An energy dissipating connector for coupling first and second structural members together has a first attachment member attachable to a first rebar member of the first structural member and a second attachment member attachable to a second rebar member of the second structural member such that the second attachment member is slidably connectable to the first attachment member whereby sliding of the second attachment member relative to the first attachment member permits relative motion of the first and second structural members and dissipates energy tending to cause such motion. The second attachment member is preferably slidably moveable relative to the first attachment member by approximately 1/4 inch in either direction and the second attachment member preferably moves relative to the first attachment member in response to force of at least 90,000 pounds. The first and second attachment members are preferably attachable to the first and second rebar portions via screw threads. A sleeve threadably attaches the second attachment member to the first attachment member, the second attachment member being slidably disposed within a bore formed in the sleeve.

Reinforcing steel couplers or connectors are known for attaching the abutting ends of rebar sections together. Such connectors are commonly utilized to interconnect adjoining structural members such as girders and columns in the building construction process.
For example, to attach a horizontal girder to a vertical column, the girder is positioned as desired proximate the column such that first rebar members extending from the girder are almost in abutting relationship with complimentary second rebar members extending from the column. A small gap is present at this time between the first and second rebar members. First and second coupler or attachment members are threaded onto each pair of corresponding first and second rebar members, respectively. The first and second attachment members are threaded on the inside to receive the first and second rebar members and are threaded on the outside to screw into a common or third member. Next, the third member, comprising a threaded sleeve, is positioned intermediate the first and second attachment members and then rotated such that the first and second attachment members screw thereinto, in a turnbuckle-like fashion. Thus, as the third member is rotated, the first and second attachment members, attached to the first and second rebar members, respectively, are drawn together into abutting relationship.
Such prior art connectors generally provide positive mechanical interconnection of the abutting complimentary rebar members. Such interconnection is completely rigid and does not accommodate relative longitudinal motion of the rebar members. Consequently, relative motion of the joined structural members, i.e., girders and/or columns, is likewise not facilitated.
As such, although contemporary reinforcing steel couplers or connectors are generally suitable for their intended purposes, they possess inherent deficiencies which detract from their overall effectiveness in building construction. It is therefore desirable to provide an alternative reinforcing steel coupler or connection which accommodates a degree of longitudinal motion of the abutting rebar members and consequently likewise accommodates a degree of relative movement of the joined structural members, i.e., columns and/or girders.


Elongated metal risers are oriented perpendicular to the front end of a shelf, and extend from proximate the front edge of the shelf to at least the rear edge of the shelf. A package stored on the shelf is advantageously supported by left and right side risers and a center riser disposed beneath therebetween, thereby forming left and right insertion channels adjacent the center riser. In storing and retrieving objects from the shelf, a forklift machine advances with its left and right forks aligned with the left and right insertion channels, until the forks are securely under the object. By this configuration, a package lacking apertures for receiving the blades of a forklift machine does not need to be secured to a wooden pallet in order to safely maneuver the package on or off of a storage shelf by a forklift machine or similar device.

For decades, the methods and apparatus used in warehouse storage have changed very little. FIG. 1A illustrates an exploded view of a standard wooden pallet 100 similar to those which are used in warehouse storage operations. The top half of the wooden pallet 100 is made up of parallel wooden deck boards 101. The deck boards rest on, and are secured to, three parallel stringer boards 105 which are aligned perpendicular to the deck boards. The outer stringer boards 105A, 105C are disposed along the outer edges of the deck boards, and the center stringer board 105B is disposed halfway between the outer stringer boards. Typically, the deck boards are secured to the stringer boards by nails or high-strength staples. The bottom half of the pallet is identically constructed of three parallel stringer boards 105D, lOSE, 105F, secured to a plurality of lower deck boards 103. The top and bottom halves of the pallet are secured to each other by wooden spacer blocks 107 disposed along the stringer boards.
Within industry, the "width" of a wooden pallet is generally the length of the deck boards, and the "length" of a wooden pallet is generally the length of the stringer boards. Regardless of the number of spacer blocks 107 disposed along the stringer boards, a pallet is normally configured to receive the insertion of forklift blades according to the orientation of directional arrows FLB 1. As used throughout this disclosure, this "insertion" side will be referred to as the "front" of the pallet. Because of the symmetry on most pallets the reader will appreciate that a forklift machine can similarly insert its forklift blades from the rear of the pallet. If three spacer blocks are evenly spaced along each stringer board, a forklift machine will also be able to insert its blades between the upper and lower portions of the pallet from the "side" of the pallet, as illustrated by directional arrows FLB2. Wooden pallets capable of receiving an insertion of forklift machine blades from only the front and back are typically known as "two-way" pallets. Wooden pallets that can also receive forklift blade insertion from the left and right sides are typically known as "four-way" pallets
FIG. 1B discloses the wooden pallet of FIG. 1A in an assembled state. In many pallets, the bottom half of pallet 100 if typically identical in design to the upper half, such that the pallet will function identically regardless of which side is facing up. A benefit of this design is that if one or more of the wooden deck boards 101 on one side of the pallet are damaged, a warehouse worker may flip the pallet such that the top side of the pallet comprises undamaged wooden deck boards more suitable for supporting various commodities and goods. The insertion slots 109A and 109B receive fork lift blades at the front and rear of the pallet, and, for four-way pallets, insertion slots liIA, 11 lB along the sides of the pallet can also receive fork lift blades.
In an alternative embodiment of prior art wooden pallets, "runners" (not shown) approximately the same height as wooden spacer blocks extend the length of the pallet in place of the stringer boards of FIG. 1A. Alternatively, runners may be used in conjunction with stringer boards, each runner being disposed between an upper stringer board and a corresponding lower stringer board in an assembled palette. Runners may have horizontally elongated mouse-hole type slots cut therein, providing "four way" access to a pallet by a fork lift machine.
FIG. 2 depicts a package of goods 201 affixed to a disposable pallet 203 which itself rests on a wooden pallet 100. The package 201 is wrapped with strapping bands 205 which are typically made from either steel or nylon. The strapping bands 205 may be tightened by a strapping machine (not shown) or a hand held tightening device (also not shown) and secured in a taut condition by a wire loop buckle 207 for nylon strapping bands or a metal crimp buckle (not shown) for steel strapping bands. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the strapping bands 205 secure the package 201 to the disposable pallet 203. A disposable pallet 203 is typically made principally of cardboard, or a combination of cardboard and wood. A disposable pallet 203 is typically less expensive to fabricate than a wooden pallet 100. However, disposable pallets do not normally have insertion slots into which forklift machine blades may be inserted, and are not as rugged as wooden pallets. However, by using a disposable pallet 203 in conjunction with a typical wooden pallet 100, as shown in FIG. 2, the insertion slots 109A and 109B of the wooden pallet facilitate storage and retrieval of the wooden pallet, and any content stored thereon, by forklift machine 301 (FIG. 3). The disposable pallet 203 provides a stable and durable base for package 201. Depending upon the weight, height, and the general stability of a package, when a package with an integral disposable pallet is a placed on a wooden pallet, the package may be secured to the wooden pallet by means of strapping bands to provide additional stability when being moved by a forklift machine.
To initially position a package with a disposable pallet onto a wooden pallet, a variety of techniques are used by warehouse workers. For lighter packages, warehouse workers may tilt a package onto a back edge, slide a wooden pallet underneath it, and lower the package onto the wooden pallet. Because this process typically leaves the back edge of the package hanging off of the wooden pallet, warehouse workers will attempt to center the package on the wooden pallet by creeping the package toward the center of the wooden pallet, often standing on the wooden pallet during the process to prevent the wooden pallet from sliding away.
In embodiments wherein the package is too heavy for warehouse workers to tilt onto a back edge, or creep into a stable position in the center of a wooden pallet, a forklift machine may be used. Forklift machines typically have two parallel blades. Each blade has a vertical portion proximate forklift machine and a horizontal portion extending forward from the bottom of the vertical portion. Fork lift machine blades are typically formed from a continuous steel member such that the vertical portion and horizontal portion meet at a 90° bend at the bottom of the vertical portion of the forklift blades. The horizontal portion of a fork lift blade is about an inch and a half thick, depending on the size of the forklift machine and the weight limit for which it is designed. The horizontal portion of the blade is tapered at the distal end of the blade thereby allowing a skilled forklift driver to advance the tapered end of the blades underneath packages resting on the floor.
When a forklift machine is used to place a package onto a wooden pallet, the forklift driver typically lowers the distal ends (the tips) of the blades to the warehouse floor, with the blades either parallel to the floor, or tilted at a slight downward angle toward the tips. The forklift driver advances the forklift machine toward the package with the distal edge of the blades touching, or almost touching the floor, thereby sliding the blades underneath the package. The blades are then raised, lifting the package off the warehouse floor, allowing warehouse workers slide a wooden pallet underneath the package. The fork lift machine then lowers the package onto the wooden pallet. To allow the forklift machine blades to be withdrawn without pulling the package off of the wooden pallet, the forklift machine driver may tilt the distal ends of the forklift blades downward, thereby lowering the distal edge of the package onto the wooden pallet. As the weight of the package is distributed disproportionately along the back edge of the package, the forklift machine backs up, thereby withdrawing the blades so as to lower the bottom surface of the package out of the wooden pallet without dragging the package off of the wooden pallet. Because the positioning of a package onto a pallet is about one third art, one third science, and one third brute force, the technique described above is simply offered to be illustrative, and is not intended to limit the techniques that warehouse workers use to move large packages by fork lift.
It can be readily appreciated that the proper insertion of forklift machine blades to a desired depth under a package is usually dependent upon several factors. First, it is important that a warehouse floor be smooth and level so that the tapered (distal) ends of the forklift blades can slide underneath the package, rather than piercing the package. A second factor influencing the depth of penetration of fork lift blades under a package or disposable pallet is the angle of the forklift machine blades relative to the ground. To slide fork lift blades underneath a package or disposable pallet resting on the floor, the horizontal portion of the forklift blade is tilted "downward" slightly such that the distal end is the lowest portion of the horizontal section. According to the judgment of the forklift machine driver, this angle of downward tilt is typically between 1 degree and 15 degrees. It can be appreciated that, as a forklift blade advances beneath a package, the angle of tilt will be transmitted to the package itself, gradually lifting the proximal end of the package, thereby incurring progressively greater friction between the forklift blades and the bottom of the package as the forklift machine advances. Eventually, a package may begin to slide backwards from this force before the forklift machine blades have been inserted to a proper depth. To ensure proper depth of insertion, a third factor considered by a forklift machine driver is speed, acceleration and breaking. If the forklift machine is advancing too slowly, excess friction between the package in the blades may begin to push the package backwards before the forklift blades are properly seated underneath the package. If the forklift machine is advancing too quickly, the blades will slide under the disposable pallet until the face of the package impacts the vertical portions of the blades. The package is then driven backwards until the fork lift machine stops. if the forklift machine is advancing at an optimal rate, the horizontal portions of the blades will slide all the way underneath the package until the vertical portions of the forklift blades touch, or very nearly touch the forward face of the package.
It can be readily appreciated that while such techniques are appropriate for sliding the blades of a forklift machine underneath a package resting on a warehouse floor, they would be unworkable and even dangerous if used to retrieve packages stacked on top of each other, or stored on shelves. On the floor, a forklift machine can use the warehouse floor to adjust the height of the tips of the forklift blades before advancing toward a package. For retrieval from shelves, the proper height of the forklift blades can only be estimated. Forklift blades that were too high could penetrate a package, dent the contents stored within the package, or drive the package backward, possibly pushing it off the far end of the shelf. Forklift blades that are aligned to low can smash into a horizontal load beam along the forward edge of a shelf, either progressively damaging shelf, or even tipping over an entire shelf, creating a costly and dangerous situation. Because of these limitations, stacked storage techniques known in the prior art seldom use forklift machines to store a heavy package on a shelf unless the package is disposed on a wooden pallet.
FIG. 3 discloses a forklift machine 301 retrieving a package 201 from a storage shelf 305. The forklift machine has forklift blades 303 are raised to approximately the height of a wooden pallet 100 to which a package 201 is a secured. The package 201 is stored on the top shelf of a high stack storage shelf 305. Typically, retrieval is performed by raising the forklift blades to the level of the insertion slots 109A, 109B of wooden pallet 100 on which the palletized goods rest, and advancing the forklift machine so as to insert the forklift blades into the insertion slots. The pallet is raised when the blades are fully inserted.
Returning to FIG. 2, even when packages include an integral disposable pallet, the package 201 is often secured to a wooden pallet by strapping bands to improve stability and safety when moved via a fork lift machine. In securing a package in this manner, strapping bands are typically threaded through the cavity between a upper and lower deck boards. Strapping bands running widthwise between the upper and lower deck boards secure the package to the wooden pallet by wrapping around the outer stringer boards. Strapping bands running lengthwise between the upper and lower deck boards secure the package to help by wrapping around some or all of the deck boards.
To secure a large package to a pallet, the tensile force applied to each strapping band can be several hundred pounds. When a package is secured to a wooden pallet, the force transmitted by the strapping bands to the deck boards is often enough to pull the deck boards off of the stringer boards, or even crack the deck boards.
In addition to the damage caused to wooden pallets by strapping bands, forklift machines progressively destroy wooden pallets. A collision between the forklift blades 303 and the wooden spacer blocks 107 frequency occurs during blade insertion. Because forklift machines are generally quite powerful, a single such collision can loosen, dislodge, or even split a wooden spacer block. Additionally, a forklift machine often lacks sufficient room to approach a pallet head-on for direct insertion of forklift blades into the insertion slots 109A, 109B. To rotate a wooden pallet, a forklift machine driver will insert the tips of the forklift machine blades into the insertion slots 109A, 109B, turn the steering wheel of a forklift machine sharply, and backup, thereby forcing the forklift blades into the wooden spacers 107, exerting a lateral force sufficient to rotate a pallet. The heavier the load, the more force is required to rotate the pallet. Again, the force required to perform this maneuver takes its toll on wooden spacers, which are eventually loosened, dislodged, or destroyed. Additionally, hand pallet trucks typically have a pump action handle that hydraulically raises the lift-blades relative to the wheels, exerting thereby downward force against the wheels equal to the upward force necessary to raise the pallet. If the wheels are resting on a lower deck board, as the pallet is raised by the hydraulic cylinder, a deck board pinned underneath the wheel is ripped from the stringer boards, or split in two.
Damage to wooden pallets is an ongoing process in most warehouse environments. Because of this, a large warehouse may have a team of workers dedicated to the continual repair of pallets. Alternatively, a warehouse they may simply purchase an inflow of new pallets. Even when repaired, most pallets reach their repair limit, after which they are simply discarded, or disassembled and cannibalized for whatever usable wood might be left. This ongoing repairer and replacement of wooden pallets represents a significant expense for many companies.
Table 1 references the ten most common sizes of wooden pallets used in the United States, along with the industries that frequently use these respective sizes. Dimensions of Table 1 are in inches.
TABLE 1Grocery48 × 40Telecom, Paint42 × 40Drums48 × 48Cement40 × 48Chemical48 × 42Dairy40 × 40Automotive48 × 45Drums, Chemical44 × 44Beverage36 × 36Beverage, shingles, packaged paper48 × 36
Because these ten sizes represent only about sixty percent of the total number of pallets used in America, it can be readily appreciated that there is no "official" size for a pallet. Additionally, European nations and other metric regions add to the variety of pallet sizes, as illustrated in Table 2. Dimensions of Table 2 are in centimeters.
TABLE 2⅛ Euro40 × 30¼ Euro60 × 40½ Euro80 × 60Euro ISO 1 80 × 120Euro ISO 2100 120114 × 114liO × 110
Because of the expense in maintaining and replacing wooden pallets, industry has sought alternative solutions. Disposable cardboard pallets have been fitted with "feet" configured to raise a package a sufficient distance from the ground to allow insertion of forklift blades beneath the package. Feet integrally coupled to a carton or a disposable pallet are often cylindrical in shape, or may define a conical frustum. They are commonly in the range of six inches in diameter, and may be formed from molded plastic, with flanges extending horizontally from the upper limit of the cylinder. Corrugated cardboard layers above and below these flanges secure the feet to the carton or disposable pallet. The addition of feet to a disposable pallet however, significantly increases the cost of a carton or disposable pallet. Moreover, because a disposable pallet lacks the rigidity and strength of a wooden pallet, such designs cannot fully replace the functionality of traditional wooden pallets, and sometimes function as a limitation.
There remains therefore need for a method and apparatus for eliminating or reducing the ongoing expenses associated with procurement, repair and replacement of wooden pallets while retaining many of the advantages of wooden pallets.


The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for processing a NAS signaling request. A method for performing a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling process by means of a terminal in a wireless communication system according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: a step of receiving a first message that includes information indicating a network failure from a network node of a first network; a step of starting a timer relating to a network selection; and a step of selecting a second network from among network candidates excluding the first network during the operation of the timer relating to a network selection.

NAS corresponds to the highest stratum of a control plane between user equipment (UE) and a network node (e.g. mobility management entity (MME)) in a wireless communication system. NAS protocols include protocols for mobility management (NN) and session management (SM) between the UE and MME. For example, evolved packet system (EPS) MMM (EMM) protocol can provide procedures for controlling UE mobility and security of NAS protocols. EPS SM (ESM) protocol can include a procedure of processing EPS bearer context and can be used for bearer control provided by an access stratum (AS) and user plane bearer control.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for processing NAS signaling request in wireless communication system


The present invention relates to novel protein pores and their uses in analyte detection and characterisation. The invention particularly relates to an isolated pore complex formed by a CsgG-like pore and a modified CsgF peptide, or a homologue or mutant thereof, thereby incorporating an additional channel constriction or reader head in the nanopore. The invention further relates to a transmembrane pore complex and methods for production of the pore complex and for use in molecular sensing and nucleic acid sequencing applications.

Nanopore sensing is an approach to analyte detection and characterization that relies on the observation of individual binding or interaction events between the analyte molecules and an ion conducting channel. Nanopore sensors can be created by placing a single pore of nanometer dimensions in an electrically insulating membrane and measuring voltage-driven ion currents through the pore in the presence of analyte molecules. The presence of an analyte inside or near the nanopore will alter the ionic flow through the pore, resulting in altered ionic or electric currents being measured over the channel. The identity of an analyte is revealed through its distinctive current signature, notably the duration and extent of current blocks and the variance of current levels during its interaction time with the pore. Analytes can be organic and inorganic small molecules as well as various biological or synthetic macromolecules and polymers including polynucleotides, polypeptides and polysaccharides. Nanopore sensing can reveal the identity and perform single molecule counting of the sensed analytes, but can also provide information on the analyte composition such as nucleotide, amino acid or glycan sequence, as well as the presence of base, amino acid or glycan modifications such as methylation and acylation, phosphorylation, hydroxylation, oxidation, reduction, glycosylation, decarboxylation, deamination and more. Nanopore sensing has the potential to allow rapid and cheap polynucleotide sequencing, providing single molecule sequence reads of polynucleotides of tens to tens of thousands bases length.
Two of the essential components of polymer characterization using nanopore sensing are (1) the control of polymer movement through the pore and (2) the discrimination of the composing building blocks as the polymer is moved through the pore. During nanopore sensing, the narrowest part of the pore forms the reader head, the most discriminating part of the nanopore with respect to the current signatures as a function of the passing analyte. CsgG was identified as an ungated, non-selective protein secretion channel from Escherichia coli (Goyal et al., 2014) and has been used as a nanopore for detecting and characterising analytes. Mutations to the wild-type CsgG pore that improve the properties of the pore in this context have also been disclosed (WO2016/034591, WO2017/149316, WO2017/149317 and WO2017/149318, PCT/GB2018/051191, all incorporated by reference herein).
For analytes being polynucleotides, nucleotide discrimination is achieved via passage through such a mutant pore, but current signatures have been shown to be sequence dependent, and multiple nucleotides contributed to the observed current, so that the height of the channel constriction and extent of the interaction surface with the analyte affect the relationship between observed current and polynucleotide sequence. While the current range for nucleotide discrimination has been improved through mutation of the CsgG pore, a sequencing system would have higher performance if the current differences between nucleotides could be improved further. Accordingly, there is a need to identify novel ways to improve nanopore sensing features.


A key generation device includes a generation circuit, a concealment processing unit, and a cryptography processing unit. The generation circuit generates a value dependent on hardware. When acquiring a concealed cryptographic key, the concealment processing unit generates first data by performing a mask process to the concealed cryptographic key by using the value generated by the generation circuit, generates second data by decoding the first data by a first error correction decoding method, and generates a cryptographic key by decoding the second data by a second error correction decoding method. When acquiring the concealed cryptographic key and a plain text or an encrypted text, the cryptography processing unit acquires the cryptographic key corresponding to the concealed cryptographic key from the concealment processing unit, and encrypts the plain text or decrypts the encrypted text by using the cryptographic key.

Data is sometimes stored in an encrypted state, to allow a user having a predetermined access right to view the data and to prevent a user not having the access right from viewing the data. For example, business secret data that is not to be disclosed to the outside of an organization is sometimes stored in an encrypted state, to protect the business secret data from security attack, such as targeted attack and internal crime. However, if a cryptographic key used in cryptography processing, such as a symmetric key of symmetric key cryptography, is not managed appropriately, there is a security risk that the cryptographic key is stolen by a user not having an access right and that the encrypted data is decrypted and leaked fraudulently.
With regard to cryptography processing technology, there is a biometric authentication technology that enables data processing on the basis of a physical feature, such as fingerprint, vein, and iris, or a behavioral feature, such as handwriting. Fuzzy commitment is proposed as a biometric authentication technology. In the fuzzy commitment, biometric information to be stored is masked on the basis of secret information, such as a password, and the mask data and a hash value of the secret information are stored in a database. Thereafter, the secret information is restored by using biometric information to be verified and the mask data stored in the database, and a hash value of the restored secret information and the hash value stored in the database are compared to determine whether the authentication is a success or failure.
A fuzzy commitment method that generates a fuzzy commitment on the basis of a pattern input by a user is proposed as a biometric authentication technique. Also, there is proposed an authentication device capable of protecting a biometric authentication template stored in a database. Also, there is proposed a biometric authentication system capable of preventing impersonation attack even when a template and key information are leaked.
See, for example, International Publication Pamphlet Nos. WO 00/51244, WO 2006/093238, and WO 2012/042775.
See also Ari Juels and Martin Wattenberg, "A fuzzy commitment scheme", Proceedings of the 6th ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) conference on Computer and Communications Security, pp. 28-36, 1999.
By the way, a method of storing a cryptographic key in a concealed state by using other information, such as storing a cryptographic key itself in an encrypted state by using another cryptographic key, is conceived as a method for reducing the risk of leaking the cryptographic key. However, if the information used to conceal the cryptographic key is not protected sufficiently, there is a risk that the concealment of the cryptographic key is cancelled fraudulently. Further, if the concealment of the cryptographic key is temporarily cancelled on various devices, such as a terminal device of a user, in order to use the cryptographic key, there is a risk that the cryptographic key is leaked when the concealment is cancelled.

Key generation device and key generation method


A method and apparatus for increasing the capacity and quality of code-division-multiple-access (CDMA) communications in a near-far and frequency-selective fading environment is disclosed. The invention can be utilized in both synchronous and asynchronous CDMA systems. For convenience, only applications of this invention to synchronous CDMA are described herein. Unique to this invention is that using measurements from a receiver and multiple receivers at the base station, propagation channel parameters associated with a plurality of subscribers are determined without the use of training sequences. The channel parameters are used to calculate any individual user's signature waveform and reconstruct its transmitted signal from the received data. This invention can also be implemented at base stations with multiple antennas or/and fractionally spaced measurements to further improve signal quality by incorporating spatial and temporal diversities. When used at the mobile sites, the invention can alleviate the synchronization problem and mitigating frequency-selective fading.

The invention described in this patent application relates to the field of code-division-multiple-access (CDMA) wireless systems with multipath fading, and in particular to a method for estimating signature waveforms associated with the subscribers by means of subspace decomposition and least-squares fitting.
The rapid increase in the number of users of mobile telephones, personal communication services (PCS), etc., places challenging demands on future wireless services. Viewed as the generic next generation commercial multiplexing scheme, CDMA offers the promises of efficient use of the available bandwidth, inherent resistance to interference and adaptability to variable traffic patterns. If all mobile radio signals arriving at the base station are synchronized to within a small fraction of a chip-time interval, then it is possible to reduce the level mutual interference dramatically. For such synchronous CDMA (S-CDMA) systems, the use of orthogonal codewords can enhance performance to a greater degree than in asynchronous-CDMA systems (M K. Simon et al, "Spread Spectrum Communications Handbook", McGraw-Hill, New York, N.Y., revised edition, 1994).
In some applications where multipath delays are not negelible, it is normally difficult to maintain the low cross correlation among subscribers' signature waveforms since communication channels are subject to frequency-selective fading. Signal reception using conventional matched filters may suffer severe performance degradation due to mutual interference, especially in a near-far situation (e.g., weak CDMA signals can be overwhelmed by strong power signals in the same system). To mitigate this problem, multiuser detection/equalization needs to be performed to cope with frequency-selective fading. A class of multiuser receivers have been developed. The most prominent ones among many other include R. Lupas and S. Verdu, "Linear multiuser detectors for synchronous CDMA channels"IEEE Trans. on Information Theory, 1(35):123-136, January 1989.; Z. Xie et al, "A family of sub-optimum detectors for coherent multiuser communications", IEEE J. Selected Areas in Communications, pages 683-690, May 1990; and Z. Zvonar and D. Brady, "Suboptimum multiuser detector for synchronous CDMA frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channels", Globecom Mini-Conference on Communications Theory, pages 82-86, 1992.
Almost all the multiuser detectors require explicit knowledge of all users' signature waveforms which is the convolution of the multipath channels and the users' spreading codes. The signature waveforms distinct one CDMA signal from another. Conventional approaches for estimating the signature waveforms in a possibly time-varying environment, e.g., mobile applications, rely on a periodic transmission of a pilot signal (training sequence); the procedure is standard and can be found in a number of texts (e.g., see S. Haykin, "Adaptive Filter Theory", Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., second edition, 1991). The price paid is a significant reduction in channel efficiency and system robustness. As the rate of channel variations increases, the use of training sequences may become prohibitive. Also, the training sequences in the CDMA environments are not so effective as in the TDMA (Time-Division-Multiple-Access) scenarios due to high interference level in the CDMA environments. Adaptive multiuser detection has been proposed to combat fast fading channels. Recently developed algorithms include U. Mitra and H. V. Poor, "Adaptive receiver algorithm for near-far resistant CDMA", IEEE Trans. on Communications, 43(4):1713-1724, April 1995; M. Abdulrahman et al, "Equalization for interference cancellation in spread spectrum multiple access systems", Proc. VTC'92, pages 71-74, May 1992; P. Rapajic and B. Vucetic, "A linear adaptive fractionally spaced single user receiver for asynchronous CDMA systems", IEEE Int. Symp. on Information Theory, page 45, January 1993; and Honig et al, "Blind adaptive interference suppression for near-far resistant CDMA", Proc. Globecom'94, pages 379-384, 1994. Despite its success in some scenarios, the adaptive reception scheme still requires pilot signals to obtain a precise estimate of the signature waveform, at least that of a desired user.
Currently state-of-the-art technology can determine the channel without the use of a training sequence (herein referred to as blind identification). One of the earliest approach which utilizes low-order statistics was introduced by Tong et al., (Tong et al., "Blind Identification and Equalization Based on Second-Order Statistics: A Time Domain Approach", IEEE Trans. on Information Theory, March, 1994). Latest results show that the requirement for input statistics can be eliminated--blind identification can be accomplished based solely on a limited number of outputs (H. Liu et al, "Recent Developments in Blind Channel Equalization: From Cyclostationarity to Subspaces", Signal Processing, pages 83-99, June, 1996). Unfortunately, none of the algorithms to date can handle multiuser CDMA communications.
In view of the basic principle that a CDMA system requires the signature waveform information at the base-station for reliable signal detection, and the fact that training sequence-based techniques are cumbersome in wireless communications, the lack of data efficient blind techniques has become a serious barrier to the implementation of a CDMA system in a frequency-selective environment. There is a critical need for new technology to effectively determine multiuser channel parameters and signature waveforms without the use of the training sequence. The current invention directly addresses this need. Here, we present a blind technique which provides closed-form estimates of the signature waveforms for an almost synchronized CDMA system. Our approach is deterministic in the sense that no noise or signal statistics are required for the estimation. The estimation is accomplished by exploiting the fact that the user's signature waveform is confined to a subspace defined by the its associated code. The principal advantage of this approach is that it is highly data efficient and most suitable for a rapidly changing environment. In particular, it can determine the signature waveform with the number of data samples as small as the number of co-channel users.

Methods for channel estimation and signal detection of CDMA signals


A tag lock is provided which is constructed from a transparent material. The cover is hingably coupled over a license plate for selectively protecting the same.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tag lock and more particularly pertains to protecting a license plate and registration stickers against damage and theft.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of license plate protection devices is known in the prior art. More specifically, license plate protection devices heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of protecting a license plate are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, the prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 1,573,113; U.S. Pat. No. 1,829,824; U.S. Pat. No. 2,603,015; U.S. Pat. No. 3,304,642; U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,604; U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,486; U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,188; U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,510; U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,838; U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,062; U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,664; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,420.
In this respect, the tag lock according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of protecting a license plate and registration stickers against damage and theft.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved tag lock which can be used for protecting a license plate and registration stickers against damage and theft. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


The present invention provides methods and materials for diagnosing cancer in an individual using a tissue, blood or urine sample from the patient. Specifically, the disclosed method comprises determining the level of one or more metabolite selected from the group consisting of creatine riboside, metabolite 561+, cortisol sulfate and N-acetylneuraminic acid. The present invention also provides a method for determining the prognosis of a cancer patient by determining the level of one or more metabolite selected from the group consisting of creatine riboside, metabolite 561+, cortisol sulfate and N-acetylneuraminic acid. Also provided are kits for detecting cancer or determining the prognosis of a cancer patient.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in men and women both in the United States (Jemal A, Simard E P, Dorell C, et al. Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2009, Featuring the Burden and Trends in Human Papillomavirus (HPV)-Associated Cancers and HPV Vaccination Coverage Levels. J Natl Cancer Inst 2013; Jemal A, Bray F, Center M M, Ferlay J, Ward E, Forman D. Global cancer statistics. CA Cancer J Clin 2011; 61:69-90) and worldwide (Boyle P L B, ed. The World Cancer Report 2008. Lyon, France: IARC; 2008). Survival rates remain dismal, with 5-year survival ranging from <5% for distant, to 24% for regional, to 53% for localized disease (Homer M, Ries L A G, Krapcho M, et al. SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2006. In. Bethesda, Md.: National Cancer Institute; 2009). This substantial survival rate decrease in advanced disease provides a strong motivation to search for early diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.
Current clinically accepted methods for the early detection of lung cancer are limited to spiral CT scanning in smokers between the ages of 55 to 74 and a 30 pack year smoking history (Jaklitsch M T, Jacobson F L, Austin J H, et al. The American Association for Thoracic Surgery guidelines for lung cancer screening using low-dose computed tomography scans for lung cancer survivors and other high-risk groups. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2012; 144:33-8; American Cancer Society. American Cancer Society Guidelines for the Early Detection of Cancer, 2013. However, spiral CT scanning provides a high rate of false positives, namely 96.4% overall and 24% of those with invasive testing (Aberle D R, Adams A M, Berg C D, et al. Reduced lung-cancer mortality with low-dose computed tomographic screening. N Engl J Med 2011; 365:395-409). Also, spiral CT scanning may lead to an attendant increase in lung cancer risk due to radiation exposure (Brenner D J. Radiation risks potentially associated with low-dose CT screening of adult smokers for lung cancer. Radiology 2004; 231:440-5; Buls N, de Mey J, Covens P, Stadnik T. Health screening with CT: prospective assessment of radiation dose and associated detriment. JBR-BTR 2005; 88:12-6). Thus, a concordant biomarker to better identify those who should be screened or undergo invasive diagnostic work-ups is needed. Importantly, while imaging techniques perform poorly in identifying early stage lung cancer, the use of molecular biomarkers provides hope for early detection. However, to date, no molecular biomarker for early stage lung cancer has been validated (Vansteenkiste J, Dooms C, Mascaux C, Nackaerts K. Screening and early detection of lung cancer. Ann Oncol 2012; 23 Suppl 10:x320-7; Hassanein M, Callison J C, Callaway-Lane C, Aldrich M C, Grogan E L, Massion P P. The state of molecular biomarkers for the early detection of lung cancer. Cancer Prev Res (Phila) 2012; 5:992-1006).
Several biomarkers are available for the assessment of overall prognosis and for guiding therapy. For example, the KRAS mutation in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) confers a significantly shorter survival (HR=1.21) in stage IV disease (Johnson M L, Sima C S, Chaft J, et al. Association of KRAS and EGFR mutations with survival in patients with advanced lung adenocarcinomas. Cancer 2013; 119:356-62). The presence of an ALK or EGFR mutation indicates a responsive tumor to targeted therapies and longer survival (Lynch T J, Bell D W, Sordella R, et al. Activating mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor underlying responsiveness of non-small-cell lung cancer to gefitinib. N Engl J Med 2004; 350:2129-39; Paez J G, Janne P A, Lee J C, et al. EGFR mutations in lung cancer: correlation with clinical response to gefitinib therapy. Science 2004; 304:1497-500; Pao W, Miller V, Zakowski M, et al. EGF receptor gene mutations are common in lung cancers from "never smokers" and are associated with sensitivity of tumors to gefitinib and erlotinib. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2004; 101:13306-11; Mok T S, Wu Y L, Thongprasert S, et al. Gefitinib or carboplatin-paclitaxel in pulmonary adenocarcinoma. N Engl J Med 2009; 361:947-57; Antoniu S A. Crizotinib for EML4-ALK positive lung adenocarcinoma: a hope for the advanced disease? Evaluation of Kwak E L, Bang Y J, Camidge D R, et al. Anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibition in non-small-cell lung cancer. N Engl J Med 2010; 363(18):1693-703. Expert Opin Ther Targets 2011; 15:351-3). However, current clinically accepted biomarkers for lung cancer outcomes are based on tumor assays, an invasive approach that can be limited due to tissue availability.
Urine is gaining increasing interest as a biospecimen for detecting cancer biomarkers (Schmidt C. Urine biomarkers may someday detect even distant tumors. J Natl Cancer Inst 2009; 101:8-10), notably because it is collected noninvasively, abundant, and requires minimal preparation. Presently, only one urinary cancer biomarker is clinically applied, PCA3, for detecting prostate cancer (Groskopf J, Aubin S M, Deras I L, et al. APTIMA PCA3 molecular urine test: development of a method to aid in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Clin Chem 2006; 52:1089-95). However, no clinically applied biomarkers exist for lung cancer, but promising urinary biomarkers include modified nucleosides (Henneges C, Bullinger D, Fux R, et al. Prediction of breast cancer by profiling of urinary RNA metabolites using Support Vector Machine-based feature selection. BMC Cancer 2009; 9:104; Hsu W Y, Chen W T, Lin W D, et al. Analysis of urinary nucleosides as potential tumor markers in human colorectal cancer by high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Clin Chim Acta 2009; 402:31-7; Jeng L B, Lo W Y, Hsu W Y, et al. Analysis of urinary nucleosides as helper tumor markers in hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 2009; 23:1543-9; Manjula S, Aroor A R, Raja A, Rao S, Rao A. Urinary excretion of pseudouridine in patients with brain tumours. Acta Oncol 1993; 32:311-4; Sasco A J, Rey F, Reynaud C, Bobin J Y, Clavel M, Niveleau A. Breast cancer prognostic significance of some modified urinary nucleosides. Cancer Lett 1996; 108:157-62; Vreken P, Tavenier P. Urinary excretion of six modified nucleosides by patients with breast carcinoma. Ann Clin Biochem 1987; 24 (Pt 6): 598-603; Xu G, Di Stefano C, Liebich H M, Zhang Y, Lu P. Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic investigation of urinary normal and modified nucleosides of cancer patients. J Chromatogr B Biomed Sci Appl 1999; 732:307-13; Xu G, Schmid H R, Lu X, Liebich H M, Lu P. Excretion pattern investigation of urinary normal and modified nucleosides of breast cancer patients by RP-HPLC and factor analysis method. Biomed Chromatogr 2000; 14:459-63), where high levels indicate an increased RNA turnover and degradation. Clinical trials evaluating the utility of these nucleotides in various diseases, including cancer, are ongoing.
Metabolomics is an increasingly popular approach for uncovering new biomarkers for diagnosis (Kim Y S, Maruvada P, Milner J A. Metabolomics in biomarker discovery: future uses for cancer prevention. Future Oncol 2008; 4:93-102; Kind T, Tolstikov V, Fiehn O, Weiss R H. A comprehensive urinary metabolomic approach for identifying kidney cancerr. Anal Biochem 2007; 363:185-95; Matsumura K, Opiekun M, Oka H, et al. Urinary volatile compounds as biomarkers for lung cancer: a proof of principle study using odor signatures in mouse models of lung cancer. PLoS One 2010; 5:e8819; Sreekumar A, Poisson L M, Raj Endiran™, et al. Metabolomic profiles delineate potential role for sarcosine in prostate cancer progression. Nature 2009; 457:910-4; Yang Q, Shi X, Wang Y, et al. Urinary metabonomic study of lung cancer by a fully automatic hyphenated hydrophilic interaction/RPLC-MS system. J Sep Sci 2010; 33:1495-503; Yuan J M, Gao Y T, Murphy S E, et al. Urinary levels of cigarette smoke constituent metabolites are prospectively associated with lung cancer development in smokers. Cancer Res 2011; 71:6749-57) and customized treatment (Fan T W, Lane A N, Higashi R M. The promise of metabolomics in cancer molecular therapeutics. Curr Opin Mol Ther 2004; 6:584-92), and for evaluating characteristics of metastatic cells (Mountford C E, Wright L C, Holmes K T, Mackinnon W B, Gregory P, Fox R M. High-resolution proton nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of metastatic cancer cells. Science 1984; 226:1415-8) and carcinogenic tobacco-smoke constituents (Church T R, Anderson K E, Caporaso N E, et al. A prospectively measured serum biomarker for a tobacco-specific carcinogen and lung cancer in smokers. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009; 18:260-6; Hecht S S, Hatsukami D K, Bonilla L E, Hochalter J B. Quantitation of 4-oxo-4-(3-pyridyl)butanoic acid and enantiomers of 4-hydroxy-4-(3-pyridyl)butanoic acid in human urine: A substantial pathway of nicotine metabolism. Chem Res Toxicol 1999; 12:172-9; Hecht S S, Murphy S E, Stepanov I, Nelson H H, Yuan J M. Tobacco smoke biomarkers and cancer risk among male smokers in the Shanghai Cohort Study. Cancer Lett 201). However, most studies suffer from limited sample sizes, quality control, and lack of technical and biological validation. Metabolomic studies are unique and powerful because they measure both exogenous (e.g. cigarette smoke constituents) and endogenous molecules from cellular processes reacting to different types of exposures. Among methods for measuring metabolites, mass spectrometry is very sensitive and requires only small quantities of biospecimens (Griffin J L. The Cinderella story of metabolic profiling: does metabolomics get to go to the functional genomics ball? Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2006; 361:147-61). A recent study has provided proof of principle evidence for the use of metabolomics in smokers that demonstrates the reliability and reproducibility of the assay, and the ability to distinguish levels and smoking status (Hsu P C, Zhou B, Zhao Y, et al. Feasibility of identifying the tobacco-related global metabolome in blood by UPLC-QTOF-MS. J Proteome Res 2012).

Method for the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer

The USA, as represted by the Secretary, Dept. of and Human Services, National Institutes of Health


A chucking apparatus in which a plurality of pawl bodies are provided in a radial direction of a hub body of a turntable such that the pawl bodies can move, a center hole of a disk is pressed by the pawl bodies to hold the disk, wherein the chucking apparatus comprises a resilient member for biasing the pawl bodies outward of the hub body, each of the pawl bodies includes a pawl portion which comes into contact with the disk, and a pawl-side stopper for limiting outward movement caused by the resilient member, the hub body includes a pawl opening through which the pawl portion can project outward, and a hub-side stopper which abuts against the pawl-side stopper, a position of the pawl portion in a standby state where the disk is not held by the pawl portion is set lower than a position of the pawl portion in a recording/replaying state where the disk is held by the pawl portion.

A loading method is widely employed in conventional disk apparatuses. In this method, a disk is placed on a tray or a turntable, and the tray or the turntable is loaded into an apparatus body.
According to such a loading method, however, since the tray or the turntable is required, there is a limit for thinning the disk apparatus body.
As a slot-in type disk apparatus, there is proposed a method which a conveying roller is abutted against a disk surface to pull the disk in (e.g., a patent document 1).
(Patent document 1)
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.H7-220353
According to the slot-in type as proposed in the patent document 1, however, since a conveying roller which is longer than a diameter of the disk is used, the width of the apparatus must be increased, and the thickness of the apparatus is also increased due to this conveying roller.
Therefore, according to such a slot-in type disk apparatus, it is difficult to reduce the thickness and size of the disk apparatus body.
Hence, it is an object of the present invention to provide a chucking apparatus which can be reduced in thickness and size.
Especially, for reducing the height space above the turn table required for inserting a disk in a standby state where no disk is inserted into the disk apparatus, it is another object of the invention to provide a chucking apparatus which can be reduced in thickness.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A data compression apparatus includes a dictionary buffer for holding data of the immediately preceding line of successively inputted two-dimensional image data, a buffer for extracting a plurality of continuous data strings from the inputted data of the current line to store them as a partial data string to be compressed, a scanning comparison section for detecting whether or not the same data string as the partial data string to be compressed exists in the data stored in the dictionary buffer, and a code generator by which in the case where the presence of the same data string is detected by the scanning comparison section, data of the position and the length of a partial data string on the data of the immediately preceding line stored in the dictionary buffer is outputted as data of that partial data string of the current line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data compression and decompression methods for two-dimensional image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
An irreversible data compression method and a reversible data compression method are known as the conventional image compression method. Examples of the irreversible data compression method include JPEG (Joint Photographic Except Group) or MPEG (Moving Picture Except Group) using discrete cosine transformation (DCT). In the case where image data using color code (or color pallet call code) is to be compressed, such an irreversible data compression method cannot be used since the missing of information may be generated. Typical examples of the reversible data compression method include a method in which data compression is performed using the run length of information (run-length compression method) and a method in which data compression is performed in such a manner that frequently occurring information is registered in a dictionary (dictionary compression method). The latter method or dictionary compression method is disclosed by Ziv and Lempel, "Compression of Individual Sequences via Variable Rate Coding", IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, IT-24, pp. 530-536.
The above compression methods involve problems which will be mentioned in the following.
Though the run-length compression method is effective for image data which abounds with the same continuous information, this method is ineffective for image data which is not so, that is, there may be the case where the effect of compression does not appear at all.
Though the dictionary compression method is effective for image data which has a high hit ratio for the dictionary, this method is ineffective for image data which is not so. Also, since the hit ratio depends on a storage capacity for storing the dictionary, a storage location having a large capacity is needed if it is desired to obtain a high hit ratio. Further, since the large-capacity dictionary is involved, the number of times of reference to the dictionary is increased, thereby lowering the compression speed.

Compression and decompression methods on two-dimensional image data


A motor-vehicle gear arrangement for a power-assist gearing in a motor vehicle, that includes a gear, a flange arrangement including at least one flange, wherein the gear is located adjacent to the flange in the flange arrangement so as to rotate about a common axis, and at least one connecting element to connect the gear to the at least one flange. This gear arrangement, or a flange for this gear arrangement, is advantageous due to the fact that the ribs are formed on the flange laterally within a plane perpendicularly to the rotational axis so as to reinforce the flange.

The invention relates to a motor-vehicle gear arrangement for a power-assist gearing in a motor vehicle.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0060379A1 discloses a steering device for motor vehicles with a gearing system. The gearing system has a gear arrangement with a gear which is employed in the form of a worm gear between a first and a second flange. Driver elements in the form of connecting elements project in a spaced configuration from the central rotational axis that extends between the first flange and the second flange. The driver elements pass through corresponding take-up openings formed in the gear. In the gearing system, a worm of a steering linkage engages teeth of a gear ring on the outer circumference of the gear.
Individual components made of metal are generally preferred when constructing a gear arrangement of this type in order to provide sufficient stability. Gears made of plastic are also generally known—however, these exhibit limited stability.
What is needed is an improved motor vehicle gear arrangement for a power assist gearing in a motor vehicle.

Motor vehicle gear arrangement for a power assist gearing in a motor vehicle


An electronic device in some embodiments includes: a display layer configured to display an image based on image data and having a plurality of regions defined thereon; a sensor layer on the display layer; and a sensor driver configured to receive image information data calculated based on the image data, to generate an output signal based on the image information data, and to provide the output signal to the sensor layer, wherein the image information data includes noise information on the image, the noise information being calculated based on the plurality of regions. Some embodiments may include the electronic device included in an interface device.

Aspects of some example embodiments of the present disclosure herein relate to an electronic device with relatively improved sensing performance and an interface device including the same.
Multimedia electronic devices such as televisions, mobile phones, tablet computers, navigation system units, and game consoles are equipped with an electronic device for displaying images. The electronic devices may include an input sensor that may provide a touch-based input method which allows a user to easily input information or commands intuitively and conveniently in addition to a conventional input method such as a button, a keyboard, and a mouse.
The input sensor may sense a touch or pressure by a user's body. Meanwhile, the demand for using an active pen for a fine touch input for a user who is familiar with inputting information using a writing instrument or a specific application program (for example, an application program for sketches or drawings) is increasing.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background and therefore the information discussed in this Background section does not necessarily constitute prior art.

Electronic device and interface device including the same


A proton conductive membrane according to the invention includes layered clay mineral powder which is a cation exchanger or an anion exchanger, and a crosslinking structure including an —O—SO2—O— group which crosslinks particles of the layered clay mineral powder. The proton conductive membrane may be obtained by applying a modifying agent which contains one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of sulfuric acid and metal sulfates, to the layered clay mineral powder, each particle of the layered clay mineral powder having an acid site on a surface thereof. Thus, a phosphoric acid-derived compound which crosslinks the particles of the layered clay mineral powder is replaced by the sulfuric acid which is a stronger acid, whereby the proton conducting ability of the proton conductive membrane can be improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a proton conductive membrane and a production method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
As electrolyte material for a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell, polymer containing perfluorocarbon sulfonic acid such as Nafion (trademark) is widely employed. The electrolyte that constitutes a membrane-electrode assembly (hereinafter, referred to as an MEA) of the fuel cell needs to have proton conductivity and an ability to prevent crossover of reaction gases at both electrodes, that is, a gas-barrier property.
The polymer containing perfluorocarbon sulfonic acid such as Nafion has high gas permeability. Therefore, when the polymer containing perfluorocarbon sulfonic acid is used as the electrolyte membrane, there arise problems concerning a decrease in performance of the electrolyte membrane and durability of the electrolyte membrane. Further, there arises another problem that a distance between polymer chains of the polymer electrolyte is increased due to wetting during electric power generation, and the gas-barrier property deteriorates.
Accordingly, the inventor has focused attention on a thin film using clay mineral, as material having a high gas-barrier property. A layered clay mineral thin membrane is disclosed, which is produced by preparing a spreading solution containing layered clay mineral including an aluminum skeleton and a compound containing a phosphate group, spreading the spreading solution on a substrate, and then removing a solvent from a liquid membrane on the substrate (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 5-254824, and M. Isayama Chem. Lett., 1283 (1993)).
However, the layered clay mineral thin membrane produced by the aforementioned production method has a low ion-exchange ability (that is, low proton conductivity). Therefore, the layered clay mineral thin membrane is not satisfactory material that can be used as the electrolyte membrane of the fuel cell.

Proton conductive membrane and production method thereof


An integrated semiconductor logic gate apparatus having optimized asymmetric channel regions and method for fabricating the apparatus is disclosed. The fabrication process includes ion-implanting the drain side of the channel to produce asymmetric channels on the gate transistors by using a criss-cross form of ion implantation. The criss-cross ion-implantation is performed after formation of the multiple gate stacks and is facilitated by a patterned photoresist mask that leaves an open, unprotected region above adjacent gate stacks through which the ion-implantation is performed. The criss-cross ion-implantation includes two tilt angles that are determined by tangent expressions that factor the height of the photoresist mask, the width of the unprotected opening over pairs of gate stacks and the width of the channel regions, including a distance relating to the point where the source/drain potential barrier is a minimum beneath the overlying gate stack. Adjacent gate stacks can have asymmetric channels with the same dopant concentration, or may be fabricated having different concentrations by varying the height of the photoresist mask to achieve a wider ion-implantation beam and thus form a higher dopant concentration on the target channel region. The optimized gates with higher dopant concentration improves off-state leakage current (10.sup.-8 amps/micron), but reduce the gate speed. The gates may also be optimized for gate speed and power consumption by producing uniformly doped asymmetric gates (20-50 pico-second fall time delays being achievable).

The trend in microelectronic circuitry is to implement new microprocessor logic circuitry which will have increase in performance speed, higher density and increased functions with minimal power input. Traditionally the integrated circuit designer must trade-off between speed and power dissipation with the result that the integrated circuit design favors meeting the speed requirements by fabrication of integrated circuits having multiple logic gates rated for functioning at the higher speed without being able to control the power consumption. The type of design employed by the designer to produce the foregoing type of design is known as a symmetrical design. FIGS. 1 and 2 depict the symmetrical design approach for manufacturing a MOS device having the source and drain regions doped symmetrically with concentrations of two dopant impurities D1 and D2. This approach to manufacturing MOS devices has limited applications and is considered adequate to channel lengths in the range of 0.25 .mu.m.
As the miniaturization of MOS devices continues and the channel lengths become less than 0.25 .mu.m, the need to customize devices also continues. As a solution, asymmetrical design approaches have been explored. The formation of individual asymmetric channel devices includes using an angled implant of an impurity on the source side of the channel of the device while masking the drain side so that a portion of the implant underlies the gate stack forming a more lightly doped region than the adjacent drain region. Exemplary is the above referenced pending application of one of the applicants of this invention, and the teachings of Odanaka et al., in a paper entitled "Potential Design and Transport Property of 0.1 .mu.m MOSFET with Asymmetrical Channel Profile", IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vol. 44, No. 4 (April 1997). Both of these exemplary approaches fail to address the method of producing customized MOS devices with less than 0.25 .mu.m channel regions on multiple arrangement of MOS devices, such as in a logic gate. Pending application Ser. No. 08/909,044 teaches a particular approach for forming an asymmetrical MOS device on individual MOS devices by angularly implanting an impurity into the substrate at an angle ranging from 5 to 40 degrees. The Odanaka et al. paper teaches using Monte Carlo device simulation and process simulation to analyze device performance and transport property of 0.1 .mu.m n-MOSFET with asymmetric channel profile.
The benefit of utilizing the asymmetric channel on individual MOS devices is seen to exist for use on multiple arrangements of MOS devices, such as on logic gates. The main benefit in such applications is being able to control roll-off of threshold voltages even though an asymmetric channel device has a channel length in the 0.1 .mu.m range. Therefore, MOS devices can be densely packaged with the channel width Lg to be equal to the spacing Ls between MOS devices forming the logic gate, (ranging 50-200 nm), see generally FIG. 4. Additional benefits include being able to form MOS devices having extremely small junction capacitance, for example capacitances on the order of 50 fF (femtofarad), and a benefit of obtaining improved gate delays (20-50 pico-seconds for a 4-input Nand gate having a 50 fFload). Accordingly, a need is seen to exist for a method of optimizing the design of logic gate having multiple MOS devices by expanding upon the basic concept of producing asymmetric channel on single MOS devices. Thus, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a MOS semiconductor structure and process for producing logic gate integrated circuits having asymmetric channel design in each of the logic gate's MOS devices.

Optimization of logic gates with criss-cross implants to form asymmetric channel regions


An integrated circuit of the type comprises a plurality of units that may act as initiators and targets. At least some of the units are for a first purpose such as a cable modem function and others are for a second purpose such as television data processing. The units are connected together by a interconnect comprising a number of nodes. One of the nodes is configurable such that requests made from initiator units on one side of the node to target units on the other side of the node are not sent to the target units. The units for the first purpose are arranged on the opposite side of the node from those of the second purpose, so that the circuit is effectively configurable into two separate logical partitions, one partition for television data processing and the other partition for cable modem functions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor integrated circuits, and in particular to integrated circuits used in devices providing multiple purposes to end users, such as television, audio, Internet access, telephone service and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Increasingly, consumer products are being developed as multiple purpose devices. Examples include using mobile telephones to function as MP3 players, cameras & radios, using portable storage devices as media players and using television "set top boxes" as devices to access the Internet and provide telephone services. In such devices, the different purposes can be provided by different integrated circuits, or increasingly by multiple purpose integrated circuits.
Integrated circuits (computer chips) that support digital television often have extensive mechanisms for protecting encrypted data against viewing or distribution by or to devices that are not entitled to do so. These "conditional access" systems employ a significant amount of hardware to protect these systems against attack by persons wanting to view, distribute or sell systems that can circumvent security for third parties.
Computer chips that support cable modem applications, which deliver high-speed Internet access using a common cable with the cable that delivers digital television, also support security mechanisms. The drive for cost reduction through super-integration and the focus that cable companies have on selling multiple services to each consumer (telephone, television and internet) has lead to the integration of cable modem and set-top box functions in a single chip.


Provided is a method of detecting neural activity, including inducing neurons of a subject to express two or more polypeptides each comprising an amino acid sequence represented by one of SEQ ID NOs:13-24, wherein inducing comprises stimulating interneuronally different relative levels of expression of the two or more polypeptides; applying coelenterazine to the subject; applying a first stimulation of neural activity to the subject; detecting a first spatiotemporal and spectral pattern of electromagnetic radiation emitted by neurons of the subject in response to the first stimulation; recording the first spatiotemporal and spectral pattern of electromagnetic radiation in a computer memory; applying a second stimulation of neural activity to the subject; detecting a second spatiotemporal and spectral pattern of electromagnetic radiation emitted by neurons of the subject in response to the second stimulation; comparing the second spatiotemporal and spectral pattern of electromagnetic radiation to the first spatiotemporal and spectral pattern of electromagnetic radiation, wherein differences between the second spatiotemporal and spectral pattern of electromagnetic radiation and the first spatiotemporal and spectral pattern of electromagnetic radiation indicate differences in neural activity caused by the first stimulation and the second stimulation.

Certain compounds are capable of emitting luminescence in response to changes of various intracellular ion concentrations. For example, some proteins, in combination with particular compounds within a cell, can emit electromagnetic radiation when complexed with intracellular calcium ions. Because depolarization of a neuron concordant with generation of an action potential entails an elevation in intracellular calcium, such compounds can function as indicators of neural activity, emitting fluorescence from neurons firing an action potential. Potential use of such compounds could include, for example, visualization of activity within neurons of a brain or nerve in vivo or visualizing neural activity of slice preparations or other ex vivo applications.
Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) allow direct communication to occur between the brain and an external device. BMIs have the potential to restore sensory or motor function to patients with spinal cord injuries or amputations. Preferably, advantageous features of a BMI system would include (1) minimal invasiveness, (2) long lifetime, (3) provision of high information content, (4) robustness, and (5) portability. Conventional BMI systems are deficient in these features. A particular advantageous feature of a BMI system would be if it could differentiate activity of particular neurons within an observed field of neurons, such as when neurons responsive to one input but not another are anatomically co-mingled with neurons of the converse responsiveness, or that do not respond to either of said stimulus, respond to both, or otherwise respond differently to one or more stimuli than do other neurons located in proximity thereto. Conventional BMI systems do not provide such ability to distinguish between activity of neighboring neurons.
A species of jellyfish, Aequorea victoria, produces a protein known as aequorin which is a Ca2+ dependent bioluminescent protein. In jellyfish, aequorin exists as a complex with fluorescent protein (e.g., GFP). In the presence of calcium, aequorin is able to act as a catalytic enzyme in a luciferase reaction. Aequorin oxidizes coelenterazine (CTZ), a molecular cofactor found naturally in jellyfish. The energy gained from the oxidation reaction is passed to the neighboring fluorescent protein which (in the case of GFP) releases a green photon in a process known as chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer (CRET). As a result, neural activity can be reported by aequorin as demonstrated in zebrafish and nerves in the legs of mice. Aequorin-fluorescent protein constructs act as calcium indicators because they have good temporal resolution and are bright with low or no background noise. However, although a single color bioluminescent indicator in the brain can report bulk activity, it cannot distinguish the activity between multiple, intermingled neurons because of the temporal overlap between signals generated from different neurons.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming these and other deficiencies in the art. As disclosed further herein, use of bioluminescent proteins can provide significant improvement over conventional BMI systems.

Chromatic bioluminescence as a cellular level readout system of neural activity

THE RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK


Methods and systems are provided for controlling a power transfer rate in to and/or out of a vehicle energy storage device to affect a current state of charge of the energy storage device. The vehicle may be on a mission comprising a plurality of future power transfer opportunities. In one example, the method comprises adjusting the power transfer rate based on an estimated duration of a future power transfer opportunity. Further, the method may include, if the estimated duration of the future power transfer opportunity is different from a predetermined threshold, changing the power transfer rate at the future power transfer opportunity. The method allows the operating life of the energy storage device to be extended.

Electric and hybrid electric vehicles, such as locomotives, operate with on-board rechargeable electrical energy storage devices. The energy storage devices may include one or more types of batteries, super-capacitors, utracapacitors, and flywheel systems.
During operation, the energy storage devices experience frequent cycles of periodic charging and discharging. Further, the operating life and performance characteristics of such devices can be affected by the rate and depth of charging/discharging and/or the current level at which charging/discharging occurs. Use of faster and deeper rates and higher current levels during charging/discharging events adversely affect the operating life and storage capacity of an energy storage device. The age of the device, frequency of usage, and temperature of storage are some additional parameters affecting its performance. Reduced performance of electrical energy storage devices in turn may affect the performance and fuel efficiency of the electric vehicle (or hybrid electric vehicle) in which they are used.

Method and system for extending life of a vehicle energy storage device


A vehicle information system including a tag system mounted in a vehicle. The tag system transmits vehicle-related data acquired from the vehicle to an interrogator. The vehicle information system utilizes a bus in the vehicle with low-cost RF communications in the tag system and an interrogator to remotely access the vehicle-related data as the vehicle exits or enters a designated area. The interrogator provides the vehicle-related data acquired from the tag system to a host computer.

Some suggestions have been made in the past to employ available technology for the purpose of automating transactions concerning vehicles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,044 (the '044 patent) to Stewart et al. suggests a system that includes a processing system on-board a vehicle for gathering data related to the operational history of the vehicle and transferring the data to a stationery processing system. The system provides information to a mechanic regarding needed repairs and automates commercial transactions such as the billing of vehicle rentals or of repair work to an owned/leased vehicle. The on-board system includes a processor for collecting data from sensors associated with selected operations systems of the vehicle (e.g., lights, drive train, tires, and fluid levels). Depending upon the system monitored, the processor may continually update its condition (e.g., mileage and gas level) in a storage area or it may only store information when service is required (e.g., lights and drive train). When the vehicle enters a service area, the on-board system is interrogated for its stored information. The interrogation is executed by an annunciator system which first detects the physical presence of the vehicle and then transmits an RF interrogation signal to a receiver on-board the vehicle and coupled to the on-board processor. If the interrogation signal is recognized by the on-board processor, a vehicle identification code along with the stored information in converted to an RF signal and transmitted from the vehicle. The '044 patent is incorporated herein by reference.
The system described in the '044 patent connects the on-board processor to each of the components in the vehicle. As a result, the vehicle may have to be substantially modified to accommodate the system described in the '044 patent. Further, the vehicle includes a receiver and a transmitter. As a result, the cost and complexity of the system is increased.

Remote vehicle data interface tag system


A decoding device that allows for high precision decoding of LDPC codes by optimizing the quantization width includes a distribution determining unit that determines a distribution of noise superposed on data received by a receiving unit, a quantization width determining unit that determines the quantization width that is optimized so that the error probability after decoding becomes the minimum with respect to the noise distribution determined by the distribution determining unit or the noise distribution determined by the distribution determining unit becomes the maximum with respect to a given error probability after decoding, a quantizing unit that quantizes the probability distribution of the received value received by the receiving unit with a predetermined low bit number according to the determined quantization width, and a message determining unit that determines a message as information bits based on the probability distribution of the received value quantized by the quantizing unit.

Recently, for example, studies in the communication field, including mobile communication and deep space communication, and the broadcasting field, including terrestrial-wave broadcasting and satellite digital broadcasting, have advanced remarkably. With this advancement, studies on coding theory have also greatly advanced for the purpose of efficient error-correcting coding and decoding.
A known theoretical limit of code performance is the Shannon limit of the so-called Shannon's channel coding theorem (C. E. Shannon).
The goal of studies on coding theory is to develop coding that exhibits performance near the Shannon limit. A recently developed coding technique approaching the Shannon limit is a technique called Turbo coding, for example, parallel concatenated convolutional codes (PCCC) or serially concatenated convolutional codes (SCCC).
While such turbo codes have been developed, well-known coding of low-density parity check codes (hereinafter referred to as LDPC codes) has attracted attention.
The LDPC codes were first proposed by R. G. Gallager in R. G. Gallager, "Low-Density Parity-Check Codes", Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1963, and were rediscovered in D. J. C. MacKay, "Good error correcting codes based on very sparse matrices", submitted to IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, IT-45, pp. 399–431, 1999; M. G. Luby, N. Mitzenmacher, N. A. Shokrollahi, and D. A. Spielman, "Analysis of low density codes and improved designs using irregular graphs", Proceedings of the 30th ACM STOC. May 23–26, 1998.
Recent studies on the LDPC codes have found that, like the turbo codes, the performance approaches the Shannon limit as the code length increases. Due to the property that the minimum distance is in proportion to the code length, advantageously, the features of the LDPC codes are that the block error probability characteristics are better and the so-called error floor normally observed with decoding of turbo codes substantially does not occur.
The LDPC codes will be described hereinbelow in detail. The LDPC codes are linear codes, and are not necessarily binary; however, the following description will be made in the context of binary LDPC codes.
The greatest feature of the LDPC codes is that the codes are defined by a sparse check matrix. The sparse matrix means that the number of "1s" in this matrix is very small, and may be, for example, a sparse check matrix represented by "H", shown in FIG. 14, of which the Hamming weight of each column is 3 and the Hamming weight of each row is 6.
The LDPC codes defined by the check matrix H of which the Hamming weights of each row and column are constant are referred to as regular LDPC codes. On the other hand, the LDPC codes defined by the check matrix H of which the Hamming weights of each row and column are not constant are referred to as irregular LDPC codes.
Coding of the LDPC codes is implemented by generating a generator matrix G based on the check matrix H and by multiplying the generator matrix G by a binary-valued information message to generate a codeword. More specifically, an encoder for performing coding of LDPC codes first determines a generator matrix G which satisfies GHT=0 between a transposed matrix HT of the check matrix H and the generator matrix G to be determined. Where the generator matrix G has a k×n matrix, the encoder multiplies the generator matrix G by an information message of k bits to generate a codeword of n bits. The codeword generated by the encoder is mapped so that a code bit of value "0" is converted into "+1" and a code bit of value "1" is converted into "−1" for transmission. The transmitted codeword is received by a decoder via a predetermined communication channel.
Decoding of the LDPC codes can be implemented by the "Probabilistic Decoding" algorithm proposed by Gallager described above, which is a message-passing algorithm based on belief propagation operating on a so-called Tanner graph consisting of variable nodes (also referred to as message nodes) and check nodes. In the "Probabilistic Decoding", however, messages exchanged among the nodes are real numbers, and it is therefore necessary to monitor the probability distribution itself of the messages of sequential numbers in order to analytically solve the messages. Thus, very difficult analysis is required.
Therefore, Gallager has proposed algorithm A or algorithm B as an algorithm for decoding LDPC codes.
In general, decoding of LDPC codes is performed according to the procedure shown in FIG. 15. In this example, the received value is represented by U0(u0i), the message output from a check node is represented by uj, and the message output from a variable node is represented by vi. Each message is a real number whose "0" likelihood is expressed by the so-called log likelihood ratio.
In the decoding of LDPC codes, as shown in FIG. 15, first, in step S11, upon reception of the received value U0(u0i), the message uj is set to "0" and an integer k of an iterative decoding counter is also set to "0".
In the decoding of LDPC codes, then, in step S12, the message vi is determined by computation given by Eq. (1) below based on the received value U0(u0i), and the message uj is determined by computation given by Eq. (2) below based on the determined message vi. Then, in the decoding of LDPC codes, the integer k is incremented by "1".
                              v          i                =                              u                          0                            i                                +                                    ∑                              j                =                1                                            dv                -                1                                                                u              j                                                          (        1        )                                          tan                                                                          h                                      (                                                u                  j                                2                            )                                      =                              ∏                          i              =              1                                      dc              -              1                                                      tan                                                                                h                                            (                                                      v                    i                                    2                                )                                                                        (        2        )
In Eqs. (1) and (2), dv and dc are arbitrarily selectable parameters representing the number of "1s" in the vertical direction (column) and the horizontal direction (row) of the check matrix H described above, respectively. For example, in case of a (3, 6) code, dv=3 and dc=6. In Eqs. (1) and (2), the messages input from edges that are to output the messages are not used as product or sum parameters, and the product or sum ranges are up to dv-1 and dc-1. In practice, the computation given by Eq. (2) is performed by preparing in advance a table of functions R given by Eq. (3) below, defined by one output with respect to two inputs v1 and v2 and by sequentially using the functions R as in Eq. (4) as follows:x=2 tan h−1{tan h(v1/2)tan h(v2/2)}=R(v1, v2)  (3)uj=R(v1, R (v2, R(v3, . . . R(vdc-2, vdc-1))))  (4)
Then, in the decoding of LDPC codes, in step S13, it is determined whether or not the integer k is greater than N.
In the decoding of LDPC codes, if it is determined that the integer k is not greater than N, the processing from step S12 is repeated; if it is determined that the integer k is greater than N, the process proceeds to step S14.
Then, in the decoding of LDPC codes, in step S14, the message vi as a decoding result to be finally output is determined by computation given by Eq. (5) below, and the result is output. Then, the series of processing steps ends. Unlike Eq. (1), Eq. (5) below is calculated using the messages input from all connected edges.
                              v          i                =                              u                          0                            i                                +                                    ∑                              j                =                1                            dv                                                  u              j                                                          (        5        )
In such decoding of LDPC codes, for example, in the case of a (3, 6) code, as shown in FIG. 16., messages are exchanged between nodes. The computation given by Eq. (1) is performed in the nodes indicated by "=" shown in FIG. 16, and the computation given by Eq. (2) is performed in the nodes indicated by "+". Particularly in the algorithm A described above, messages are binarized, and the (dc-1) input messages are exclusive ORed by the "+" nodes, and, if all bit values of the (dv-1) input messages are different from the received value R, the inverted version of the codes is output by the "=" nodes.
In the decoding of LDPC codes, a received value must be initially quantized. In a case where the received value or a message exchanged between nodes is expressed with a low bit number, it is known that the performance changes depending upon the setting of the quantization width.
Typically, decoding of LDPC codes for a low bit number is performed according to the procedure shown in FIG. 17.
In the decoding of LDPC codes, as shown in FIG. 17, first, in step S21, upon reception of the received value U0(u0i), the received value U0(u0i) is quantized with a low bit number, the message vi is set to "u0i", and an integer k of an iterative decoding counter is set to "0". In the decoding of LDPC codes, for example, when messages are to be expressed with 2 bits, the received value U0(u0i) is quantized to 3 bits. In the decoding of LDPC codes, the received value U0(u0i) quantized to 3 bits is then quantized to 2 bits for use in determining the message vi.
Then, in the decoding of LDPC codes, in step S22, the message uj is determined based on the message vi, and the message vi is further determined based on the received value U0(u0i) and the determined message uj by computation given by Eq. (1). Then, in the decoding of LDPC codes, the integer k is incremented by "1".
In the decoding of LDPC codes, as described above, a table of single-output functions of low bit number is produced from two low-bit inputs v1 and v2 in advance, and this table is iteratively used to determine the low-bit message uj. In the decoding of LDPC codes, the message vi, which is determined using Eq. (1), causes the bit number to increase, and therefore quantization to 2 bits is performed.
Then, in the decoding of LDPC codes, in step S23, it is determined whether or not the integer k is greater than N.
In the decoding of LDPC codes, if it is determined that the integer k is not greater than N, the processing from step S22 is repeated; if it is determined that the integer k is greater than N, the process proceeds to step S24.
Then, in the decoding of LDPC codes, in step S24, the message vi to be finally output as a result of decoding is determined, and the result is output. Then, the series of processing steps ends.
In such decoding of LDPC codes, the performance changes depending upon the quantization width for quantization of a received value and messages exchanged between nodes. Furthermore, in the decoding of LDPC codes, the quantization width for determination of the message vi using Eq. (1) also affects the error correction performance.
However, in the decoding of LDPC codes, performance evaluation is not performed based on the quantization width, and optimization of the quantization width has not been suggested. In the decoding of LDPC codes, therefore, optimization of the quantization width would admit an improvement in code performance.
The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a decoding device and a decoding method that optimize the quantization width to improve the code performance, thus allowing for high-precision decoding of LDPC codes.


An adjusting device that is connected to a load and to a plurality of storage battery units that are connected together in parallel and that adjusts voltage differences among the plurality of storage battery units includes: for each of the storage battery units, a switch that is provided between a storage battery unit and the load that is turned ON during detection intervals for detecting current from the storage battery unit, a detection means that detects the current supplied from each of the storage battery units during the detection interval, and an adjusting means that, based on the detection results of the detection means, controls the ON/OFF states of switches during the adjustment intervals for adjusting voltage differences such that the voltage differences among the plurality of storage battery units are decreased.

Battery packs are known in which a plurality of storage batteries (for example, a plurality of lithium ion secondary battery cells) are connected.
Patent Document 1 discloses a battery pack system having a plurality of series cell units in which a plurality of storage batteries are connected in a series, the plurality of series cell units being connected in parallel.
In the battery pack in which series cell units (storage battery units) are connected in parallel, the problems arise that variations in voltage among the series cell units cause cross currents to flow from series cell units having high voltage to series cell units having low voltage during charging. A reduction of variations in voltage among the series cell units is therefore to be desired.
In the battery pack system described in Patent Document 1, current control elements that can each adjust the magnitude of current that flows through its own current control element, for example, MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors), are each connected in series to a respective series cell unit, and by using each current control element to control the magnitude of current that flows to each series cell unit, variations in the voltage among the series cell units are reduced.
The current control element disclosed in Patent Document 1 is an element that adjusts the magnitude of current that flows through its own element by adjusting its own resistance value.

Adjusting device, battery pack, and adjusting method


An air bag is made by forming a base cloth into the shape of a bag by stitching. The air bag is expanded by gas supplied from an inflator. Stitching of areas of the base cloth in the vicinity of the inflator is made non-extendable stitching, and stitching of areas of the base cloth distant from the inflator is made extendable stitching. As a result, even if the output of the inflator is high, gas leakage in the vicinity of the inflator can be prevented. Also, even if the output of the inflator is high, it is possible to suppress damage suffered by stitching thread in areas of stitching in the vicinity of the inflator.

(1). Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an air bag of an air bag device. The air bag device is installed for example in a door, an instrument panel, a seat or a steering wheel of a car.
(2). Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, the air bag of an air bag device has been made by forming a base cloth, of a predetermined shape, into the shape of a bag by stitching.
Gas supplied from an inflator flows rapidly into the air bag and the air bag expands. When the air bag finishes expanding, large tensile forces act on the base cloth. For this reason, conventionally, stitching of the air bag has been carried out with extendable chain stitching in order to moderate the existing tensile forces when the air bag finishes expanding.
However, when all the stitching of the air bag is made extendable chain stitching, the problem has arisen that when a high output inflator is used in the air bag device, the gas supplied from the inflator is at a higher temperature and at a higher pressure consequently, at stitched areas of the air bag, such as in the vicinity of the inflator, there is a risk of gas leaking from between stitched portions of the base cloth thereby damaging the stitching thread.