A durable yard sign assembly includes: (a) a central message panel including a lightweight, thermoplastic core, lightweight metallic front and rear face sheets, and a plurality of parallel panel apertures within the core; the front and rear face sheets being attached to opposite, front and rear sides of the core; each panel aperture extending from one end of the central panel to the opposite end; (b) two substantially rectangular side posts, each including an open upper end accessing an upper post hollow, each side post including at least two inside side post apertures on an inside wall, and at least one outside side post aperture on an outside wall; (c) at least two panel support rods, each extending through a different one of the panel apertures; (d) at least one pair of support rod connectors, each being connectable to an end portion of the at least two panel support rods; and (e) two removable upper end caps; wherein the yard sign assembly includes an unassembled position for storage or transport, and an assembled, rail-less position. A free-standing double sign is also described herein.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a durable, weather-resistant yard sign that is assembled from synthetic components, as well as a free-standing, "double" sign comprising a first, substantially vertical main sign and a second, substantially horizontal base sign.
2. Background Information
Insubstantial "For Sale" signs twisting in the wind as observers drive past the front yards of houses for sale are difficult to read and present a poor appearance that can reflect on the product being advertised. Such yard signs are easily blown down and/or damaged by adverse weather conditions and impacts with wind blown debris or other objects. Real estate agents, volunteers for politicians, or other advertisers must use their valuable time monitoring such signs and periodically refastening or replacing them. Some conventional yard signs have horizontal rails bordering the top and bottom edges of the sign in an apparent effort to reinforce the sign.
The sturdy yard sign of the present invention includes at least two hidden support rods that extend through the central message panel of the sign into the sign's side posts. Support rod connectors within the two sign side posts are easily accessible to the user, yet not apparent to passers by. The central message panel of the present invention is incorporated into the sign, and contributes to the strength and durability of the sign of the present invention. The present yard signs need not be continuously monitored and replaced. No rails are needed along the top and bottom edges of the yard sign of the present invention. The yard sign of the present invention is made of a synthetic material for durability.
In addition to sturdiness, an attractive and clean appearance is a desirable characteristic for a yard sign to have, since the sign's appearance reflects on the product advertised in the message. An observer is more likely to conclude that a business with attractive, clean, sturdy signs advertising it is also solid and up-front. The fact that the panel support rods and support rod connectors of the present yard sign are hidden contributes to the attractive, clean appearance of the assembled sign. The lack of rails also makes the sign easier to assemble and more attractive, and means that the entire panel space can be used for advertising.


There are provided an optical element that comprises a polymer which has a structural unit derived from a specific dihydroxy compound typified by 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro propane (bisphenol AF) and in which the relationship between a refractive index nD and an Abbe number νD satisfies the following formula (I):nD+0.0076×νD≦1.78  (I)and that is used for correction of chromatic aberration, and an achromatic lens using the optical element.

It is known that an optical lens (convex lens) shows a characteristic that a refractive index with short-wavelength light is higher than that with long-wavelength light, i.e. axial chromatic aberration, and has color bleeding (chromatic aberration). Since the chromatic aberration is a problem in using the optical lens, the optical lens is generally used as a lens system or laminated lens having chromatic aberration corrected by combining achromatic elements.
As the achromatic element, a concave lens has been used. In recent years, use of a Fresnel lens has been receiving attention (refer to JP-A 9-127321, JP-A 9-127322, JP-A 2004-78166 and JP-A 2005-107298)(the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application").
For correction of the chromatic aberration, the lens system is constituted by a plurality of elements made of different materials whose Abbe numbers, which are indicators for the degree of the chromatic aberration, are largely different. As a material for lenses, glass has been used. Since glass has a refractive index of about 1.46 to 1.92 and an Abbe number of about 25 to 80 and the optical properties can be selected from the very wide ranges, it provides high flexibility to design of the lens system for correcting the chromatic aberration, and it is an advantageous material for exhibiting various lens properties.
When the above lens system is applied to a camera, video camera or the like, reductions in the size and weight of the lens system are required. Particularly, a telephoto lens system and super-telephoto lens system having a large lens diameter have been massive and heavy and difficult to handle when attached to a camera and used, so that one may miss a right moment to release a shutter. Accordingly, reductions in the weight and whole length of the lens system have been desired. To that end, it is necessary to reexamine the material for the lens and shorten focal length after correction of chromatic aberration.
From such a viewpoint, use of a plastic material in place of glass as the lens material has been desired.
Typical materials for the current plastic lenses are polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and polycarbonate. Of these, the PMMA is used far more often, because it not only has advantages that it has high transparency and hardness and excellent durability but also has a high Abbe number of 57 or small chromatic aberration.
As a material for a plastic lens used for correction of chromatic aberration of a PMMA lens, polycarbonate (PC(BIS-A)) produced from 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)propane(bisphenol A) is generally used. The Abbe number of the PC(BIS-A) is 32 and greatly differs from the Abbe number of the PMMA which is 57. Thus, it supposedly has the requirement for correction of chromatic aberration. However, even with the PC(BIS-A), the focal length after correction of chromatic aberration has not yet reached a satisfactory level.
Meanwhile, it has been considered that a higher refractive index of a lens material is more advantageous from the viewpoint of a reduction in the weight of a lens. That is, it has been considered that when the refractive index is low, the curve of the lens must be made tight to obtain a desired effect, so that the entire lens must be made thick, and this is against the request of the weight reduction.
It is known that conventionally known plastic optical materials have a definite relationship between a refractive index and an Abbe number. FIG. 1 shows relationships between the refractive indices and Abbe numbers of general-purpose optical plastic materials described in known literatures. Referring to FIG. 1, it can be understood that the plastic materials show a tendency that the Abbe number becomes lower as the refractive index becomes higher and a collection of plotted points each representing the relationship between the refractive index and Abbe number of each material is situated within a very narrow range. Efforts to improve the plastic materials as conventional optical elements have been directed primarily to developments of materials showing a high refractive index exceeding the above range (refer to Japan Chemical Industry Association Monthly, 40 (8), 27 (1987) and Japan Chemical Industry Association Monthly 47 (2), 8 (1994)).
However, it has not yet been known what material is to be used as an achromatic element which is suitable for correction of chromatic aberration in a lens system and can constitute a lens system having shortened focal length after correction of chromatic aberration.
Polycarbonate materials have been known as materials having transparency and heat resistance, and many improvements and studies have been made on the materials. However, most of them are improvements of mechanical properties as engineering plastics (refer to JP-A 6-145333 and JP-A 6-200005) or are intended to use the materials for special purposes (refer to JP-A 5-294029). Most of studies in optical applications are improvements of mechanical properties in fields that involve only a single wavelength such as an optical fiber, a photoreceptor for photocopying or a recording layer of an optical disk (refer to JP-A 6-347650, JP-A 3-61911, JP-A 6-282094 and JP-A 64-31825). Only in JP-A 62-18501, improvements and studies have been made to apply polycarbonate materials to lenses. However, in this publication, material studies intended to improve the heat resistance and surface hardness of lenses have been made, and in examples, convex lenses made of the materials are merely disclosed.


A superfluorescent broadband fiber laser source comprises an optical fiber doped with a laser material and having one end pumped with pump light of sufficient intensity to produce amplified spontaneous emission within the fiber and forward and backward waves therefrom. The polarizations of the backward wave experiences a 45.degree. rotation as it travels into and another 45.degree. rotation as it passes back out of a 45.degree. Faraday rotator mirror device. An amplified polarization=rotated beam from the doped fiber is divided into orthogonally polarized beams in a polarization beam splitter coupler. A return polarized signal from an interferometer is passed through the doped fiber, the Faraday rotator mirror device and the doped fiber for producing a polarized output signal that has been amplified by four passes through the doped fiber.

This invention relates to optical fiber lasers and amplifiers and more particularly to superfluorescent broadband fiber lasers.
Superfluorescent broadband doped fiber laser sources are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. : 4,637,025 to Snitzer, et, al.; 4,938,556 to Digonnet, et.al., which is a continuation in part of 4,859,016 to Shaw, et. al., which is a division of 4,723,824 which is a division of 4,674,830 (all for fiber optic amplifiers); and 5,136,600 to Fidric, et.al., which are incorporated herein by reference. The superfluorescent fiber lasers and amplifiers in the patents generally comprise an optical fiber having it's core or cladding or both doped with an active laser material and pumped at an appropriate frequency and sufficient intensity to produce amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). These patents disclose both single pass and double pass configurations. In a single pass configuration the output signal results from only one pass amplification of the spontaneous emission. In a double pass configuration a dichroic filter or a mirror and coupler are employed to reflect the backward spontaneous emission signal (not the pump signal) back through the doped fiber for second-pass amplification of the spontaneous emission. Unfortunately these superfluorescent sources are quite sensitive to optical feedback of the output signal in the doped fiber, which causes an onset of oscillating modes and a resultant narrowband emission. Such an oscillating condition prevents operating these devices as high power broadband light sources. An alternate approach is a resonant laser light source described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,131 to Liu, et. al. which is pumped at a wavelength selected to be outside the pump variable tuning range of the lasing material, e.g., Neodynium. This resonant laser has been found to be less efficient and considerably less stable wavelength wise in comparison to the referenced double pass fiber sources.
An object of this invention is the provision of an improved superfluorescent source. Another object is the provision of such a source that has an efficiency and a stability comparable to conventional double pass configurations and which has as high a resistance to optical feedback as the single pass approach. Another object is the provision of a source of polarization selective superfluorescent emission output light that can be operated on in a utilization device (e.g., interferometric sensors) and reapplied to the doped fiber for producing an amplified output signal having a prescribed polarization and that is the result of photons being amplified four times through the gain medium of the doped fiber.

Highly efficient superfluorescent fiber laser/amplifier for interferometric sensors


A method for producing a low-structure magnesium silicate SLR product useful to lower the strike through of low brightness paper products comprises adding a raw mineral source of soluble magnesium ions and sulfuric acid in a proportion and under conditions effective to form a slurry comprising soluble magnesium sulfate and a silica leach residue (SLR), and adding to the slurry a solution of an alkali metal silicate in a molar equivalent proportion of MgO:SiO.sub.2 of 1:2.0-4.0 under conditions effective to precipitate the magnesium ions and form a product comprising a low-structure magnesium silicate and SLR having a proportion of SiO.sub.2 MgO:SLR of 50-75%:5-12%:10-50% by weight of the product.. A low-structure magnesium silicate SLR filler comprises 50 to 75 wt % SiO.sub.2, 5 to 12 wt % MgO, 10 to 50 wt % SLR, 0 to 6 wt % Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3, and 0 to 7 wt % Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, wherein the proportion MgO:SiO.sub.2 is 1:2.0-4.0.. A paper product comprises at least an amount of the filler of the invention.. A method of reducing the strike through of a paper product comprises adding 0.001 to 8 wt % of the filler described above to a paper to form a low-brightness, low-strike through paper product.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel low-brightness product comprising a low-structure magnesium silicate and a silica leach residue or SLR, optionally containing soluble iron, which is especially useful as a filler for newsprint. This invention also relates to a method for its preparation from a mineral source containing soluble magnesium, e.g., the mineral serpentine or other minerals, and an alkali metal silicate, and a method for using the novel filler in low brightness of paper.
2. Description of the Background
Low-cost, low-brightness fillers for use in ground wood specialties and newsprint are known. The paper industry is showing an increasing need for a lower cost, lower brightness filler of this type which will provide comparable performance with higher cost materials prepared from silica, such as the commercial product Zeolex.RTM., a trademark of the J. M. Huber Corporation. The present invention meets this need by providing a low-brightness product comprising a low-structure magnesium silicate SLR filler prepared from a low cost mineral raw material containing soluble magnesium, and optionally soluble iron, and silica, such as the mineral serpentine.
The precipitation of magnesium silicate from sodium silicate and a magnesium salt is known and has been described in the literature (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,401,015 to Ninger). However, in most cases the processes described in the prior art are tailored for the specific purpose of obtaining pure magnesium silicate as in the case where the product is intended for use as a pharmaceutically-acceptable carrier for a drug. In these products the presence of other components is undesirable. Other processes produce magnesium silicate lacking a low-structure as defined in Wason, J. Soc. Cosmet. Chem. 29:497-521 (August 1978), the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference, and/or contain a silicate but not SLR, and optionally iron.
Specific compositions of magnesium silicate are also known (Vournazos, Hydraulischer und weisser Magnesiazement, Zeitschrift fur anorganische und allegemeine Chemie 200:237-244(1931); Strese et al, Synthese von Magnesium-silikatgelen mit zwei dimensional regelmassiger Struktur, Zeitschrift fur anorganische und allgemeine Chemie 247:65-95(1941)). Other authors have reported that the compositions of the magnesium silicate product vary depending on the precipitation conditions. Thus, the composition of the final product has been described as a sodium magnesium silicate (Gmelins Handbuch der anorganischen Chemie, System 27, Mg, Teil B, Lieferung 3, Weinheim, Verlag Chemie GmbH, p. 443 (1938)) and magnesium silicate (Vournazos, Hydraulischer und weisser Magnesiazement, Zeitschrift fur anorganische und allegemeine Chemie, 200:237-244(1931); Strese et al, Synthese von Magnesium-silikatgelen mit zwei dimensional regelmassiger Struktur, Zeitschrift fur anorganische und allgemeine Chemie 247:65-95 (1941); Hinz et al, Uber die Fallungsprodukte von Magnesiumsalz- und Wasserglas-losungen, Silikat Technik 8:148-156(1957)).
In later work it was shown that the molar ratio of the produced magnesium silicate is the same as the molar ratio of the sodium silicate used in the precipitation (Roseman et al, Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association 99:271-277(1940)). The sodium oxide content of the final product is said to be low if the magnesium salt is in excess in the precipitation and increases with a sodium silicate excess (Hinz et al, supra).
Fine-particle, synthetic silicas are amorphous, submicron size, white powders. These products have been referred to interchangeably as silicas, hydrated silicas, silicon dioxide, silicic acid, fillers, silicates, silica pigments, xerogels, aerogels and amorphous silicas, among other names.
A distinguishing factor among silicas is the method utilized for preparing the silicas or silicates. When silicas are precipitated from a solution or slurry their structure and associated properties can be controlled. These controlled structure silicas have been named Very High Structure (VHS), High Structure (HS), Medium Structure (MS), Low Structure (LS) and Very Low Structure (VLS) Silicas. Each group has diverse characteristics which are related to their structure such as particle size, water porosity, BET surface size and silanol group density, among others.
Low-Structure Silicas (LS) or silicates have a characteristic Water Pore Volume (PV), Structure Index (SI: amount of water associated with 100 parts of the dry recoverable product) and % Wet Cake Moisture (% WCM: structural water or the amount associated with a washed silica precipitate) (Wason, J. Soc. Cosmet. Chem., supra). The characteristic values of these parameters distinguish LS from other types of silicates.
Asbestos tailings from serpentine mineral wastes are known as a source of magnesium salts with mineral acids (U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,402,370 to Chalmers, 3,320,029 to Adams and 4,058,587, 4,277,449 to Lalancette and Canadian Patent No. 1,034,385 to Marek et al). Moreover, the methods utilized by the prior art separate the soluble salts from any insoluble residue (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,449). Thus, many of the prior art products are not suitable for use as a newsprint filler, and those which would be do not have the composition, low-structure, low-brightness characteristics of the filler of the invention.
Accordingly, there still is a need for a magnesium silicate filler formed by precipitation which has superior characteristics for use as a low brightness filler for newsprint.

Low brightness magnesium silicate SLR filler, low-brightness paper containing the filler and methods to produce the filler and use it in low brightness papers


Embodiments of this application disclose a congestion control method and a related device. A Transmission Control Protocol offload engine TOE sends a congestion control notification to a central processing unit CPU, where the congestion control notification instructs the CPU to obtain a target parameter, and the target parameter is used by the CPU to generate a congestion control calculation result. The TOE obtains the congestion control calculation result returned by the CPU, where the congestion control calculation result includes a congestion control window value. The TOE sends a packet based on the congestion control window value. In this application, the TOE and the CPU implement congestion control together. When a new congestion control algorithm emerges, the new congestion control algorithm may be applied without changing a structure of the TOE. Therefore, in this application, an upgrade period of the congestion control algorithm can be shortened, and flexibility can be improved.

Currently, the internet uses a packet switching network. To prevent network congestion, a series of congestion control algorithms based on the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) are currently proposed. Different algorithms have their own optimization features, applicable environments, and advantages and disadvantages. Currently, no congestion control algorithm is able to cover all scenarios. In addition, new congestion control algorithms are emerging.
To improve congestion control efficiency, a congestion control algorithm is configured on a Transmission Control Protocol offload engine (TOE). In other words, during packet sending, a packet sending rate is controlled based on the congestion control algorithm configured on the hardware TOE.
However, due to a long hardware development period, when a new congestion control algorithm emerges, it takes a long time to produce a hardware TOE that supports the new congestion control algorithm. Therefore, an existing congestion control solution has a long upgrade period and weak flexibility.

Congestion control method and related device


System, methods and apparatus for analyzing electronic messages and grouping them into threads are described. In addition, the present invention may classify threads based on their relationship to other threads.

A. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to electronic messaging technology, and more particularly, to analyzing electronic messages and grouping them in threads, which may also be known as discussions or conversations.
B. Background of the Invention
As the personal and business use of electronic messaging, such as email, continues to increase, improved applications for storing, archiving and retrieval of electronic messages are needed. Areas where such technology is important include investigatory fields that need to search through a large number of electronic messages that match a particular search topic. For example, electronic messages may need to be searched and retrieved for compliance with specific corporate obligations or discovery requests that arise during the course of litigation.
One way in which electronic messages may be organized is by grouping electronic messages into threads. A thread is comprised of one or more electronic messages that make up a chain of the correspondence. A thread starts with an initial electronic message and includes any subsequent replies to or forwards from either the initial electronic message or any other message in the thread. One problem with the current applications that group electronic messages into threads is that messages are grouped into threads based purely on the subject of the electronic messages.
Grouping electronic messages based purely on the subject may result in grouping electronic messages that have no relation to one another into a thread. For example, each department of a company may have quarterly meetings to discuss problems or the status of projects for a particular quarter. Each department may send an electronic message, such as an email message to the members of the department with the agenda for the meeting. However, if each department uses the subject "Quarterly Meeting" as the subject of the message, current applications may group all of the meetings from the various groups into a single thread.
Grouping electronic message in this way may not be problematic in a single inbox environment, since only electronic messages sent to the inbox will be included in the thread. However, when viewing electronic messages from multiple inboxes, electronic messages that have no relation to one another and which may include different sets of correspondents may be grouped together in a single thread simply because they share a common subject. These messages may have nothing to do with one another and may increase the difficulty of searching electronic messages rather than making it simpler to locate electronic messages relevant to a particular search query.

Thread identification and classification


In an embodiment, a method of performing video content analysis using transactional data is provided. The method comprises identifying and receiving the transactional data and a segment of video corresponding to a transaction, integrating the transactional data with the segment of video, and analyzing the integrated video to determine an action to take in relation to the transaction.

Video systems are often used to monitor and record business transactions. Business transactions involving the exchange of cash, financial instruments, or products are of particular interest because there may be opportunity for fraud, theft, or other behavior which may need to be documented or investigated. The presence of the video system may deter these behaviors to some extent and the availability of video documentation assists in the identification, investigation, and resolution of incidents. The availability of video may also assist with training, coaching, and employee performance evaluation.
Many business and retail transactions occur with the aid of a Point of Sale (POS) terminal. The POS terminal manages the selling or transaction process and may or may not require involvement of a salesperson, cashier, or representative to complete the transaction with the customer. A retail POS system may include a computer, display, cash drawer, credit card reader, printer, barcode scanner, scale, signature capture pad, or other devices. POS terminals are typically connected to a central POS computer which performs other functions including pricing, inventory, gathering sales information, reporting, and interfacing to other systems.
Overview
Disclosed are methods and software that, as described herein, provide for performing video content analysis using transactional data.
In an embodiment, a method comprises identifying and receiving transactional data and a segment of video corresponding to a transaction, integrating the transactional data with the segment of video, and analyzing the integrated video to determine an action to take in relation to the transaction.
In an embodiment, a computer readable medium having stored thereon program instructions that, when executed by a video processing system to perform video content analysis using transactional data, direct the video processing system to identify and receive the transactional data and a segment of video corresponding to a transaction, integrate the transactional data with the segment of video, and analyze the integrated video to determine an action to take in relation to the transaction.
In an embodiment, the transactional data comprises at least one of business or retail data.
In an embodiment, the transactional data comprises at least one of the following: when a transaction starts, when a transaction ends, an amount of a transaction, a number of items transacted, an identity of parties to a transaction, product identification information, an account number, a type of items transacted, or a type of payment.
In an embodiment, the transactional data is integrated such that it is visually present in or associated with the segment of the video when the integrated video is processed or viewed.
In an embodiment, integration is accomplished by an integration system.
In an embodiment, analysis of the integrated video is accomplished by a video analysis system.
In an embodiment, the analysis is conducted to accomplish at least one of the following: detect fraud, improve business processes, verify policy compliance, perform employee training, or investigate accidents.
In an embodiment, the analysis of the integrated video indicates a discrepancy between the transactional data and the segment of video and the action taken is a transmission of an alert.
In an embodiment, the segment of video is coupled with audio information.
In an embodiment, the integrated video is stored in a video storage system configured to allow for retrieval for analysis and processing purposes.

Video content analysis using point of sale data


A storage module and method for regulating garbage collection operations based on write activity of a host are disclosed. In one embodiment, a storage module determines whether the host is operating in a burst mode by determining whether write activity of the host over a time period exceeds a threshold. The write activity can comprise one or both of (i) an amount of data received from the host to be written in the storage module and (ii) a number of write commands received from the host. If the host is operating in the burst mode, the storage module limits an amount of garbage collection operations during the burst mode. When the host is no longer operating in the burst mode, the storage module increases an amount of garbage collection operations.

Flash memory is typically written in units of blocks. In a given block, there are several pages of data. Over time, some of those pages may be marked as invalid, such as when an updated version of the data in a page is written to another block. Accordingly, at any given time, a given block may contain several pages of invalid data. Also, because flash memory is written in units of blocks, when a storage module want to write a page to an existing block, the storage module reads the pages previously-stored in the existing block and then writes those pages, as well as the new page, to another block in memory. Because some of the previously-stored pages may no longer be valid, the storage module determines which pages are still valid and only writes the valid pages to the new block. This process can be time consuming and can reduce the performance of the system.
To improve performance, a storage module can implement a management process known as garbage collection. With garbage collection, the storage module's controller uses its idle time to consolidate blocks of flash memory before the host needs to write new data. This improves system performance because the process of determining which pages are valid and then moving those pages occurs when the storage module is idle rather than when a user is awaiting a write operation. In theory, if the storage module controller were to collect all of the spare blocks before it was necessary, new data can be written from a host without having to move any data, resulting in optimum performance.
Several triggers can be used to start a garbage collection operation. For example, some storage modules use a fixed a-priori design for performing garbage collection. Other storage modules, such as solid state drives (SSD), use arbitrary benchmarks to trigger garbage collection. For example, some SSDs wait for a predetermined time of inactivity before starting a garbage collection operation. These predetermined times are based on the assumption that SSDs often have relatively long periods of inactivity (e.g., few minutes) between heavy periods of use. However, because these benchmarks are predetermined, it is possible that the storage module can receive an incoming command (e.g., from an external host) when a garbage collection operation is in process. In such a situation, the garbage collection operation is typically interrupted in order to execute the incoming command with minimal degradation to the user experience. However, the fact that the storage module is occupied with system maintenance while an incoming command is received is, by itself, a cause for additional latency and degradation in the user experience.

Storage module and method for regulating garbage collection operations based on write activity of a host


In the circuit operation verifying method, initialization includes inputting circuit diagram data (a net list), specification information on respective circuit elements, and input data representing waveforms with time of voltages or currents used for operation simulation, and storing the circuit diagram data to memory. Operation of a semiconductor circuit to be verified is simulated using the circuit diagram data and the input data, and momentary voltage/current values at input terminals and the like of the circuit elements are stored in the memory. During the operation simulation, whether or not the circuit elements satisfy their voltage/current specifications and time specifications are concurrently verified based on the voltage/current values stored in the memory.

The present invention relates to a circuit operation verifying method and apparatus for automatically verifying whether or not a number of circuit elements of a semiconductor circuit satisfy respective element specifications determined from device characteristics in circuit design and layout design of the semiconductor circuit.
Conventionally, in LSIs including a flash memory and a liquid crystal driver, an internal voltage higher than a supply voltage is generated using a booster circuit or the like inside the LSI. Using this high voltage, rewrite of data in a flash memory and control of liquid crystal display are performed. In general, a high voltage of +10 to +20 V, for example, is used for an LSI including a flash memory, and a high voltage of +20 V or more is used for an LSI including a liquid crystal driver. An LSI including a flash memory that uses a negative high voltage of about −10 V, for example, is also known. In such an LSI generating a high voltage inside, the internally-generated high voltage is applied to circuit elements such as MOS transistors, capacitances, resistances, and diodes constituting a circuit of the LSI.
In the present semiconductor process technology where semiconductor devices have become finer and thinner, fabrication of semiconductor elements for implementing circuit elements handling a high voltage has become difficult. For example, in an n-channel MOS transistor handling a high voltage, electrons are trapped in a gate oxide film due to a hot electron phenomenon. The hot electron phenomenon occurs because a high voltage is applied to a gate terminal of the MOS transistor when the channel is in the ON state. Once this phenomenon occurs, since the MOS transistor has electrons trapped in the gate oxide film, the channel will not be turned ON easily even when the same gate voltage is applied. This deteriorates the characteristics of the MOS transistor. The hot electron phenomenon may also occur even when a not-so-high gate voltage is applied, depending on the number of times of application and the application time of the gate voltage. In design of LSIs, therefore, the voltage value, the number of times of application, and the application time of the gate voltage must be taken into consideration. If an excessively high voltage is applied, dielectric breakdown occurs, resulting in the LSI itself becoming unusable, as a natural consequence.
Moreover, when a high voltage is used inside an LSI, a large current is generated from a high voltage supply source. If an excessively large current flows to interconnections inside the LSI, electromigration may occur, possibly causing breaking of the interconnections. As another problem occurring due to an excessively large current, heat is generated by power consumption. Temperature rise of the LSI due to the heat generation will further worsen the problems of deterioration in transistor characteristics, electromigration, breakdown of the oxide film, and injection of hot electrons, and will eventually cause a failure of the LSI. The above problem relating to the current and the heat generation is one of the important design challenges the present high-speed operating LSIs have.
As a conventional circuit operation verifying method and apparatus for LSIs, a technique for verifying only the voltage value is proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-132578, for example. This conventional technique will be described with reference to FIG. 10.
Referring to FIG. 10, circuit diagram data for which voltage verification is intended and input patterns used for circuit operation simulation are prepared. The circuit diagram data is a net list including information on circuit elements such as transistors, capacitances, and resistances constituting the circuit and information on connection among these circuit elements. The input patterns are patterns of voltages and currents applied to an input terminal and inner nodes (terminals of circuit elements, etc.) of the semiconductor circuit to be analyzed, changing on the time axis. The circuit diagram data and the input patterns are input into a circuit simulator, which executes operation simulation on the time axis and prepares analysis result data. The analysis result data is input into an applied voltage detector denoted by the reference numeral 13 in FIG. 10. Voltage conditions designated in a condition input section and the circuit diagram data described above are also input into the applied voltage detector 13. The detector 13 determines whether the analysis result data satisfies or violates the voltage conditions, to detect a violating circuit element, if 310 any, and display the violating circuit element by spotting on the circuit diagram. This enables the designer to recognize the violating position from the circuit diagram on which the violating circuit device has been spotted, and perform feedback of this violation to the circuit design.
Examining circuit operation on the time axis (in temporal change) described above is called transient analysis. As a circuit operation simulator that performs transient analysis using analog voltage and current values, software called a simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) is generally known. The SPICE is run on a computer such as an engineering work station (EWS) and a personal computer (PC).
FIG. 11 shows a processing flow of transient analysis by the SPICE. Referring to FIG. 11, first, initialization is performed in step Si. FIG. 12 shows details of the initialization, which includes loading circuit diagram data in step S1a (Load schematic net-list), expanding (storing) the circuit diagram data to a memory of a computer in step S1b (Expand schematic to memory), loading input patterns in step S1c (Load stimulus data), and analyzing initial values in step S1d (Computation initialize-point). In this way, voltage and current values at all terminals of circuit elements at time "0", that is, initial voltage and current values are obtained.
Referring back to FIG. 11, in step S2, the time TIME representing the real time in operation simulation is set at "0". The time TIME increases as the simulation proceeds.
Upon completion of the above processing, the process proceeds to step S3, to enter a computation loop of the simulation. Specifically, first in step S3, the voltage and cur rent values at respective nodes stored in the memory of the computer are output to a file in a hard disk (Store outputs). If a node has been designated, the values at this node only, not the values at all nodes, are output. In step S4, whether or not the current time TIME is equal to a simulation end time is determined. If it is equal to the simulation end time, the process is terminated. If not, the process continues and proceeds to step S5. In step S5, a time step value "DELTA" is set at a constant TSEP. The time step value DELTA is a value indicating the amount of progress of the time TIME during the simulation. The constant TSEP is an initial value of the amount of progress. Once the time step value DELTA is determined, the voltage and current values at respective nodes at the time TIME+DELTA are computed in step S6 (Computation). In step S7, whether or not all computation results have converged to give a value is determined. If having converged, the time TIME is updated to TIME+DELTA, and the process returns to step S3, that is, the start of the computation loop. This series of operation is repeated until the simulation end time comes.
If the computation results have not converged in step S7, the time step value DELTA is reduced according to a given standard in step S9, and the process returns to step S6 to perform the computation again. At this time, however, if the 15 time step value DELTA is found smaller than a predetermined value in step S10, the simulation is forcefully terminated.
The time step value DELTA and the convergence of the computation results will be described with reference to FIG. 13. In FIG. 13, the x-axis represents the time and the y-axis represents the computed voltage or current value. Assume that the operation simulation is now in progress at the time point TIME. Based on the voltage or current value at this time, the voltage or current value at the next time TIME+DELTA is computed to determine the convergence of the computation results at the time TIME+DELTA. Failure of the convergence is determined (1) when there is a computation gap so large as to greatly influence the simulation precision and (2) when the computation results do not converge at all failing to give any computation results. FIG. 13 shows the case as follows. The computation results did not converge at the time TIME+DELTA. Therefore, the time step value DELTA was reduced to a smaller time step value DELTA′, and the voltage or current value at the time TIME+DELTA′ was computed. At this time, convergence of the computation results was observed. In this way, the time step value DELTA may be reduced limitlessly if convergence fails. This enhances the computation precision and the degree of convergence, although the progress of the operation simulation becomes slow.
As described above, conventionally, only the verification of voltage conditions is automated. No effective technique has been provided for automatically verifying voltages, currents, and heat generation at design stage. At present, therefore, verification is performed visually by the designer.
However, with the present achievement in scaling-up and complication of circuits, the conventional verifying method described above causes significant decrease in verification precision and lowering in design efficiency.
The conventional voltage verifying method requires two separate process steps of circuit operation simulation and condition verification. Therefore, the time efficiency of the verification work is low.
The analysis result data of the condition verification is data representing temporal transition of voltages and currents at terminals of circuit elements, that is, waveform data along the time axis. Since the size of this data is large, the applied voltage detector 13 shown in FIG. 10 must search the large-size data for a violation position. This increases the searching time. In general, when a semiconductor circuit as the object to be verified is large in scale and when the simulation time is long, the size of analysis result data is large. In view of this, reduction in data size is attempted by outputting as the analysis result data only data at terminals of a circuit element selected among all circuit elements. In this case, the applied voltage detector 13 can only verify the circuit element for which the analysis result data has been output. Full verification is therefore unobtainable. For full verification, a large amount of analysis data is required, and for this purpose, a large size of analysis data must be used, or the condition verification must be repeated a plurality of times. Thus, the conventional voltage verifying method is disadvantageous also in the aspect of work efficiency.
Moreover, the specification conditions for circuit elements include characteristics in which resistance against deterioration is determined by the applied voltage value and the application time, such as oxide film deterioration characteristics. In this case, time conditions defining the voltage application time must be verified in addition to electrical conditions. Conventionally, however, automatic condition verification considering time conditions is not available.

Circuit operation verifying method and apparatus

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Packaged beverages contain the following ingredients: (A) from 0.07 to 0.45 wt. % of non-polymer catechins, (B) from 0.06 to 0.5 wt. % of ascorbic acid or a metal salt thereof, and (C) non-polymer catechingallates. A content weight ratio (C/A) of the non-polymer catechingallates (C) to the non-polymer catechins (A) is from 0.8 to 1.0, and the packaged beverages have a pH of from 4.5 to 7. Another type of packaged beverages contain the following ingredients: (A) from 0.05 to 0.45 wt. % of non-polymer catechins, and (D) from 0.07 to 0.49 wt. % of β-cyclodextrin. The non-polymer catechins (A) contain (C) non-polymer catechingallates at a weight ratio (C/A) of from 0.7 to 1.0 relative to the non-polymer catechins (A).

So far, catechins have been reported to have a suppressing effect on an increase in cholesterol level and an inhibitory effect on α-amylase activity (see, for example, JP-A-60-156614 and JP-A-03-133928). For such physiological effects to manifest, it is necessary for an adult to drink 4 to 5 cups of tea a day. Accordingly, there has been a demand for techniques enabling catechins to be contained catechins at high concentration in beverages to facilitate the ingestion of a large amount of catechins. As one of such techniques, catechins are added in a dissolved form to a beverage by using the concentrate of a tea extract (see, for example, JP-A-59-219384).
So-called non-polymer catechingallates such as gallocatechingallate and epigallocatechingallate are known to be particularly high in physiological activities, among such non-polymer catechins, and their use as antiallergic agents or cerebral function activators in the field of foods, beverages and health foods has been proposed (see, for example, JP-A-08-242813, and JP-A-11-18722). However, these non-polymer catechingallates are obtained through many purification processes, in which they are exposed to an acid, an alkali, heat, a solvent and the like, respectively, in the course of their production in which they are highly purified and formulated into preparations to enhance their physiological effects. As a result, these non-polymer catechingallates show a unique color tone while they are green tea extracts. Therefore, there has been a serious problem in that difficulties are encountered in making full use of these non-polymer catechingallates upon formulation of beverages despite their high physiological effects. For beverages containing such non-polymer catechingallates added at high concentration, the stability in their external appearance against pH variations during long-term storage or upon heat sterilization has thus become a particularly important goal to be achieved.
In addition, the unique color tone of such non-polymer catechingallates involves another problem in that, upon taking the beverages, the pigmentation of teeth tends to become readily recognizable.


A shade system for a jar-style lighting fixture includes a circular shaped resilient adaptor having a first end and a second end that are secured by a fastener. An elongated curved cover is removably secured onto the adaptor via a connector and a complementary connector, and surrounds the lighting fixture horizontally along a 180-degree axis. The adaptor includes a shape and size that is complementary to the shape and size of the jar of a jar-style lighting fixture, and a rubber gasket is provided along the inside surface of the adaptor to provide grip and cushioning against the glass jar.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Many homes, apartments and condominiums that have been built over the past 75 years have one or more lighting fixtures adjacent to an entry door. In many of these buildings that were constructed between 1950 and 1999, the preferred lighting fixture was a jar-type sconce. As is known to those of skill in the art, jar-style light sconces typically include a wall mounting bracket having a distal end for supporting a light bulb and a plain or decorative jar that surrounds the bulb.
Although such fixtures were once extremely popular due to their reliability and low cost, they have fallen out of favor with modern homeowners. Unfortunately, there has not previously existed a convenient way to modernize these fixtures, so many homeowners have been forced to physically remove the entire device and replace it with a different one. Moreover, because these fixtures are directly wired to the buildings electrical system, many homeowners must go through the additional expense of hiring an electrician or handyman to perform this task, thus significantly raising the cost of the same.
In light of the above, it would be beneficial to provide a universal shade that can be removably secured to any existing jar-style light sconce so as to allow a user to update the appearance of the fixture without the drawbacks discussed above.

Universal shade system for jar-style lighting fixture


An opto-electronic assembly includes an opto-electronic transducer, an optical path and an imaging system in the form of a translucent hollow body having internal optical boundary surfaces forming beam-forming boundary surfaces, in order to achieve effective protection against environmental influences for the opto-electronic transducer and the imaging system in a simple manner. The beam-forming boundary surfaces are preferably in the form of lens surfaces. There is an additional possibility of providing a mirror surface or a reflective surface on the basis of an association between the opto-electronic transducer and the optical path. The opto-electronic transducer and the translucent hollow body are is expediently embedded in a potting compound.

The invention relates to the field of optical elements and can be used for constructing the type of connections between optical fibers and opto-electronic components in which an opto-electronic transducer and an optical path, for example a downstream lens system or an optical fiber, have an imaging system disposed between them which has a translucent body with beam-forming boundary surfaces.
In a known opto-electronic assembly of that kind, a plurality of opto-electronic transmitting or receiving elements are disposed on a circuit board and are combined with an optical element to form a first coupling element. The optical element is disposed at a distance from a transmitting element and includes a silicon body which is translucent in the infrared range. That translucent body has two lateral surfaces situated in the beam path of the respective transmitting element. One of the lateral surfaces has a plurality of cambers acting as convex lenses and the other has a planer construction. That coupling element has an associated pluggable second coupling element with an identical mirrored construction and, instead of the transmitting elements, holds ends of a plurality of optical fibers each forming an optical path. In that case, the two translucent silicon bodies and the surrounding air form an imaging system, according to German Published, Non-Prosecuted Patent Application DE 44 42 672 A1.
In a known assembly of that type, the opto-electronic component is not protected against environmental influences. Opto-electronic components are frequently protected against environmental influences by encapsulating them in a potting compound, according to German Patent DE 197 11 138 C2, corresponding to U.S. application Ser. No. 09/390,167, filed Sep. 7, 1999. In the case of assemblies having an integrated imaging system, it is also customary to place the assemblies in a hermetically sealed housing which has a window, as in European Patent Application 0 664 585 A1, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,265. Such protection of the assembly is complex and is associated with significant costs. If an assembly having an integrated imaging system were encapsulated in a potting compound, the optical effect of the imaging system would be severely impaired, because the region between the imaging system and the adjacent opto-electronic transducers would then be filled with potting compound. Specifically, if a normal translucent potting compound were used, the difference between the refractive indices of the potting compound and of the imaging system would be too small for satisfactory imaging.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an opto-electronic assembly having an integrated imaging system, which overcomes the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices of this general type and which has a structure permitting opto-electronic transducers and optically active regions of the assembly to be easily protected against environmental influences.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, an opto-electronic assembly, comprising an opto-electronic transducer; an optical path; and an imaging system for coupling the opto-electronic transducer and the optical path, the imaging system having a translucent body, the translucent body having two parts enclosing a gas filled cavity, and the translucent body having internal optical boundary surfaces with subregions forming beam-forming boundary surfaces.
In such an embodiment of the assembly, the optically active boundary surfaces of the translucent body are moved to inside the body, which means that their effectiveness can no longer be influenced by potting compounds. To this end, the two parts of the translucent body are expediently connected, in particular bonded, to one another tightly. For this purpose, the translucent body is advantageously made of a polymer material such as polycarbonate (PC) or polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA).
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the cavity in the translucent body is filled with air, but another gas with a low refractive index, such as nitrogen or argon, is also suitable. The translucent body provided with internal beam-forming boundary surfaces may have a different construction in terms of the beam-forming boundary surfaces. Beam-forming boundary surfaces in the form of lens surfaces may be disposed parallel or at an angle, particularly at right angles, to one another. The light beams can be deflected by using inclined reflective surfaces. It is also possible for the reflective surface to be formed by an inclined exterior surface of the translucent body, particularly by applying a reflective layer. In addition, when the light path which can be coupled is in the form of an optical fiber, the association between the translucent body and the end of the optical fiber can be chosen in such a way that the support holding the end of the optical fiber forms one part of the two part translucent hollow body. This permits the volume of the assembly to be reduced.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the translucent body together with the opto-electronic transducer are embedded in a translucent potting compound. In this case, the optical path can run between the opto-electronic transducer and the translucent body within the potting compound. The potting compound is preferably a silicone gel.
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, the support holding the end of an optical fiber may likewise be at least partly embedded in the potting compound. In addition, the walls of the translucent body, which are situated in the respective beam path, can have optical fiber channels embedded in them which form an optical path from the outside of the translucent body into the interior region.
In accordance with a concomitant feature of the invention, a plurality of opto-electronic transducers and light paths are disposed as respective arrays. These two arrays then expediently have a translucent body disposed between them which encloses a single cavity. Subregions of the interior optical boundary surfaces of this body are in the form of arrays of beam-forming boundary surfaces.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in an opto-electronic assembly having an integrated imaging system, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.

Opto-electronic assembly having an integrated imaging system


A horizontal synchronization circuit uses a standard decoder to generate a stable first signal locked in frequency and phase to horizontal synchronizing pulses in a composite video signal. A waveshaping circuit reshapes the first signal to generate a second signal for input to a synchronizing circuit. The synchronizing circuit generates a higher-frequency third signal. A timing generator divides the frequency of the third signal to generate a fourth signal having the same frequency as the first and second signals, and a fifth signal having a higher frequency. The fourth signal is fed back to the synchronizing circuit, and can also be used for synchronization of video signal processing. The fifth signal can be used for horizontal scanning at a rate higher than the standard horizontal frequency.

This invention relates to a horizontal synchronization circuit for use in a television receiver or the like.
One of the components of a television receiver is a decoder that receives a composite video signal, separates the horizontal and vertical synchronizing signals from the image signals, and provides output signals for image formation and scanning control. For horizontal scanning control, the decoder is adapted to output a signal that remains stable at a horizontal scanning frequency f.sub.H even if the composite video signal is temporarily disturbed by channel switching or noise. Decoders of this type are readily available from various manufacturers.
Some types of displays, however, must be scanned at a rate higher than the conventional f.sub.H. This is true in particular of displays that employ more than the standard number of scanning lines to achieve improved image definition, and of displays in which the picture signal is converted from interlaced to sequential scanning. Examples of such displays are to be found not only in television receivers but also in so-called multimedia displays that display both images produced from video signals and images produced from a computer, and in displays with very large screens such as the outdoor displays employed in stadiums and other public places.
In many cases the higher scanning frequencies needed by these displays are not available from existing decoders, hence must be generated by an external circuit. The external circuit may also generate other necessary timing signals. To keep these signals synchronized with the composite video signal the external circuit conventionally receives the composite video signal, extracts the horizontal synchronizing pulses, and feeds them as input to a phase-locked loop.
A problem is that the phase-locked loop does not produce stable output signals when horizontal synchronizing pulses in the composite video signal are missing or otherwise disturbed. This leads to disruption of the display when the composite video signal is contaminated by noise, or when the signal is switched from one video source to another. This problem could be solved by providing the external circuit with features similar to those found in the decoder, but that would require much complex and expensive circuitry.


A quantum junction device having three or more wires connected to a loop surrounding a magnetic flux is used to act as a switch responsive to magnetic flux and therefore useable for mass storage devices or as a flux detector by sensing current direction, conductance tensor, in response to a magnetic field under test.

Known devices such as SQUID's are superconducting devices which operate at extremely low temperatures to achieve superconductivity conditions. These and other devices also operate in the domain of thousands of conductivity channels or electron modes for conductivity. Such large numbers of channels typically indicate operation as a so-called Fermi liquid and provides relative insensitivity to magnetic fields either for detection or for conduction switching above superconducting temperatures.
These prior devices can be used as magnetic field sensors and data storage read-out devices. The problems of requiring superconductivity, and relatively large size as well as limited response speeds make such prior art devices less competitive with conventional magnetic field sensors above superconducting temperatures and conventional read-out devices such as magnetic based hard drives read-heads in terms of storage density.

Quantum junction device as switch and detector


The ultraviolet ray irradiation device 9 comprises the cover member 16 to cover the ultraviolet ray light source 15, and an ultraviolet ray reflectance of a surface which is an inner surface of the cover member 16 and reflects the ultraviolet ray radiated from the ultraviolet ray light source 15 to the recording head 6 is made to be lower than an ultraviolet ray reflectance of the other surface.

As an inkjet printer, in recent years, an inkjet printer including a recording head provided with nozzles for jetting ink, which is cured by being irradiated with an ultraviolet ray, and an ultraviolet ray irradiation device radiating the ultraviolet ray to cure the ink has been used.
Here, if a time after the ink has landed on a recording medium till the ultraviolet ray is radiated thereon is long, the diameter of the dot of the ink which has landed on the recording medium is expanded. Then, the generation of a blur and a mixture of colors arise to lower an image quality. Accordingly, in order to shorten the time after the ink has landed on the recording medium till the ultraviolet ray is radiated, in a conventional inkjet printer, the ultraviolet ray irradiation device equipped with a cover member covering a light source is provided in close vicinity to the recording head (JP-Tokukaisyou-60-132767: hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1).
However, in the conventional inkjet printer (Patent Document 1), some ultraviolet rays radiated from the ultraviolet ray light source are reflected on the inner surface of the cover member covering the light source, the surface of the recording medium and the like, and the reflected ultraviolet rays have reached the recording head. For example, as shown in FIG. 17, as for an ultraviolet ray which has radiated from an ultraviolet ray light source 15 and has been reflected on a surface of a cover member 16 which is perpendicular to a recording medium 17, an incident angle R thereof to the surface of the recording medium 17 is large, and a reflection angle r thereof on the surface of the recording medium 17 is also large. Consequently, it is easy for the reflected ultraviolet ray to pass through a space between the cover member 16 and the recording medium 17 to enter a recording head 6.
In this case, there is the following problem. That is, the ultraviolet ray is radiated on the ink adhering to a nozzle surface, which is a surface on which the nozzle of the recording head is provided, and on the ink in the nozzle, and consequently the ink is bodied or cured to generate imperfect jetting. In particular, as the ink to be cured by the ultraviolet ray, there are known a radical polymerization series ink and a cationic polymerization series ink. Among them, since the cationic polymerization series ink does not receive the inhibition of polymerization by oxygen, which the radical polymerization series ink receives, the sensitivity of the cationic polymerization series ink is high, and also the cationic polymerization series ink has a property of the acids belonging to active species of accumulating light energy. Consequently, when the ultraviolet ray is radiated on the ink adhering on the nozzle surface or on the ink in the nozzle in a case of using the cationic polymerization series ink, the imperfect jetting of the ink is easy to be produced.


To provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming method which can rapidly decrease (cool) the temperature of a fixing section. The image forming apparatus of the invention includes a fixing section fixing a toner image on a sheet, and a controller performing switching control of press-contact state/separated state of the fixing section, and conveyance control of the sheet. The controller, after completion of printing, rapidly cools the fixing section while keeping it in the press-contact state by conveying the sheet at a first conveying speed. The controller naturally cools the fixing section by bringing it into the separated state at a predetermined timing to convey the sheet at a second conveying speed slower than the first conveying speed, and stops conveying it when the temperature of the fixing section becomes not higher than a predetermined temperature.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method.
Description of the Related Art
Electrophotographic image forming apparatuses are widely used, in which a toner image formed on a photoreceptor is transferred to a recording medium such as a sheet, and the recording medium having the toner image transferred thereon is heated and pressurized in a high-temperature fixing section, whereby the toner image is fixed on the recording medium. Electrophotographic image forming apparatuses are applied, for example, to copy machines, printer devices, facsimile machines, printing machines, and multifunction devices.
In the case where the recording medium is a sheet rolled into a roll form (hereinafter, referred to as a "roll sheet"), or a continuous-form paper sheet, the sheet is set in the fixing section even during standby (not printing) when printing is not performed. During printing operations, the sheet is conveyed in a state where the temperature of the fixing section is increased to fix the toner image onto the sheet. On the other hand, during standby, the sheet is stopped, and hence, may deform or discolor due to the temperature of the fixing section. The sheet deformed or discolored is treated as a so-called waste sheet (spoiled sheet).
Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique that prevents the sheet from deforming or discoloring due to the temperature of the fixing section. With the conventional technique described in Patent Literature 1, a conveying roller pair is driven or stopped in a sheet conveying direction at a specified interval during standby in which the sheet is stopped, to remove the slack of the sheet, thereby preventing the sheet from deforming or discoloring due to contact of the sheet with a hot roll.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method with variable recording medium conveyance speed


A replay method of live videos, includes: receiving a replay request sent by a platform control server, the replay request being directed to a specified video file in a storage server, wherein the specified video file is obtained after a live streaming server records a live video, and the specified video file is uploaded to the storage server by the live streaming server; retrieving, from the storage server, the specified video file to which the replay request is directed; and converting the specified video file to a live video stream, and transmitting the live video stream to the live streaming server to allow the live streaming server to transmit the live video stream to a user client.

With the continuous development of internet technology and the ever-increasing speed of the internet, live video streaming service has gradually emerged. During the live video streaming process, an anchor client may locally record the source video through a video recording component. While recording the source video, the anchor client may also send a source video that has finished recording to a server of the live video streaming platform. A user client can then load the corresponding source video from the server of the live video streaming platform. In this way, through the anchor client's transmission of the video stream and the user client's receipt of the video stream, the user client can display the video screens recorded at the anchor client in real time, thereby accomplishing the live video streaming process.
The live video streaming service can satisfy users' demands on real-time streaming relatively well. However, current live video streaming platforms generally store the source videos transmitted by the anchor clients only for a really short period of time, and thus are difficult to satisfy users' replay requests.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Live video replay method, replay server and system


A means for the diagnosis and therapy of T lymphomas, in particular Cutaneous T Cell Lymphomas (“CTCL”) are provided. Tumor markers which are universal for CTCL are described. More particularly, a molecule, termed SC5 by the inventors, an allelic form of p140, and biological applications of SC5 and p140 molecules, notably in the diagnosis and therapy of CTCL are described.

CTCL is a group of T lymphomas which primarily involve the skin. The CTCL group namely comprises transformed Mycosis Fungoides (abbreviated into transformed MF), Sézary Syndrome (abbreviated into SS), Lymphomatoide Papulosis (abbreviated into LP), and CD30+ lymphomas. Transformed MF is characterized by skin invasion of clonally-derived malignant T lymphocytes that phenotypically resemble mature T helper cells. LP and CD30+ lymphomas also develop in the skin. More aggressive forms of CTCL develop when the malignant cells become non-epidermotropic, and are associated with extra-cutaneous involvement. SS is a more aggressive form of CTCL that is characterized by a clonal expansion of CD4+/CD45RO+ T cells and the appearance of these malignant T cells in the blood. Most CTCL are CD4+ CTCL, but some rare CD8+ CTCL cases exist.
The biology of CTCL disease remains poorly understood, as it is difficult to identify the malignant cells, due to the lack of specific cell surface markers. In cutaneous lesions, it is therefore difficult to distinguish CTCL cells from reactive infiltrating (non-tumoral) T lymphocytes.
Diagnosis of T lymphomas such as CTCL is at present time mainly based on cytological and histological observations of the presence or absence of tumoral cells in a sample collected from a suspected body area (observation of histopathological aspect on skin biopsis and/or presence of SS cells in the blood, via detection of cells showing a cerebriform nucleus). Such a diagnosis method is not fully reliable, notably at the early stages of the transformation of skin lymphocytes into malignant lymphocytes.
Such a diagnosis method does also not enable to stage the disease. Technically speaking, it is also time-consuming.
Today therapy of CTCL is tentatively achieved by induction of tumoral cell apoptosis via non specific chemotherapy.
There is therefore still a need for more accurate and appropriate solutions to the problem of the diagnosis and therapy of diseases involving the proliferation of malignant T cells, such as CTCL.

Means for the diagnosis and therapy of CTCL

Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM)


The present invention is directed to a method for debugging scan testing failures of integrated circuits. The method includes identifying a bad scan path among a set of scan paths and segmenting the bad scan path into two segments. Once the bad scan path is segmented into two segments, scan tests are run to determine whether the source of errors is near the segment point. If the number of errors generated is below a threshold, the specific location of errors can be identified by tracing the errors either manually or automatically through an automated testing unit. If the source of errors is not near the segment point, the segment point is shifted based on an analysis of the errors on the good and bad scan paths. Additional scan tests are then run and the method repeated until the location of the source of errors is found.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to integrated circuits, and more particularly, to scan testing of integrated circuits.
2. Background of Invention
Effective testing of integrated circuits significantly enhances the ability of integrated circuit developers and manufacturers to provide reliable devices. Various techniques have been employed to test integrated circuits during the manufacturing process. One such technique that is commonly known, and has been used within the industry for over twenty years is scan testing.
Scan testing provides an efficient approach to testing the structural integrity of devices, such as flip-flops, within a complex integrated circuit. Scan testing does not test integrated circuit-level functionality. Rather, test personnel use scan testing to confirm that individual flip-flops within an integrated circuit function properly. The sheer number of flip-flops within an integrated circuit, which is often greater than a million, presents a daunting challenge for testing. Scan testing addresses this challenge through the use of automated test units that provide test vectors to scan paths including thousands of flip-flops within integrated circuits that have been designed to support scan testing.
Typically, complex integrated circuits are designed and implemented as a series of interconnected functional blocks, each of which can be tested independently. Devices, such as flip-flops, within these functional blocks can be designed, such that they can be connected together in a scan path to support scan testing. Flip-flops and other elements within a scan path include, in addition to inputs and outputs used for normal operation, two inputs associated with the scan testing capability. These include a scan input (SI) and a scan enable (SE) input. Flip-flops within a scan path have their output connected to the SI input of a subsequent flip-flop. The first flip-flop within a scan path receives its input from an automated test unit through a test access port on the chip. The last flip-flop within a scan path provides its output to the automated test unit through a test access port. Many scan paths can exist within a single integrated circuit.
While scan testing provides significant benefits, a shortcoming exists related to efficiently debugging a scan testing failure to identify the source or sources of the failure. Identifying the source of a scan path failure can be quite difficult. A typical integrated circuit can include many scan paths with each scan path including as many as 10,000 flip-flops. Furthermore, when there is a failure point within a particular scan path, errors will be generated on the output of that scan path, but also can be propagated to other scan paths through logical and physical interconnections. Thus, scan paths that are good (i.e., do not have failure points within their path) can also generate unexpected results.
A wide variety of sources for errors can exist. For example, errors can be caused by a bad layout of the integrated circuit in which the circuit can function normally at a particularly frequency, temperature or voltage, but when these factors are changed errors can occur. In another example, a bad design, such as using a latch instead of a flip-flop, can cause errors. Yet another example, could be that the mask used to fabricate the integrated circuit was defective leading to broken connections between flip-flops or poorly performing flip-flops. Finally, a wrong wiring diagram can be used by the tester. In this case, a tester might perceive errors, which are not actually errors. Given the large number of scan paths, the large number of flip-flops in a scan path, the interrelationship between scan paths and the many possible sources of errors debugging scan test failures can take days or even months.
What is needed is a method for efficiently debugging scan testing failures to identify the source of the failure.

Methods for debugging scan testing failures of integrated circuits


An embodiment provides intermediate data derived in the form of column stores which are in turn based on hierarchical data stores. This intermediate data represents a reduced subset of data matched appropriately to a query (or modified query) such that the amount of data handled in a query processing task on large data is greatly reduced. An embodiment may appropriately choose column data stores and/or modify queries in order leverage parallelization techniques such as map-reduce in order to query large data. The result is the ability to query large data stores in parallel while reducing the amount of data that must be handled.

Serial data processing (herein "query processing") is often utilized to handle large amounts of data. The map-reduce framework has become a popular way of parallelizing large scale data queries and has found use in a wide variety of scenarios. HADOOP software is an implementation of the map-reduce framework that manages communication across various computing nodes and the HADOOP distributed file system (HDFS) is utilized in this context by HADOOP applications. In the HDFS, disk space is shared across computing nodes/machines in a cluster, with a data file being distributed among machines of the cluster. (HADOOP is a registered trademark of The Apache Software Foundation in the United States and/or other countries.)

System and a method for hierarchical data column storage and efficient query processing

International Business Machines Corporation


Several versions of the radio signal are transmitted with different polarizations from a first station to a second station. The respective transmission powers of these versions of the radio signal are adaptively controlled according to measurements carried out by the first station on signals transmitted by the second station.

The present invention relates to the field of radiocommunication. It applies especially in radiocommunication systems using polarization diversity.
Conventionally, mobile radiocommunication systems use diversity processing techniques that allow their performance to be improved. Diversity processing is based on the combining of information received from several signals transmitted from a source to a receiver. Diversity may be introduced into several parameters, such as time, space, frequency or polarization of an electromagnetic wave, and this gives rise to many techniques.
Various transmission diversity methods are, for example, currently provided in third-generation cellular networks of the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) type in the downlink direction (from the network to the mobile units). A first category of methods, called open-loop transmission diversity methods, employ STTD (Space-Time Transmit Diversity) or TSTD (Time Switch Transmit Diversity) schemes.
The STTD diversity scheme is based on space-time coding. According to this scheme, two signals s0 and s1 are transmitted simultaneously at a time t and over a period T of a symbol time on two antennas 0 and 1 respectively. At time t+T, the signals −s1* and s0* are transmitted simultaneously over a period T to the antennas 0 and 1 respectively (the symbol "*" denoting the complex conjugation operation). It thus makes it possible, in a system consisting of two transmit antennas and one receive antenna, to obtain the same order of diversity as in a system consisting of one transmit antenna and two receive antennas, from which the signals are processed by a diversity receiver using the optimal combining method (MRC, Maximum Ratio Combining).
The STTD scheme as applied in UMTS-type networks is described in Section 184.108.40.206.1 of the Technical Specification 3G TS 25.211, "Physical channels and mapping of transport channels onto physical channels (FDD)", Version 3.9.0 published in December 2001 by 3GPP ("3rd Generation Partnership Project").
Closed-loop transmit diversity is also employed in these third-generation networks. A detailed description of this is given in Section 7 of the Technical Specification 3G TS 25.214, "Physical layer procedures (FDD)—Release 1999", Version 3.9.0, published in December 2001 by 3GPP.
According to this scheme, a signal is transmitted from two antennas, after it has been weighted in each transmission branch by a weight intended to correct its phase and/or its amplitude so as to maximize the power of the useful signal received by the receiver. A feedback loop is used to update the optimal weight vector at the transmitter. Such a scheme is potentially sensitive to the speed of movement of the receiver. A high speed may require the phase to be corrected and the weighting vector to be updated more rapidly than the speed of the feedback loop currently provided.
The base stations of cellular systems that exploit polarization diversity use, for example, a cross-polar antenna system, i.e. two antennas placed at the same point and arranged at 90° to each other (one is, for example, sensitive to the vertical polarization and the other sensitive to the horizontal polarization). The transmitted signal is received via a polarization-diversity antenna system in two branches of the receiver. Combining techniques are then used to take advantage of the independence of behavior along the propagation path of orthogonally polarized signals. More specifically, the polarization diversity gain results from the rotation of the polarization when the transmitted electromagnetic wave is randomly reflected off obstacles. Conventionally, it is accepted that signals received with polarization diversity must be weakly correlated so that the combining delivers a gain that justifies the use of this technique. Lee and Yeh ("Polarization diversity system for mobile radio", IEEE Trans. Com., Vol. COM-20, No. 5, pp. 912-922, 1972) have considered that effective diversity may be achieved with a correlation coefficient of less than 0.7.
The present invention relates especially to a dual transmit polarization diversity scheme. In such a scheme, the radio transmission is distributed over two units each designed to transmit a signal in a pre-determined polarization. It may for example be employed in a base station provided with a cross-polar antenna system and with two radio transmitters, one being designed to transmit in vertical linear polarization and the other in horizontal linear polarization.
Such base stations are described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 6,411,824 and WO 01/54230.
Application WO 01/54230 describes in particular a system for reducing the effects of fast fading observed in a communication channel with a mobile unit. According to the method described, a transmitter (of a base station or of a mobile unit) scans predetermined transmission polarization states. An optimal state is selected using an open-loop or closed-loop method. Such a method requires a rate of updating the optimal polarization, on the basis of minimizing the effects of fading, corresponding to the rate of change of this phenomenon. In the example described, the matching is thus carried out at a rate of the order of one frame of 10 ms duration. Such a rate is somewhat incompatible with a closed-loop method, the rate of the feedback loop imposing an excessive load on the air interface, taking into account the advantages afforded by the method.
One object of the present invention is to propose another mode of polarization diversity, which provides an appreciable receive gain without seeking to follow the fast fading of the channel, which would impose a signaling load difficult to accept.

Method of transmitting radio signals with polarization diversity and radiocommunication station and terminal for implementing the method


Provided herein is a method of amplifying nucleic acids using a plurality of modified nucleotides one or more of the nucleotides comprising a 3′ blocking group. Also provided is a method of amplifying nucleic acids using oligonucleotide primers one or both of the primers comprising a 3′ blocking group on one or more of the nucleotides of the primers.

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is highly important in the field of molecular biology through its ability to identify, manipulate and reproduce genetic material such as DNA. PCR is routinely performed in a variety of medical and research laboratories, for example, to detect and/or identify disease and clone genes. PCR involves heating and cooling genetic material in the presence of, at least, target specific PCR primers, and one or more thermostable polymerases, in order to amplify one or more desired targets within the genetic material. However, amplification of non-specific sequences by mis-priming of the PCR primers can compete with amplification of the desired target sequences and reduce amplification efficiency of the target. To reduce nonspecific product amplification or mis-priming of PCR primers, techniques referred to as "hot-start" PCR have been developed. General hot-start PCR strategies include the use of temperature sensitive materials that prevents mixing of reagents until the appropriate time or temperature sensitive polymerases that have been modified to become active at a certain temperature. The most common hot-start strategies involve the use of oligonucleotide aptamers or antibodies that inhibit the function of DNA polymerase or chemically modified polymerases with reversible modifications. Other hot-start PCR strategies include the use of oligonucleotide primer sequence constructs that disfavor mis-priming, such as competitor sequences.

Nucleotides and primers with removable blocking groups


The invention provides isolated nucleic acids molecules, designated SLIC-1 nucleic acid molecules, which encode novel P-selectin glycoprotein ligand (PSGL-1) binding molecules. The invention also provides antisense nucleic acid molecules, recombinant expression vectors containing SLIC-1 nucleic acid molecules, host cells into which the expression vectors have been introduced, and nonhuman transgenic animals in which a SLIC-1 gene has been introduced or disrupted. The invention still further provides isolated SLIC-1 proteins, fusion proteins, antigenic peptides and anti-SLIC-1 antibodies. Diagnostic methods utilizing compositions of the invention are also provided.

A multistep process involving adhesive and signaling events regulates inflammatory responses to infection or tissue injury. During inflammation leukocytes adhere to the vascular endothelium and enter subendothelial tissue, an interaction which is mediated by specific binding of the selectin or LEC-CAM class of proteins to ligands on target cells (Lowe, J B et al. 1997 J. Clin. Invest. 99:822-826). Such selectin-mediated cellular adhesion also occurs in thrombotic disorders and parasitic diseases and may be implicated in metastatic spread of tumor cells (Lowe, J B et al. 1997 J. Clin. Invest. 99:822-826).
The selectin proteins are characterized by a N-terminal lectin-like domain, an epidermal growth factor-like domain, and regions of homology to complement binding proteins (Bevilacqua, M P et al. 1993 J. Clin. Invest. 91:379-387). Thus far three human selectin proteins have been identified, E-selectin (formerly ELAM-1), L-selectin (formerly LAM-1) and P-selectin (formerly PADGEM or GMP-140). E-selectin is induced on endothelial cells several hours after activation by cytokines, mediating the calcium-dependent interaction between neutrophils and the endothelium. L-selectin is the lymphocyte homing receptor, and P-selectin rapidly appears on the cell surface of platelets when they are activated, mediating calcium-dependent adhesion of neutrophils or monocytes to platelets. P-selectin is also found in the Weibel-Palade bodies of endothelial cells; upon its release from these vesicles P-selectin mediates early binding of neutrophils to histamine- or thrombin-stimulated endothelium.
Selectins are believed to mediate adhesion through specific interactions with ligands present on the surface of target cells (Varki, A. J. 1997 J. Clin. Invest. 99:158-162). Generally the ligands of selectins are comprised at least in part of a carbohydrate moiety (e.g., sialyl Lewisx and sialyl Lewisa, heparan sulfate) and each selectin appears to bind to a range of carbohydrates with varying affinities. The strength of the selectin mediated adhesive event (binding affinity) may also depend on the density of the carbohydrate and on the density of the selectin on the cell surface. For example, P-selectin binds to carbohydrates containing the non-sialated form of the Lewisx blood group antigen and with higher affinity to sialyl Lewisx. P-selectin may also recognize sulfatides, which are heterogeneous 3-sulfated galactosyl ceramides, isolated from myeloid and tumor cells by lipid extraction. In addition, the PSGL-1 glycoprotein acts as a ligand for P-selectin on human endothelial cells and platelets (U.S. Pat. No. 5,827,817).
The initial tethering of leukocytes to activated platelets or endothelium is in part mediated by PSGL-1/CD162. PSGL-1 is a mucin-like glycoprotein, expressed on the surface of most cells of hematopoietic origin, which functions as a cellular adhesion molecule. It normally exists as a disulfide linked homodimer with an apparent molecular weight of approximately 240 kD. PSGL-1 is a unique high affinity ligand for P-selectin and is one of several known lower affinity ligands for E-selectin and L-selectin. PSGL-1 has an extracellular domain rich in serines, theronines, and prolines, and which includes 15 decameric repeats, as well as putative sites for tyrosine sulfation (McEver, R P et al. 1997 J. Clin. Invest. 100:485-491). Binding of PSGL-1 to P-selectin requires that PSGL-1 be modified with alpha 2,3-linked sialic acid and alpha 1,3-linked fusose. In addition, PSGL-1 contains a single extracellular cysteine residue located at the junction of the transmembrane domain, followed by a cytoplasmic domain containing putative phosphorylation sites on tyrosine, threonine and serine residues. Comparison of the human and murine PSGL-1 proteins indicates that the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains are highly conserved, implying an important function for these domains.
Various reports provide evidence that ligation of PSGL-1 on the surface of different cell types, by a variety of agents, results in an intracellular signaling event, including the phosphorylation of multiple intracellular proteins. Moreover, the binding of P-selectin to PSGL-1 may generate signals that are integrated with signals from other mediators to elicit an effector response. For example, the exposure of human monocytes in vitro to immobilized P-selectin has been reported to increase their response to the chemokine RANTES (Hidari, KI-P et al. 1997 J. Biol. Chem. 272:28750-28756). In polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), PSGL-1 mediated signaling events include activation of MAP kinases and the Ras GTPase, Interleukin-8 (IL-8) secretion, and the rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of a 110 kD protein also associated with the activation of the β2-integrin CD11b/CD18 (Evangelista, V et al. 1999 Blood 93:876-885; Hidari, K I-P et al. 1997 J. Biol. Chem. 272:28750-28756). In addition, adhesion of T lymphocytes to P-selectin has been reported to induce tyrosine phosphorylation of several intracellular proteins including the focal adhesion kinase, pp125FAK (McEver, R P et al. 1997 J. Clin. Invest. 100:485-491). A patient having a variant of leukocyte adhesion deficiency type 1 (LAD-1 variant) syndrome, which causes defects in leukocyte adhesion mediated by B1 and B2 integrins, has been reported. The neutrophils from this patient have a 77% increase in the surface expression of PSGL-1. The mechanism and genetic basis of this individuals' abnormality have not yet been characterized (Harris, E. S. et al. (2001) Blood 97:767-776).
Furthermore, upon leukocyte activation, PSGL-1 can redistribute to the uropods of polarized cells, and may thus interact with cytoskeletal elements during cellular redistribution (McEver, R P et al. 1997 J. Clin. Invest. 100:485-491). The adherence of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) bearing PSGL-1 on their surface has also been reported to inhibit cell growth and induce apoptosis under certain conditions.
To date, however, there has been no identification of the proximal molecule(s) that interact with the cytoplasmic domain of PSGL-1 and potentially mediate the intracellular signal transduction subsequent to the extracellular ligation of PSGL-1 and/or the cytoskeletal association of PSGL-1.

Selectin ligand interactor cytoplasmic (SLIC-1), a P-selectin glycoprotein ligand (PSGL-1) binding protein