Disclosed herein is a method of separating carbon dioxide from a gas mixture using a biopolymer, including: introducing hemocyte or extrapallial fluid, extracted from shells, into a reactor filled with 1 L of a solution containing a calcium source, and then dissolving the hemocyte or extrapallial fluid in the solution to form a mixed solution; and mixing carbon dioxide or a gas mixture containing carbon dioxide into the mixed solution to separate carbon dioxide from the gas mixture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of separating carbon dioxide from a gas mixture, and, more particularly, to a method of separating carbon dioxide from a gas mixture using hemocyte or extrapallial fluid, which is known to be a biopolymer synthesizing calcium carbonate in sea water.
2. Description of the Related Art
A bivalve shell is mainly composed of calcium carbonate (95 wt %), and bivalves synthesize calcium carbonate using carbon dioxide and calcium ions present in sea water. Among organic polymers participating in such a shell synthesis process, carbonic anhydrase is well known. Carbonic anhydrase mainly functions to convert carbon dioxide present in sea water into bicarbonate ions (HCO3−), and these bicarbonate ions are used to synthesize calcium carbonate.
The process of hydrating carbon dioxide using carbonic anhydrase is as follows.E.ZnH2OEZnOH−+H+E.ZnOH−+CO2EZnHCO3−E.ZnHCO3−EZnH2O+HCO3−
In the process, zinc (Zn), which is located in the carbonic anhydrase, reacts with a water molecule, thus forming a hydroxy ion, which then reacts with carbon dioxide, thus producing a bicarbonate ion.
As a well-known method of treating carbon dioxide from a gas mixture, there is a wet process of treating carbon dioxide from a gas mixture using an aqueous amine solution as an absorbing solution (refer to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2006-0017946).
However, the wet process is problematic in that, when the aqueous amine solution is used, apparatuses are easily corroded, an absorbent is deteriorated, and a large amount of regeneration heat is required, thus increasing process costs.
As conventional technologies of treating carbon dioxide using a biopolymer as an absorbent, U.S. Pat. No. 6,524,843 discloses a method of separating and removing carbon dioxide from a gas mixture by converting carbon dioxide into bicarbonate ions using a countercurrent bioreactor charged with carbonic anhydrase, in which a gas mixture including carbon dioxide is introduced into the bottom of the bioreactor and a liquid solvent (water) is introduced into the top of the bioreactor, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,132,090, which was granted to General Motors Corporation, discloses a process for converting carbon dioxide into calcium carbonate, in which carbon dioxide, discharged from factories or power plants, is primarily mixed in water and then passes through a porous membrane containing carbonic anhydrase, so that the carbon dioxide is converted into bicarbonate ions, and the bicarbonate ions are converted into calcium carbonate. However, Korean Patents relating to the above technologies have not been filed yet.
Meanwhile, carbonic anhydrase includes zinc (Zn) ions, which act as active sites for adsorbing carbon dioxide.
However, the carbonic anhydrase cannot be easily reproduced due to the presence of the zinc (Zn), and is an expensive enzyme protein, having a market price of several hundreds of thousands of Won for several milligrams, which impedes the use of carbonic anhydrase in large quantities.

Method of separating carbon dioxide from gas mixture using biopolymer


A method and computer installation for communicating with one or more other computer installations with a processor, and memory with data and instructions stored therein so that the processor can execute a predetermined program. The program enables the processor to receive the following data: anamnesis data for a client; physical/diagnostic data for the client; data on diagnostic methods; and use of medication and treatment methods with regard to predetermined diseases. The program enables the processor to calculate, and incorporate in a report, the following: the risk of the client acquiring one of the predetermined diseases, harbouring such a disease or having such a disease; data with regard to a possible prevention programme for the client to prevent the one of the predetermined diseases; and data with regard to any medication to combat the one of the predetermined diseases that may be harboured or existing.

Increasingly there is scientific insight that early, presymptomatic intervention can emphatically change the biological behaviour of the most important life-threatening disease processes, such as atherosclerosis and many types of cancer.1-6 Our current healthcare system is as yet mainly fixated on the occurrence of symptoms. However, from the standpoint of the medical process symptoms are no more than a first sign of underlying disease processes that have existed for years and sometimes even throughout the patient's life. In fact, symptoms arise only very late in the natural course of the abovementioned and other disease processes. There is often then already irreversible organ damage (vascular diseases) or metastasisation that can no longer be cured.
This is further illustrated in FIG. 1, which shows the development of cancer as a disease process. FIG. 1 shows that in a first stage abnormal cells arise, whilst in subsequent stages there will be hyperplasia, dysplasia, a local tumour and a metastasised tumour, respectively. Prevention is still possible at the stages of abnormal cells and hyperplasia, early diagnostics can be carried out at the dysplasia stage, early intervention can take place at the stage of a local tumour and a late intervention can possibly still take place at the metastasised tumour stage.
In practice, therefore, waiting for symptoms often means too late a starting point for effective treatment. The high morbidity that is the consequence of this is associated with high costs and complex treatment. Despite the fact that there is progress in the development of new and more effective treatments and advances are still being made, the costs per year of life gained are high if these treatments are employed only at the end of the disease process. In this context there will, by definition, increasingly be a "reduced marginal return", which ultimately makes a broad-based social discussion on the rationalisation of care offered in the final stage of disease processes unavoidable.
If care is to have a healthy future there will have to be a gradual, but emphatic, shift from "care of the sick" to "healthcare" in the most literal sense. This shift in medical focus is made possible by the rapidly increasing insight into the biology of diseases/disease processes and impressive developments in the field of (early) diagnostics related to this. This progress will increasingly underline the importance of prevention and early intervention.
In many cases symptoms arise only when the tumour impedes the organ function or grows in blood vessels. By definition, the risk of metastasisation, which it may or may not be possible to diagnose, is then high. The representation in FIG. 1 shows disease as a process and illustrates the possibilities for an earlier influence on this. The "atherosclerosis" disease process can be illustrated in a virtually identical manner.
Healthcare in The Netherlands (and beyond) is under severe pressure. Costs continue to rise exponentially, whilst the peak in the aging population has not yet been reached. In 2003 The Netherlands spent almost 10% of the gross national product on healthcare (44 billion Euros).7-11 A significant proportion of this growing expenditure is accounted for by the treatment of life-threatening complaints such as cancer and heart and vascular diseases, which together account for 60-70% of deaths in the Dutch/Western population.
Healthy life expectancy is approximately the same for men as for women: 61.3 and 60.8 years, respectively. In view of the life expectancy of 75.5 years for men and of 80.6 years for women, this means that women on average live in relative ill health for almost 20 years and men for approximately 14 years. On average, for both men and women, the first symptoms of underlying disease processes start from the age of 50.
FIGS. 2a and 2b show survival curves for men and women, respectively, in 2000. The surface area between the lines represents, from bottom to top, the number of years in good health and in slight, moderate and serious ill health (sources: CBS (Central Bureau voor de Statistiek (Central Office for Statistics) Statistics on causes of death). Life-threatening disease processes can be established at an early (presymptomatic) stage using advanced diagnostic techniques. There are also increasing scientific indications that prevention and/or early (presymptomatic) intervention can emphatically change the biological behaviour of these processes. Therefore, if employed in the correct manner and in the correct disease processes, adequate and early intervention in good time could itself lead, with simple means, to an appreciable gain in health and thus to an increase in (healthy) life expectancy. In theory the "socially active years" can increase significantly and the costs per year of life gained are relatively low, both at the individual and at population level.7
An appreciable proportion of the morbidity and mortality in the western world is associated with our lifestyle. At the individual level on average 70-80% of the total medical costs are incurred in the last 5 years of someone's life with a peak in the last year of life. Whilst the total costs of healthcare in 2004 were approximately 44 billion per year, less than 2 billion (<4%) were spent on prevention. This sum includes, inter alia, the vaccination programmes for the prevention of infectious diseases, so that only a small proportion of this sum is available for the prevention of/early diagnostics for heart and vascular diseases and cancer.7, 8, 11 There is still a great deal to be gained by adequate and cost-effective implementation of early intervention and more preventive measures, both for the individual patient and for the population and for the costs of healthcare in general.7
In this context it is extremely valuable that the developments in the diagnostic field in particular have been very rapid in recent years. Unravelling the genetic and molecular backgrounds of diseases has yielded techniques which, on the one hand, can reveal an increased risk of the development of a specific disorder and, on the other hand, can establish early manifestations even before there are symptoms or complaints. Even in the field of instrumental imaging techniques, increasingly more sophisticated techniques are becoming available which have improved sensitivity and resolution compared with the conventional techniques. The possibilities for detecting early, presymptomatic signals of a wide variety of diseases, in the form of genetic, molecular and/or incipient anatomical abnormalities, are emphatically improved as a result.1, 2, 6, 12 The end of these developments is still a long way off, on the contrary.
Despite the above, there is justifiable hesitation in seeking wider implementation of the conventional preventive "screening model". The current inefficient and expensive logistics for separate screening programmes, combined with scientifically founded drawbacks of conventional screening (overdiagnosis and treatment, high costs, inexpensive but out-of-date and less sensitive techniques, organisational dilemmas, etc.) are all reasons for reticence.
Therefore there is a need for a system with which clients can be screened for diseases that are latent or actually present that does not have the above mentioned disadvantages.

Computer installation for establishing a diagnosis


This invention is directed to a 3-dimensional imaging lidar, which utilizes modest power kHz rate lasers, array detectors, photon-counting multi-channel timing receivers, and dual wedge optical scanners with transmitter point-ahead correction to provide contiguous high spatial resolution mapping of surface features including ground, water, man-made objects, vegetation and submerged surfaces from an aircraft or a spacecraft.

Over the past two decades, there has been an increasing interest in, and proliferation of, airborne laser altimeters, which measure the roundtrip time of flight of a laser pulse from an aircraft to a surface. High speed optical scanning devices of various types have been used to direct a train of high repetition rate (˜10 kHz) laser pulses to an array of points on the ground. Combined with GPS Differential positioning, these instruments routinely provide 3D topographic maps over wide areas with point spacings on the order of a few meters and vertical (range) accuracies on the order of a decimeter. The applications for these devices are numerous and include commercial surveying of populated areas, biomass estimation and forestry management through the measurement of tree canopies and subcanopies, changes in sea and lake levels, the determination of hydrological runoff routes with application to flood control and hazard estimation, and even personal security applications. Sophisticated software packages, tailored to specific applications, can, for example, strip the surface of manmade structures and vegetation, revealing hidden fault lines of interest to geologists and geophysicists. Airborne instruments can provide useful local, and even regional, data, but many in the Earth science community desire comparable data on a global scale.
A small number of laser altimeters have operated in space. Altimeter data from three manned Apollo missions and the 1994 Clementine mission has recently been processed to provide a crude topographical map of the Moon. In the early 1970's, three of NASA's manned Apollo missions (15, 16, and 17) carried a low repetition rate (16 to 32 second fire interval) ruby laser altimeter to the Moon and provided approximately 7080 measurements of the command module height relative to the lunar topography. In 1994, the Clementine Mission operated for about two months at a substantially higher, but still low, laser fire rate of 2 Hz and provided a more robust set of 70,000 altimetric measurements during approximately two months in lunar orbit. A similar altimeter on the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission has recently provided a detailed topographic map of the asteroid EROS.
The largest body mapped to date by a laser is the planet Mars. NASA's Mars Orbiting Laser Altimeter (MOLA) instrument on the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft recently completed the first global topographic map of a planet from a near-polar orbit using an actively Q-switched, diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser operating at a repetition rate of 10 Hz. With an orbital ground velocity on the order of 3 km/sec, the along-track spacing between consecutive measurements was about 300 m. Like other missions, the MOLA instrument did not include a cross-track scanner, and hence only terrain directly below the spacecraft was interrogated under normal operating conditions. Periodically, however, the entire spacecraft was tilted via ground command to obtain data at or near the Martian poles. As with any near-polar orbit, the spatial concentration of range measurements is large at higher planetary latitudes and falls off dramatically as one approaches the Martian equator. Nevertheless, MOLA provided the most accurate global vertical height datum ever achieved from planetary orbit and was an unqualified engineering and scientific success.
First generation altimetric approaches are not well-suited to generating the few meter level horizontal resolution and decimeter precision vertical (range) resolution on the global scale desired by many in the Earth and planetary science communities. The first generation spaceborne altimeters have been characterized by a laser operating in the infrared (1064 nm) at a few tens of Hz with moderate output energies (50 to 100 mJ), a telescope in the 50 to 100 cm range, and a single element (i.e. non-pixellated) detector which detects and processes multi-photon returns from the surface. On bare terrain, the signal waveforms reflect the slope and surface roughness within the laser footprint (typically several tens of meters in diameter) as well as any false slopes due to pointing error. On Earth, the presence of manmade buildings and volumetric scatterers (such as tree canopies or other vegetation) generally makes waveform interpretation more complex and difficult.
Clearly, one major challenge to the conventional approach is the sheer number of measurements required over a nominal mission lifetime of two to three years. For example, in order to generate a 5 m×5 m vertical grid map of Mars, which has a mean volumetric radius of 3390 km, over 7 trillion individual range measurements are required, even if one makes the unrealistic assumption that no ground spatial element is measured twice. In any realistic mission, the actual number of range measurements will be significantly larger since an instrument designed to provide contiguous coverage at the planetary equator will oversample the higher latitudes where the ground tracks are more narrowly spaced. If one were to simply scale conventional approaches, one would clearly face severe prime power, weight, and instrument longevity issues.
A second technical challenge is the high ground speed of the spacecraft (about 3 km/sec for a nominal 300 km altitude Mars orbit) coupled with the need to incorporate a scanner to cover the large area between adjacent ground tracks, especially near the equator. At a nominal altitude of 300 km, for example, the satellite would have an orbital period about Mars of approximately 113 minutes. Thus, a three year mission would produce 13,910 orbits or 27,820 equator crossings with an average spacing between ground tracks at the equator of 766 meters. The latter spacing corresponds to about 154 resolution elements (Δ=5 m) in the cross-track direction between adjacent ground tracks and further implies a minimum cross-track scan angle of about 0.15 degrees. For truly contiguous coverage using a conventional single element detector, these 154 cross-track measurements must be completed in the time it takes the spacecraft to move one resolution element in the along-track direction, or within 1.67 msec. This implies a rather daunting laser fire rate of 92.4 kHz. Furthermore, a uniformly rotating mechanical scanner, for example, must complete a half cycle of its movement within the same 1.67 msec period, i.e. an impossible 300 Hz (18,000 RPM) rate. While alternative non-mechanical scanners, such as electro-optic or acousto-optic devices, are capable of very high scanning speeds and have no moving parts, they fall far short of the angular range requirements, are highly limited in their useful aperture, and require fast high voltage or high RF power drivers.
An additional technical challenge stems from the high laser fire rate and the long pulse time of flight (TOF). At 300 km altitude, the laser pulse completes a roundtrip transit to the surface in 2 msec. Thus, for laser fire rates in excess of 500 Hz, multiple pulses will be in flight simultaneously. In principle, it is easy to associate the correct return pulse with the appropriate outgoing pulse provided the roundtrip satellite-to-surface TOF is known a priori to well within a single laser fire interval. For the 92.4 kHz rate derived previously, however, approximately 185 pulses would be simultaneously in transit, and it would be necessary to have a priori orbital knowledge at the 1.6 km level in order to unambiguously tie a given surface return to the appropriate output pulse. While such a navigation accuracy might be easy to achieve in Earth orbit using either Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers or Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) to passive reflectors on the spacecraft, it would likely be a much more difficult challenge in orbits about extraterrestrial bodies.
A second technical problem associated with the longer pulse TOF from orbit is related to "transmitter point-ahead", i.e. the offset between the center of the laser beam at the surface and where the receiver is looking one 2 msec round trip transit time later. For an unscanned system, the offset due to a 3 km/sec spacecraft ground velocity is only 6 m (slightly more than one resolution element) in the along-track direction and can be easily accommodated, either by a fixed offset of the transmitter in the positive along-track direction or by a modest increase in the receiver field of view (FOV). In the current example, however, the scanner must complete over half a cycle of its scan within the pulse TOF. Thus, the receiver FOV must be opened up to span the full 0.15 degree separation (766 m) between ground tracks in the cross-track dimension while the laser illuminates only a 5 m diameter circle within that FOV and defines the ground resolution element being interrogated. This approach greatly increases the solar background noise incident on the detector during local daytime operations relative to the unscanned case and elevates the laser output energy requirements for good discrimination of the signal. An alternative low noise approach would be to independently steer the transmitter and receiver, which will be discussed in later sections.

United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


An optical fiber connector comprising a base and a lid member constituting an element having a doubly split structure which forms a roughly rod-like shape when united, and a spring for housing the base and lid member and applying pressure for pressing them together, wherein centering grooves for positioning and centering optical fibers for adjoinment and connection are provided in at least one or between the opposing faces of the base and lid member which are put together. In a mode wherein the element is inserted into a C-shaped spring having a rod shape with a C-shaped cross section, the optical fibers which are inserted from both ends of the element are pushed to the centering groove and adjoined into connection. By inserting or withdrawing wedges into wedge insertion grooves formed between the base and the lid member, it is possible to open or close the element.

Conventionally, optical fiber connectors have a structure wherein two optical fibers in mutual abutment are affixed inside the same housing.
Structures for positioning and centering inside such optical fiber connectors include (1) structures wherein the optical fibers are adjoined by inserting them into the ends of a microcapillary, (2) structures wherein the optical fibers are adjoined by laying them in positioning grooves and (3) structures wherein the optical fibers are positioned by being supported in the center of three precision rods or three precision balls. In these optical fiber connectors, a pair of optical fibers is centered and abutted inside a centering device and either adhesively bonded or mechanically wedged into fixation on the centering device.
In these types of optical fiber connectors, the optical fibers are not freely detachable because the connected optical fibers are adhesively bonded so that their reuse becomes impossible, thus leaving the problem that they cannot be used effectively when changing the connections or the like.
Additionally, since extremely high precision is required for the work of inserting the optical fibers into the centering devices, the ease of the work decreases. For example, a microscope must be used in order to insert an optical fiber into a microcapillary, causing a lot of trouble in the work. Consequently, the development of an optical fiber connector capable of improving the ease of centering particularly in on-site work has been desired.
In addition, while structures for guiding the optical fibers to the centering devices through guide grooves or capillaries having low centering precision have been offered, the optical fibers get caught between these guide grooves or capillaries and the centering devices due to the sudden change in the centering precision, thus leaving something to be desired with regard to the ease of the work of inserting optical fibers into the centering devices.
The present invention has been achieved in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and has the object of offering an optical fiber connector wherein the ease of the work of centering the optical fiber is improved, and it is possible to change the connections of optical fibers which have already been connected.


The present invention is directed to novel polypeptides and to nucleic acid molecules encoding those polypeptides. Also provided herein are vectors and host cells comprising those nucleic acid sequences, chimeric polypeptide molecules comprising the polypeptides of the present invention fused to heterologous polypeptide sequences, antibodies which bind to the polypeptides of the present invention and to methods for producing the polypeptides of the present invention.

Extracellular proteins play important roles in, among other things, the formation, differentiation and maintenance of multicellular organisms. The fate of many individual cells, e.g., proliferation, migration, differentiation, or interaction with other cells, is typically governed by information received from other cells and/or the immediate environment. This information is often transmitted by secreted polypeptides (for instance, mitogenic factors, survival factors, cytotoxic factors, differentiation factors, neuropeptides, and hormones) which are, in turn, received and interpreted by diverse cell receptors or membrane-bound proteins. These secreted polypeptides or signaling molecules normally pass through the cellular secretory pathway to reach their site of action in the extracellular environment.
Secreted proteins have various industrial applications, including as pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, biosensors and bioreactors. Most protein drugs available at present, such as thrombolytic agents, interferons, interleukins, erythropoietins, colony stimulating factors, and various other cytokines, are secretory proteins. Their receptors, which are membrane proteins, also have potential as therapeutic or diagnostic agents. Efforts are being undertaken by both industry and academia to identify new, native secreted proteins. Many efforts are focused on the screening of mammalian recombinant DNA libraries to identify the coding sequences for novel secreted proteins. Examples of screening methods and techniques are described in the literature [see, for example, Klein et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 93:7108–7113 (1996); U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,637)].
Membrane-bound proteins and receptors can play important roles in, among other things, the formation, differentiation and maintenance of multicellular organisms. The fate of many individual cells, e.g., proliferation, migration, differentiation, or interaction with other cells, is typically governed by information received from other cells and/or the immediate environment. This information is often transmitted by secreted polypeptides (for instance, mitogenic factors, survival factors, cytotoxic factors, differentiation factors, neuropeptides, and hormones) which are, in turn, received and interpreted by diverse cell receptors or membrane-bound proteins. Such membrane-bound proteins and cell receptors include, but are not limited to, cytokine receptors, receptor kinases, receptor phosphatases, receptors involved in cell-cell interactions, and cellular adhesin molecules like selectins and integrins. For instance, transduction of signals that regulate cell growth and differentiation is regulated in part by phosphorylation of various cellular proteins. Protein tyrosine kinases, enzymes that catalyze that process, can also act as growth factor receptors. Examples include fibroblast growth factor receptor and nerve growth factor receptor.
Membrane-bound proteins and receptor molecules have various industrial applications, including as pharmaceutical and diagnostic agents. Receptor immunoadhesins, for instance, can be employed as therapeutic agents to block receptor-ligand interactions. The membrane-bound proteins can also be employed for screening of potential peptide or small molecule inhibitors of the relevant receptor/ligand interaction.
Efforts are being undertaken by both industry and academia to identify new, native receptor or membrane-bound proteins. Many efforts are focused on the screening of mammalian recombinant DNA libraries to identify the coding sequences for novel receptor or membrane-bound proteins.
Growth factors are molecular signals or mediators that enhance cell growth or proliferation, alone or in concert, by binding to specific cell surface receptors. However, there are other cellular reactions than only growth upon expression to growth factors. As a result, growth factors are better characterized as multifunctional and potent cellular regulators. Their biological effects include proliferation, chemotaxis and stimulation of extracellular matrix production. Growth factors can have both stimulatory and inhibitory effects. For example, transforming growth factor (TGF-β) is highly pleiotropic and can stimulate proliferation in some cells, especially connective tissue, while being a potent inhibitor of proliferation in others, such as lymphocytes and epithelial cells.
The physiological effect of growth stimulation or inhibition by growth factors depends upon the state of development and differentiation of the target tissue. The mechanism of local cellular regulation by classical endocrine molecules involves comprehends autocrine (same cell), juxtacrine (neighbor cell), and paracrine (adjacent cells) pathways. Peptide growth factors are elements of a complex biological language, providing the basis for intercellular communication. They permit cells to convey information between each other, mediate interaction between cells and change gene expression. The effect of these multifunctional and pluripotent factors is dependent on the presence or absence of other peptides.
FGF-8 is a member of the fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) which are a family of heparin-binding, potent mitogens for both normal diploid fibroblasts and established cell lines, Gospodarowicz et al. (1984), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81:6963. The FGF family comprises acidic FGF (FGF-1), basic FGF (FGF-2), INT-2 (FGF-3), K-FGF/HST (FGF-4), FGF-5, FGF-6, KGF (FGF-7), AIGF (FGF-8) among others. All FGFs have two conserved cysteine residues and share 30–50% sequence homology at the amino acid level. These factors are mitogenic for a wide variety of normal diploid mesoderm-derived and neural crest-derived cells, including granulosa cells, adrenal cortical cells, chondrocytes, myoblasts, corneal and vascular endothelial cells (bovine or human), vascular smooth muscle cells, lens, retina and prostatic epithelial cells, oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, chrondocytes, myoblasts and osteoblasts.
Fibroblast growth factors can also stimulate a large number of cell types in a non-mitogenic manner. These activities include promotion of cell migration into wound area (chemotaxis), initiation of new blood vessel formulation (angiogenesis), modulation of nerve regeneration and survival (neurotrophism), modulation of endocrine functions, and stimulation or suppression of specific cellular protein expression, extracellular matrix production and cell survival. Baird & Bohlen, Handbook of Exp. Pharmacol. 95(1): 369–418, Springer, (1990). These properties provide a basis for using fibroblast growth factors in therapeutic approaches to accelerate wound healing, nerve repair, collateral blood vessel formation, and the like. For example, fibroblast growth factors have been suggested to minimize myocardium damage in heart disease and surgery (U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,347).
FGF-8, also known as androgen-induced growth factor (AIGF), is a 215 amino acid protein which shares 30–40% sequence homology with the other members of the FGF family. FGF-8 has been proposed to be under androgenic regulation and induction in the mouse mammary carcinoma cell line SC3. Tanaka et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89: 8928–8932 (1992); Sato et al., J. Steroid Biochem. Molec. Biol. 47: 91–98 (1993). As a result, FGF-8 may have a local role in the prostate, which is known to be an androgen-responsive organ. FGF-8 can also be oncogenic, as it displays transforming activity when transfected into NIH-3T3 fibroblasts. Kouhara et al., Oncogene 9 455–462 (1994). While FGF-8 has been detected in heart, brain, lung, kidney, testis, prostate and ovary, expression was also detected in the absence of exogenous androgens. Schmitt et al., J. Steroid Biochem. Mol. Biol. 57 (3–4): 173–78 (1996).
FGF-8 shares the property with several other FGFs of being expressed at a variety of stages of murine embryogenesis, which supports the theory that the various FGFs have multiple and perhaps coordinated roles in differentiation and embryogenesis. Moreover, FGF-8 has also been identified as a protooncogene that cooperates with Wnt-1 in the process of mammary tumorigenesis (Shackleford et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90, 740–744 (1993); Heikinheimo et al., Mech. Dev. 48: 129–138 (1994)).
In contrast to the other FGFs, FGF-8 exists as three protein isoforms, as a result of alternative splicing of the primary transcript. Tanaka et al., supra. Normal adult expression of FGF-8 is weak and confined to gonadal tissue, however northern blot analysis has indicated that FGF-8 mRNA is present from day 10 through day 12 or murine gestation, which suggests that FGF-8 is important to normal development. Heikinheimo et al., Mech Dev. 48(2): 129–38 (1994). Further in situ hybridization assays between day 8 and 16 of gestation indicated initial expression in the surface ectoderm of the first bronchial arches, the frontonasal process, the forebrain and the midbrain-hindbrain junction. At days 10–12, FGF-8 was expressed in the surface ectoderm of the forelimb and hindlimb buds, the nasal its and nasopharynx, the infundibulum and in the telencephalon, diencephalon and metencephalon. Expression continues in the developing hindlimbs through day 13 of gestation, but is undetectable thereafter. The results suggest that FGF-8 has a unique temporal and spatial pattern in embryogenesis and suggests a role for this growth factor in multiple regions of ectodermal differentiation in the post-gastrulation embryo.
We herein describe the identification of novel poypeptides having homology to FGF-8, wherein those polypeptides are heein designated PRO187 polypeptides.

Secreted and transmembrane polypeptides and nucleic acids encoding the same


A display application herein allocates a first region of a display screen for displaying a list of content items such as documents or files. A respective viewer of the display screen can select multiple content items from the list. The display application highlights selected content items. For each of multiple selected content items, the display application displays a preview of corresponding sub-content such as a respective set of thumbnail images associated with a respective content item in an allocated second region of the display screen. The second region of the display screen includes one or more visual boundaries so that a user can identify groupings of related thumbnails associated with selected content items.

Software application programs have long been used to perform tasks for computer users. For example, one type of software application program such as Microsoft Windows Explorer™ supports navigation amongst a file system. In general, a file system is a program used by an operating system to organize and keep track of files. A hierarchical file system is one that uses directories to organize files into a tree structure. One purpose of the navigation software is to enable a viewer to identify and open files of interest in the hierarchical file system.
To manage a file system, a viewer can launch Microsoft Windows Explorer™ on a respective computer system to view directories of locally stored information. While in a directory, the viewer can choose a given folder for viewing. In response to choosing the given folder, the navigation software typically presents one or more files in the given folder that can be selected and opened by the viewer. The files can be stored according to different formats depending on a respective native application used to generate the file.
Microsoft Windows Explorer™ displays an icon of a particular type to represent the files in a folder. Based on the type of icon, a user can identify the native application used to generate the file. For example, the navigation software can display a WORD™ icon (e.g., a large letter "W") to indicate files encoded according to a WORD™ format. The navigation software displays a corresponding unique flowchart icon to identify files encoded according to a MICROGRAFX™ format, and so on.

Methods and apparatus to preview content


A method and apparatus for measuring quench characteristics of a fluid. The apparatus includes a probe with an energy input device electrically connected to a display unit to monitor temperature, media flow characteristics and media heat transfer characteristics. The method includes continuously measuring thermal energy transfer in a quenching media by measuring the surrounding fluid's heat transfer relative to input probe energy.

Heat treated metal, especially carbon steel, is quenched in a controlled cooling process to obtain desired microstructure and properties. The hardness, strength, toughness and other properties of the finished part depends on the microstructure of the metal, which in turn depends on the time-temperature cooling profile of the part as it is being quenched. The cooling profile is dependent on the composition of the metal part, the geometry of the part, and on the quenching system. For any particular part, most of these factors can be kept constant, including the composition and geometry of the part, the temperature of the heat-treated part immediately before it is quenched, the amount of agitation in the quench medium, the geometry of the quench system, and the initial temperature of the quench medium. However, the ability of the quench medium to cool the part is subject to substantial variation from one quench cycle to the next. This variability can be attributed to loss of volatile component from the quench medium, degradation of components in the quench medium, or from contamination of the quench medium. Other factors that can affect the heat transfer or cooling ability of the quench medium include the extent to which the quench medium is agitated. Any of these factors can significantly change the ability of the quench medium to cool metal parts, resulting in changes in time-temperature profiles, microstructure and physical properties of the quenched parts.
In order to maintain optimum conditions for producing a heat-treated metal part having desirable mechanical properties, such as strength, hardness and toughness, it is important to provide a quench medium having a heat transfer characteristic or cooling ability that is known to be conducive to achieving the time-temperature profile needed to produce the desired microstructure and properties of the quenched metal product.

Method for measuring and continuously monitoring the heat transfer characteristics of a fluid in a system


A device-communication system may receive, from a user device via a first network, communication data originating from a first device connected to the user device via a second network having a type different from that of the first network. The device-communication system may process the communication data to determine a corresponding device-management system, and may communicate further with the user device for additional identification information, if necessary. The device-communication system determines which of a plurality of device-management systems should receive the communication data and sends the data to the appropriate system.

Computing devices may have a network interface, which may be comprised of hardware, software, and/or firmware, for communicating with other devices via a network. This network interface may be, for example, an IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi network interface. Some computing devices, however, may not require the bandwidth and other features that a Wi-Fi network interface, or a similar network interface, provides. The manufacturers and/or maintainers of these types of computing devices may thus wish to use a different, simpler network interface to reduce the cost of manufacturing the device, to reduce the power consumption of the device, or for both reasons. These types of network interfaces may be known as device-to-device networks and may allow these devices to communicate with each other and/or with a local hub device.


Biomaterials like collagen can be designed for use as scaffolds for connective tissue reconstruction. It is known that proteins conjugated with PEGs exhibit a decrease in their biodegradation rate and their immunogenicity. Different concentrations and molecular weights of PEGs (PEG-750 and PEG-5000) were conjugated by chemical or irradiation means to collagen materials (films or sponges) which were then investigated by physicochemical assays, collagenase assay, fibroblast cell culture and subcutaneous implantation. PEG-conjugation delayed the degradation by collagenase and preserved a normal fibroblasts morphology and confluency in culture. In vivo, the porous structure of non-modified sponges was collapsed by day 15 with few observable fibroblasts between the collagen fibers. In PEG-modified collagen sponges, the porous structure remained stable for at least 30 days. Cell infiltration was particularly enhanced in PEG-750-conjugated collagen sponges. In conclusion, PEGs conjugated onto collagen sponges stabilize the porous structure without deactivating the biological properties of collagen. These porous composite materials could advantageously function as a scaffold to organize tissue ingrowth. Therefore, the present invention relates to a porous biomaterial whose porosity is stabilized by conjugation to PEG-derivatives. Biopolymers other than collagen may be used in the making of such composite materials.

In numerous cases of surgical intervention, it is necessary to replace, complete or strengthen missing or injured tissues. No ideal substitute for connective tissue replacement is currently available. It is known that collagen modifies the morphology, migration, adhesion and, in some cases, the differentiation and growth of cells.sup.1,2. Different types of collagen (types I, III and IV), gelatin, purified or reconstituted extracellular matrices, glycoproteins such as fibronectin, laminin and vitronectin, fibrinogen/fibrin, composite support containing glycosaminoglycans, basement membrane (Matrigel.TM.), cellulose, chitosan and chitin derivatives can be used to support cell growth.sup.3, and may be used alone or in combination in the porous matrix of the present invention.
To assist wound healing, biocompatible and biodegradable collagen materials may be used. Controlling the rate of biodegradation by crosslinking such implants not only determines the lifetime of the material after application, but may also determine the rate of tissue regeneration.sup.4.
Crosslinking of collagen can be effectively achieved by chemical, radiation and/or dehydrothermal methods. Chemical agents such as glutaraldehyde, hexamethylene-diisocyanate, acyl azide, 1-ethyl -3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDCI) hydrochloride, N-hydroxysuccinimide, or polyepoxy fixative have been broadly used to create the biological stability of collagen.sup.4-8. Glutaraldehyde is however an example of crosslinking agents having the disadvantage of releasing toxic components during in vivo degradation.sup.32. In addition, the introduction of crosslinking agents to the natural crosslinking of collagen can modify the biological properties of collagen.
As previously demonstrated by co-inventor and others.sup.9-12, gamma or electron beam irradiation has been used to stabilize the collagen structure with beneficial results in clinical applications. Besides, ionizing radiation has been successfully used for grafting collagen onto synthetic materials as polyester vascular prostheses for angiosurgery.sup.13 as well as for the preparation of collagen substitutes such as abdominal paries and dura mater.sup.11.
Synthetic polymers have been used to coat surfaces, including biopolymers surfaces or have been conjugated to biopolymers to modify their properties, for various purposes. Polyethyleneglycols (PEGs) which are versatile polymers having amphiphilic (hydrophilic and hydrophobic) properties.sup.33, are used to increase the resistance of proteins to proteolytic degradation. PEGs have been reported to abrogate the immunogenicity of proteins while preserving their biological properties.sup.34, 35. PEGs were conjugated to various proteins or lipids to produce various delivery systems for drugs, cytokines and enzymes.sup.33,36-39. Using PEG-modified adenosine deaminase, children who have an adenosine deaminase deficiency were successfully treated.sup.36. Neither toxic effect nor hypersensitivity reactions were observed. Furthermore, PEGs were conjugated to liposomes significantly prolong their biological properties.sup.40. More recently, PEGs have been conjugated to pepsinized collagen in solution utilizing succinic anhydride and glutarate reactions.sup.14,15,35.
Previously, only chemically activated PEGs in collagen modification was studied.sup.14,15. Thus, it was found that PEG-collagen derivatives present more favourable biological properties than non-grafted ones. PEG has been also used as plasticizer of collagen and to enhance resorption and protection of peptide drug.sup.16,17. Furthermore, poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA) has been chemically bound to soluble or insoluble collagen crosslinked by glutaraldehyde.sup.18-22. These polymers are stable against biodegradation and have shown a good biocompatibility without any cytotoxicity.sup.22. Moreover, a great deal of work has been devoted to the use of PEG and HEMA to create synthetic polymers or graft copolymers. Comprehensive reviews of this literature have been published.sup.23-25.
Recently, we have applied chemical or radiation processing to develop a new family of collagen-based biopolymers. Subsequent modification of collagen is performed by systematically varying the grafting solution compositions using hydrophilic and hydrophobic macromonomers with different chain lengths. These specific chemical- or radiation- modified composite materials could be selected to fulfill special biological and medical needs.
It will be therefore appreciated that composite collagen material containing different proportions of synthetic polymers and/or monomers and having different biological properties can be obtained by using chemical or radiation techniques.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,851 describes the use of PEG in the coating of surfaces as protein-repellent, by keeping a freely movable polyethylene oxide chain, unsaturated, and which will not take part in the crosslinking; this part of the PEG derivative molecules is usually a conventional etherified end. The other end is the OH-terminus esterified with a compound having an ethylenically unsaturated group. Radiation has been used and crosslinking is achieved by allylic, acrylic or methacrylic groups. No suggestion is made in this patent of a porous collagen product which, when impregnated with PEG and/or PHEMA and irradiated, has a stable porosity.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,490 describes hydrogels made by mixing natural and synthetic polymers, and optionally a plasticizing agent, in water, this mixture being poured in a mould and cured. No porous material is suggested. The making of a composite collagen sponge cannot be deduced from this reference because curing such a mixture will not result in a porous structure but in a compact one. Therefore, there is no suggestion of impregnating a collagen sponge with PEGs which will produce a stabilized porous material by chemical or radiation methods.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,298 teaches a collagen sponge which is crosslinked with carbodiimide. The composite sponges do not lose the biological properties of collagen (and of added connective tissue factor) and show a decreased inflammatory response. Even though the composite sponges are capable of supporting ingrowth of fibroblasts, there is no indication of a bio-stable porosity.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,548 teaches the coating of implants which precludes adhesion and spreading of cells and will not encourage colonization by infiltration and fixation of cells.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,162,430 teaches collagen-polymer conjugates. A polymer like MPEG is activated by reaction with a linking group and such an activated polymer is then reacted with the free amino groups of collagen. The conjugated material is taught as being useful as an implant having an increased tensile strength as well as a longer residence time in the body than a non-conjugated crosslinked collagen implant. This reference does not exclude the use of fibrillar collagen and does not exclude colonization of implants by cells. However, this reference does not teach a composite collagen sponge having a stable porosity.
The patent publication EP 568,334 teaches collagen sponges made by soaking gelatin sponges in a mixture of collagen and of a pharmacologically active ingredient enhancing and promoting wound healing. No sponge made of a composite collagen-polymer material and having a stable porosity is neither disclosed nor suggested in this reference.
In tissue repair mechanism, e.g. after wounding or surgery, the cells contributing to new tissue reconstruction need a matrix supporting cell growth. Sponges made of collagen are provided as matrices supporting cell growth. However the pores of these sponges through which fibroblasts infiltrate are prone to collapse shortly after their implantation. Indeed the pores do not remain stable for a time sufficient for fibroblast colonization.
Therefore, there is clearly a need for sponges containing biopolymers capable of supporting cell growth which have a stabilized porosity, allowing for colonization of fibroblasts, as well as an improved resistance to proteolysis.

Biostable porous material comprising composite biopolymers


A flexible polymeric web arranged for storage in a furled configuration positioned within a tubular container is removable from the container for positioning over bingo cards. The sheet formed of a flexible polymeric film includes a plurality of contrasting patterns of various symbols positioned over and in aligned configuration with corresponding squares of a bingo card to permit marking within each symbol alone relative to bingo games requiring symbol designations for a winning card.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to bingo card structure, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved bingo card sheet cover assembly wherein the same is arranged for positioning over bingo cards in a manner to align various openings within the sheet with corresponding squares of a bingo card.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Contemporary play of bingo cards typically employs various patterns relative to a bingo card to provide for a winning game. Such patterns may include lettering configurations such "T", "O", "M", and the like. The instant invention sets forth an improvement over the prior art to provide for an individual sheet having a plurality of patterns of openings to correspond with desired patterns relative to a bingo card game. Prior art structure is indicated in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,031,918; 4,869,611; 3,436,163; 4,878,669 and 4,019,747.


An image sensor having rows and columns of image pixels may include row control circuitry that controls voltages that are sent to each row of the image pixels. The row control circuitry may include booster circuitry that converts a positive power supply voltage (such as 2.8V) to voltages that are negative or otherwise less than the positive power supply voltage and/or greater than the positive power supply voltage. The booster circuitry may have a plurality of switches that control an input to an amplifier, thereby allowing the circuitry to produce any desired voltage in a given range. The booster circuitry output may be shared between multiple rows of the image pixels, and the produced boosted circuitry may be fed to any desired one or more of the rows of image pixels.

This relates generally to image sensors, and more specifically, to image sensors having boosted control signals.
Image sensors are commonly used in electronic devices such as cellular telephones, cameras, and computers to capture images. In a typical arrangement, an electronic device with an image sensor is provided with an array of image sensor pixels arranged in pixel rows and columns. Column sensing circuitry is typically coupled to each pixel column for reading out image signals from the image pixels. Row control circuitry is typically coupled to each pixel row for controlling operation of the image pixels. In some arrangements, boosted control signals may be used to provide control signals with desired voltages. However, conventional booster circuitry may lack the ability to provide a range of voltages that can be used with different types of image sensor pixels or may require too much area on the circuit substrate.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide imaging systems with improved circuitry to provide varying boosted control signals and reducing the required substrate area to implement the circuitry.

Imaging systems with improved circuitry to provide boosted control signals

SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC


A drum unit is provided. The drum unit includes a frame, a photosensitive drum that is rotatably supported by the frame, a contact member that is held to the frame and that contacts a circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum. The circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum has an image forming area on which an electrostatic latent image is formed and a non-image forming area that is adjacent to the image forming area. The contact member is in surface-contact with the non-image forming area and is not contacting with the image forming area.

According to an example of an image forming apparatus, such as laser printer, a drum unit that holds a photosensitive drum is detachably mounted to a main body of the apparatus.
The photosensitive drum has a cylindrical hollow drum main body and a drum shaft extending along a central axis line of the drum main body. The drum shaft is held to a frame of a drum unit so that it cannot be rotated. The drum main body is rotatably supported to the drum shaft. A flange is fitted to one end portion of the drum main body and a drum gear is connected to the other end portion thereof. When driving force of a motor is input to the drum gear, the photosensitive drum (drum main body) is rotated in a predetermined direction.
A developing unit that holds a developing roller is mounted to the frame. When the developing unit is mounted to the frame, the developing roller is pressure-contacted to the drum main body. While being pressure-contacted to the drum main body, the developing roller is rotated in a reverse direction with respect to a rotating direction of the photosensitive drum so that a part pressure-contacted to the drum main body is moved in the same direction as a surface of the drum main body. As the photosensitive drum and the developing roller are rotated, toner is supplied to the surface of the drum main body from the developing roller and an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the drum main body is developed into a toner image. In addition, a transfer roller is opposed to the drum main body. While opposed to the transfer roller, the toner image carried on the surface of the drum main body is transferred to a sheet that is introduced between the transfer roller and the drum main body.
A rotational speed of the drum main body should be kept to be constant during an image forming operation. In other words, when the rotational speed of the drum main body is changed, the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the drum main body is expanded and contracted and the image (toner image) formed on the sheet is thus expanded and contracted depending on the change, so that a quality of an image formed on the sheet deteriorates.
The rotational speed of the drum main body may be changed due to a disturbance input to the drum main body during the image forming operation. For example, when a leading end of the sheet introduced between the drum main body and the transfer roller contacts the surface of the drum main body, the surface of the drum main body is pushed by the leading end of the sheet and the drum main body may be thus encouraged to rotate. Thereby, the rotational speed of the drum main body is changed (increased).
In order to suppress the change in the rotational speed of the drum main body, a braking member is pressed for the flange fitted to the drum main body from a direction following the drum shaft. Specifically, the braking member is provided for the flange at a position opposite to the direction following the drum shaft, and a press member for pressing the braking member toward the flange is mounted between the braking member and the frame of the drum unit. The braking member is pressure-contacted to the flange by the pressing force of the press member and frictional force is applied to the flange from the braking member, so that the change in the rotational speed of the drum main body is suppressed (for example, see JP-A-2007-316631).
When the braking member and the press member are provided, it is beneficial to increase the pressing force (elastic force) of the press member so as to suppress the change in the rotational speed of the drum main body (so as to exclude the effect of the disturbance input to the drum main body). However, when mounting the photosensitive drum to the drum unit, the braking member should be moved against the pressing force of the press member in a direction away from the frame of the drum unit during the mounting operation. Thus, when the pressing force of the press member is increased, much greater force is required to move the braking member. Therefore, the mounting operability of the photosensitive drum to the frame deteriorates.


A method of creating a visual program guide for use on a TDM mobile TV receiver comprises receiving a RF signal associated with a TV channel; demodulating all of the received RF signals associated with the TV channels; decoding all of the demodulated received RF signals corresponding to all the TV channels simultaneously; and creating the visual program guide as a consolidated view of each of the decoded TV channels, wherein the simultaneous decoding of the demodulated received RF signals significantly reduces a power consumption level and a memory utilization level in the receiver.

1. Technical Field
The embodiments herein generally relate to mobile television (TV) technologies, and, more particularly, to techniques for viewing and selecting mobile TV programs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Handheld devices with integrated digital television access are a relatively new phenomenon. Such technology has traditionally been limited by size, power consumption, and most importantly performance. Poor performance of such devices has typically been the result of the constantly changing receiver environment. More particularly, the quality of the received signal is affected by the device's ability to manage adjacent-channel rejection, low signal-to-noise ratios, and Doppler compensation, among other factors.
Digital Video Broadcasting—Handheld (DVB-H) is the specification for bringing broadcast services to handheld receivers, and was formally adopted as an ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) standard in November 2004. More specifically, DVB-H is a terrestrial digital TV standard that tends to consume less power than its predecessor, the DVB-T standard, and generally allows the receiver to move freely while receiving the signal transmission, thereby making it ideal for cellular phones and other mobile devices to receive digital TV broadcasting over the digiTV network, and hence without having to use cellular telephone networks.
In mobile TV DVB-H systems such as DVB-H (ETSI EN 301 192), one radio frequency (RF) channel is shared among many TV channels (TV programs). These TV channels are multiplexed either in the time domain or in the frequency domain. When the TV channels are multiplexed in the time domain, each channel is given full access to the whole RF channel bandwidth for a short period of time (burst duration). After that burst is transmitted, bursts for other channels occupy the RF channel and so on. This multiplexing process is called time division multiplexing (TDM). FIG. 1 shows an example of time division multiplexing of 15 TV channels on one RF channel. The TV channels are labeled 1, 2, 3, . . . , 15. In FIG. 1, it is shown that each TV channel occupies the whole RF channel for 1/15 of the time. A receiver which is watching only one channel (for example, CH2) needs only to be active (ON) during the periods of CH2 bursts. In order to conserve battery consumption, such a receiver will shut off its circuits when CH2 bursts are not occupying the RF channel. It thus becomes in a SLEEP mode. This shows that TDM of channels can help reduce power consumption of a receiver watching a single channel.
On the other hand, this causes a problem when the user wants to switch to watch another TV program on the same RF channel. One example is shown in FIG. 1, if the user wishes to switch to CH3 (denoted by Channel UP in FIG. 1). The worst case occurs when the user issues a command to switch to CH3 right after the burst of CH3 ends. In this case, the receiver has to wait until the next burst that belongs to CH3 appears on the RF channel. This causes the user to wait for a given period of time denoted as the channel switching delay. Such a delay could be as long as 5 to 7 seconds in DVB-H systems. Such a channel switching delay could be rather annoying to the user, especially when the user is flipping through channels trying to check the content in all of the channels.
One way around this would be to create a visual program guide, which can display the content of multiple channels simultaneously. The user browses the content of all of the channels without the need to flip through all channels by switching from one channel to the other (i.e., by manually switching from one channel to the other). The user then decides on which channel to switch to. However, one of the problems with this approach is that the video decoder will be required to receive and decode many programs simultaneously. This adds significant complexity and power consumption to the video decoder being used. Furthermore, it requires the use of a very fast interface between the demodulator and video decoder which could be very costly in terms of power consumption.
Another scenario is that the demodulator senses that the user wishes to flip through the channels. The demodulator then decodes all channels and buffers a single burst of each channel. The demodulator forwards the requested channel burst when the user switches to this channel. However, one of the problems with this approach is that the demodulator has to store a significant amount of video which requires the use of a lot of memory. Accordingly, there remains a need for a technique capable of allowing a viewer to select mobile TV channels in a more user-friendly manner and which reduces batter power consumption.

Receiver with a visual program guide for mobile television applications and method for creation


A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) for an audio system may include at least first and second subsets of individually selectable elementary current sources for delivering analog output current contributions, a code conversion circuit for selecting elementary current sources of first and second subsets as a function of codes of a pulse code modulated (PCM) input signal. The DAC may multiply by a certain factor incoming codes of the PCM signal after their value has remained lower than a threshold for a certain period of time and for as long as their value equals or surpasses the threshold value, and may correspondingly scale and de-scale by the same factor the amplitude of the analog output current contributions produced by the elementary current sources of the two subsets.

Digital-to-analog conversion for audio applications is performed by generating the output analog signal as the sum, at each sampling instant, of a given number of elementary quantities or contributions, which may be, for example, currents supplied by elementary current generators or generated by means of resistors, or charges stored in capacitors. Digital-to-analog conversion can be roughly divided in two major categories according to the approach adopted in the conversion namely either "thermometric" or "binary" coding.
In thermometric coding, the elementary contributions used for generating the output analog signal assume values identical to one another and are generated by distinct sources numbering N, where N=2n represents the number of levels of the output analog signal for a number of bits equal to n. Optionally, in order to obtain a balanced output analog signal, i.e., an output signal of zero mean value, able to assume either positive values or negative values that are symmetrical with respect to zero, half (N/2) of the elementary sources may be designed for supplying positive elementary contributions and the other half of the sources for supplying negative elementary contributions to the output analog signal, and the value of each elementary contribution is 2AMAX/2n, where AMAX represents the maximum amplitude, either positive or negative, that the output analog signal should assume.
Differently, in binary coding, the number of distinct sources to be implemented for providing the elementary contributions is equal to the number of bits n of the digital-to-analog converter that is equal to n=log2N. The dimensions of the integrated elementary sources (for example current generators) are not identical but appropriately graded in such a way that the elementary contributions thereby produced are submultiples of a power of 2 with respect to the maximum value AMAX, in which the least significant bit (LSB) has a weight of 2AMAX/2n, whilst the most significant bit (MSB) has a weight of AMAX.
Usually, the numerical processing part of an audio DAC that precedes the analog output part, includes a numerical interpolator, followed by a noise shaping circuit, for the overall purpose of reducing the number of bits with which the digital PCM input signal is encoded, without worsening the quality in terms of in-band noise level.
More specifically, to maintain a high audio fidelity, the numerical interpolator performs an oversampling of the PCM signal, that is it increases the sampling frequency by a certain factor. This technique makes possible a reduction of the density in frequency of all spurious spectral components, eliminating undesired spectral repetitions.
The interpolation is followed by a noise-shaping operation including numerically differentiating the signal transfer function and the requantization error transfer function. By doing so, the input signal is transferred from the input to the output of the noise shaping circuit unaltered while the requantization error is subject instead to a transfer function typical of a high-pass filter, having a modulus smaller than one within the audio band and greater than one outside the audio band. The effect is of markedly increasing the precision even in presence of a quantizer with a very limited number of bits, even just one bit.
The numerical processing part of the digital-to-analog converter is then followed by a code conversion circuit that may be thought as representing (eventually in association to a scrambling circuit) the boundary between the digital and the analog domains of the converter. The code conversion circuit practically points to (selects) the elementary contributions to the analog output signal as a function of the digital code at its input.
Often, depending on the type of coding used, different techniques of dynamic element matching (DEM) may be optionally implemented to de-correlate the errors introduced by mismatchings among the graded current generators, in case of binary coding, or among the identical current generators, in the case of thermometric coding.
Numerous DEM techniques have been proposed for compensating the non-linearity of a DAC, the simplest being known in literature as "Randomization" or "Scrambling". Accordingly, the elementary sources to be activated for producing respective contributions to the analog signal output by the DAC at every sampling period are chosen altogether at random among those available for selection, thus determining a variable error even in presence of a constant input value. On this basic approach, many more effective techniques have been developed.
Published U.S. Patent Application 2000/0063648A1, provides a review of numerous of these DEM techniques and discloses a method of dynamic matching of the elements of a multibit DAC with balanced output of audio applications.
Overall, the dynamic range remains a fundamental parameter of a digital to analog converter, representing the measure of the noise characteristic of the DAC circuit.
Typically, for an audio DAC, a −60 dB FS digital sine waveform is applied at the input and the ratio between the amplitude of the analog sine waveform reproduced at the output of the DAC and the amplitude of the residual noise plus the harmonics of the signal caused by the distortion introduced by the DAC plus 60 dB defines the dynamic range parameter (briefly DR), that isDR=20*LOG(Vsignal/V(noise+distorsion))+60 dB.
On another account, till recently the volume control was usually implemented in the analog part of the audio signal processing chain with traditional analog circuit components, that is downstream of the DAC in the signal path. It is more and more preferred by manufacturers of audio equipment, to implement the volume control in the digital domain, because of the augmented versatility to implement sophisticated automatic control and because of overall fabrication simplification, by no longer requiring external circuit components for analog volume control. Moreover, the elimination of an analog volume control makes possible the realization of the last functional blocks of a typical audio system, that is the audio DAC interface and the output power amplifier, on a single chip.
However, the choice of implementing the volume control in the digital signal processing part of the audio system, upstream of the DAC interface of the output power amplifier, has trade offs. Notably, the noise and distortion that are produced in the DAC are no longer attenuated by the analog volume control. In practice, in case of such "fully" digital systems, the output noise and distortion are generally higher than that of a comparable traditional system with analog volume control operating downstream of the DAC.
A measure of such a difference of output noise level for two comparable audio systems, 1) and 2), is illustrated in FIG. 1. The relatively higher output noise level of a system implementing a digital volume control in the digital signal processing portion of the chain of functional blocks of the system reduces proportionally the dynamic range.

Enhancement of the dynamic range of a multibit digital-to-analog converter


An evaluation system for a fault diagnosis function has an engine ECU. The ECU is connected to an engine, sensors, and a MIL. The ECU diagnoses the sensors. The ECU also determines whether a diagnosis process of the diagnosis function for the sensors is completed. A memory stores a plurality of the completion result. When at least one of the diagnosis processes is completed in the last ten completion result, it is determined that the diagnosis function is in a normal condition. Otherwise, it is determined that the diagnosis function is in an abnormal condition, and the MIL indicates the abnormal condition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an evaluation system for a fault diagnosis function for a vehicle, a computer program product, and computer readable storage medium.
2. Description of Related Art
A vehicle has a various kinds of equipments, such as sensors. The vehicle also has a fault diagnosis apparatus to automatically detect a status of the sensors. The status of the sensors includes a normal operating condition and an abnormal operating condition. The fault diagnosis apparatus has a main part in which a microcomputer is included.
Under normal conditions of the fault diagnosis apparatus, the fault diagnosis apparatus can detect the status of the sensors. However, if the fault diagnosis apparatus fails to operate as intended due to some reasons, the fault diagnosis apparatus cannot detect the status of the sensors. A regulation for the fault diagnosis apparatus is suggested by California Air Resources Board (CARB) in order to check a function of the fault diagnosis apparatus. The CARB published the regulation for onboard diagnostic systems (OBD II systems) that is "OBD II Malfunction and Diagnostic system  Requirements" dated Apr. 24, 2002.
In the regulation, the function of the fault diagnosis apparatus is evaluated in an onboard condition. The regulation prescribes that an indicator lamp should illuminate a check result of the fault diagnosis. The regulation also defines a driving cycle. The driving cycle is a time period from a startup of an engine to a next startup of the engine.
FIG. 21 shows an example of an evaluation process. When the driving cycle ends, the evaluation process starts. In step 2000, it is determined whether a failure detection of the sensors by the fault diagnosis apparatus is completed or not. When the failure detection is completed, the diagnosis function is determined to be in a normal condition in step 2100.
However, in such a regulation, as shown in FIG. 22, when the failure detection is once completed, a flag "1" is stored in a memory. The flag "1" indicates a completion of the failure detection. While the flag "1" is stored in the memory, the diagnosis function is continuously determined to be in the normal condition. It is continued before the flag "1" is deleted, that is, a flag "0" is stored. The flag "0" indicates an incompletion of the failure detection.
The flag "1" can be deleted through the use of an external device. However, after that the failure detection is once completed, the flag "1" is stored in the memory. The diagnosis function is determined to be in the normal condition. The diagnosis function is again continuously determined to be in the normal condition. In such a situation, even if it is continue to be in a condition that the failure detection cannot be completed due to some reasons, the diagnosis function is determined to be in the normal condition.

Diagnosis function evaluation system for evaluating a fault diagnosis function, computer product, and computer readable storage medium


A combination of an IGBT and an antiparallel-connected freewheeling diode in which the IGBT die size is greater than about twice the diode die size. Preferably the diode die size is about 10%-25% of that of the IGBT. The respective die sizes of an IGBT and an antiparallel connected freewheeling diode may be adjusted by the steps of: determining respective initial die sizes for the IGBT and the diode; increasing the IGBT die size from the initial value; and reducing said diode die size from the initial value. The IGBT die size is increased sufficiently to reduce current density, conduction losses and switching losses in the IGBT. The diode die size is reduced sufficiently to reduce the reverse recovery charge of the diode so as to further reduce switching losses in the IGBT, to a minimum size which is sufficient to carry the antiparallel current without substantial overheating. The adjustment of the diode die size is advantageous either independently of, or in combination with, the adjustment of the IGBT die size. These adjustments are capable of reducing the switching energy of the IGBT and diode by about 30%-40% below that of a conventional IGBT-diode combination.

The use of IGBTs and corresponding anti-parallel free-wheeling diodes is well known for many circuits, for example motor control circuits. The IGBT and diode die may be separately housed, or may be copacked on a common heatsink. The die size chosen for the diode is usually about half the die size of the IGBT to handle the anticipated losses which are expected to be produced during operation. It would be very desirable to reduce the losses produced by those two die as much as is economically feasible, in order to be able to mount the parts on printed circuit boards, rather than on more expensive IMS boards, and possibly to eliminate heat sinks.

IGBT and free-wheeling diode combination


A non-volatile semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array in which electrically erasable and programmable memory cells are arrayed, each of the memory cells storing therein a first logic state with a threshold voltage lower than or equal to a first value or a second logic state with a threshold voltage higher than or equal to a second value that is higher than the first value, a data hold circuit for holding program data and sensing data as read out of the memory cell array, and a controller configured to control a program sequence, wherein the controller has the control functions of: a program control function for applying a program voltage to a selected memory cell of the memory cell array to let the data shift from the first logic state to the second logic state; a program verify control function for verifying that the programmed data of the selected memory cell shifted to the second logic state; an erratic program verify control function for checking that the threshold voltage of a memory cell to be held in the first logic state does not exceed a third value set as an upper limit value of a variation of the first logic state; and an over-program verify control function for checking that the threshold voltage of the selected memory cell shifted to the second logic state does not exceed a fourth value set as an upper limit thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) device. More particularly, the invention relates to programming control techniques adaptable for use with the nonvolatile memory devices.
2. Description of Related Art
EEPROM memory cells are generally designed to employ metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistors with stacked structures of a floating gate and a control gate. In flash EEPROM memories of the so-called NAND type, a plurality of memory cells are connected in series together to make up a NAND cell unit. The NAND-type flash memories store data in a nonvolatile way while regarding a threshold voltage-increased state due to injection of electrons into the floating gate of a memory cell as a data bit of logic "0" (write or program state) and letting a threshold voltage-decreased state due to release or discharge of the electrons on the floating gate be a data bit of logic "1" (erase state). One exemplary threshold voltage distribution pattern of the data is shown in FIG. 4. A data writing or "programming" operation is performed by controlling via a bit line the channel potential of a NAND cell unit in a data-dependent way and then applying a program voltage to a selected word line. An ordinary programming operation is performed as follows.
When the program data is a logic "0," apply a voltage of 0 volt (V) to a corresponding bit line, thereby precharging the channel of a NAND cell unit to 0V through a select gate transistor of the NAND cell unit. When the program data is a logic "1" (program inhibited), apply Vdd (V) to a corresponding bit line, then transfer it to a NAND cell unit's channel through a select transistor. In this case, the channel is precharged to Vdd−Vt (where, Vt is a threshold voltage of the select transistor) to be floating state with a potential level Vdd−Vt. Then, give a potentially raised or "boosted" program voltage Vpgm to a selected word line. Based on the program voltage application, at the cell with logic "0" data given thereto, a sufficiently high voltage is applied between the gloating gate and the channel. As a result, its threshold voltage gets higher due to electron injection from the channel into the floating gate. In the cell with "1" data given thereto, the floating NAND cell unit channel is boosted by the program voltage Vpgm applied to the selected word line and the pass voltage Vpass applied to non-selected word lines. Therefore, since no electron injection into the floating gate takes place, the "1" data cell stays unchanged.
In a practical data program operation, as shown in FIG. 5, applying a program pulse voltage and reading data for verification—say, verify-read—are recurrently performed while gradually shifting a program pulse voltage value in a stepwise fashion, thereby forcing the data "0" to finally fall within a prespecified range of threshold-voltage distribution.
In the program-verify operation, a verify read voltage Vpv is applied to the selected word line. When the threshold voltage of the selected cell is over Vpv by the just before program pulse application, the programming operation for the selected cell is ended. When the threshold voltage of the selected cell is lower than Vpv, the programming operation for the selected cell is continued.
Such the programming control for the respective selected memory cells is performed in a page buffer. The page buffer is configured to have a sense amplifier function and a data latch function that is to temporarily hold read data and program data.
Program data of one page are loaded in the page buffer at the beginning of the program operation. "0" and "1" loaded data correspond to "0" and "1" programming, respectively. When a "0" programmed cell becomes to have a predetermined threshold voltage, a logic "H" data (i.e., "1" data) is latched in the page buffer as a result of bit line sensing in the program verify-read operation. By contrast, with respect to a "1" programmed cell, logic "H" data (i.e., "1" data) is held in the page buffer in spite of the result of bit line sensing. Therefore, by repeating the program pulse application and the verify-read until when all data bits of the page buffer become logic "1"s, it is able to program desirable data into all memory cells within a selected page.
Data erase is done in units of NAND cell blocks. Each NAND cell block has a plurality of NAND cell units in a direction along word lines—say, wordline direction. More specifically, all of the memory cells in the NAND cell block are erased at a time. This is called as "all-at-a-time" or "all-at-once" erase in the flash memory device art. To perform such all-at-once erase for a selected NAND cell block, let all the word lines associated with this cell block be set at 0V, and apply a boosted erase voltage Vera to a semiconductor well region in which the NAND cell block is formed and also to the channel regions of memory cell transistors therein. With such voltage application, every memory cell experiences release of electrons on its floating gate toward the channel thereof and thus is set in the data "1" storage state with a lowered threshold voltage. In other words, all the cells are "erased" simultaneously.
In this data erase session also, performing a verify-read operation for checking the erase state makes it possible to force the threshold-voltage distribution to fall within a predetermined range.
In the EEPROM of the type stated above, the threshold voltage used as a reference level for deciding "0" data in a program verify-read is set at a lower limit value Vpv of the threshold voltage distribution of "0" data, as shown in FIG. 4. In most cases, no attempts are made to verify an upper limit value of the data "0" threshold voltage distribution. However, "0" programmed memory cells are accidentally programmed to have an unintentionally high threshold voltage beyond the expected threshold voltage distribution. This is called as an over-program or an over-write.
Once such an over-program occurs, it becomes impossible to precisely read out a cell data in such a NAND cell unit that includes an over-programmed cell. The reason is as follows. In the data read operation, a read voltage Vrr (for example, 0V) is applied to a selected word line, and a pass voltage Vread is applied to non-selected word lines. The pass voltage Vread is predetermined as to be able to turn-on the non-selected memory cell regardless of whether the data held therein is "0" or "1". If an over-programmed cell is included in the non-selected cells, the cell current will be cut-off or limited at the over-programmed cell. As a result, "0" data will be read out regardless of whether the data of the selected cell is "0" or "1".
Additionally, "1" data-programmed memory cells (i.e., those expected to store logic "1" data) in the memory cells along a selected word line with the program voltage Vpgm applied thereto become in a weak "0" program mode. As a result, in "1" data-programmed memory cells, such erratic programs or erratic writes may occur that threshold voltages thereof become unusually higher than the upper limit, Vev, of "1" data threshold voltage distribution. As a result of such the erratic programs, some of the memory cells to be held in a "1" data state may become erroneously programmed states with a threshold voltage lager than the read voltage Vrr as shown in FIG. 4, read data of which are determined as "0". Even when the cells that must store logic "1" data improperly behave to store "0" data, prior known program-verify schemes are incapable of detecting this kind of faults in any way.
Usually, a memory system has an error checking and correcting (ECC) circuit, the capability of which is designed in consideration of frequency of the above-described over-program and error program occurrence. Therefore, in a normal data read operation, even if there are error bits due to the over-program or erroneous program, correct data corrected by the ECC circuit may be read out.
However, when considering such a copy operation as to copy a certain page data of an EEPROM to another page thereof, above-described error bits occurred in a program operation becomes a problem to be solved, because of that a page data including error bits are programmed to another page as it is. In order to solve such the problem, it is required to check the read out data and correct it when it includes error bits by the ECC circuit. However, the ECC processing takes time, even if only data check is performed, thereby preventing the speed-up of the page copy operation.
In order to perform a reliable copy operation without employing an ECC circuit, it is necessary to detect the above-described over-programmed cells and erroneously programmed cells in the programming sequence, and inform the resultant to the memory chip controller when such the cells are detected. Methods of over-program verify and erratic program verify for such the purpose have already been proposed at present day, one of which is disclosed, for example, in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-100178 ("JP-A-2000-100178"). As taught thereby, over-program verify operation is performed after the ordinary program operation is ended. In details, the verify-read operation is performed by applying a predetermined pass voltage to a selected word line to determine whether an over-program is present or not. However, even if such the over-program verify operation is added to the program sequence, the reliability of programming is not yet sufficient for achieving a high speed copy operation without use of ECC circuitry.
In regard to erratic programs, the above-identified Japanese document suggests that it may be performed after the ordinary program operation is ended. Erroneously programmed cells are detected by performing two read operations in which different voltages are applied to a selected word line. By such the two read operations, whether a selected cell's threshold is higher than the ordinary read voltage (i.e., 0V) or not, and whether it is lower than the lower limit of "0" data threshold distribution or not may be detected. Other proposals for the erratic program verify are the same as this. However, in such the proposed verify method, supposing that a cell threshold of which is nearly equal to 0V is verified as it was normally programmed ("Pass"), it easily becomes erroneously programmed state due to some variation causes after the program sequence.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of programming non-volatile semiconductor memory device having an electrically erasable and programmable memory cell array


A method for applying the same dithering table to different flat panels and a display panel driving method using the same. The method for applying the same dithering table to different flat panels is mainly to set different dot counts between different panels on the rows, in which pixels are shifted, so that the display data of scan lines, in which the pixels are shifted, is shifted by the dot counts when the display data is substituted into the dithering table. Thus, even if different display panels use the same dithering table, the display entropy can be uniformly distributed.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a flat panel display driver, and more particularly to a method for applying the same dithering table to different display panels.
2. Related Art
The development of the opto-electronic and semiconductor technology drives the flourishing development of the flat panel display. Among many flat panel displays, a liquid crystal display (LCD) has become the mainstream in the market because it has the superior properties, such as the high spatial utilization efficiency, the low power consumption, no radiation and the low electromagnetic interference. Thus, the LCD has been widely used in electronic products, such as the liquid crystal display of a notebook computer or a desktop computer and the display of a liquid crystal display television (LCD TV), relevant to the life. The driving circuit of the LCD panel is the key component, which influences the quality and the cost of the LCD.
FIG. 1 is a structure diagram showing a parallel matrix LCD panel according to the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, the transversal red (R), green (G) and blue (B) sub-pixels are defined as one set in the structure of the LCD panel, and the previous row of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) sub-pixels is aligned with the next row of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) sub-pixels. The blue (B) sub-pixels in the first column are the unused pixels and are left when the panel is cut. FIG. 2 is a structure diagram showing a Delta matrix LCD panel according to the prior art. As shown in FIG. 2, the previous row of transversal red (R) sub-pixels and the next row of green (G) and blue (B) sub-pixels are defined as one set in the structure of the LCD panel. The previous transversal green (G) and blue (B) sub-pixels and the next row of red (R) sub-pixels are defined as one set. Th sub-pixels (R), (G) and (B) of each set of the sub-pixels are arranged to form the Delta, so the panel is also referred to as a Delta architecture panel. Similarly, the sub-pixels in the first column are the unused pixels and are left when the panel is cut.
In addition, the gray scale levels that can be displayed by the low-cost panel are only equal to 6 bits and are thus equal to 64 gray scale levels in the present driver of the LCD panel. So, the dithering algorithms are often used in the driver, wherein the dithering algorithms are divided into the time dithering algorithm and the spatial dithering algorithm. The spatial dithering algorithm is to simulate 256 gray scale levels using four pixels of 64 gray scale levels. For example, when the gray-scale data is 201, four pixels respectively display 50, 50, 50 and 51 to simulate the gray scale level, which has the brightness of 201 when being viewed by the human eyes. The time dithering algorithm is to divide the time into four sectors and to simulate the 256 gray scale levels using one pixel with 64 gray scale levels. For example, when the gray-scale data is 201, the gray scale levels of 50, 50, 50 and 51 are respectively displayed during the first time sector, the second time sector, the third time sector and the fourth time sector to simulate the gray scale level, which has the brightness of 201 when being viewed by the human eyes.
No matter which dithering algorithm is used, a dithering table is built in the LCD panel driver according to the present technology. Generally speaking, the dithering table is a M×N matrix having elements each serving as a dithering operator. In order to briefly describe the operating principle of the dithering table applied to the LCD panel driver, it is assumed that the dithering table is a 3×3 matrix and that the LCD panel to be driven is a parallel matrix LCD panel. When the LCD panel is to be driven, the first row of RGB sub-pixels is substituted into the first row of the dithering table, the second row of RGB sub-pixels is substituted into the second row of the dithering table, and the third row of RGB pixels is substituted into the third row of the dithering table. Next, the first row of second set of RGB sub-pixels is substituted into the first row of the dithering table, the second row of second set of RGB sub-pixels is substituted into the second row of the dithering table, the third row of second set of RGB sub-pixels is substituted into the third row of the dithering table, and so on. The color data is substituted into the dithering table according to the order of driving the pixels so that the driving values are obtained, and then the LCD panel is driven according to the driving values.
Next, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the order of the dots of the even numbered scan lines on the Delta architecture panel is GBR, and the order of the dots of even numbered scan lines on the parallel matrix LCD panel is RGB. If the same dithering table is used according to the description mentioned hereinabove, the phenomenon that the even numbered scan lines are shifted by one dot occurs in the displayed effect. In order to make the phenomenon be more clearly understood, two examples will be described in the following.
FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration showing the pattern entropy, which is displayed after the display data of the conventional parallel matrix LCD panel is substituted into the dithering table and after the display data of the conventional Delta matrix LCD panel is substituted into the dithering table. As shown in FIG. 3, symbol 301 represents the pattern entropy distribution displayed when the display data of the parallel matrix LCD panel is substituted into the dithering table, and symbol 302 represents the pattern entropy distribution displayed when the display data of the Delta matrix LCD panel is substituted into the dithering table. As shown in FIG. 3, the dot data of the even numbered scan lines of the original parallel matrix LCD panel to be firstly dithered is red (R) pixel data, but the dot data of the even numbered scan lines of the original Delta matrix LCD panel to be firstly dithered is blue (B) pixel data. Thus, if two panels share the same dithering table, one of the display panels has the worse entropy distribution. In this example, it is found, from the displayed effect, that the entropy 302 on the right-hand side is worse than the entropy 301 on the left-hand side. In addition, the user sees the striped fine noise on the right displayed frame in practice.
FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration showing the pattern entropy, which is displayed after the conventional green display data of the conventional parallel matrix LCD panel is substituted into the dithering table and after the green display data of the conventional Delta matrix LCD panel is substituted into the dithering table. As shown in FIG. 4, when only the pure color, such as the green (G) color, is displayed, the nonuniform phenomenon of the entropy becomes more obvious on the Delta matrix LCD panel.
However, the economic effectiveness cannot be satisfied if the LCD panel driving circuit is modified only for the purpose of the applications to different panels. Thus, it is necessary to provide the method for applying the same dithering table to different display panels and the method for sharing the same dithering table.

Method for applying the same dithering table to different flat panels and display panel driving method using the same