pressure-driven flow and because of the effects of diffusion. The methods currently employed to test such real-time reaction profiles have not provided a sufficient solution to the issues of dispersion and the inaccuracies in the resulting analyses that result from such dispersion.
In addition to sample dilution due to dispersion and diffusion effects, sample integrity in on-line sampling can be further compromised by contaminates deposited on the channel wall of the device during prior sample testing.

Droplet compartmentalization for chemical separation and on-line sampling


An NMR contrast agent composition contains a complex of a selected metal ion and a selected ligand. The ion is selected from the group consisting of gadolinium (III), iron (III), manganese (II), manganese (III), chromium (III), copper (II), dysprosium (III), terbium (III), holmium (III), erbium (III), europium (II), and europium (III); and the ligand is a linear two-nitrogen compound having one 2-hydroxy-aryl group at one of the nitrogens; or the ligand is a linear two-nitrogen compound having one or two 2-hydroxy-aryl groups at each of the nitrogens; or the ligand is a linear three-, four-, or five-nitrogen compound having one or two 2-hydroxy-aryl substituents at each of one or more of the nitrogens, or the ligand is a heterocyclic compound having a ring containing three or four nitrogens, and having a 2-hydroxy-aryl substitent at one or more of the nitrogens; or the ligand is a heterocyclic compound having a ring containing 4 nitrogens, and having a carboxyl group at two of the nitrogens and an aromatic substituent at the other two of the nitrogens.

This invention relates to diagnostic NMR imaging.
The utility of nuclear magnetic resonance ("NMR") imaging in diagnostic medicine has recently been improved by the development of pharmaceutical NMR contrast agents which change the relaxation times of water protons in the vicinity of the agent. A pharmaceutical NMR contrast agent is selected to bind to a component of a body tissue under study, thereby increasing the relaxivity of water protons in the vicinity of the tissue to which the agent is bound. In this way the NMR signal from the tissues of interest is enhanced relative to the surrounding tissues.

Hydroxy-aryl metal chelates for diagnostic NMR imaging


A system for recovering and purifying water from a gas stream may include, a gas stream purification unit for purifying the gas stream, a water separation unit for separating water from the purified gas stream, and a water purification unit for purifying the water separated by the water separation unit. The gas stream purification unit may include comprise a soot reactor and a catalytic oxidation reactor or both. The water separation unit may include a condenser, a water extractor and a cyclic reverse osmosis system.

The present invention generally relates to water recovery and purification apparatus and methods for providing potable water from a gas.
Ambient air may provide a convenient source of potable water in certain environments. Exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine may comprise about 10% by volume of water, and may provide a relatively large supply of water. Engine exhaust from vehicles may provide a mobile supply of water from an existing source. The recovery of potable water from air or engine exhaust is of advantage in remote areas, which lack reliable supplies of clean water, and to the military.
While engine exhaust contains higher concentrations of water as compared with ambient air, exhaust gas also contains various pollutants which must be removed to provide relatively pure, potable water. However, current systems for water recovery are inefficient; that is, the energy cost or weight and size of the system is high, while the quality of the recovered water is relatively poor. One problem encountered in recovering water from engine exhaust is that the exhaust gas typically contains many types of impurities that are not removed by a single device. For example, engine exhaust may include organic particulates (soot); organic vapors, such as fuel and partially combusted fuel; metals from the engine; and inorganic compounds, such as nitrogen oxides formed from nitrogen in air, and sulfur oxides formed from sulfur in fuel. Engine exhaust may further include compounds ingested into the engine from the environment, including compounds found on a battlefield such as smoke and chemical warfare agents.
Prior art devices for water recovery and purification from gases require frequent maintenance or have low efficiency when used for recovering potable water from engine exhaust streams. For example, membranes and filters for removing particulates clog frequently due to the accumulation of soot, and furthermore generally do not remove low molecular weight organic compounds. Adsorptive filters for removing organic compounds have finite capacity and need to be replaced as consumable items.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,479,766 to Mulvany discloses a water recovery system for recovering water from engine exhaust during aircraft flight, in which water is separated by a water separator, and cooling for condensation is provided by slipstream air. U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,359 to Ray discloses a water recovery apparatus for recovering water from engine exhaust in which a membrane is used to separate water, in the form of a water vapor permeate stream, from the exhaust gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,831 to Budininkas et al. discloses a water recovery apparatus for recovering water from engine exhaust in which water is separated from the exhaust via a condenser, and the water is passed through an ion exchanger on a limestone bed. U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,375 to Jagtoyen et al. discloses a water recovery apparatus for recovering water from the exhaust of a vehicle in which the vehicle's catalytic converter is used to remove pollutants from the vehicle exhaust, and water condensed from the exhaust is filtered through particulate filters, passed through activated carbon beds, and passed through ion exchange resin beds. Both Budininkas et al. and Jagtoyen et al. require the exhaust temperature to be preferably at least about 700° F. for operation of the apparatus, due to the temperature requirements of the catalytic converter.
As can be seen, there is a need for a water recovery system and method for water recovery and purification from a gas stream that is broadly applicable to both non-vehicle applications and vehicle applications, including aircraft and land vehicles, whether stationary or moving, and to gas turbine engines, diesel engines, and gasoline engines. There is a further need for a water recovery system and method that is energy efficient, is not restricted by operational conditions, uses minimal amounts of consumable materials and components, and requires minimal maintenance. There is a further need for a water recovery system that can be operated regardless of engine- or exhaust gas temperature, and which is applicable to ambient air as well as exhaust gas.


A reverse flow cooling system for an internal combustion engine wherein coolant flows first into the cylinder head cooling chamber and then downwardly into the cooling chambers surrounding the cylinders comprises a thermostatically controlled valve having a valve spool movable between spaced and aligned inlet and outlet ports to control flow therethrough. The inlet port and outlet ports of the valve are sized so as to exhibit a combined resistance to flow equal to or less than the resistance to flow of the inlet port whereby coolant flowing through said thermostat exhibits minimum pressure drop.

Nucleate boiling is the familiar bubbling process which may be so gentle that only small bubbles are produced or extremely vigorous if the fluid interface temperature is sufficiently high. Such nucleation within a liquid in contact with a solid heating surface occurs at minute cavities or other irregularities in the surface. If the coolant has a high tendency to wet the surface such as the non-aqueous coolants discussed in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,579, the shape of the bubble is pinched in at the metal surface and readily detaches itself. If, on the other hand, the coolant has a low tendency to wet the surface such as an aqueous engine coolant, for example, a 50/50 water ethylene glycol solution discussed in my co-pending application Ser. No. 907,392, filed Jul. 1, 1992, the bubble grows at the surface and is set free only when it is comparatively large. Experiments have shown that when the temperature of the heating surface is first raised above that of the surrounding bulk liquid, most of the temperature drop takes place across the very thin layer of liquid adjacent to the surface. As the temperature difference is increased the thickness of the layer also increases at a rate approximately proportional to the increase in temperature differential. This state of affairs does not continue indefinitely, however, since the rate of increase of thickness decreases and the layer reaches its maximum when bubbles form. The vapor bubble promotes turbulence as well as being a carrier of latent heat of vaporization. Bubbles formed on the surface in this superheated layer force back the liquid immediately surrounding them and, on breaking free from the surface, the surrounding liquid is caused to flow to the space previously occupied by the bubbles. The rapid growth and departure of many bubbles, and the resulting source and wake flows in the liquid, cause large oscillations in the superheated film. It is generally accepted that the major portion of the heat for bubble growth is transferred from the heating surface to the bubble by the superheated liquid layer through a conduction or convection process. The growth and departure of the bubble breaks down the superheated film and brings cool liquid to the heating surface. It is also to be noted that, as indicative from testing and in numerous technical references, increasing the coolant velocity reduces the metal temperature in the convection region for a given heat flux and also suppresses nucleate boiling.
In order to achieve peak efficiency of coolant flow in the non-aqueous cooling system taught in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,579 and for the aqueous reverse-flow system taught in my co-pending application Ser. No. 907,392, it is desirable to control the volume of vapor, or in other words, nucleate boiling generated in the head chamber. Additionally, it is desirable, when employing a reverse-flow coolant direction, to offset the dynamic loss exhibited in conventional systems wherein upward motion of the coolant assists the natural buoyancy of the coolant vapor to release from the critical metal surfaces in the head cooling chamber over the area of the combustion chamber domes. The dynamic's of coolant vapor resistance to release from the metal surface of the cooling jacket is a major defect of known aqueous reverse-flow cooling systems.
Accordingly, cooling flow rate through the head cooling chamber must be established to create turbulence on the metal surfaces, particularly the surfaces over the combustion domes. When the proper flow rate is established three major improvements occur all of which tend to reduce the volume of vapor generated in the head chamber.
(1) As shown by testing, the metal temperature at any given heat flux will be reduced and nucleate boiling will be suppressed due to a reduction in vapor points of origin.
(2) The total heat exchange value will be of a higher magnitude for any given load or heat flux because of the increase in "bulk" heat exchange from the metal to the coolant. The metal will stay under control evidencing a longer rise time to the nucleate boil point.
(3) In reverse flow systems, turbulence and coolant scrubbing of vapor off metal surfaces increases with the flow of the coolant, compensating for the dynamic directional flow lost as exhibited in conventional upward flow systems. Coolant turbulence dictated by higher flow velocities not only breaks away vapor on the hot jacket surfaces over the combustion domes, but by breaking away, the vapor allows improved "wetting" of the surface. "Wetting" of the surface increases contact of the coolant at critical hot spots and effects a reduction of nucleate boiling and a reduction of vapor generations.
The efficiency of the pump is a factor in establishing the proper flow for the non-aqueous system taught in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,579 as well as in the aqueous reverse-flow cooling system taught in my co-pending application Ser. No. 907,392. It is to be noted that many pumps currently used in production vehicles which may appear to produce insufficient flow, become usable if the other components of the system are maximized for proper flow. One such important component is the thermostat.

Engine cooling system and thermostat therefor


This invention is related to the fields of organic chemistry and nanotechnology. In particular, it relates to materials and methods for the preparation of organic synthons and bridged macrocyclic module compounds. The bridged macrocyclic module compounds may be used to prepare macrocyclic compositions such as nanofilms, which may be useful for filtration.

One area of nanotechnology is to develop chemical building blocks from which hierarchical macrcmolecules of predicted properties can be assembled. An approach to making chemical building blocks or nanostructures begins at the atomic and molecular level by designing and synthesizing starting materials with highly tailored properties. Precise control at the atomic level is the foundation for development of rationally tailored synthesis-structure-property relationships which can provide materials of unique structure and predictable properties. This approach to nanotechnology is inspired by nature where, for example, from twenty common amino acids found in natural proteins, more than 105 stable and unique proteins are made.
Nanotechnology has also been described by K. Eric Drexler in Engines of Creation as "the knowledge and means for designing, fabricating and employing molecular scale devices by the manipulation and placement of individual atoms and molecules with precision on the atomic scale." A quest of nanotechnology is to prepare molecular architectures capable of performing on a nanometer scale functions normally observed for large-scale constructs. For example, rotaxanes and polyrotaxanes are molecules that are interlocked, but not chemically bound to one another, which act like nano-machines. In other examples, carbon nanotubes and similar constructs have been created which may function as molecular scaffold units, or as transport channels, storage units, or encapsulators for various atoms and molecules. The use of biological processes is also being studied as an approach to the assembly of non-biological nano-devices.
A hurdle in developing "building block" nanotechnology is creating the ability to program the final output of a chemical reaction between the reactants from which the building blocks are formed. In other words, it is desirable to control the geometry of the building block reactants in order to predetermine which product will be built from the reactants. The product will be the thermodynamically favored product in most cases, however, the programming of geometrical constraints into the reactants overrides the random statistics of bulk phase macroscopic interactions and effectively limits the reaction at the atomic level.
Entropically driven self assembly processes may be used to produce hierarchical products which are typically well-organized aggregates. Although such processes may be robust in tolerating a range of conditions, they are generally very limited in synthetic accessibility and produce a narrow range of products.
Most conventional methods of preparation of organic compounds involve stepwise attachment of species to form a product. Step-by-step synthesis can be an arduous route to prepare molecules, even some relatively simple molecules. Random statistics plays a role in every step and can make it impossible to achieve multistep products. For example, a collection of cyclic synthons may be coupled in stepwise synthesis to yield macrocyclic modules, however, the yield in many cases is relatively low, or may even be prohibitive.
One application that will benefit from nanotechnology is filtration using membranes. Conventional membranes used in a variety of separation processes can be made selectively permeable to various molecular species. The permeation properties of conventional membranes generally depend on the pathways of transport of species through the membrane structure. While the diffusion pathway in conventional selectively permeable materials can be made tortuous in order to control permeation, porosity is not well defined or controlled by conventional methods. The ability to fabricate regular or unique pore structures of membranes is a long-standing goal of separation technology.
Thus, what is needed is an approach to making chemical entities in the form of bridged macrocyclic module compositions from which to create nanostructures with desirable properties.
All documents referenced herein, including applications for patent, patent references, publications, articles, books, and treatises, are specifically incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.


A process and a device for oxygen regulation of a patient having at least two SPO2 monitors and a control for automatic recognition of which measurements are more reliable. The measurement from one or more of the two SPO2 is used to control the oxygen concentration delivered to a patient based on a comparison of the measurements from the at least two SPO2 monitors.

An SPO2 monitor is required for the regulation of the oxygen saturation in a patient. Physiological closed loop systems must pass over into a fallback mode in care of any error that generates an unacceptable risk. The recognition of incorrect measured SPO2 values may take place by checking the signal in the SPO2 itself. The manufacturer Masimo provides an index of the signal quality of an SPO2 monitor. If the signal quality drops below a threshold value or the time integral of the signal quality drops below a threshold value, the control system recognizes the need for the fall back mode. However, such SPO2 control systems only send a warning or alarm during phases of unacceptable signal quality such that the oxygenation of the patient can be set manually. Such SPO2 control systems do not provide for the oxygenation of the patient to be set automatically.
US 20100139659 A1 relates to a device and a process for controlling a respirator with inclusion of an oxygen saturation value for compensating a device-dependent time response, a physiological time response and a measuring method-dependent time response. The device-dependent time response, the physiological time response and the measuring method-dependent time response are determined in a continuous sequence and a run time of a change in the oxygen concentration from the metering means in the respirator to the patient is determined and taken into account in regulating the oxygen concentration. The device and process would benefit greatly from increased reliability of measured SPO2 values.


An inductive filtering device includes a first toric magnetic core without an air gap formed around a central void; a first electrical conductor formed of turns that are wound around the first magnetic core without passing through the central void, wherein no electrical conductor passes through the central void.

Filtering devices may be implemented for an isolated electrical conductor or for coupled conductors. For coupled conductors, common-mode interference or differential interference may occur and known assemblies of inductive filters allow these two types of interference to be attenuated.
Inductive filtering devices are generally produced by means of wound electrical conductors. To increase the inductance value of the device, the winding may be wound around a magnetic core, for example made of soft ferromagnetic material, i.e. having low coercivity, typically lower than 1000 A.m−1, so as to limit magnetic losses during the use thereof.
Among the known ferromagnetic materials, it is common to use materials that are formed of alloys containing mainly iron and nickel. These materials appeared at the beginning of the 20th century and are known in particular by the names of permalloy and mu-metal. These materials are crystalline and to obtain good magnetic properties, heat treatment is required, which treatment tends to increase the dimensions of the crystal grains. This increase in grain size tends to have a negative effect on the mechanical properties of these alloys, making them difficult to shape.
Amorphous materials were subsequently developed in order to facilitate the use of ferromagnetic materials. However, the presence of amorphizing elements, such as boron for example, tends to limit saturation induction. Moreover, substantial magnetic losses occur during use at high frequency.
Toward the end of the 20th century, a new family of nanocrystalline materials was developed, in particular by ArcelorMittal Imphy and known by the name of Finemet. Different variants are produced under the name of Nanophy. They have FeCuMSiB-type compositions, where M is a transition metal. A widely used composition is of the type: Fe73.5Cu1Nb3SixB22.5-x, and they have a silicon content of 13.5% or 16.5%.
In this family, iron-silicon crystals are embedded in a residual amorphous matrix. The dimensions of the crystals are of the order of nanometers. In comparison with iron-nickel alloys, nanocrystalline materials have the advantage of exhibiting a much higher saturation induction, of the order of 1.3 T instead of the 0.7 T typical for Permalloy.
More recently, other, FeMB nanocrystalline materials have also been developed. They generally contain more than 80% iron, 7% transition metal and the rest made up of boron. The materials in this family comprise pure iron nanocrystals. Their saturation induction is comparable to that of the Finemet family.
Nanocrystalline materials make it possible to benefit from certain advantages of amorphous materials, in particular their homogeneity. This is because, for nanocrystalline materials, the structure is composed of very small crystals that are oriented randomly and distributed homogeneously throughout an amorphous matrix and hence there are no grain boundaries.
Nanocrystalline materials are often produced in the form of ribbons that are wound to form tori. It is then possible to use these tori to produce inductors or transformers. The windings are wound by passing through the void located in the center of the torus, which is not easy to achieve. This void will be referred to hereinafter as the central void.
It is also common practice to wind the windings outside their magnetic circuit, or around an open magnetic circuit, which is much easier to achieve. After assembling the magnetic circuit and the winding, if the latter is produced separately, it is possible to close the magnetic circuit. However, nanocrystalline materials are difficult to machine and are therefore unsuitable for the production of an open magnetic circuit.

Inductive filtering device with toric magnetic core


RF communications received by a wireless terminal from a servicing base station are used to determine the downlink quality report and implement link adaptation decisions. This involves first implementing an initial transmission scheme between the servicing base station and the wireless terminal. Next, a current downlink quality report corresponding to the initial transmission scheme is generated by the wireless terminal and received at the servicing base station. This downlink quality report is based in whole or in part on a bit-error probability (BEP). The current downlink quality report that corresponds to the initial transmission scheme is then compared to link adaptation thresholds. When the current downlink quality report compares unfavorably to the link adaptation thresholds, an alternative transmission scheme is selected and implemented between the servicing base station and the wireless terminals if the alternative transmission scheme is expected to result in an improved downlink quality report over the current down-link quality report.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to cellular wireless communication systems, and more particularly to the determination of a bit error probability of radio frequency communications received by a wireless terminal within a cellular wireless communication system.
2. Related Art
Cellular wireless communication systems support wireless communication services in many populated areas of the world. While cellular wireless communication systems were initially constructed to service voice communications, they are now called upon to support data communications as well. The demand for data communication services has exploded with the acceptance and widespread use of the Internet. While data communications have historically been serviced via wired connections, cellular wireless users now demand that their wireless units also support data communications. Many wireless subscribers now expect to be able to "surf" the Internet, access their email, and perform other data communication activities using their cellular phones, wireless personal data assistants, wirelessly linked notebook computers, and/or other wireless devices. The demand for wireless communication system data communications will only increase with time. Thus, cellular wireless communication systems are currently being created/modified to service these burgeoning data communication demands.
Cellular wireless networks include a "network infrastructure" that wirelessly communicates with wireless terminals within a respective service coverage area. The network infrastructure typically includes a plurality of base stations dispersed throughout the service coverage area, each of which supports wireless communications within a respective cell (or set of sectors). The base stations couple to base station controllers (BSCs), with each BSC serving a plurality of base stations. Each BSC couples to a mobile switching center (MSC). Each BSC also typically directly or indirectly couples to the Internet.
In operation, each base station communicates with a plurality of wireless terminals operating in its cell/sectors. A BSC coupled to the base station routes voice communications between the MSC and a serving base station. The MSC routes voice communications to another MSC or to the PSTN. Typically, BSCs route data communications between a servicing base station and a packet data network that may include or couple to the Internet. Transmissions from base stations to wireless terminals are referred to as "forward link" transmissions while transmissions from wireless terminals to base stations are referred to as "reverse link" transmissions. The volume of data transmitted on the forward link typically exceeds the volume of data transmitted on the reverse link. Such is the case because data users typically issue commands to request data from data sources, e.g., web servers, and the web servers provide the data to the wireless terminals. The great number of wireless terminals communicating with a single base station forces the need to divide the forward and reverse link transmission times amongst the various wireless terminals.
Wireless links between base stations and their serviced wireless terminals typically operate according to one (or more) of a plurality of operating standards. These operating standards define the manner in which the wireless link may be allocated, setup, serviced and torn down. One popular cellular standard is the Global System for Mobile telecommunications (GSM) standard. The GSM standard, or simply GSM, is predominant in Europe and is in use around the globe. While GSM originally serviced only voice communications, it has been modified to also service data communications. GSM General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) operations and the Enhanced Data rates for GSM (or Global) Evolution (EDGE) operations coexist with GSM by sharing the channel bandwidth, slot structure, and slot timing of the GSM standard. GPRS operations and EDGE operations may also serve as migration paths for other standards as well, e.g., IS-136 and Pacific Digital Cellular (PDC).
The GSM standard specifies communications in a time divided format (in multiple channels). The GSM standard specifies a 4.615 ms frame that includes 8 slots of, each including eight slots of approximately 577 μs in duration. Each slot corresponds to a Radio Frequency (RF) burst. A normal RF burst, used to transmit information, typically includes a left side, a midamble, and a right side. The midamble typically contain a training sequence whose exact configuration depends on modulation format used. However, other types of RF bursts are known to those skilled in the art. Each set of four bursts on the forward link carry a partial link layer data block, a full link layer data block, or multiple link layer data blocks. Also included in these four bursts is control information intended for not only the wireless terminal for which the data block is intended but for other wireless terminals as well.
GPRS and EDGE include multiple coding/puncturing schemes and multiple modulation formats, e.g., Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) modulation or Eight Phase Shift Keying (8PSK) modulation. Particular coding/puncturing schemes and modulation formats used at any time depend upon the quality of a servicing forward link channel, e.g., Signal-to-Noise-Ratio (SNR) or Signal-to-Interference-Ratio (SIR) of the channel, Bit Error Rate of the channel, Block Error Rate of the channel, etc. As multiple modulation formats may be used for any RF burst, wireless communication systems need the ability to determine which coding scheme and modulation format will result in the successful receipt and demodulation of the information contained within the RF burst. This decision may be further influenced by changing radio conditions and the desired quality level to be associated with the communications.
Link adaptation (LA) is a mechanism used to adapt the channel coding schemes and modulation formats to the changing radio link conditions. LA allows the network to command the handset to change to the modulation and coding scheme that is best for the current radio condition while providing a desired level of quality associated with the communications. To facilitate LA, an accurate or representative measure of the changing radio conditions is required. The actual Bit Error Rate (BER) associated with the changing radio conditions would provide such a measure. However, exact BER evaluation is often intractable or numerically cumbersome. Therefore, approximations or probabilities of the BER are sought. Such approximations may be referred to as the Bit Error Probability (BEP). Methods used to estimate the BEP often rely on additive white-Gaussian noise (AWGN) to compute the signal to noise ratio (SNR) from which the BEP is based. Although this method is easy to apply, using the standard Gaussian approximation often overestimates system performance. Furthermore, such approximations fail to consider whether or not the RF communications were properly decoded. This over estimation of system performance can result in optimistic BEPs being used to make LA decisions. LA decisions based upon optimistic BEP can result in lost communications between the wireless terminal and the servicing base station. Therefore a need exists to implement LA decisions based on more efficiently determined BEPs.

Cooperative link characterization and MCS selection by wireless terminal and network for improved system performance


Provided herein are herbicidal compositions and methods employing combinations of (a) a compound of formula (I):

The protection of crops from weeds and other vegetation which inhibit crop growth is a constantly recurring problem in agriculture. To help combat this problem, researchers in the field of synthetic chemistry have produced an extensive variety of chemicals and chemical formulations effective in the control of such unwanted growth. Chemical herbicides of many types have been disclosed in the literature and a large number are in commercial use. However, there remains a need for compositions and methods that are effective in controlling undesirable vegetation.
US 2011/0287932 discloses specific three component herbicidal compositions consisting of glufosinate ammonium, methyl 4-amino-3-chloro-6-(4-chloro-2-fluoro-3-methoxyphenyl)-pyridine-2-carboxylate, with (1) flurtamone to control Matricaria chamomilla in glufosinate tolerant wheat (Table 4), or (2) diflufenican to control volunteer Brassica napus in glufosinate tolerant wheat (Table 6), or (3) flufenacet to control Setaria viridis in glufosinate tolerant wheat.
US 2009/0062121 discloses specific herbicidal compositions consisting of methyl 4-amino-3-chloro-6-(4-chloro-2-fluoro-3-methoxyphenyl)-pyridine-2-carboxylate and diflufenican (Tables 1 and 23), specific herbicidal compositions consisting of the potassium salt of 4-amino-3-chloro-6-(4-chloro-2-fluoro-3-methoxyphenyl)-pyridine-2-carboxylic acid and diflufenican (Table 60), and specific herbicidal compositions consisting of methyl 4-amino-3-chloro-6-(4-chloro-2-fluoro-3-methoxyphenyl)-pyridine-2-carboxylate, diflufenican, and flufenacet (Tables 2 and 24).

Herbicidal compositions comprising 4-amino-3-chloro-6-(4-chloro-2-fluoro-3-methoxyphenyl) pyridine-2-carboxylic acid or a derivative thereof and flurtamone

Abstract: or an agriculturally acceptable salt or ester thereof and (b) flurtamone. In certain embodiments the combinations include flufenacet or diflufenican as a third herbicidally active component.


A first layer of first vertical light emitting diodes (VLEDs) is printed on a conductor surface. A first transparent conductor layer is deposited over the first VLEDs to electrically contact top electrodes of the first VLEDs. A second layer of second VLEDs is printed on the first transparent conductor layer. Since the VLEDs are printed as an ink, the second VLEDs are not vertically aligned with the first VLEDs, so light from the first VLEDs is not substantially blocked by the second VLEDs when the VLEDs are turned on. A second transparent conductor layer is deposited over the second VLEDs to electrically contact top electrodes of the second VLEDs. By this structure, the first VLEDs are connected in parallel, the second VLEDs are connected in parallel, and the first layer of first VLEDs and the second layer of second VLEDs are connected in series by the first transparent conductor layer.

FIG. 1 generally illustrates a prior art technique for forming a wide area light sheet or panel using LEDs. A starting substrate 10 may be Mylar or other type of polymer sheet, or even a metal sheet. A conductor layer 12 is then deposited over the substrate 10, such as by printing. The substrate 10 and/or conductor layer 12 is preferably reflective. A reflective film may also be provided on the front or back surface of the substrate 10.
An LED ink is provided, which comprises microscopic vertical LEDs 14 (e.g., 30 microns in diameter) uniformly infused in a solvent. The LEDs are initially formed as metallized semiconductor layers on a carrier wafer. Trenches are photolithographically etched through the semiconductors layers and the metal layers to define the boundaries of each LED. The back surface of the carrier wafer is then thinned until the individual LEDs are separated. The LEDs are then dispersed in the solvent to create the ink.
The LED ink is screen printed over the conductor layer 12. The orientation of the LEDs can be controlled by providing a relatively tall top electrode 16 (e.g., the anode electrode), so that the top electrode 16 orients upward by taking the fluid path of least resistance through the solvent after printing. The LED ink is heated to evaporate the solvent, and the bottom cathode electrode 18 and conductor layer 12 are annealed to create an ohmic cathode connection.
A dielectric 19 is deposited and etched to expose the top electrode 16.
A transparent conductor layer 20 is then printed to contact the top electrodes 16.
Metal bus bars 22 and 24 are then printed and cured to electrically contact the conductor layers 12 and 20 along their edges. A suitable voltage differential applied to the bus bars 22/24 turns on the LEDs 14. Although the microscopic LEDs 14 are randomly distributed, they are fairly uniformly distributed over the area of the flat sheet due to the large number of LEDs printed. There may be millions of LEDs 14 printed on a one square meter substrate 10. The fabrication process may be performed under atmospheric conditions.
The LEDs 14 in the monolayer, within a defined area, are connected in parallel by the conductor layers 12/20 since the LEDs 14 have the same orientation. If many LEDs 14 are connected in parallel, the driving voltage must approximately equal the voltage drop of a single LED 14 and the current is relatively high. The high current flowing laterally through at least the thin transparent conductor layer 20 creates a significant IR drop, since typical transparent conductors may have a conductivity of 1 ohm/square. This results in power loss and heat, lowering the efficiency of the lamp. Making the transparent conductor layer 20 thicker adds cost and increases the light absorption by the layer 20.
Further detail of forming such a light source by printing microscopic vertical LEDs, and controlling their orientation on a substrate, can be found in US application publication US 2012/0164796, entitled, Method of Manufacturing a Printable Composition of Liquid or Gel Suspension of Diodes, assigned to the present assignee and incorporated herein by reference.
It is common to connect discrete LEDs in series by using printed circuit boards and other techniques. By connecting LEDs in series, the driving voltage increases and the driving current is lowered. However, such electrical interconnections are impractical for printed LEDs, since the LEDs are randomly positioned and microscopic. Further, using lateral conductors to connect a layer of LEDs in series uses significant substrate area, creating noticeable dark areas between the LEDs and lowering the brightness-to-area ratio of the lamp.
What is needed is a practical and cost-effective technique for connecting printed LEDs in series while still obtaining a high density of LEDs for a good brightness-to-area ratio.


Provided are a method and apparatus for sending data, a method and apparatus for processing data, as well as a network side device and a terminal. The method for sending data includes: performing first predetermined processing on data to be transmitted to obtain a first processing result; concatenating the first processing result with the data to be transmitted to obtain concatenated data; performing second predetermined processing on the concatenated data to obtain processed data; and transmitting a segment of data in the processed data and corresponding to a current data transmission of a network side device.

In the long term evolution (LTE) system in the related art, a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) is transmitted once every 10 ms in a period of 40 ms (i.e., 4 times within 40 ms). The user equipment (UE) determines which transmission is being performed by speculating the redundancy version used for the base station to perform channel coding on the PBCH.
When the LTE base station performs channel coding on the PBCH, different masks (e.g., CRC masks) are used for representing the number (1 or 2 or 4) of antenna ports when the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is performed on the PBCH. In the related art, when the LTE base station transmits a PBCH using multiple antennas, a transmit diversity method is used.
In the transmit period of 80 ms of a physical broadcast channel for new radio access technology (NR-PBCH) in the 5th generation mobile communication system (5G), the NR-PBCH may be transmitted multiple times, while the UE (terminal) does not know which transmission is being performed. Therefore, a certain method is needed to make the UE know which transmission is being performed. In the future, the base station may transmit the NR-PBCH by using a single antenna or multiple antennas; and the base station may transmit the NR-PBCH by using a single beam or multiple beams. Therefore, the UE needs to know the number of antennas (the number of antenna ports) and the beam condition to better receive the channel.
No effective solution has yet been proposed for the preceding problem in 5G.

Methods and devices for data transmission and processing, network side apparatus, and terminal


Systems and methods provide for manufacturing and assembling a single package gas sensor. The method includes: disposing a substrate in a housing; disposing at least one gas sensor die on the substrate; disposing at least one ultraviolet (UV) light emitting diode (LED) on the substrate; and attaching a lid to the housing, wherein the lid includes at least one gas ingress point.

Detection of chemical species in air, such as industrial pollutants, poisonous gases, chemical fumes, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), is vital for the health and safety of communities around the world (see Watson J and Ihokura K (1999) Special issue on Gas-Sensing Materials, Mater. Res. Soc. Bull. 24:14). The development of reliable, portable gas sensors that can detect harmful gases in real-time with high sensitivity and selectivity is therefore extremely important (Wilson D M et al. (2001) "Chemical Sensors for Portable, Handheld Field Instruments," IEEE Sensors Journal 1:256-274; Eranna G et al. (2004) "Oxide Materials for Development of Integrated Gas Sensors—A Comprehensive Review/Integrated Gas Sensors—A Comprehensive Review," Critical Reviews in Solid State and Material Sciences 29:111-188).
Due to their small size, ease of deployment, and low-power operation, solid-state thin film sensors are favored over analytical techniques such as optical and mass spectroscopy, and gas chromatography for real-time environmental monitoring (Wilson D M et al. (2001), supra, IEEE Sensor Journal 1:256-274; Shimizu Y and Egashira M (1999) "Basic aspects and Challenges of Semiconductor Gas Sensors," Mater. Res. Soc. Bull. 24:18; Sze S M (1994) Semiconductor Sensors 1st ed, Willey; New York). Selectivity, which is a sensor's ability to discriminate between the components of a gas mixture and provide detection signal for the component of interest, is an important consideration for the sensor's real-life applicability. Conventional metal-oxide based thin film sensors, despite decades of research and development (Brattain J B W H (1952) "Surface properties of germanium," Bell. Syst. Tech. Journal 32:1; Azad A M et al. (1992) "Solid-State Sensors: A Review," J. Electrochem. Soc. 139(12):3690-3704), still lack selectivity for different species and typically require high working temperatures (Meixner H and Lampe U (1996) "Metal oxide sensors," Sens. and Actuators B 33:198-202; Nicoletti S et al. (2003) "Use of Different Sensing Materials and Deposition Techniques for Thin-Film Sensors to Increase Sensitivity and Selectivity," IEEE Sensors Journal 3:454-459; Demarne V and Sanjines R (1992) Gas Sensors-Principles, Operation and Developments ed. G. Sberveglieri, Kluwer Academic, Netherlands). As such, the usability of such conventional sensors is severely limited and poses long-term reliability problems.
For a chemical sensor, the active surface area is an important factor for determining its detection limits or sensitivity. It is known that the electrical properties of nanowires (NWs) change significantly in response to their environments due to their high surface to volume ratio (Cui Y et al. (2001), supra, Science 293:1289-1292; Zhang D et al. (2004) "Detection of NO2 down to ppb levels using individual and multiple In2O3 nanowire devices," Nano. Lett. 4:1919-1924; Kong J et al. (2000) "Nanotube Molecular Wires as Chemical Sensors," Science 287:622-625; Comini E et al. (2002) "Stable and highly sensitive gas sensors based on semiconducting oxide nanobelts," Appl. Phys. Lett. 81:1869). NWs are therefore well suited for direct measurement of changes in their electrical properties (e.g. conductance/resistance, impedance) when exposed to various analytes. Substantial research has demonstrated the enhanced sensitivity, reactivity, and catalytic efficiency of the nanoscale structures (Cui Y et al. (2001), supra, Science 293:1289; Li C et al. (2003) "In2O3 nanowires as chemical sensors," Appl. Phys. Lett. 8:1613; Wan Q et al. (2004) "Fabrication and ethanol sensing characteristics of ZnO nanowire gas sensors," Appl. Phys. Lett. 84:3654; Wang C et al. (2005) "Detection of H2S down to ppb levels at room temperature using sensors based on ZnO nanorods," Sens. and Actuators B 113:320-323; Wang H T et al. (2005) "Hydrogen-selective sensing at room temperature with ZnO nanorods," Appl. Phys. Lett. 86:243503; Raible I et al. (2005) "V2O5 nanofibers: novel gas sensors with extremely high sensitivity and selectivity to amines," Sens. and Actuators B 106:730-735; McAlpine M C et al. (2007) "Highly ordered nanowire arrays on plastic substrates for ultrasensitive flexible chemical sensors," Nat Mater 6:379-384).
There have been attempts to demonstrate sensors based on nanotube/nanowire decorated with nanoparticles of metal and metal-oxides. For example, Leghrib et al. reported gas sensors based on multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) decorated with tin-oxide (SnO2) nanoclusters for detection of NO and CO (see Leghrib R et al. (2010) "Gas sensors based on multiwall carbon nanotubes decorated with tin oxide nanoclusters," Sens. and Actuators B: Chemical 145:411-416). Using mixed SnO2/TiO2 included with CNTs, Duy et al. demonstrated ethanol sensing at a temperature of 250° C. (Duy N V et al. (2008) "Mixed SnO2/TiO2 Included with Carbon Nanotubes for Gas-Sensing Application," J. Physica E 41:258-263). Balázsi et al. fabricated hybrid composites of hexagonal WO3 powder with metal decorated CNTs for sensing NO2 (Balázsi C et al. (2008) "Novel hexagonal WO3 nanopowder with metal decorated carbon nanotubes as NO2 gas sensor," Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 133:151-155). Kuang et al. demonstrated an increase in the sensitivity of SnO2 nanowire sensors to H2S, CO, and CH4 by surface functionalization with ZnO or NiO nanoparticles (Kuang Q et al. (2008) "Enhancing the photon-and gas-sensing properties of a single SnO2 nanowire based nanodevice by nanoparticle surface functionalization," J. Phys. Chem. C 112:11539-11544). ZnO NWs decorated with Pt nanoparticles were utilized by Zhang et al., showing that the response of Pt nanoparticles decorated ZnO NWs to ethanol is three times higher than that of bare ZnO NWs (Zhang Y et al. (2010) "Decoration of ZnO nanowires with Pt nanoparticles and their improved gas sensing and photocatalytic performance," Nanotechnology 21:285501). Chang et al. showed that by adsorption of Au nanoparticles on ZnO NWs, the sensor sensitivity to CO gas could be enhanced significantly (Chang S-J et al. (2008) "Highly sensitive ZnO nanowire CO sensors with the adsorption of Au nanoparticles," Nanotechnology 19:175502). Dobrokhotov et al. constructed a chemical sensor from mats of GaN NWs decorated with Au nanoparticles and tested their sensitivity to N2 and CH4 (Dobrokhotov V et al. (2006) "Principles and mechanisms of gas sensing by GaN nanowires functionalized with gold nanoparticles," J. Appl. Phys 99:104302). GaN NWs coated with Pd nanoparticles were employed for the detection of H2 in N2 at 300K by Lim et al. (Lim W et al. (2008) "Room temperature hydrogen detection using Pd-coated GaN nanowires," Appl. Phys. Lett. 93:072109).
Although such results demonstrate the potentials of the nanowire-nanocluster based hybrid sensors, fundamental challenges and deficiencies in such prior attempts remain. Most of the results provide for mats of nanowires. Although such mats may increase sensitivity, the complex nature of inter-wire conduction makes interpreting the results difficult. Also, room-temperature operation of such previous sensors has not been demonstrated, and the selectivity is shown for only a very limited number of chemicals. Conventional sensor devices require high operating temperatures (>250° C.) and large response times (more than 5 minutes). Indeed, such temperature-assisted sensors typically provide for an integrated heater for the device. Further, the reported sensitivities of such conventional devices were quite low even with long response times. Further, such conventional devices typically do not provide for air as the carrier gas. However, the ability of a sensor to detect chemicals in air is what ultimately determines its usability in real-life.
Thus, such demonstrations have resulted in poor selectivity of known chemical sensors, and therefore have not resulted in commercially viable gas sensors. For real-world applications, selectivity between different classes of compounds (such as between aromatic compounds and alcohols) is highly desirable. For example, the threat of terrorism and the need for homeland security call for advanced technologies to detect concealed explosives safely and efficiently. Detecting traces of explosives is challenging, however, because of the low vapor pressures of most explosives (Moore, D S (2004) "Instrumentation for trace detection of high explosives," Review of Scientific Instruments 75(8):2499-2512; Yinon J (2002) "Field detection and monitoring of explosives," TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry 21(4):292-301; Senesac L. and Thundat T G (2008) "Nanosensors for trace explosive detection," Materials Today 11 (3): 28-36. Moreover, the difficulty of explosive detection is aggravated by the noisy environment which masks the signal from the explosive, the potential for high false alarms, and the need to determine a threat quickly. As such, trained canine teams remain the most reliable means of detecting explosive vapors to date; however, dogs are expensive to train and tire easily.
An ideal chemical sensor would be able to distinguish between the individual analytes belonging to a particular class of compounds, e.g. detection of the presence of benzene or toluene in the presence of other aromatic compounds, detection of a particular explosive compound, detection of a particular alcohol, etc. This is extremely challenging as most semiconductor-based sensors use metal-oxides (such as SnO2, In2O3, ZnO) as the active elements, which are limited due to the non-selective nature of the surface adsorption sites. The surface/adsorbate interactions of conventional sensor structures are limited and non-specific. Thus, conventional sensor devices lack the same selectivity as their bulk-counterpart devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,476,862, the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference and which has one or more common inventors with the present application, describes nanostructure sensor devices that address these deficiencies of conventional devices by providing a semiconductor nanostructure having an outer surface and at least one of metal or metal-oxide nanoparticle clusters functionalizing the outer surface of the nanostructure and forming a photoconductive nanostructure/nanocluster hybrid sensor enabling light-assisted sensing of a target analyte. Additionally, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/891,709 entitled "Device Having an Array of Sensors on a Single Chip", the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference and which has one or more common inventors with the present application, describes using one or more nanoparticle gas sensors on a single chip, which sensors are configured to detect at least one type of gas. The present application focuses on a specific application/implementation of the general type of sensor described in the '862 patent and the '709 application to a specific problem set—specifically the packaging of optically-activated gas sensors.
Sensors that can detect and measure molecules of different gases and chemicals in the air have been in existence for years. These sensors use various sensing technologies, such as, analytical grade gas chromatography, mass spectroscopy (which can be large, expensive table mounted devices) and hand-held detectors. More recently, with the prolific growth of the Internet of Things (loT), industrial IoT applications, wearable technologies, demand for low-power, ultra-small sensors is on the rise for use in both industrial and consumer applications.
One technology which has assisted in improving the capabilities of gas sensors are micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) as applied to microheater gas sensors for use in chip-scale gas sensors. Some examples of existing companies and gas sensors is shown below in Table 1
TABLE 1Chip-Scale/Microscale GasSensor CompanyProduct DescriptionProduct InformationCambridgeCCS80x, Family of UltraMeasures a Total VolatileCMOSLow-Power SensorsOrganic Compound(VOC) amountSensirionSGPC10, Multi-PixelMeasures a Total VOCGas SensorsamountBosch SensortecBME680, MEMS basedMeasures a Total VOCsensorsamountSpec SensorsScreen PrintedIndividual gas detectionElectrochemical sensors
Additionally, gas sensors as described in the '862 patent which use ultraviolet (UV) light, e.g., a UV light emitting diode (LED), have the light source physically separated from the sensor device. This separation creates a number of complications. For example, when separated, a separate enclosure is needed to house the sensor die and another enclosure is used to house the UV LED, which increases the total size and weight of the gas sensor system. An air delivery fan is also needed which further increases power consumption, system complexity, cost and size while reducing the gas sensor system's use in explosive or corrosive environments. Also, due to the air delivery flow requirements, sensor response and recovery times are not optimal. One further complication when using the separate LED and sensor is that the alignment between the LED and sensor can complicate the manufacturing process.
An example of a gas sensor system 6100 is now described with respect to FIG. 61. Gas sensor system 6100 includes a housing 6102, an enclosed, separate LED source 6104 and a fan 6106. Gas sensor system 6100 also includes various supporting features, e.g., the chip or chips associated with the actual gas sensor, which are not shown in this view as they are located internal to the housing 6102 and cannot be seen in this view.
One system is based on the use of the GaN nanowires as described in the '862 patent. A depiction of a nanowire photoconductive chemiresistor which can be used in gas sensing systems is shown in FIG. 62. The nanowire photoconductive chemiresistor 6200 includes a substrate 6202 with two terminals 6204 and 6206 connected by a GaN nanowire 6212. An LED source 6208 can emit, for example, UV light 6210 towards the GaN nanowire 6212. This then activates the electrical circuit 6214, which in turn, can initiate the gas sensing system in manners described in more detail in the '862 patent.
However, the GaN nanowire 6212 is grown separately and transferred to the different substrate 6202 which creates its own set of complications. Additionally, the LED source 6208 is in its own separate enclosure. These elements can increase cost and reduce the robustness of the gas sensing system.
Accordingly, there is a need for a single package optically-activated gas sensors.

Single package optically-activated gas sensors