A direction tracking method is proposed for quickly tracking directions-of-arrival of radio waves even in an environment where trajectories of the directions-of-arrival intersect. With the tracking method, the state vectors of directions-of-arrival (composed of a direction-of-arrival and the angular velocity and acceleration of the direction-of-arrival) at the current direction updating time are predicted with an observer by using state vectors of directions-of-arrival at the previous direction updating time to calculate provisional estimates of the directions-of-arrival, and furthermore, the state vectors at the current direction updating time are calculated based on the provisional estimates, the predicted state vectors, and predicted values of the directions-of-arrival to calculate estimates of the directions-of-arrival from the state vectors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to radio-wave direction-of-arrival tracking methods and their apparatuses. In particular, the present invention relates to a direction-of-arrival tracking method and apparatus for estimating the directions-of-arrival of radio waves received by an adaptive array antenna.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been recent interests in the research and development of mobile communication systems using an adaptive array antenna. A typical array antenna includes a plurality of antenna elements arranged in different spatial locations such that the outline of the antenna elements has a certain geometry shape. A technique for estimating the directions-of-arrival of radio waves (hereinafter, a radio wave may be referred to as a signal from the viewpoint of signal processing) impinging on an array antenna is one of the most important fundamental technologies associated with adaptive array antennas.
Subspace-based methods are well-known approaches to the issue of estimating the directions-of-arrival of signals because of its estimation accuracy and computational load, where the orthogonality between the signal subspace and the noise subspace is exploited. The multiple signal classification (MUSIC) technique is a typical one of subspace-based methods (refer to, for example, R. O. Schmidt, "Multiple emitter location and signal parameter estimation," IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagation, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 276–280 (1986)). The subspace-based method with spatial smoothing is also well known as an approach to estimate the directions-of-arrival of coherent signals with full correlation. A typical example of the subspace-based method with spatial smoothing is the spatial smoothing based MUSIC technique (refer to, for example, T. J. Shan, M. Wax and T. Kailath, "On spatial smoothing for direction-of-arrival estimation of coherent signals," IEEE Trans. Acoust., Speech, Signal Processing, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 806–811 (1985) and S. U. Pillai and B. H. Kwon, "Forward/backward spatial smoothing techniques for coherent signals identification," IEEE Trans. Acoust., Speech, Signal Processing, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 8–15 (1989)).
In the subspace-based method for estimating the directions-of-arrival of uncorrelated signals, first an array covariance matrix is estimated from the noisy received array data, and then a signal subspace and a noise subspace are obtained through the eigenvalue decomposition (EVD) of this array covariance matrix. Thereafter, the orthogonality between the signal subspace and the noise subspace is exploited to estimate the directions-of-arrival of the incident signals. On the other hand, for the estimation of the directions-of-arrival of correlated signals (including signals with full correlation, i.e., coherent signals), in order to suppress the correlation among the incoming signals, an antenna having M array elements arranged in different spatial locations along a straight line at the same adjacent spacing (hereinafter, such an antenna may be referred to as a uniform linear array (ULA)) is divided into overlapping subarrays and then the covariance matrices of the subarrays are averaged to restore the number of dimensions of the signal subspace of the spatially averaged covariance matrix to the number of incident signals. Thus, the orthogonal relationship between the signal subspace and the noise subspace can be exploited to estimate the directions-of-arrival of correlated signals in the same manner as the subspace-based method for estimating the directions-of-arrival of uncorrelated signals.
Details of the spatial smoothing based MUSIC method for estimating the directions-of-arrival of coherent signals proposed in S. U. Pillai and B. H. Kwon, "Forward/backward spatial smoothing techniques for coherent signals identification," IEEE Trans. Acoust., Speech, Signal Processing, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 8–15 (1989) is described as follows.
Now, suppose that p narrow-band signals {si(k)} are incident upon a uniform linear array (ULA) along the angles {(θi}. If Ts denotes the sampling intervals, a signal received by each element is written as Equation (1).y(k)=[Y1(k), y2(k), . . . , yM(k)]T=A(θ(k))s(t)+w(k)A[a(θ1(k)), a(θ2(k)), . . . , a(θp(k))]a(θi(k))[1, ejω0τ(θi(k)), . . . , ejω0(M−1)τ(θi(k))]Ts(k)=[s1(k), s2(k), . . . , sp(k)]Tw(k)=[w1(k), w2(k), . . . , wM(k)]Tω0=2πf0, τ(θi(k))(d/c)sin θi(k)  (1)where fo, c, and d indicate the carrier frequency and propagation speed of the carrier wave, and the element interval (half-wave length), respectively. (•)T denotes transposition, and a(θi(k)) and A correspond to the array response vector and matrix, respectively. wi(k) indicates the spatially and temporally uncorrelated complex white Gaussian noise with zero-mean and variance σ2.
First, we consider the case that the directions-of-arrival of signals are constant over time, i.e., θi(k)=θi. In this case, an array covariance matrix is written as Equation (2).RE{y(k)yH(k)}=ARsAH+σ2IM  (2)where E{•} and (•)H indicate expectation operation and complex conjugate transposition respectively, Rs=E{S(k)SH(k)} is a covariance matrix of the incident signals, and IM is an M×M identity matrix. Furthermore, if the correlation rim between the received data yi(k) and ym(k) is defined as rim=E{yi(k)y*m(k)}, a relationship rim=r*mi holds, where (•)* denotes a complex conjugate. The array covariance matrix R in Equation (2) can be definitely represented as Equation (3).
                    R        =                  [                                                                      r                  11                                                                              r                  12                                                            ⋯                                                              r                                      1                                        M                                                                                r                  21                                                                              r                  22                                                            ⋯                                                              r                                      2                                        M                                                                                ⋮                                            ⋮                                            ⋰                                            ⋮                                                                                r                                      M                                                                                1                                                                                r                                      M                                                                                2                                                                              ⋯                                                              r                  MM                                                              ]                                    (        3        )
In order to estimate the directions-of-arrival {θk} of coherent signals, the spatial smoothing based MUSIC method divides the entire array into L overlapping subarrays each of which includes m (1≦m≦M) elements.
FIG. 14 is a diagram depicting subarrays in a uniform linear array (ULA).
As shown in FIG. 14, an array antenna 100 is composed of M antenna elements 101 arranged at the same adjacent spacing d, and is divided into L overlapping subarrays. In this structure, m and L are referred to as the subarray size and the number of subarrays, respectively, where a relationship L=M−m+1 holds. From Equation (1), the received vector yl(k) of the l-th subarray is given by Equation (4).yl(k)=[Yl(k),yl+1(k), . . . , yl+M−1(k)]T =Am Dl−1s(k)+wl(k)Am=[am(θ1),am(θ2), . . . , am(θp)]am(θi)=[1,ejω0τ(θi), . . . , ejω0(m−1)τ(θi)]Twl(k)=[wl(k),wl+1(k), . . . , wl−m+1(k)]T  (4)                where D is a diagonal matrix including ejω0τ(θ1), ejω0τ(θ2), . . . , ejω0(m−1)τ(θp) as elements, and l=1, 2, . . . , L.
Furthermore, am(θi) and Am denote the response vector and matrix of the subarray, respectively. Therefore, a covariance matrix of the subarray is given by Equation (5).Rl=E{yl(k)ylH(k)}=AmDl−1Rs(Dl−1)HAmH+σ2Im  (5)
Furthermore, a covariance matrix given in Equation (6) is obtained by spatially averaging the covariance matrices {Rl} of the L subarrays in (5).
                              R          _                                                  =                              1            L                                                        ∑                              l                =                1                            L                                                  R              l                                                          (        6        )
Then the eigenvalue decomposition (EVD) of this spatially averaged covariance matrix R can be written as Equation (7).
                              R          _                                                  =                                            ∑                              i                =                1                            m                                                                  λ                i                                                          e                i                                                          e                i                H                                              =                      E                                                                          Λ                                                                                E              H                                                          (        7        )            where ei and λi indicate an eigenvector and an eigenvalue, respectively, E is a matrix with columns {ei}, and Λ is a diagonal matrix with elements {λi}. Furthermore, the spaces spanned by a signal vector {e1, e2, . . . , ep} and a noise vector {ep+1, ep+2, . . . , em} are referred to as the signal subspace and the noise subspace, respectively. The signal subspace can be represented by using an array response vector. A direction-of-arrival estimation method based on the orthogonal relationship between the signal subspace and the noise subspace is called a subspace-based method.
From the eigenvalue analysis of the covariance matrix in Equation (7), an orthogonal relationship defined by Equation (8) is established between the noise vector {ep+1, ep+2, . . . , em} and the response vector am(θi) of the subarray belongs in the signal subspace.ekHam(θi)=0  (8)where k=p+1, . . . , m. From this orthogonal relationship, a spectrum Pssmusic(θ) written as Equation (9) can be calculated.
                                                                        P                _                                                                                ssmusic                                          (            θ            )                          =                  1                                    ∑                              k                =                                  p                  +                  1                                            m                                                                                                                        e                    k                    H                                                                                a                      m                                                                                (                      θ                      )                                                                                                  2                                                          (        9        )            where am(θ)=[1, ejωOτ(θ), . . . , ejωO(m−1)τ(θ)]T. In the spatial smoothing based MUSIC method, the directions-of-arrival of incoming signals are estimated from the locations of the highest p peaks of the spectrum given by Equation (9).
As shown in Equation (7), the subspace-based methods (including the (spatial smoothing) MUSIC) require the EVD of the array covariance matrix to obtain the signal subspace or the noise subspace for estimating the directions-of-arrival. In some practical applications, however, particularly if the number of array elements is large, the EVD or singular value decomposition (SVD) is complicated and time-consuming when the estimation of the time-varying directions of incident signals should be carried out in a real-time manner. Therefore, applications of the subspace-based direction-of-arrival estimation methods are limited by the eigendecomposition (EVD or SVD) due to the computationally intensive eigendecomposition processing. In many cases of a practical mobile communication system, since the signals from a calling party (mobile terminal) arrive at the array antenna in a base-station via the direct path and reflection paths resulting from signal reflection at objects such as buildings, the technique for estimating the directions-of-arrival of coherent signals in a multipath propagation environment plays an important role. In the above-described direction estimation methods, however, since the desired signals cannot be distinguished from interfering signals, the directions-of-arrival of all signals must be calculated. Thus, to process many incoming waves, it is necessary to use many elements in the array antenna. This leads to an increase in size and cost associated with the array antenna. Furthermore, if the directions-of-arrival of desired signals vary over time due to, for example, the movement of the calling party (signal source), then the directions of the signals impinging on the array cannot be estimated at high speed and with high accuracy by using the ordinary subspace-based methods or the accurate reception and transmission beams cannot be formed at the base-station. This causes the performance of the receiving and transmission system at the base-station to deteriorate.
Recently, adaptive direction-of-arrival estimation and tracking methods without eigendecomposition have been studied, such as the adaptive subspace-based methods without eigendecomposition (SWEDE) (refer to, for example, A. Eriksson, P. Stoica, and T. Söderström, "On-line subspace algorithms for tracking moving sources," IEEE Trans. Signal Processing, vol. 42, no. 9, pp. 2319–2330 (1994)). These methods, however, exhibit significantly degraded performance in the case of coherent signals, low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), or a small number of snapshots. Furthermore, the least squares (LS) technique involved in the SWEDE requires a high degree of computational complexity.
The present inventor proposed a direction-of-arrival estimation and tracking method based on the cyclostationarity of communication signals (refer to, for example, J. Xin and A. Sano, "Directions-of-arrival tracking of coherent cyclostationary signals in array processing," IEICE Trans. Fundamentals, vol. E86-A, no. 8, pp. 2037–2046 (2003)). This method using the LS technique, however, requires considerably large length of array data because it exploits a temporal property known as the cyclostationarity of incident signals.
The present inventor also proposed a direction-of-arrival estimation method called subspace-based method without eigendecomposition (SUMWE), which does not need the eigendecomposition and is computationally efficient (refer to, for example, J. Xin and A. Sano, "Computationally efficient subspace-based method for direction-of-arrival estimation without eigendecomposition," IEEE Trans. Signal Processing, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 876–893 (2004)). This method, however, does not take into consideration the issues of online direction-of-arrival estimation and time-varying direction-of-arrival tracking.
To handle these issues of adaptive direction-of-arrival estimation and time-varying direction-of-arrival tracking, the present inventor has proposed an adaptive direction-of-arrival estimation and tracking method called the adaptive bearing estimation and tracking (ABEST) technique exploiting the computationally efficient SUMWE technique (refer to, for example, J. Xin, Y. Ohashi, and A. Sano, "Efficient subspace-based algorithms for adaptive direction estimation and tracking of narrowband signals in array processing," Proc. IFAC 8th Workshop on Adaptation and Learning in Control and Signal Processing (ALCOSP' 04), pp. 535–540, Yokohama, Japan, (2004)).
The aforementioned methods for tracking the directions-of-arrival of radio waves, however, cannot accurately track the crossing directions of coherents signals, where the trajectories of the directions of incident signals intersect with one another due to the movement of the signal source (such as a calling party).

Method and apparatus for direction-of-arrival tracking and their application to beamforming at base-station


The present invention relates to devices and methods for balancing joints, including knee joints. The devices convert unequal forces at a joint to a rotation or displacement of a pointer or gauge. The devices are able to display the relative difference in force between the lateral and medial sides of a joint from flexion to extension. In certain aspects, the devices are useful for balancing the knee during total knee surgery. The devices can be inserted between the trial femoral and tibial components of the knee and measures whether one condyle experiences more force than the other.

In the normal intact knee, the relative position between the femur and the tibia is controlled by the shape of the bearing surfaces and by the 4 major ligaments crossing the knee; the anterior and posterior cruciates and the medial and lateral collaterals. As the knee is flexed and extended, the lengths of the ligaments and the shape of the bearing surfaces work in harmony to maintain stability, without excessive looseness or tightness. When the components of a total knee are inserted at surgery, it is important that the components are inserted accurately, and that the geometry of the components is sufficiently close to anatomic, so that the ligaments can still maintain the correct stability between the femur and the tibia.
In a typical surgical procedure, the bone cuts are made, then the trial components are inserted. At this stage, the knee is flexed and extended to determine whether the knee comes into extension without hyperextending, or having an extension lag. The thickness of the tibial component is adjusted if necessary. Then an assessment is made if the balancing is correct throughout flexion. A simple evaluation method is to remove the trials, introduce a spacer block between the cut surfaces of the femur and tibia with the knee in extension, and move the tibia into varus and valgus to assess the relative stiffnesses. This is repeated at 90 degrees flexion. If either the medial or lateral side of the knee is too tight, the tight ligaments are released.
Methods other than the spacer blocks can be used. One method is to use a distractor tool which inserts between the joint surfaces and equal expansion forces are applied separately to the lateral and medial condyles, equal distraction gaps being an indicator of balancing. More recently, an instrumented tibial trial has been introduced, which takes the place of the tibial trial component, which measures the lateral and medial contact forces throughout flexion and displays the forces on a computer screen.
Thus, there is a need in the art for improved mechanical devices and methods for balancing joints, including knee joints. The present invention meets this need.


A key scheduler for encryption/decryption produces a new ciphering key by a key expansion process or recovers a previous ciphering key by an inverse expansion process. The key scheduler includes a set of adders and transformation circuitry. Each of adders receives a portion of a round key value as its first input. Some of the adders receive either a portion of the round key value or the output of some of the adders, as its second input, be control of arbitration devices. One adder receives as its second input an output from the transformation circuitry, which output is selected by an arbitration device from either a portion of the round key value or an output of an adder. The selection done by the arbitration devices depending on whether the process desired is the key expansion or inverse expansion.

The Rijndael block cipher is a symmetric cryptographic algorithm, based on the use of simple byte operations, that was designed as a candidate for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) approved a Rijndael standard as the AES, as specified in the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS), FIPS-197. This standard specifies a symmetric encryption algorithm (hereinafter referred to as "the AES algorithm") that may be used to protect electronic data.
In the following description, the use of the terms transformation, bit, block, byte, cipher key, key expansion, round key, state, and word, is as defined in the AES algorithm standard, FIPS-197.
The AES algorithm can be used to encrypt/decrypt information utilizing cryptographic keys of 128, 192, or 256 bits and data blocks of 128 bits. In general, the encryption includes processing of an input data block a predetermined number of
rounds. The number of rounds required is determined according to the size of key length used.
FIG. 1A is a flow chart illustrating the AES ciphering process of a data block D (plaintext) with a ciphering key K, which are being loaded in step 100. The number of rounds N is determined according to the key length (e.g., for a 128 bits key, N=10). The process begins with the so-called Add Round Key transformation 101, in which the state D is set to equal the addition of the ciphering key K=K0 and the input data block (D). Rounds 1 to N−1 (steps 101, 102, and 105) are performed as long as the condition set in step 102 is not fulfilled.
Each round begins in Add Round Key transformation 101 of the state D which is performed with a corresponding Round Key Ki (i=1, 2, . . . , N−1). The Add Round Key transformation is followed by a sequence of transformations 105 which are applied to the state D, and which are not of particular interest in this invention, and thus are not discussed herein in detail for the sake of brevity.
If the condition in step 102 is satisfied, an additional set of transformations 106 of the state D are performed, followed by another Add Round Key transformation 109, in which the last Round Key KN is used. The process is then terminated by outputting the Block Cipher obtained in the state D′ (ciphertext). As will be explained hereinafter, each Round Key is recursively computed utilizing the value of the previous key, i.e., Ki=f(Ki−1). This computation (not shown in FIG. 1A) is also known as the key expansion process.
Similarly, during the decryption, as shown in the flow chart in FIG. 1B, the same number of rounds is used in the deciphering process utilizing the inverse transformations. A Cipher Block (D′) (ciphertext) and the last Round Key KN that was used in the ciphering, are input in step 110. The first transformation in step 111 is an Add Round Key, in which the state D′ is set according to the value of the last Round Key KN. The decryption, also termed herein as the inverse cipher, comprises a sequence of inverse transformations 111, and 115. The respective Add Round Key transformation performed in step 111 in each round uses an inverse key expansion process to derive the corresponding Round Key Ki−1=f−1(Ki) (i=9, 8, . . . 2).
Once the condition in step 112 is satisfied, the inverse transformations of the state 116 are performed, and in step 114, the final Add Round Key transformation is carried out to recover the plaintext D, by utilizing the first Round Key K0.
As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the AES algorithm requires a consecutive process of recursive key expansion processes to take place for a proper block ciphering and deciphering. While in the block ciphering the process is initiated with the original secret key K and proceeds "forward" utilizing new keys obtained via the key expansion process, during the block deciphering the key expansion is performed "backwards". Namely, the first key used for block deciphering is the one that was obtained in the last key expansion of the block ciphering process KN, and each successive Round Key is then obtained by an inverse key expansion process which recovers the previous Round Keys of the block ciphering process.
This key scheduling imposes several restrictions on AES implementations, particularly on hardware implementations. The recursive nature of the key scheduling requires a number of key expansions in order to obtain a specific Round Key. One common solution is to store the Round Keys in a memory device (AES/Rijndael Core, SecuCore 2001) and for each cipher/decipher round, fetching the corresponding Round Key from the memory device. This solution enables managing the key scheduling conveniently, but it is, however, considered costly in hardware terms and processing time due to the silicon area needed for a memory device which should be provided in addition to a key expansion unit e.g., for 128-bits key a memory space of 128×11=1408 bits of memory are required, and due to CPU time required to fetch the stored keys.
Another possible way to address the key scheduling problem is to provide a key expansion module for the block ciphering process, and an inverse key expansion module to be used in the block deciphering process ("Implementation of the block cipher Rijndael using Altera FPGA", P. Mroczkowski). Although in such implementations, a memory device for storing only a single key is required (e.g., 128 bits of memory in order to produce the next/previous key) such implementations are still expensive due to the use of two different modules for key scheduling (gate count and die area), particularly in view of the great resemblance between the key expansion process, and its inverse implementation, which will be discussed in detail hereinafter.
All the methods described above have not yet provided satisfactory solutions to the problems involved in hardware implementations of Rijndael block ciphering/deciphering key scheduling.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a key scheduler capable of performing key expansion for the block ciphering and deciphering processes and/or a key scheduler implementation with a minimal gate count.


A nano-pharmaceutical formulation, comprising zein nanoparticles, icariin (ICA) or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof encapsulated within the zein nanoparticles, at least one solubilizer, wherein the at least one solubilizer comprises D-a-Tocopherol polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS), and one or more pharmaceutical penetration enhancers is provided. Methods of enhancing libido by administering a composition as described herein is also provided.

Icariin (ICA) is a prenylated flavonol glycoside and the main active compound of Herba Epimedii [1]. ICA is used as an aphrodisiac, to improve cardiovascular function, as an antirheumatic and in neurodegenerative disorders in traditional Chinese herbal medicine [2-6]. ICA is a diglycoside that is not readily absorbed [7,8]. Despite the wide range of therapeutic efficacy, ICA reduced oral absorption and hence low bioavailability has hindered its clinical application [8,9]. Thus, new formulations for increasing the bioavailability and enhancing the delivery of ICA are needed.


A mechanical support ring structure for supporting a deployable space reflector antenna. The mechanical support ring structure is convertible from a folded state into a deployed state and includes a ring-shaped pantograph having a plurality of circumferentially arranged pantograph sections which are deployable for converting the mechanical support ring structure from the folded state into the deployed state, and a plurality of circumferentially arranged support rods, each pantograph section being arranged between a respective pair of support rods, wherein each pantograph section includes one or more pairs of pantograph rods which intersect crosswise with each other at a respective crossing position.

For use as a mechanical support ring structure for a deployable space reflector antenna, it is known to provide ring-shaped support structures that can be converted, in space after being brought to space in a small-sized compact folded state, from the folded state into a deployed state for supporting a space reflector antenna, see e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,145. Such mechanical support ring structures can be used for space applications such as for supporting antenna reflectors for telecommunications, scientific experiments and Earth observations, as well as for supporting solar reflectors, solar sails and sun shields.
Also, it is known to provide such mechanical support ring structures on the basis of deployable pantograph mechanisms comprising a single ring-shaped pantograph (see e.g. RU 2 214 659 C2) or, as a double pantograph mechanism, two pantograph mechanisms which may be formed as a ring-shaped double pantograph having intercrossing pantograph lever pairs (see e.g. WO 03/003517 A1) or as upper and lower pantograph mechanisms which are connected by non-pantograph connecting sections (see e.g. GE P 2011 5298 B).
For use in space, e.g. for supporting deployable space reflector antennas, it is aimed at designing and constructing large deployable apertures (e.g. ranging from 4 to 50 m or more in diameter, when being deployed), which can at the same time provide the capabilities to be folded in a small-sized low-mass compact folded state (stowed state) to be efficiently stowed in a spacecraft during launch for the purpose of bringing the structure to space, and to be deployed in space into an expanded deployed state at a high deployment process reliability and deployment accuracy. At the same time, it is aimed at providing a high stiffness and stability of the deployed support structure. In order to provide more stability or for use in different applications, it may intended to provide not only a cylindrically shaped deployed support ring structure but also a conically shaped deployed support ring structure.
However, in the prior art, the known mechanical support ring structure which have a conical shape when being deployed have very complex structures and multi-component deployment mechanisms leading to complex and heavier structures which are larger-sized, when folded, and which need to be deployed in a very complex deployment process involving complicated mechanisms having less deployment reliability and less deployment accuracy. For example, GE P 2011 5298 B describes a conical mechanical support ring structure having a double-pantograph mechanism. However, the deployment process is complex and needs to occur at two stages involving plural components.
At the first stage, two separate double pantograph parts of the mechanical support ring structure are deployed independently (FIGS. 16 and 17 of GE P 2011 5298 B), the two separate double pantograph mechanisms being connected by additional connecting sections for closing to a ring-shaped support structure (the connecting sections are shown in FIGS. 31 to 35 of GE P 2011 5298 B). Then, in the second stage, after deployment of the pantograph sections, the complex multi-component connecting sections are converted for bringing the mechanical support ring structure into the conical deployed state.
As mentioned above, there is the problem that the deployment process of the support ring structure of GE P 2011 5298 B is complex and involves two stages which leads to lowered deployment accuracy and deployment reliability and, due to the additionally provided connecting section, which separate the double pantograph mechanisms, the folded state cannot be provided at small diameter having a compact size (see FIGS. 12 to 15 of GE P 2011 5298 B) and the stability of the deployed structure is lowered.
In view of the above-described problems of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a mechanical support ring structure which is multifunctional and allows to be deployed into a cylindrically-shaped deployed support ring structure and a conically-shaped deployed support ring structure by a simple, efficient, accurate and reliable deployment mechanism.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a mechanical support ring structure that can be provided at low mass and with compact size in the folded state. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a mechanical support ring structure that provides high stability and stiffness after being converted into the deployed state.


The present invention relates to the use of immunogenic peptides comprising a T-cell epitope derived from an intracellular pathogen-associated antigen and a redox motif such as C-(X)2-[CST] or [CST]-(X)2-C in the prevention and/or treatment of infection with an intracellular pathogen and in the manufacture of medicaments therefore.

Numerous infectious diseases are due to microorganisms with an essentially intracellular life cycle. Examples are viral diseases such as influenza, mycobacterium infections such as tuberculosis, bacterial infections such as Mycoplasma and parasitic diseases such as Leishmania and malaria.
Current vaccination procedures aiming at intracellular pathogens, when available, primarily elicit CD4+ T cells that are effective in helping B cells to produce specific antibodies, but cause no, or very little cytolytic activity. Hence, vaccine effectiveness remains limited.
Due to their intracellular location, these microorganisms are only marginally affected by humoral immunity and specific antibodies. An effective defence against intracellular infections depends on the elicitation of cellular immunity, namely of cells that recognise infected cells by virtue of presentation of microorganism-derived antigens into the context of MHC class I and class II antigens. Following recognition, immunocompetent cells are activated and destroy infected cells using a variety of mechanisms including exocytose of cytolytic enzymes and IFN-gamma induction of nitric oxide synthase (NOS). IFN-gamma activates the formation of reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen intermediates, and induces the transcription of indolamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) with subsequent deprivation in tryptophan. Tryptophan deprivation can severely affect the intracellular survival of bacterial pathogens such as Chlamydiae. In infections with Candida, fungal morphology and sensitivity to anti-fungal agents are profoundly affected by intracellular tryptophan concentrations (Bozza et al. (2005) J. Immunol. 174:2910-2918).
Reactive oxygen intermediates are generated by activation of NADPH oxidase elicited by bacterial products and IFN-gamma or IL-8. This activation elicits the formation of superoxide (O2), which converts into H2O2 and hydroxyl anion (OH−). Upon action of myeloperoxidase, hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and chloramine are formed. All these intermediates have potent anti-microbial and tumoricidal activities.
Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), as induced by IFN-gamma or TNF-alpha generates NO radicals, which can be converted into peroxynitrite (ONOO—) or nitrothiols. NO radicals exert potent microbicidal effects. iNOS is under transcriptional control by factors such as NFk-B and the Jak/STAT complex. NO directly or indirectly influences the life cycle of viruses, bacteria and parasites. Thus, for example, S-nitrosylation of the cysteine protease 3C of Coxsackie virus interrupts the viral life cycle (Saura et al. (1999) Immunity 10:21-28). The production of O2− by Helicobacter pylori leads to microbicidal peroxinitrite by interaction with host NO (Nagata et al. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273:14071-14073). Conversely, absence of enzyme participating in the elaboration of reactive intermediates, such as for the defect in myeloperoxidase leads to the development of chronic fungal infections, such as Candida albicans (Nguyen and Katner (1997) Clin. Infect. Dis. 24:258-260).
The above pathways converge towards the elimination of both extracellular and intracellular pathogens and are triggered by IFN-gamma. A source of IFN-gamma providing high concentrations at sites of infection therefore provides a potential benefit in the elimination of such pathogens. A more optimal strategy to fight intracellular pathogens could be to combine non-specific intracellular microbicidal mechanisms with specific adaptive immunity. An example would be to design a system by which high concentrations of IFN-gamma would be delivered precisely at sites of infection, so as to avoid systemic side-effects of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Immunotherapy targeting intracellular pathogens


A continuously variable transmission for use on vehicle, which is provided in an FR drive power transmission path to change the rotational drive power of the engine in continuous speed variation, comprises a variable displacement type hydraulic swash plate pump (P) and a hydraulic swash plate motor (M), which are connected with each other through a hydraulic closed circuit (51). The hydraulic pump (P), which is driven by the engine, delivers oil to the hydraulic motor (M), and the hydraulic motor (M), which is driven by the oil being received, transmits the rotational drive power to the rear wheels. The hydraulic pump (P), the hydraulic closed circuit (51) and the hydraulic motor (M) are arranged in this order in series in a rearward direction from the output shaft of the engine in the vehicle, and hydraulic servo mechanisms (45) and (65) that swivel the swash plates of the hydraulic pump (P) and the hydraulic motor (M) and hydraulic control valves (V) that perform various hydraulic control operations are placed under the hydraulic continuously variable transmission mechanism of the transmission.

Hydraulic continuously variable transmissions which comprise a swash plate type hydraulic pump and a hydraulic motor have been known. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications No. H7(1995)-280063 and No. H8(1996)-74965 disclose such transmissions. The transmission disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H7(1995)-280063 is a hydrostatic transmission which comprises a hydraulic pump with a variable swash plate and a hydraulic motor with a fixed swash plate. In this transmission, the hydraulic pump, which is driven by the engine to supply oil to the hydraulic motor for actuation, is connected with the hydraulic motor through a hydraulic closed circuit. In this construction, the hydraulic pump, the hydraulic closed circuit and the hydraulic motor are connected in series in this respective order.
On the other hand, the transmission disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H8(1996)-74965 is a hydromechanical transmission which comprises a hydraulic pump with a variable swash plate, a hydraulic motor with a fixed swash plate, and a power distribution mechanism, which divides the output of the engine into two portions, one to drive the hydraulic pump and the other to drive the output shaft of the transmission. Here, the hydraulic pump driven by the engine supplies oil through a hydraulic closed circuit to the hydraulic motor for the actuation of the motor. In this construction, the hydraulic closed circuit is arranged or formed in a control block, and the hydraulic pump and the hydraulic motor are positioned on this control block above and below the control block.
In any FR drive vehicle, naturally, the engine is placed in the front part of the vehicle, and the output shaft of the engine is connected through a transmission to a propeller shaft, which extends rearward through the central lower portion of the vehicle body. In this power transmission system, the rotational drive power of the engine taken out through the output shaft thereof is transmitted to the rear wheels of the vehicle through the propeller shaft. Generally, the transmission is provided at the rear end of the engine, extending rearward, so the drive power, which is received from the engine through the engine output shaft, is transmitted to the propeller shaft through the transmission, which changes the speed ratio. In the construction of this type of power transmission system, which is designed for FR drive vehicles, it is typical that the unit which includes the transmission and the propeller shaft is placed inside a floor tunnel which extends from the front part of the vehicle to the rear part in the cabin.
It is generally desired that the cabin space, i.e., the accommodation space available for the driver and other people riding the vehicle, be made as wide as possible to provide comfort. Also, there is a desire to improve the degree of freedom in laying out the cabin. Therefore, there is need to minimize the floor tunnel which protrudes or rises into the cabin, and there is a desire to form the floor tunnel in a straight line without ups and downs. Thus, the transmission, which is placed in the floor tunnel, is now required to have a configuration that can satisfy such need and desire.

Continuously variable transmission for use on vehicle


A method limits the effect of repetitive electrical impulse noise in a communication system. The presence of the repetitive electrical impulse noise is detected during communication service. If the repetitive electrical impulse noise is detected, then a message is transmitted which signals that the repetitive electrical impulse noise is present. Other systems and methods are disclosed.

Repetitive electrical impulse noise (REIN) can affect communication systems and can comprise a plurality of impulses, each impulse having a duration, wherein impulses are separated by regular time periods or intervals. Electric power lines carrying AC power are one mechanism that can cause REIN, wherein the REIN impulses typically appear with twice the frequency of the AC power. Depending on the country, typical AC power systems can have, for example, a frequency of 50 Hz or 60 Hz. Such AC power systems would result in REIN with a frequency of 100 Hz or 120 Hz, respectively, which corresponds to a REIN period of 10 ms or 8.33 ms, respectively. Further, such REIN impulses could have various durations, for example, in the range of approximately 50-500 μs or of approximately 1-2 ms. Although electric power lines are one mechanism that could cause REIN, countless other mechanisms could also do so.
Communication systems, including digital subscriber line (DSL) communication systems, can be severely affected by REIN. Specifically, DSL modems using discrete multi-tone (DMT) modulation (e.g., ADSL or VDSL) are affected severely by REIN because a single REIN burst may alter a complete DMT symbol. If REIN alters a complete symbol, a large number of bit-errors will occur. For example, if the length of a DMT symbol is 0.25 ms, then REIN could alter on average one in every 33.3 (for 120 Hz REIN frequency with period 8.33 ms) or one in every 40 (for 100 Hz REIN frequency with period of 10 ms) DMT symbols. This error rate may not meet the quality of service requirements for DSL systems.
FIG. 1 shows one known communication protocol 100 for providing communication service, wherein horizontal lines can indicate communication signals or messages exchanged between modems 102, 104 and over a twisted pair of copper wires 106. The illustrated communication protocol 100 includes several steps, which are further described below, namely: handshake 108, initialization 110, and data transfer 112.
In step 108, the modems can undergo a handshake, which is somewhat analogous to two people shaking hands and introducing themselves when they first meet. The handshake serves to identify the type of modems in communication, and to negotiate and agree on a common set of initial communication parameters (e.g., bit distribution parameters) for the communication service, wherein handshake messages are sent from one modem to the other to facilitate the negotiation and agreement of the common set of communication parameters. In one embodiment, the handshake may be carried out in accordance with ITU-standard G.994.1.
After the handshake, the modems can continue on to an initialization in step 110. The initialization can include a message exchange and the capture of channel parameters (e.g., channel estimation, signal-to-noise ratio estimation, calculation of coefficients of the equalizer and echo canceller). In a typical situation, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for each sub-carrier is measured during system initialization, and the maximum bit capacity of each sub-carrier is determined. Once the transmission capability of the system is thus assessed, the modems can assign more bits (e.g., larger constellation sizes) onto sub-carriers with higher SNR compared to sub-carriers having lower SNR and the sub-carrier relative transmit powers (e.g., gains) are set. Illustrative initializations are described in ITU-T recommendation G.992.1 (ADSL) or ITU recommendation G.993.2 (VDSL2).
After the initialization 110, the modems can transfer data in 112. In one known embodiment, the modems do not protect messages with impulse noise protection (e.g., FEC encoding, interleaving) until data transfer. In other words, although known DSL systems use impulse noise protection in data transfer 112, they do not use impulse noise protection in either the handshake 108 or initialization 110. Thus, known methods for protecting against REIN are not applicable during initialization.
In real-world situations REIN may be present all the time—even during the handshake or initialization stage of a communication protocol. However, the prior art fails to disclose a communication protocol that accounts for the presence of REIN prior to data transfer. Accordingly, the need exists for methods to detect the presence of repetitive electrical impulse noise (REIN) and for methods that limit the effects of repetitive electrical impulse noise.

Protection of communication systems against repetitive electrical impulse noise


Engine speed control during garage shift maneuvers of a transmission coupled, via a transmission input shaft, to a driven turbine of a hydrodynamic converter, the driven turbine fluidically coupled to a driving pump of the converter, the pump coupled to an engine output shaft, wherein engine output torque is controlled in response to a deviation in turbine acceleration away from a target turbine acceleration, to minimize rate of change in turbine acceleration (jerk) during the garage shift maneuver, so as to reject engine torque load changes that may result in undesirable engine speed variation.

In automotive powertrain control, a transition between a driven and an undriven transmission gear, such as between drive or reverse and park or neutral, is commonly referred to as a garage shift maneuver. An undesirable engine speed change often occurs during a garage shift maneuver due to application of or removal of the substantial torque load of the driven vehicle wheels from the engine. The speed change may simply be an annoyance to the powertrain operator or may significantly affect engine performance. The step change in torque load during a garage shift maneuver provides a significant control challenge for conventional powertrain control systems which attempt to reject the change in torque load to maintain a substantially constant engine speed throughout a garage shift maneuver.
Engine speed control during a garage shift maneuver has been proposed. The proposed control varies engine speed during a garage shift maneuver in response to sensed change in engine speed and in engine intake manifold absolute air pressure (MAP). When a significant change in engine speed is accompanied by a significant MAP change under such proposed control, engine fueling rate, intake air rate or ignition timing is adjusted as a function of the engine speed change and perhaps further as a function of the MAP change to vary engine output torque in direction to minimize such change. The difficulty with this approach is that it is reactive. A significant and officious engine speed deviation away from a desired speed may be required before any action is taken to reduce such speed change. An unpleasant engine speed deviation away from a target engine speed may be unavoidable during garage shift maneuvers under such proposed control. Powertrain stability and powertrain operator confidence may suffer under this reactive approach.
It has further been proposed to control engine speed during a garage shift maneuver by controlling the hydraulic pressure applied across transmission shift control lines to vary the time of transmission gear shift. Line pressure is proposed to be increased or decreased as a function of an estimated prior garage shift timing error. Such proposed control requires engine speed to be stable and within a prescribed speed range at the onset of the garage shift maneuver. If such conditions are not met, as is frequently the case during a garage shift maneuver, an undesirable engine speed deviation away from a target engine speed may occur during the garage shift maneuver.
A hydrodynamic converter (hereinafter a torque converter) is generally known to be applied as a coupling between an engine and a transmission, providing well-established torque multiplication and hydrodynamic damping benefits. The torque converter includes a pump which rotates with an engine output shaft and a turbine which rotates with a transmission input shaft. The pump drives transmission fluid in the torque converter assembly which drives the turbine. In torque multiplication mode, a positive slip (rotational speed difference) is present between the pump and the turbine providing for a torque multiplication across the torque converter. In high efficiency mode, virtually no slip is present between the pump and the turbine, providing for a hydrodynamic clutch function. During a garage shift maneuver, the rate of rotation of the turbine (turbine speed) changes rapidly due to a step change in transmission torque load. The load is passed across the torque converter from the turbine to the pump and is then applied as an engine output torque load change which can, under the prior art control, perturb engine speed substantially away from a target engine speed.
FIG. 1A illustrates turbine speed change under two representative garage shift maneuvers. FIG. 1B illustrates a corresponding (undesirable) engine speed change for the same two garage shift maneuvers. Curve 100 represents turbine speed for a powertrain in a neutral or park transmission gear with substantially no load applied across the torque converter such that engine speed (curve 120 of FIG. 1B) and turbine speed are substantially at a target rate of rotation. At time t1, a garage shift maneuver is initiated in which the transmission is shifted from the neutral or park gear into a driven gear (either a drive gear or a reverse gear). The application of a transmission load immediately causes a significant decrease in turbine speed toward zero as illustrated by curve 102 of FIG. 1A, while engine speed initially remains substantially constant and remains largely unaffected throughout a period of time .delta.t during which the change in load is transferred across the torque converter to the engine output shaft. Following time .delta.t, the load change is reflected to the engine output shaft and engine speed begins a sharp decrease as illustrated by curve 122. Prior art engine speed control procedures may reactively compensate the engine speed drop well after the time delay .delta.t and drive engine speed back toward the target engine speed. Engine speed control may later stabilize following a settling time ts.
At time t2, a second garage shift maneuver is initiated in which the transmission is shifted from a drive gear (drive or reverse) into park or neutral which corresponds to a step removal of a torque load. The torque load removal immediately causes a significant increase in turbine speed from zero (or any initial speed) toward a final speed along curve 104 (FIG. 1A), while engine speed initially remains constant. Following a period of time .delta.t1 after time t2 during which the change in load is transferred across the torque converter to the engine output shaft, engine speed begins a speed increase as illustrated by curve 124. Prior art engine speed control procedures may reactively compensate the engine speed increase a period of time after time .delta.t1 and drive engine speed back toward the target engine speed. Engine speed control may later stabilize following a settling time ts1. FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate the significant delay between the start of the garage shift maneuver and the time a reactive compensator, such as the described prior art compensator, responds, to stabilize engine speed control.
It would be desirable to anticipate engine speed change during a garage shift maneuver and, under all engine operating conditions, proactively compensate the anticipated change so that engine speed may remain stable throughout a garage shift maneuver.


A circuit arrangement for a mobile telephone comprises a microprocessor responsive to a clock signal for controlling its functions, and a signalling circuit, e.g. a modem which is coupled to the microprocessor to provide an output clock signal thereto. In the idle states of the processor, the output clock signal is stopped, using a stop signal from the microprocessor. This gives use to reduce power consumption and a consequential increase in battery life.

The reduction of the size and weight of the telephone, and thus in Particular the size and Weight of the batteries which serve as the source of power, without, however, shortening the time that the telephone can be used without having to recharge the battery, has Presented a continuous challenge in developing the usability of radio telephones. The time that a telephone with batteries of the same size can be used before it needs to be recharged can be lengthened if the consumption of current is reduced. For this purpose, numerous circuits have been developed by means of which, for example, the efficiency of the source of current has been improved and/or the consumption of current by the other circuits in the telephone have been somewhat reduced.
In general, the circuits referred to above are placed in a current-saving state when in an idle state, for example the operation of the microprocessor can be stopped. The circuits are reactivated by a suitable external control signal. Such a signal may be, for example, a receive or interrupt signal coming from a signalling circuit. With this procedure, however, an optimal saving of current is not achieved, since in general a circuit in a current-saving state will still receive a clock signal regardless of the internal state of the circuit. The clock signal is normally a high-frequency signal, for example of the order of megahertz and the output butter generating the clock signal consumes current.

Mobile telephone having a power-conserving subroutine


A semiconductor gate stack comprising a silicon oxide based gate dielectric and a doped semiconductor material is formed on a semiconductor substrate. A high-k material metal gate electrode comprising a high-k gate dielectric and a metal gate portion is also formed on the semiconductor substrate. Oxygen-impermeable dielectric spacers are formed on the sidewalls of the semiconductor gate stack and the high-k material metal gate stack. The oxygen-impermeable dielectric spacer on the semiconductor gate stack is removed, while the oxygen impermeable dielectric spacer on the high-k material metal gate electrode is preserved. A low-k dielectric spacer is formed on the semiconductor gate stack, which provides a low parasitic capacitance for the device employing the semiconductor gate stack.

Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integration requires two gate materials, one having a work function near the valence band edge of the semiconductor material in the channel and the other having a work function near the conduction band edge of the same semiconductor material. In CMOS devices having a silicon channel, a conductive material having a work function of about 4.0 eV is necessary for n-type metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (NMOSFETs) and another conductive material having a work function of about 5.0 eV is necessary for p-type metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (PMOSFETs).
In conventional CMOS devices employing polysilicon gate materials, a heavily p-doped polysilicon gate and a heavily n-doped polysilicon gate are employed to address the needs. In CMOS devices employing high-k gate dielectric materials, suitable materials satisfying the work function requirements are needed. So far, identification of materials for a dual work function metal gate electrode system has presented some challenges. In particular, a high-k material metal gate stack for p-type field effect transistors that is capable of withstanding a high temperature thermal cycling encountered during a conventional semiconductor processing sequence has proven to be illusive so far.
Due to the difficulties encountered in providing suitable materials for a pair of dual work function metal gate electrode system, hybrid implementation of a high-k metal gate and a conventional polysilicon gate has been known in the art, in which a high-k material metal gate is employed for one type of transistors, i.e., n-type field effect transistors, and a conventional polysilicon gate is employed for another type of transistors, i.e., p-type field effect transistors. However, integration of the two types of gate electrodes introduces difficulties since the two types of gates have different requirements for spacer structures. On one hand, a low-k dielectric spacer or an oxide spacer is desirable on a polysilicon gate electrode to reduce parasitic capacitance between the polysilicon gate electrode and the source and drain regions. On the other hand, a high-k material metal gate requires protection of the high-k material from subsequent oxidation since an unstable oxygen content in the high-k gate dielectric degrades or introduces uncertainty in the dielectric constant of the high-k material.
In view of the above, there exists a need for a semiconductor structure providing a high-k material metal gate and a semiconductor gate electrode, while providing stability of the composition of the high-k material as well as a low parasitic capacitance for the semiconductor gate electrode, and methods of manufacturing the same.

Metal gate stack and semiconductor gate stack for CMOS devices

International Business Machines Corporation


A PCMCIA card having cellular phone battery charging circuitry, and an adapter cable having a PCMCIA card connector equipped with a battery characteristic encoder, are provided to charge a cellular phone battery, using power supplied by a mobile PC, in accordance to battery characteristic information provided by the battery characteristic encoder. Starting and stopping of charging operation is preferably controlled by mobile PC. Furthermore, starting and stopping of charging operation is preferably automated with charging software application executing on mobile PC.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of cellular phone battery. More specifically, the present invention relates to the charging of cellular phone battery by mobile personal computer (PC).
2. Background Information
Today, cellular phone and mobile PC have become indispensable business equipment to many business and technical professionals, particularly those who travel frequently. Typically, users who travel with both of these equipment would carry two separate incompatible battery chargers, one for charging the cellular phone battery, and the other for charging the mobile PC battery. This prior art approach to charging the various batteries is cumbersome and less than desirable. It would be a lot more desirable if one of the battery chargers can be eliminated. As will be disclosed in more details below, the present invention provides for a method and apparatus for charging the cellular phone battery by the mobile PC that achieves the desired and other results.

Automatic cellular phone battery charging by mobile personal computer using configuration write data and storage element for charging in accordance to battery charging parameter


An illuminated keypad is disclosed herein. And embodiment of the keypad comprises a first zone and a second zone; a substrate comprising a substrate surface; a first switch located on the substrate in the first zone; a first light guide having a first light guide first side and a first light guide second side, wherein the first light guide first side faces the first switch; a second light guide having a second light guide first side and a second light guide second side, wherein the second light guide first side faces the substrate surface; a masking layer having a masking layer first side and a masking layer second side, the masking layer first side facing the substrate surface; and at least one cut in the masking layer, wherein the masking layer blocks a light path between the light guides.

Many illuminated keyboards have different zones or portions that may illuminate independent from one another. Light guides are typically used to illuminate the different zones. If light from one active or illuminated light guide enters an inactive or non-illuminated light guide, the zone of the inactive light guide may illuminate when it should not. The user of the illuminated keypad may then be confused by the improper illumination.

Avago Technologies ECBU IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


An ignition device for a multi-cylinder engine includes a plurality of integral ignition device units 9A and 9B associated with respective cylinders. A single ignition detector circuit 8, inserted between the battery 1 and the primary coil of the ignition coil 5 of respective units 9A and 9B, generates an ignition confirmation signal upon detecting a current exceeding a predetermined level.

This invention relates to ignition devices for internal combustion engines, and more particularly to ignition devices for multi-cylinder internal combustion engines which are provided with the function for detecting the operation of the ignition coils for the respective cylinders of the engine.
FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a conventional ignition device for an internal combustion engine. In FIG. 3, a driver transistor 2 is coupled across a battery 1 via a resistor 3. A power transistor 4 in Darlington connection is driven by the output of the driver transistor 2. The ignition coil 5 has a primary coil coupled across the positive terminal of the battery 1 and the collector of the power transistor 4. The secondary coil of the ignition coil 5 is coupled to the ignition plug (not shown) via a distributor (not shown). A current detecting resistor 6 is coupled across the emitter of the power transistor 4 and the ground. In response to the voltage developed across the current detecting resistor 6, a current limiter circuit 7 controls the base current of the power transistor 4, and thereby limits the current flowing through the primary coil of the ignition coil 5. An ignition detector circuit 8 detects the voltage developed at the collector of the power transistor 4 upon interruption of the current flowing through the primary coil of the ignition coil 5, and generates an ignition confirmation signal. In the figure, the ignition device is enclosed within a dot-and-dash line box 9.
The operation of the conventional ignition device of FIG. 3 is as follows.
When the driver transistor 2 is turned off in response to an external signal, the power transistor 4 is turned on to let the current flow through the primary coil of the ignition coil 5. Under this circumstance, a voltage corresponding to the current flowing through the primary coil of the ignition coil 5 is developed across the current detecting resistor 6. This voltage developed across the current detecting resistor 6 is supplied to the current limiter circuit 7. In response to this voltage, the current limiter circuit 7 controls the base current of the power transistor 4, and thereby limits the current through the primary coil of the ignition coil 5 to a predetermined magnitude, such that the current through the primary coil of the ignition coil 5 is maintained at a constant level.
Then, when the driver transistor 2 is turned on by an ignition signal and the power transistor 4 is turned off to interrupt the current through the primary coil of the ignition coil 5, a high voltage is developed across the secondary coil of the ignition coil 5 and is supplied to the ignition plug of the engine via the distributor.
The ignition detector circuit 8 detects the voltage developed at the collector of the power transistor 4 upon interruption of the current flowing through the primary coil of the ignition coil 5. When the detected voltage exceeds a predetermined level, the ignition detector circuit 8 generates an ignition confirmation signal. The ignition confirmation signal is supplied to a computer (not shown), such that the computer may judge whether or not the ignition coil is functioning properly. The computer determines to which cylinder of the engine the malfunctioning ignition coil corresponds, and the fuel supply to the malfunctioning cylinder is stopped in a fuel equalization system.
FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing another conventional ignition device for an internal combustion engine. The detector input of the ignition detector circuit 8 is coupled to the current detecting resistor 6, such that the voltage corresponding to the current flowing through the primary coil of the ignition coil 5 can be detected. Thus, the ignition detector circuit 8 detects the voltage developed across the current detecting resistor 6 corresponding to the current flowing through the primary coil of the ignition coil 5, and generates an ignition confirmation signal when the detected current level exceeds a predetermined level. Otherwise the circuit of FIG. 4 is similar to that of FIG. 3.
The above conventional ignition devices, however, have the following disadvantage. When a plurality of ignition device units are provided for respective cylinders of a multi-cylinder and the ignition coil and the power transistor of each unit are assembled into an integral unit, separate ignition detector circuits must be provided for respective cylinders. Thus, the circuit becomes complicated and expensive.

Ignition device for an internal combustion engine


Techniques are disclosed for characterizing and defining the location of a copy space in an image. A methodology implementing the techniques according to an embodiment includes applying a regression convolutional neural network (CNN) to an image. The regression CNN is configured to predict properties of the copy space such as size and type (natural or manufactured). The prediction is conditioned on a determination of the presence of the copy space in the image. The method further includes applying a segmentation CNN to the image. The segmentation CNN is configured to generate one or more pixel-level masks to define the location of copy spaces in the image, whether natural or manufactured, or to define the location of a background region of the image. The segmentation CNN may include a first stage comprising convolutional layers and a second stage comprising pairs of boundary refinement layers and bilinear up-sampling layers.

The term "copy space" refers to a region within an image or video which provides available space to place text, logos, or other designs. Copy space may be useful, for example, for marketing and other digital content generation tasks, where it is desired to overlay a new image onto a region of an existing image. Designers and artists typically search through catalogs of stock photos to find an image that provides a suitable copy space with which they can work. Such searching is time consuming and expensive. Because copy spaces can take on many shapes and sizes, with varying characteristics, it has proven difficult to design automated systems to find images that include copy spaces that match the requirements of the designer/artist.

Learning copy space using regression and segmentation neural networks


It comprises a first prism (10, 10a, 10b), with triangular base, on which is arranged at least one second transparent prism (2, 11) the combination defining a prismatic body which is arranged on the stereoscopic pair so that, when the user's eyes (13, 14) are positioned in front of the upper face of the prismatic body, each eye visualises the corresponding stereogram (3, 4) via the upper face of the prismatic body, reproducing the three-dimensional vision effect. In an embodiment of the invention the second prism (2, 11) is triangular and provision has been made for a third prism (12, 15) of identical configuration to the above, in which case the stereoscopic photographs/images (3, 4) are divided into halves A, B, C, D which are duly arranged for achieving three-dimensional visualisation. It comprises illumination equipment (5), some lenses (8, 8a) and a directional filter (9).

The obtaining of stereoscopic photographs or images in such a way that, by visualising each of them with just one of the eyes, a three-dimensional vision effect is obtained, is known in the state of the art.
In this regard, the use of different types of devices of differing complexity is known, an example of which is the case of using simple glasses made from filters of complementary colours or complex glasses on which the images corresponding to each eye are independently projected.
The invention comes within those devices that use lenses and/or mirrors which permit visualisation of each of the photographs solely by one of the eyes in order to produce the three-dimensional vision effect.


The invention relates to the simulation of the deformation of materials, notably of soft body tissues. An apparatus comprises a memory (MEM, NT) storing data as to the position of an object, recorded at the vertices of a grid pattern, and data for force to be exerted on the object. A computer (μP, MT) evaluates new positions of the vertices, as a function of a force exerted globally and mechanical parameters of the material. According to the invention, this computer comprises a module for calculating, for each mesh, a deviation between the current length of an edge and its previous length, and the force data at each vertex of the mesh. Another module calculates, for each vertex, new positional data relating to this vertex as a function of the forces exerted thereon and its previous position.

The following description of the background of the invention is provided simply as an aid in understanding the invention and is not admitted to describe or constitute prior art to the invention.
The invention relates to the simulation of deformation of materials, notably of soft body tissues.
Usually, a display interface is provided for representing at least one object following a predetermined shape, displayed with a selected grid pattern. A user interface provided with mechanical handling means allows the user to simulate one or more forces exerted globally on the object.
A memory is also provided for storing mechanical parameters of the material of which the object in question consists, data as to the position of the object, recorded at the vertices of a selected mesh, and force data which represent, in intensity and position, stress to be exerted on the object.
A computer operatively connected to the memory evaluates new positions of the vertices, as a function of the stress exerted and the mechanical parameters of the material. In order to display the deformation and/or the return to a resting position of the moving object, the computer calculates the evolution of the positions of the vertices over time as a function of this stress. When it is used to simulate the deformation (or cutting) of body tissues, a qualified person (such as a surgeon) is able to follow the simulation of a deformation and/or a return to a resting position.
In the published application no. FR-9714506 by this Applicant, the simulation of the deformations of the object was based on a linear model, in the embodiment described. Although the use of the apparatus described in FR-9714506 has proved very promising in the field of surgical assistance for simulating the cutting of soft body tissues (liver, skin, etc), the simulation of large movements, possibly non-linear, was not completely natural. Moreover, this apparatus could not predict the reaction to a force exerted on just any type of deformable material, particularly in the case of large movements.
Thus, simulated deformations with large shifts in position are not normally reliable. The present invention sets out to improve the situation.

Apparatus for simulating the deformation of materials, notably of soft body tissues

INRIA Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique


An apparatus for polishing wafers, preferably by chemical mechanical polishing. The apparatus includes a table defining a planar polishing surface adapted to contain a polishing medium and a wafer carrier assembly adapted to hold a wafer against the polishing surface. The wafer carrier assembly includes a wafer carrier and prevents rotation of the wafer carrier with respect to the polishing table even when the wafer carrier is moved in a circular or orbital path on the polishing surface. Polishing is carried out relative movement between the wafer carrier and the polishing surface in any direction within the plane of the polishing surface. The relative movement can be accomplished by moving the wafer carrier, the polishing table, or a combination of movements of the wafer carrier and polishing table.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the polishing of semiconductor wafers of the type from which chips for integrated circuits and the like are made. More specifically in a chemical mechanical process (CMP) a semiconductor wafer is held by a tooling head and is polished by contact with an abrasive material in a controlled chemically active environment.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
As part of the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, semiconductor wafers are polished by CMP. The uniform removal of material from and the planarity of patterned and un-patterned wafers is critical to wafer process yield. Generally, the wafer to be polished is mounted on a tooling head which holds the wafer using a combination of vacuum suction or other means to contact the rear side of the wafer and a retaining lip or ring around the edge of the wafer to keep the wafer centered on the tooling head. The front side of the wafer, the side to be polished, is then contacted with an abrasive material such as an abrasive pad or abrasive strip. The abrasive pad or strip may have free abrasive fluid sprayed on it, may have abrasive particles affixed to it, or may have abrasive particles sprinkled on it.
The ideal wafer polishing process can be described by Preston's equation: R=K.sub.p *P*V, where R is the removal rate; Kp is a function of consumables (abrasive pad roughness and elasticity, surface chemistry and abrasion effects, and contact area); P is the applied pressure between the wafer and the abrasive pad; and V is the relative velocity between the wafer and the abrasive pad. As a result, the ideal CMP process should have constant cutting velocity over the entire wafer surface, constant pressure between the abrasive pad and wafer, and constant abrasive pad roughness, elasticity, area and abrasion effects. In addition, control over the temperature and Ph is critical and the direction of the relative pad/wafer velocity should be randomly distributed over the entire wafer surface.
Most current CMP machines fail to produce constant velocity distribution over the entire wafer surface which is necessary for uniform material removal and good flatness. One common type of wafer polishing apparatus is the CMP model 372M made by Westech Systems Inc. As shown in simplified form in FIG. 1, a wafer 100 is held by a tooling head 102 which rotates about the axis of the wafer. A large circular abrasive pad 104 is rotated while contacting the rotating wafer and tooling head. The rotating wafer contacts the larger rotating abrasive pad in an area away from the center of the abrasive pad. Thus in the Westech apparatus, the relative motion between the wafer and the abrasive pad has two components: one due to the rotating wafer and another due to the rotating abrasive pad.
A number of disadvantages result from the relative motion between the wafer and the abrasive pad in the Westech apparatus. According to Preston's equation the rate at which material is removed from a given point on the wafer is directly proportional to the relative velocity between that point and the abrasive pad. In the Westech apparatus, different points on the wafer see different relative abrasive pad velocities, and therefore have different removal rates. The non-uniform relative velocities result from the fact that the velocity near the center of a rotating circle is less than the velocity near the outside of the circle. For example, while the center of the rotating wafer sees a constant velocity which is related solely to the rotating abrasive pad, the outer points of the wafer see velocities which are a combination of the rotating tooling head and the rotating abrasive pad.
Not only does the Westech apparatus result in non-uniform velocities at different points of the wafer at any one time, the velocities of points away from the center tend to fluctuate significantly over time. Constant velocities are preferable to fluctuating velocities since the removal rate and other factors necessary in obtaining a smooth finish are much easier to control. For example, with the Westech system, points away from the center of the wafer see alternating high and low velocities. During a period of low velocity, the abrasive material may pit or scratch the surface of the wafer and result in a non-smooth surface.
Another related apparatus is a polishing machine for polishing semiconductor wafers containing magnetic read-write heads, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,453 to Baldy et al. With this machine, a semiconductor wafer is held by a support head which is moved in a circular translatory motion by an eccentric arm. The wafer is polished by contacting an abrasive strip which is advanced in one direction. The relative motion between the wafer and the abrasive strip is a combination of the circular motion of the wafer and the linear motion of the advancing abrasive strip. The resulting relative motion is that of a circle precessing in a straight line. Note that "precessing" used herein refers to the movement in a plane of an axis which is perpendicular to the plane and about which a circular translation occurs.
While the precessing circle polishing pattern that this apparatus provides should provide more uniform velocities such that different points on the wafer see similar velocities at any given time, the velocities are still not constant. Assuming the rotation of the eccentric arm is held to a constant angular speed, the precessing circle relative motion results in fluctuating velocities. When the wafer is rotating away from the precessing direction the net relative velocity is lower, and when the wafer is rotating with precessing direction the net relative velocity is higher.
Moreover, the apparatus has the disadvantage of not being able to provide alternative polishing patterns. Since the support head is mounted on a rotating eccentric arm, the wafer can only be polished by moving in a circle. Polishing patterns other than circular are desired for a number of reasons.
One such reason is to provide more uniform wear of the abrasive pad. Non-uniform wear of the abrasive pad results in a non-uniform removal rate of wafer material since more heavily worn sections of the abrasive pad remove material at a lower rate. Non-uniform wear also results in less efficient use of the abrasive pad itself, since the pad must be changed more often or advanced at a faster rate in order to avoid using portions of the pad which wear out first.
A relative polishing motion of a circle precessing in a straight line results in the center of the abrasive strip having more wear than the outside edges. This is because the wafer spends more time in the center of the pad than at the outer edges. The more time the wafer spends on certain sections of the abrasive strip, the more the abrasive strip wears out.
Another disadvantage of circular patterns is uncontrolled spinning of the wafer inside the tooling head. The forces from the polishing motion in a continuous circular motion cause the wafer to tend to spin or rotate in one direction with respect to the tooling head.
An additional disadvantage of only providing a circular pattern is that certain topologies on the wafer surface may be less well suited for circular polishing patterns. The pre-polishing topology of the surface of the wafer may be patterned, due to processing. Each surface topology is optimally planarized by a certain polishing pattern, which may not always be a circular one. Thus, providing the ability to custom design polishing patterns is desirable so that polishing different surface topologies may be optimized.
Another disadvantage with prior systems is that it is difficult or impossible to polish selected regions of the wafer using a specific portion of an abrasive pad. For example, if a zone of aggressive abrasive is present on the abrasive pad, it is difficult to selectively use that zone to increase the removal rate on certain parts of the wafer, if the only motion provided by the polishing system is that of a fixed radius circle.
Another disadvantage with prior systems is related to the fact that a wafer moving in a particular direction will have a higher removal rate on the leading edge and sides of the wafer. Prior art systems providing only certain polishing patterns cannot be easily made to control the removal rates at the edges due to this effect. Circular motion generally provides a constantly variable cutting direction and therefore will cause removal rates from all the edges. However, prior art systems cannot be programmed so that certain areas are selectively polished by spending more time traveling in one direction than another.
While Preston's equation, explained above, describes the ideal process, it does not address some factors related to a manner in which the wafer is presented to the polishing media and chemistry. Many CMP machines currently available yield wafers bearing anomalies in planarity. These anomalies are often related to factors that cannot be described by Preston's equation. For example, it has been found with many available CMP machines, that the removal rates of material are higher near the edges of the wafer. The shape of the platen (which holds the wafer against the polishing media) and the relationship between the platen and the retaining ring (which keeps the wafer centered on the platen) are crucial to the final wafer planarity.
One attempt at addressing some of the problems not described by Preston's equation is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,082 to Shendon et al. Disclosed is an attempt to control the relationship between the platen, ring and pad by tying the platen and the ring together through a flexible diaphragm. However, by allowing the ring to float with respect to the platen, the ring can be upset by changes in abrasive pad flatness, roughness, and friction. When the ring is disturbed, the pressure on the periphery of the wafer increases. This can contribute to poor planarity because of more pronounced oxide removal rates near the wafer edges.
Another type of tooling head, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,142 to Carr et al., uses a retaining ring with constant pressure at all points on the ring. The pressure on the ring is not adjustable during polishing, in that different springs must be used for any variation in conditions, such as changes in the abrasive pad surface. Changing springs requires disassembly of the retention ring from the head. Thus there is a need for a tooling head having a retaining ring in which the pressure between the ring and the abrasive pad is easily adjustable, and less prone to changes in the abrasive pad surface.
Other problems with tooling heads include undesirable chattering or vibration during certain polishing patterns. Chattering or vibration is caused by allowing a certain degree of backlash, or play between the tooling head and its supporting member in directions parallel to the wafer being polished.

Apparatus for chemical mechanical polishing


There is provided a method of automatically tagging social network posts with geo-location tags, comprising: for each of a plurality of user generated content items uploaded to a social network from a plurality of different client devices: selecting a specific geographic region mapping dataset of a plurality of geographic region mapping datasets corresponding to a specific geographic region identified by an analysis of the respective user generated content post, mapping by the specific geographic region mapping dataset, a generic term to a specific geographic location within the specific geographic region, and tagging the respective user generated content item with a geo-location tag of the specific geographic location within the specific geographic region.

The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to data mining of user generated content items uploaded to a social network and, more specifically, but not exclusively, to systems and methods for geo-tagging and/or sentiment analysis of user generated content items uploaded to a social network.
Users posts to a social network may be analyzed to obtain a wide range of information. However, the posts to the social network are numerous while at the same time lacking in certain data to enable automated systematic approaches to work accurately. For example, many content items are lacking geo-tags. In another example, a sentiment analysis may be performed using content items to obtain an overall sentiment of the users towards a topic or a set of topics.

Automated sentiment analysis and/or geotagging of social network posts


A three phase power conditioner. The inventive power conditioner (10) converts an alternating current input signal from a three phase source (12) into a direct current output signal and includes a first circuit (20) for converting a first phase of the input signal into a first direct current output signal. A second circuit (22) is included for converting a second phase of the input signal into a second direct current output signal. Likewise, a third circuit (24) converts a third phase of the input signal into a third direct current output signal. A control circuit (30) regulates the power supplied by the first, second and third circuits to balance the loads (26) for all load values dynamically. In an illustrative implementation, the first, second and third circuits (20, 22, and 24) are implemented with boost converters and the controller (30) is implemented with a load share controller. The inventive power conditioner is adapted for use with Wye and Delta configured three phase power sources.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to power supplies. More specifically, the present invention relates to power conditioners for use in power supplies.
While the present invention is described herein with reference to illustrative embodiments for particular applications, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those having ordinary skill in the art and access to the teachings provided herein will recognize additional modifications, applications, and embodiments within the scope thereof and additional fields in which the present invention would be of significant utility.
2. Description of the Related Art:
Power supply circuits typically include a rectifier circuit which converts an input alternating current (AC) input waveform to a direct current (DC) waveform. These rectifiers often pull harmonic currents from the source along with the desired fundamental signal. The harmonics impede the efficiency of power conversion and induce noise in load circuits.
For example, high power 3 phase AC to DC converters typically use off-line rectifies. Diodes or silicon controlled rectifiers (SCRs) control the rectification process by controlling the ON time of the rectifier. The output is smoothed or filtered by a large capacitor which provides a low ripple DC bus voltage for power distribution, motor control, lighting and etc. The circuit pulls harmonic currents which do not convert to work and are considered lost energy. The quality factor of the harmonic content is the "power factor". The power factor of typical high power rectifiers is 0.6 to 0.7. This translates to 30-40% usable power lost in the rectification process.
U. S. Pat. No. 4,680,689, issued Jul. 14, 1987, to Payne et. al. describes a three-phase AC to DC power converter which employs a separate DC to DC converter on each phase connected in parallel to reduce harmonic currents. Unfortunately, the DC to DC converters share the DC load current without regulation. Therefore, for example, if the load was one third the maximum level, the output impedance of each DC to DC converter would have to be exactly matched to provide equal sharing. Since there cannot be an exact match because of device and manufacturing tolerances, the lowest source impedance would dominate the DC load and cause an unbalanced load at the power source. In a four wire system, the imbalance would be in the neutral wire which could cause a safety hazard by overloading the neutral wire causing excessive voltage drop or difference between adjacent equipment.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a technique for converting alternating current to direct current at all power levels with a high power factor and minimal harmonic currents.

Delta connected three phase AC-DC converter with power factor correction circuits


The present invention is generally related to a device for facilitating the transferring of patients from one resting bed or stretcher to another. The device is a transferring sheet that is placed about one half on top of the source's bed and the other half on top of the target bed. The patient is transferred from one bed to the other by sliding on top of the transfer sheet.

At the present time nurses, paramedics and doctors have two options to transfer a patient from one bed or stretcher to another bed or stretcher. The preferred option is the use of a hard board. In order to do this transfer they roll the patient onto the hard board, then pull the hard board onto the destination bed, and finally pull the hard board from under the patient. When a hard board is not available, the transfer of the patient is done by physically lifting the patient in a bed sheet from one bed to the other. This process becomes a major problem when the patient is big and heavy, requiring the use of many people to do the transfers, as well as exposing the transferring team to back injuries.
When patients are in pain, they do not wish to be moved, even a simple roll onto a hard board may be painful. When moving is absolutely necessary the patient wants for the process to be as smooth and as pain free as possible.
One of the problems with using hard boards is that hospitals usually do not have them easily available. Hard boards are costly, inflexible, and difficult to store efficiently.
Another problem with using hard boards is that because they are not disposable and require to be decontaminated every time they are used on a patient, they become a potential high risk hygiene control.
To overcome these shortcomings of existing options, the present invention is developed to produce an effective means to facilitate the transfer of patients from one bed (or stretcher) to another bed (or stretcher). The invention described here will provide simple access of an easy to use, flexible, disposable and inexpensive transfer device.
The flexibility of our transferring device will ensure a smooth and minimal pain free transfer. This is accomplish because the transfer device is easily contoured to the patient's body with a minimum of effort and movement on the patient's part.

Device to facilitate the transferring of patients from one resting bed to another


A printer includes a head portion, a wiper, a wiper support portion, an urging portion, an inclined portion, an engagement portion, and a guide wall portion. The head portion includes a nozzle surface including a nozzle configured to eject liquid. The nozzle surface extends in a first direction and an orthogonal direction. The wiper is configured to contact with the nozzle surface. The wiper support portion supports the wiper. The urging portion is configured to urge the wiper in a second direction. The first protrusion portion is provided on the wiper support portion. The inclined portion is configured to move the wiper between a contact position and a separated position in accordance with movement of the inclined portion. The engagement portion is configured to engage with the first protrusion portion. The guide wall portion is configured to guide the movement of the wiper.

The present disclosure relates to a printer including a wiper configured to remove ink attached to a nozzle.
A printer is known that includes a wiper configured to remove liquid, such as ink, from a nozzle surface including a nozzle configured to eject the liquid. For example, a known inkjet type recording device includes a carriage, a wiper, and an ink removing member. The carriage includes a recording head including a nozzle surface. In accordance with movement of the carriage, the wiper slides in contact with the nozzle surface of the recording head such that the wiper removes ink attached to the nozzle surface. The ink removing member is configured to remove ink attached to the wiper.


This application discloses a method for adjusting image luminance performed at an electronic device. The method includes: determining a target pixel with original luminance lower than a luminance threshold in an original image, the luminance threshold being determined according to luminance of pixels in the original image; obtaining a luminance distribution intensity of pixels adjacent to the target pixel; determining a difference between the luminance threshold and the luminance distribution intensity of the adjacent pixels; and adjusting the target pixel to corresponding target luminance according to the difference and the original luminance of the target pixel. According to this application, a changing characteristic of relative luminance between the target pixel and the adjacent pixel is reserved. The luminance adjustment is more consistent with the luminance propagation of the original image, thereby achieving a technical effect of improving an adjustment effect of luminance adjustment on an image.

The conventional method for adjusting a dark part of an image is mainly to perform luminance enhancement on all pixels with luminance less than a luminance threshold in the image, to achieve visibility of details in the dark part of the entire image. However, such an adjustment method results in an important problem, that is, because relative luminance changes with adjacent pixels are not taken into account, luminance of pixels of an entire picture will be enhanced as long as the pixel luminance is less than an absolute threshold. Consequently, contrast detail changes in adjacent pixel areas are sacrificed.
For the foregoing problem, no effective solution has been provided yet.

Method and apparatus for adjusting image luminance, storage medium, and electronic device

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