The disclosure provides a slurry polymerization system and method to decrease polymer deposition on reactor surfaces using an oxygenate such as alcohol (16) supplied to the polymerization medium (32) separate from the catalyst feed (34).

Isoolefin polymers are prepared in carbocationic polymerization processes. Of special importance is butyl rubber which is a copolymer of isobutylene with a small amount of isoprene. Butyl rubber is made by low temperature cationic polymerization that generally requires that the isobutylene have a purity of >99.5 wt % and the isoprene have a purity of >98.0 wt % to prepare high molecular weight butyl rubber.
The carbocationic polymerization of isobutylene and its copolymerization with comonomers like isoprene is mechanistically complex. See, e.g., Organic Chemistry, SIXTH EDITION, Morrison and Boyd, Prentice-Hall, 1084-1085, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 1992, and K. Matyjaszewski, ed, Cationic Polymerizations, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1996. The catalyst is typically composed of two components: an initiator and a Lewis acid. Examples of Lewis acids include AlCl3 and BF3. Examples of initiators include Brønsted acids such as HCl, RCOOH (wherein R is an alkyl group), and H2O. During the polymerization process, in what is generally referred to as the initiation step, isobutylene reacts with the Lewis acid/initiator pair to produce a carbenium ion. Following, additional monomer units add to the formed carbenium ion in what is generally called the propagation step. These steps typically take place in a diluent or solvent. Temperature, diluent polarity, and counterions affect the chemistry of propagation.
Industry has generally accepted widespread use of a slurry polymerization process (to produce butyl rubber, polyisobutylene, etc.) in the diluent methyl chloride. Typically, the polymerization process extensively uses methyl chloride at low temperatures, generally lower than −90° C., as the diluent for the reaction mixture. Methyl chloride is employed for a variety of reasons, including that it dissolves the monomers and aluminum chloride catalyst but not the polymer product. Methyl chloride also has suitable freezing and boiling points to permit, respectively, low temperature polymerization and effective separation from the polymer and unreacted monomers. The slurry polymerization process in methyl chloride offers a number of additional advantages in that a polymer concentration of approximately 26% to 37% by volume in the reaction mixture can be achieved, as opposed to the concentration of only about 8% to 12% in solution polymerization. An acceptable relatively low viscosity of the polymerization mass is obtained enabling the heat of polymerization to be removed more effectively by surface heat exchange. Slurry polymerization processes in methyl chloride are used in the production of high molecular weight polyisobutylene and isobutylene-isoprene butyl rubber polymers, polymerization of isobutylene and para-methylstyrene, and are star-branched butyl rubber.
However, there are a number of problems associated with the polymerization in methyl chloride. For example, there can be a tendency of the polymer particles in the reactor to agglomerate with each other and to collect on the reactor wall, heat transfer surfaces, impeller(s), and the agitator(s)/pump(s). The rate of agglomeration increases rapidly as reaction temperature rises. Agglomerated particles tend to adhere to and grow and plate-out on all surfaces they contact, such as reactor discharge lines, as well as any heat transfer equipment being used to remove the exothermic heat of polymerization, which is critical since low temperature reaction conditions must be maintained.
Another problem associated with slurry polymerization is the tendency of the polymer to form or deposit on the reactor surfaces. This manner of polymer formation or deposition occurs when the polymer forms directly on the reactor surfaces, and is referred to herein as "film deposition" or "deposition" to distinguish from the agglomeration and collection of "sticky" polymer particles from the slurry, which is referred to herein as "polymer agglomeration," "particle agglomeration" or "agglomeration." The rate of polymer film deposition on the reactor surfaces is generally proportional to the rate of polymerization, whereas particle agglomeration depends more on the characteristics of the slurry, flow conditions, particle adhesion, etc.
The commercial reactors typically used to make these rubbers are well mixed vessels of greater than 10 to 30 liters in volume with a high circulation rate provided by a pump impeller. The polymerization and the pump both generate heat and, in order to keep the slurry cold, the reaction system needs to have the ability to remove the heat. An example of such a continuous flow stirred tank reactor ("CFSTR") is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,930, incorporated by reference, hereinafter referred to in general as a "reactor" or "butyl reactor."
In butyl reactors, slurry is circulated through tubes of a heat exchanger by a pump, while boiling ethylene on the shell side provides cooling, the slurry temperature being determined by the boiling ethylene temperature, the required heat flux and the overall resistance to heat transfer. On the slurry side, the heat exchanger surfaces progressively accumulate polymer, either by agglomeration or deposition, inhibiting heat transfer, which would tend to cause the slurry temperature to rise. The resistance to heat transfer can be monitored by observing inlet and outlet temperature differences and the flow rate of the coolant, and taken as an indication of the extent of polymer accumulation. When the heat transfer resistance from polymer accumulation on the heat transfer surfaces becomes excessive, the reactor is taken out of service for cleaning. The subject of polymer accumulation has been addressed in several patents (such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,534,698, U.S. Pat. No. 2,548,415, U.S. Pat. No. 2,644,809). However, these patents have unsatisfactorily addressed the myriad of problems associated with film deposition on heat transfer surfaces for implementing a desired commercial process.
Chinese Patent Application No. 01134710.4, Public Disclosure No. CN 1417234A, discloses a method for the preparation of isoolefin polymers or copolymers by cationic polymerization in which a homopolymerization reaction of C4-C7 isoolefin monomers or a copolymerization reaction with other monomers is performed in a chlorohydrocarbon diluent using a Lewis acid as the primer, to which reaction system it is suggested to add such dispersing agents as carboxylic acid esters, ethers, ketones, amines, styrenes or alkyl substituted styrenes. The dispersing aids are said to lower the viscosity of the polymerization system and to make the dispersion of the insoluble polymer granules more uniform in the diluent. The reference claims that at a reaction temperature below −20° C., a stably dispersed polymer system can be obtained, the problem of heat transfer and mass transfer can be effectively improved, the dispersing agent that has been added can be easily obtained, and, at the same time, a narrower molecular weight distribution (MWD) of the polymer is obtained. However, there is no disclosure of any specific co-initiator for the Lewis acid, and some of the alleged dispersing aids are known comonomers.
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFC's) are chemicals that are currently used as environmentally friendly refrigerants because they have a very low (even zero) ozone depletion potential. Their low ozone depletion potential is thought to be related to the lack of chlorine. The HFC's also typically have low flammability particularly as compared to hydrocarbons and chlorinated hydrocarbons. HFC's have recently been disclosed as a polymerization system diluent. Some polymerization media, processes, reactors and systems that can employ HFC's are disclosed in the following commonly assigned patent references: WO2004058827; WO2004058828; WO2004058829; WO2004067577; WO2006011868; US2005101751; US2005107536; US2006079655; US2006084770; US2006094847; US2006100398; and US2006111522.
WO 02/34794 discloses a free radical polymerization process using hydrofluorocarbons. Other background references include DE 100 61 727 A, WO 02/096964, WO 00/04061, U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,878, U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,870, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,470,143.
Finding alternative blends of diluents, or a diluent additive to improve polymerization methods and systems that would reduce film deposition on reactor surfaces is desirable. Such improved methods and systems would reduce polymer deposition and reactor heat transfer resistance without compromising process parameters, conditions, or components and/or without sacrificing productivity/throughput and/or the ability to produce high molecular weight polymers.

Method and apparatus for decreasing polymer deposition


A receiver has an offset application circuit for applying a known offset to an input signal, and a decision circuit for comparing the offset-applied input signal with a reference voltage. The level of the input signal is determined based on the known offset and on the result output from the decision circuit. With this configuration, a large common mode voltage can be eliminated in a circuit used for signal transmission.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal transmission technology and, more particularly, to a receiver, a transceiver circuit, a signal transmission method, and a signal transmission system for performing high-speed signal transmission between LSI chips or between a plurality of devices or circuit blocks accommodated on the same chip, or between boards or enclosures.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the performance of components used to construct computers and other information processing apparatuses has improved greatly; for example, performance improvements for semiconductor memory devices such as DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and processors and the like have been remarkable. The improvements in the performance of semiconductor memory devices, processors, etc. have come to the point where system performance cannot be improved further unless the speed of signal transmission between components or elements is increased.
For example, the speed of signal transmission between a main storage device such as a DRAM and a processor is becoming a bottleneck impeding performance improvement for a computer as a whole. The need for the improvement of signal transmission speed is increasing not only for signal transmission between enclosures or boards (printed wiring boards), such as between a server and a main storage device or between servers connected via a network, but also for signal transmission between LSI (Large Scale Integration) chips or between devices or circuit blocks accommodated on the same chip because of increasing integration and increasing size of semiconductor chips, decreasing supply voltage levels (signal amplitude levels), etc.
Specifically, there is a need to increase the signal transmission speed per pin in order to address the increase in the amount of data transmission between LSIs or between boards or enclosures. This is to avoid an increase in package cost, etc. due to increased pin count. As a result, the inter-LSI signal transmission rate in recent years has exceeded 1 Gbps, and in the future (three to eight years from now) it is expected to reach an extremely high value (very high signal transmission rate) such as 4 Gbps or even 10 Gbps.
It is thus desired to provide a transceiver circuit that can evaluate and diagnose signal transmission systems, optimize transmission/reception parameters, and achieve increased receiver sensitivity, and also a receiver that can eliminate a large common mode voltage in a circuit used for signal transmission.
For signal transmission between boards or enclosures, between LSI chips, or between a plurality of devices or circuit blocks accommodated on the same chip, there is a need to increase the efficiency of use of a transmission line by reducing the number of signal lines, wiring patterns, etc. and, in view of this, it is also desired to provide a signal transmission system, a signal transmission method, and a transceiver circuit capable of providing higher-accuracy and higher-speed signal transmission in both directions.
The prior art and its associated problem will be described in detail, later, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Receiver, transceiver circuit, signal transmission method, and signal transmission system


A system and method for providing notifications on a mobile computing device are disclosed. The method comprises enabling multiple applications that operate on the mobile computing device to generate notifications in response to event occurrences. A plurality of notification representations are presented in a notification bar on the display. The plurality of notification representations are individually generated by a corresponding application in response to an event occurrence. The plurality of notification representations are represented in a first portion of the notification bar and with a number that represents how many notification representations from an application have been generated and not dismissed by a user.

Mobile computing devices are used for a variety of different purposes. For example, a user can use a mobile computing device to read and send emails, receive or send text messages, receive or make phone calls, schedule appointments, or to perform other tasks. Whether a user is currently using the mobile computing device or not, it is important to notify the user of various events that occur.
With the increase of functionalities and various applications that are provided on mobile computing devices, an efficient way to receive and/or view notifications is needed.

System and method for providing notifications on a mobile computing device


An apparatus for transporting textile packages in a transport direction along an elongate package supporting surface comprises a guide track extending beneath the elongate supporting surface, an elongated thrust element slidable on the guide track, and an elongated lift element superposed on the thrust element for elevational movement toward and away therefrom via connecting pivot rods. A stop device on the thrust element limits the elevational movement of the lift element between a lowered position disposed beneath the elongate supporting surface and a raised position disposed at a higher elevation than the elongate supporting surface for displacing textile packages off the elongate supporting surface. A drive actuates elevational movement of the lift element and displaces the lift and thrust elements as a unit along the guide track when the lift element is in the raised position for transporting the textile packages displaced by the raised lift element.

As used herein in connection with the present invention, the term textile packages is intended to encompass and is to be understood to include any package of textile yarn, strand or other textile material wound, contained or otherwise collected in a packaged form such as, without limitation, spinning pots, cheeses, speed frame bobbins, cops, canned sliver, or the like.
Transport apparatus and devices for yarn cheeses, for example, have been known for a long time in connection with textile machines producing cheeses, such as open-end rotor spinning machines or winding machines which produce cheese packages from yarn bobbins. These textile machines either have two conveyor belts disposed in a central disposition such as in the case of open-end rotor spinning machines or are equipped with a bobbin transport belt disposed in an off center disposition such as in the case of cheese winding machines.
The cheeses produced on the winding installations of such textile machines are customarily transferred to the transport apparatus or devices running the length of the machine by automatically operating service units, which may be so-called cheese changers in the case of bobbin winding machines or possibly piecing carriages with changing devices in the case of open-end spinning machines, and the cheeses are conveyed by the transport apparatus or devices to a bobbin removal apparatus disposed at the end of the machine. These bobbin removal apparatus, for example palletizing devices or the like, transfer the cheeses to bobbin transport carriages or other downstream-located transport devices.
In a cheese transfer from the winding devices of the individual work stations of a winding machine to the transport device or apparatus running the machine length, such as represented for example in European Patent Publication EP 0 325 991 B1, it must be assured that the cheese to be transferred does not collide with cheeses which are already being transported on the conveyor belt of the transport apparatus or devices. Thus, in the course of the cheese transfer by means of the cheese changer or the piecing carriage, it must be assured that at the time of the transfer of a cheese the space on the conveyor belt located behind the respective winding device is unoccupied.
Various belt clearing strategies are known to prevent the collision of cheeses during this transfer. For example, it can be provided to first successively load a stopped conveyor belt with cheeses and subsequently to unload the filled or nearly filled conveyor belt at a palletizing device preferably disposed at the end of the machine. However, this method is disadvantageous in that it is necessary to make the drives of the transport device of relatively large size because of the not inconsiderable loading imposed by the supported cheeses, and the conveyor belt is stretched so greatly that additional positioning and control devices are required for detecting the respective exact positioning of the cheeses on the conveyor belt. This method furthermore leads to a reduction in the useful effects, since fresh cheeses can not be exchanged in the area of the winding stations during unloading.
Another clearing strategy immediately transports every finished cheese via the conveyor belt to the palletizing device into a bobbin reception position in which the cheese can be grasped by the palletizer. With this method, the transport device is stopped for loading and unloading every cheese, which in the end results in a "stop and go" operation and considerably stresses not only the transport device but also the delicate cheeses.
It is further known in connection with the transport of spinning pots to employ installations with transport elements which are lifted for the pot transport operation and which subsequently move the spinning pots to initiate transport by a longitudinal displacement, such as described in German Patent Publications DE 40 31 511 A1 and DE 43 05 916 A1.
Another transport device for textile packages is disclosed in German Patent Publication DE 44 28 247 A1, utilizing two parallel elongated thrust elements with interspersed ratchet dogs. In this apparatus, the thrust elements are seated and coupled by means of a coupling device such that a relative movement takes place between the thrust elements when one of the thrust elements is acted upon, and in turn results in the ratchet dogs being pivoted inwardly. The direction of pivoting outwardly of the ratchet dogs, and therefore the transport direction of the pot transport device, can be directionally set by means of appropriate blocking means acting on the coupling device. However, a continuous transport operation in which the spinning pots are stowed is not possible with the device described in German Patent Publication DE 44 28 247 A1.

Transport apparatus for textile packages


A coupling used during testing of a water line including an upstream pipe and a downstream pipe connected by the coupling. A removable barrier disk prevents water from flowing through the connected pipes until after testing, when the disk is then detached from the body member of the coupling. A piercing assembly interacts with a groove near the perimeter of the disk to initiate a tear that propagates along the groove as the disk is pulled away from the body member of the coupling. The piercing assembly is attached to the disk by a fulcrum element offset with respect to a center of the planar disk.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,575,475; 6,595,242; 6,622,748; and 6,755,215 disclose a coupling used in testing water lines. This coupling includes a unitary, molded rubber or plastic cylindrical wall member with an internal removable disk between open ends of the cylindrical wall member. An annular ledge remains on the inside surface of the cylindrical wall member upon removal of the disk to form a pipe stop. A water pipe is placed in each open end of the cylindrical wall member to form a water line. An end of each water pipe is inserted into the open ends of the cylindrical wall member to abut opposite sides of the pipe stop. The thickness of this pipe stop is about 0.1 inch, and its maximum width is about 0.28 inch. The width is about equal to the wall thickness of the water pipes.
The water pipes may each be linear, non-branched pipes or one of the water pipes may be branched, for example a Tee-fitting or a Wye-fitting water pipe. A Tee-fitting water pipe has a straight section and branch section at a right angle to the straight section; a Wye-fitting water pipe has a straight section and branch section extending from its straight section at an acute angle. A pressure test is then conducted with water under pressure being fed into the upstream pipe, applying pressure to the upstream side of the disk. The elevated water pressure forces water through any upstream cracks or improperly sealed joints. Consequently, any leaks in any pipe joint or pipes upstream of the disk are thus located.
After testing, the disk is manually removed by tearing it away from the cylindrical wall member, thereby allowing water to flow through the coupled together upstream and downstream water pipes. This is accomplished typically by a pull member, for example, a strap having one end attached to the disk and another end extending from an opening in the downstream water pipe. This opening has a diameter sufficiently large to allow the disk torn from the cylindrical wall member to be pulled through the opening. After removal of the disk, water flows through the coupled together water pipes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,622,748 a cantilever device is used to puncture the disk to initiate a tear along a helical score line in the disk. One problem with this cantilever device is that, upon pressurizing the upstream water pipe, the disk bulges and a pointed tip of a piercing element of the cantilever device sometimes punctures the disk prematurely. Premature puncture of the disk prevents accomplishing the test because a leak in the disk is created through which water seeps. Another problem is that the helical score line often produces a jagged edge in the pipe stop that protrudes into the open cross-sectional flow area. After removal of the disk, the pipe stop should have an exposed edge that is smooth and circular and free of remnants that protrude into the open cross-sectional flow area. A jagged edge may reduce the "effective" open cross-sectional flow area of the pipe to create a flow obstruction to a degree that the water line fails to meet required plumbing specifications. Moreover, in some cases when using a downstream Wye-fitting water pipe, complete disk removal may not be achieved by simply pulling on the disk using the pull member.

Water pipe coupling with off-centered piercing assembly for tear out disk and method of removing disk


A power-line communications (PLC) device communicates with a second PLC device via a PLC medium and includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter transmits a Request to Send (RTS) communication to the second PLC device at a first power level. The receiver receives a Clear to Send (CTS) communication from the second PLC device. The transmitter transmits data to the second PLC device at a second power level that is less than the first power level. The transmitter transmits a TDM frame to the second PLC device that includes a preamble and header transmitted at a first power level and at least one special data symbol and a payload transmitted at a second power level that is less than the first power level. The special data symbol resides between the preamble or header and the payload and is usable by the second PLC device for processing of the payload.

In communications networks, such as multimedia home networks that make use of broadband powerline communication (PLC), it may be advantageous under certain circumstances to change the level of power at which digital data is communicated between and amongst network nodes. The injected power spectral density (PSD) of a signal in a PLC communications channel may be reduced below a nominal or maximum injected PSD for the channel to conserve power or to comply with regulations for conducted or radiated emissions in a particular frequency band. Alternatively, for example, the injected PSD may be reduced in one or more of the highest powered sub-bands of a plurality of sub-bands in a communications channel to effect an overall improvement in the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) for the communications channel. Determining when and how to do these things has not heretofore been addressed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Power line communication device transmitting at differing power levels in same communication


To automatically generate N-terminal (N is equal to or greater than three) nets according to the present invention, connection data of (Nxe2x88x921) terminals which satisfies a predetermined design rule for a package is input as initial data, and two-terminal nets are generated for a group of wiring start terminals and a group of N-th terminals to which nets are to be generated, in which an intermediate terminal group is ignored. Then, the initial data is combined with the result of the two-terminal generation process to thereby generate provisional nets, and the generated provisional nets are modified so that the design rule for the package is satisfied. In this way, the N-terminal nets are generated automatically.

The present invention relates to automatic generation of multi-terminal nets for a package such as a semiconductor chip package, and more particularly to a technique for automatically generating multi-terminal nets formed with one stroke so that those nets can be wired in a single-chip package without any redundant route.
Chip package parts represented by CPUs and ASICs have been enhanced significantly in both speed and packing density due to the progress of packaging techniques. The packaging is one of elementary techniques for effectively making electronic devices higher in performance and smaller in size in recent years. Under such circumstances, a high-performance automatic design system is an indispensable tool in product development fields now that products are getting diversified more and more and their life cycles are becoming shorter and shorter.
Wiring in a chip package is one of such automatic designs. This wiring is divided into two types; net wiring that derives each wiring route according to predetermined connection directive information (net(s)) and net generation that derives each wiring route while generating the connection directive information which can be wired. The present invention is applied to the latter wiring process.
Generally, wiring in a package is done radially from a terminal (bonding pad) group disposed at a bear chip (chip body) side located in the center toward a pin group (or interlayer connecting parts referred to as vias) arrayed at the outer periphery. Its wiring pattern should satisfy the following conditions.
E It should be connectable.
E The total wiring length should be as short as possible.
E It should satisfy the design rules (wiring pitch, gap between the pattern and part, etc.).
ENo redundant wiring route is allowed.
There is a known technique for implementing the package wiring described above which is referred to as two-terminal net generation algorithm. According to this technique, objects to be wired are divided into two terminal groups (source and sink). A given element in one group is connected to a given element in the other group temporarily by a shortest route searching method such as Dijkstra method, and any intersection of the generated routes is eliminated so as to finally generate nets which can be wired for all objects to be connected. For example, Japanese Patent 2938431 discloses a technique in which design information that indicates pad arrangement on a chip, pin arrangement on a package, correspondence of pads and pins, etc. is read and analyzed to create a wiring problem, pads and pins are classified into source elements and sink elements, the same ID numbers are consecutively assigned to pads and pins interconnected with each other, imaginary triangles having source/sink elements as vertexes are generated by applying the Delaunay""s triangulation method to the source and sink elements, the pins are then classified into some levels by using those triangles, it is determined whether or not each side of the triangles crosses a wiring, a wiring route is derived by connecting the sides determined to be crossed, and the result of the wiring design is output.
Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application 11-296560 discloses another technique in which design information is read and analyzed to create a wiring problem just like the technique disclosed in the above Japanese patent, bonding pads and pins of a semiconductor package are associated with each other, a monitoring side used to monitor a wiring route is created between a given sink element and a wiring inhibited area, a wiring route is searched by, for example, the Dijkstra method in a manner that crossing is allowed, an evaluation value is calculated by weighting the length of a candidate route with a coefficient if it crosses a monitoring side, a candidate route having the lowest evaluation value is selected as a partial route, and the result of wiring is finally output.
As described above, generally, wiring in a single-chip package is done radially from wire bonding pads disposed around a bear chip located in the center of the substrate toward pin parts (including vias) disposed along the outer periphery. The above-described two-terminal net generation algorithm classifies the objects to be connected into a wire bonding pad group (source) and a pin part group (sink) before wiring is done. When designing an actual chip package, however, it is often required to extend a wiring route from a source toward a sink and further to a plated terminal positioned at the outer periphery of the package for some reason of the chip fabrication. In case an attempt is made to automate all the processings up to this extension (to generate three- or more-terminal nets automatically), many problems that are difficult to be solved are expected to arise even when the present combination of the shortest route searching and crossing elimination methods is further expanded. The problems expected would be frequent occurrence of route searching operations depending on objects for intersecting routes (resulting in longer processing time), no assurance of obtaining a solution for connection, etc. Consequently, designers in the field are requested to lay most of lead wires up to these plated terminals manually.
Referring to a simple example shown in FIG. 1, symbols A to F denote parts such as pins or the like disposed between an output terminal (pad) group and an input terminal (plated terminal) group. Arrows lines 1 to 6 denote routes from the output terminal group to the input terminal group via those parts. In case a three-terminal net is configured by automatically generating a two-terminal net simply twice, a route passing through the part D could not be obtained (a net could not be generated) if the wiring capacity between 0the parts C and F is 100%. In that case, all the nets between the parts C and F must be reviewed and modified to wirable nets which would, however, lead to problems such as definition of an optimum net modification method, necessity for route searching, control of, generation of redundant circuitry (detour), and route evaluation. Further, after the net modification, wiring with nets is done in which the solution for connection could not be assured without enough examination of the nets, and the processing is repeated while checking the solution for connection, leading to the conclusion that the processing could be finished more quickly by manual work from the beginning. Of course, the manual work would impose a burden on the designer.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to derive wirable multi-terminal nets including no redundant route quickly without route searching.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an automatic multi-terminal net generation method for deriving the multi-terminal nets quickly.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an automatic multi-terminal net generation apparatus for deriving the multi-terminal nets quickly.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a program storage medium for storing a program used to perform the above automatic multi-terminal net generation method for deriving the multi-terminal nets quickly.
According to the present invention, when N-terminal nets (N is equal to or greater than three) are generated automatically, (Nxe2x88x921)-terminal connection data satisfying a given design rule for a package are input as initial data, and then a two-terminal net generation processing is performed for a group of terminals corresponding to start points of wiring and a group of N-th terminals for which nets are to be generated, with any intermediate terminal group being ignored. Then, provisional nets are generated by combining the initial data with the result of the two-terminal net generation, and these provisional nets are modified to satisfy the design rule for the package. The N-terminal nets are thereby generated automatically. In case the above (Nxe2x88x921) is equal to or greater than three, the connection data to be input as initial data must be generated according to the present invention.
Consequently, the first aspect of the present invention is a method for automatically generating multi-terminal nets, in which said nets are generated sequentially from wiring start terminals toward end terminals in a package including a plurality of terminal groups, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) inputting, as initial data, connection data between a first terminal group including said wiring start terminals and a second terminal group next thereto;
(b) performing two terminal net generation for said first terminal group and a third terminal group positioned next to said second terminal group in which said second terminal group is ignored;
(c) generating provisional nets by combining said initial data with the result of said two-terminal net generation; and
(d) modifying said provisional nets so as to satisfy a design rule for said package;
wherein said steps (b) to (d) are repeated for fourth and succeeding terminal groups by inputting, as said initial data, the provisional nets modified in said step (d) if the multi-terminal nets are four- or more-terminal nets.
The second aspect of the present invention is an apparatus for automatically generating multi-terminal nets in which said nets are generated sequentially from wiring start terminals toward end terminals in a package including a plurality of terminal groups, said apparatus comprising:
(a) means for inputting, as initial data, connection data between a first terminal group including said wiring start terminals and a second terminal group next thereto;
(b) means for performing two-terminal net generation for said first terminal group and a third terminal group positioned next to said second terminal group in which said second terminal group is ignored;
(c) means for generating provisional nets by combining said initial data with the result of said two-terminal net generation; and
(d) means for modifying said provisional nets so as to satisfy a design rule for said package;
wherein the tow-terminal net generation by said means (b), the generation of the provisional nets by said means (c) and the modification of the provisional nets by said means (d) are repeatedly performed for fourth and succeeding terminal groups by inputting, as said initial data, the provisional nets modified by said means (d) if the multi-terminal nets are four- or more-terminal nets.
The third aspect of the present invention is a program storage medium that stores a program for performing the method for automatically generating multi-terminal nets according to the first aspect.

Method and apparatus for automatically generating multi-terminal nets, and program storage medium storing program for executing automatic multi-terminal net generation method

International Business Machines Corporation


Solder balls, such as, low melt C4 solder balls undergo volume expansion during reflow. Where the solder balls are encapsulated, expansion pressure can cause damage to device integrity. A volume expansion region in the semiconductor chip substrate beneath each of the solder balls accommodates volume expansion. Air-cushioned diaphgrams, deformable materials and non-wettable surfaces may be used to permit return of the solder during cooling to its original site. A porous medium with voids sufficient to accommodate expansion may also be used.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and structures for attaching a semiconductor chip or chip carrier to a substrate and, more particularly, to methods and structures for attaching a semiconductor chip or chip carrier to a substrate using solder ball technology.
2. Background and Related Art
In the fabrication of electronic devices as, for example, during ball attach or card attach, low melt C4 (controlled collapsed chip connection) solder balls on a chip carrier will reach their melting temperature and become liquid. Typically, for solder with a high tin content, the volume expansion associated with this phase change can range between 3 and 6%. If the C4 solder balls have been encapsulated prior to this volume change, as is typically the case, the volume expansion is constrained and the resulting pressure may result in the squeezing of this expanding volume of liquid into voids present in the surrounding underfill and its associated interfaces. This volume expansion of solder may also result in opening any weak interfaces, like underfill to chip passivation (for example polyimide) or underfill to solder mask interfaces. It is clear that the effect of such action could result in device failure.

Method to accommodate increase in volume expansion during solder reflow

International Business Machines Corporation


Siding panel for installation on the walls, soffits or other exposed surfaces of a structure having a nailing hem folded back upon itself to form a lateral edge of the siding panel and terminating in a first lip projecting outwardly from the front side of the siding panel and away from the lateral edge. A U-shaped channel is formed on the front side of the siding panel and is connected to the nailing hem. A U-shaped projection extends along the siding panel and terminates in a second lip projecting away from the back of the siding panel and the U-shaped projection. The U-shaped channel receives a U-shaped projection of an adjacent panel and the first lip engages and interlocks with the second lip of the adjacent panel.

Siding, or wall siding, is commonly used to cover the exterior surfaces, e.g. walls and soffits, of structures. Such siding is often formed of metal such as aluminum or thermoplastic materials, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Siding installed on vertical surfaces may be formed with declinations, that is, downwardly and outwardly extending flat portions, which combine with horizontal shoulders to form a clapboard profile. Siding for soffits and other surfaces may be formed with recessed longitudinal channels.
Such siding is typically installed in multiple rows of panels, each row overlapping panels to which it is adjacent. Adjoining panels are overlapped in this manner to provide protection for the structure from the elements. The overlapping edges of a panel may separate from the overlapped panel, forming potentially problematic gaps between adjacent panels. These gaps can allow wind to get behind the panels and possibly lead to panels being blown off the structure.
It is an object of the present invention to provide improved wall siding which reduces or wholly overcomes some or all of the difficulties inherent in prior known devices. Particular objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, that is, those who are knowledgeable or experienced in this field of technology, in view of the following disclosure of the invention and detailed description of certain preferred embodiments.


A hypodermic syringe apparatus characterized by having an after-use condition which fosters safe handling--by virtue of the fact that the needle-part of the apparatus can be easily enshrouded in a protective member that is at least semi-rigid. A syringe has an elongated barrel with a generally cylindrical shape and a smooth longitudinal bore that is sized to receive a plunger; the barrel's outer surface is not circular. A protective shroud that is at least semi-rigid surrounds the barrel. The shroud has a length that is about the same as that of the barrel, and it has an internal shape that closely complements the external shape of the barrel. The shroud is designed to move with respect to the barrel only in a direction that is parallel to the barrel's longitudinal axis. The shroud has two principal positions: 1) a retracted position at which it is substantially coextensive with the barrel, and 2) a forward position at which it protrudes in front of the barrel for a distance that is sufficient to envelope a needle that is protruding from the forward end of the barrel. A resilient member is carried on the barrel and is biased to automatically engage the shroud when it has been moved to its forward position, so as to securely hold the shroud in a forward and needle-protecting position.

This invention relates generally to hypodermic syringes of the kind that are commonly used for injecting a medication into a body or for aspirating a liquid (such as blood) from a body; more specifically, it relates to a protective device that is usable in connection with such syringes in order to protect a user from being stuck with a used needle.
Injury to users of hypodermic syringes has become of increasing concern, now that it has been well established that an accidental needle stick (involving a contaminated needle) can be enough to pass along blood-transmitted viruses such as hepatitis, herpes and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Medical literature is now replete with warnings to medical personnel who handle hypodermic syringes to avoid even the slightest puncture of the skin with a used needle. Furthermore, there is an on-going risk to everyone who might come into contact with a used needle, including medical personnel and those who are involved in disposing of medical waste, etc.
The recognized risk of accidental needle sticks has prompted several persons to propose technical solutions to the problem of safe handling of used syringes and their associated needles. It is believed that the safest proposals are those which do not involve removal of the needle from the body of the syringe; to this end, it has been proposed to leave the needle in place and simply slide a tubular cover or sleeve over the needle after it has been used, so as to avoid any inadvertent contact with the needle's tip. Examples of such constructions may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,976,702 to Andrews et al. entitled "Syringe Needle Guard" and 4,998,920 to Johnson entitled "Protective Assembly For Hypodermic Syringe Devices." But while others have proposed at least some solutions, it is believed that a construction that involves the simplest and most direct action on the part of the user will be the best action. And any construction that involves a combination of required motions--such as push and twist--is not likely to be as safe as one that requires only a single motion. Hence, it is an object of this invention to provide a hypodermic syringe apparatus that has a protective sleeve that can be carried by the syringe in a stowed position where it does not interfere with normal use of the syringe--and then moved to an operative position with a single, straight-line motion.
It is another object to provide a hypodermic syringe apparatus which can be easily manufactured and assembled, but which offers the dependability of a much more sophisticated structure.
Another object is to provide an essentially fail-safe protective shield for a used needle--as long as the syringe apparatus is not subjected to the kind of deliberate abuse that could be applied with a sledge hammer or the like.
These and other objects will be apparent from a reading of the following specification and the claims appended thereto, as well as reference to the several figures of the drawing that are attached hereto.

Protective assembly for hypodermic syringes


Systems and methods include a method for providing recommendations and advisories associated with a facility. Source data is received in real-time from disparate sources and in disparate formats. The source data provides information about a facility and external systems with which the facility interacts. The source data is aggregated to form ontological frameworks. Each ontological framework models a category of components selected from components of a Things category, components of an Events category, and components of a Methods category. An abstraction layer is created based on the ontological frameworks. The abstraction layer includes abstractions that support queries, ontologies, metadata, and data mapping. A knowledge discovery layer for discovering knowledge from the abstraction layers is provided. Discovering the knowledge includes graph/network computation, graph/network training and validation, and graph representation learning. A recommendation and advisory systems layer is provided for providing recommendations and advisories associated with the facility.

The present disclosure applies to the use of disparate data sources that are used for large-scale petroleum engineering (PE) systems. Operational data in large-scale PE systems are typically scattered over many disparate sources and databases. Data records evolve over time, database querying is cumbersome, and data retrieval is time- and resource-consuming. Challenges imposed on users of large-scale PE systems include, for example, enabling time- and resource-efficient access to information, providing unified views of the information to streamline data-driven processes, and enabling effective knowledge management to optimize decision-making process and maximize economic returns. Ontological frameworks are used as tools for hierarchical unification, semantic querying in Big Data storage and retrieval (for example, cloud-based data access, data warehouses, and data lakes), and modeling. Ontology-based data access (OBDA) techniques are used for reservoir/asset knowledge retention, provenance, evolution, update, and management of complex Big Data.
Successful applications of OBDA and semantic modeling in the oil and gas domain have already been demonstrated in data mining and knowledge mapping from relational databases, integration of reservoir simulation models and production forecasts in integrated asset management, analysis of reservoir engineering events, and well recommendation and argumentation. However, applications of OBDA techniques in the exploration and production (E&P) domain have been limited to petroleum exploration data, using traditional recommendation algorithms (such as rule-based reasoning) and collaborative filtering. Such techniques typically prove suboptimal when deployed to extremely massive and complex PE data sets, scattered over heterogeneous data sources such as Exploration and Petroleum engineering PRoduction (EPPR) database, OpenWorks, and Compass. Commercially available alternatives typically address only a small part of the challenge, namely building knowledge graphs.

Representation learning in massive petroleum network systems


A method and apparatus embodied in transaction layer software suitable for use with serial bus devices, such as IEEE standard 1394 serial bus devices for supporting multiple link device drivers. The invention acquires or otherwise ascertains the capabilities of link devices and provides link device driver configurations to such link devices based on the link device's capabilities and behaviors, among other factors.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to link driver configuration for IEEE Standard 1394 nodes. More particularly, the invention is a method for dynamic link driver configuration of link driver architecture for IEEE Standard 1394 modules.
2. The Prior Art
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) defines the IEEE Standard 1394-1995 serial bus architecture in the document "IEEE Standard for a High Performance Serial Bus" published Aug. 30, 1996 which is incorporated herein by reference. In IEEE 1394, the serial bus architecture is defined in terms of nodes. In general, a node is an addressable entity (i.e., a logical entity with a unique address), which can be independently reset and identified. More than one node may reside on a single module, and more than one unit may reside in a single node.
A module is a physical device, comprising one or more nodes that share a physical interface. The address space provided by a node can be directly mapped to one or more units. A unit is a logical entity, such as a disk controller, which corresponds to unique I/O (input/output) driver software. On a multifunction node, for example, a processor and I/O interfaces could be different units on the same node.
During initialization (startup) of a module, certain hardware devices of the module are checked and appropriate drivers are loaded as is known in the art. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates a typical module device 1 having first and second nodes 2a, 2b. Nodes 2a, 2b include respective link layer services (LINK) 3a, 3b and physical layer services (PHY) 4a, 4b. During the start up of module 1, link driver 5a is loaded to configure LINK 3a, and link driver 5b is loaded to configure LINK 3b. The link drivers 5a, 5b provide necessary configuration information which allows the LINKs 3a, 3b to carry out its link layer services. The prior art implementation provides a static link driver which is configured identically for each node 2a, 2b without regard for the type of communication that will be carried out by the node. Thus, link driver 5a is configured the same way as 5b, even though node 2a may carry out different communication than node 2b.
The prior art implementation of providing a static configuration for link drivers is not always optimal. For example, in IEEE 1394 communication, nodes may carryout asynchronous and isochronous communication. In asynchronous communication such as SBP (serial bus protocol), it would be advantageous to have a link device configured for data pumping to provide optimum performance for such asynchronous transfers. On the other hand, in isochronous communication such as AV/C (audio/video control), no advantage is provided if the link device is configured for data pumping, since AV/C commands do not have high bandwidth requirements. Rather, AV/C communication would benefit if the link device is configured for transferring isochronous data. Thus, the current implementation of providing a static configuration link driver for all LINKS (3a, 3b, for example) is a disadvantage.
As an example, LINK 3a may be able to receive and process 2054 byte packet sizes, while LINK 3b may be able to receive and process only 512 byte packet sizes. The prior art implementation would configure link device drivers 5a, 5b to handle 512 byte packet sizes, even though LINK 3a is able to handle larger (2054 byte) sizes. Thus, the capabilities of LINK 3a are not fully utilized where static link driver configurations are provided as is carried out in the prior art.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method which provides multiple link device driver configurations based on the capabilities of the link device and based on the specific behaviors of the link device. The present invention satisfies these needs, as well as others, and generally overcomes the deficiencies found in the background art.
An object of the invention is to provide a method for configuring link device drivers which overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for configuring link device drivers based on the capabilities of the link device.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for configuring link device drivers based on the specific behaviors of the link device.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for configuring link device drivers by ascertaining the capabilities of link devices before providing the configuration information for the link device drivers.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be brought out in the following portions of the specification, wherein the detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing the preferred embodiment of the invention without placing limitations thereon.

Method and apparatus for dynamic link driver configuration


Systems, methods, and devices are disclosed herein for Doppler based position estimation. Systems may include an antenna configured to receive a radio frequency (RF) signal from an emitter, and configured to generate an output signal based on the received RF signal. Systems may also include a receiver configured to receive the output signal from the antenna. The receiver may include one or more processors configured to identify a plurality of initial conditions for a plurality of state variables associated with the emitter, obtain a measurement of the RF signal from the emitter and an estimate of an uncertainty associated with the measurement, and generate an output based, at least in part, on an updated estimate of the plurality of state variables, the output identifying a position, velocity, and carrier frequency of the emitter. Systems may also include a communications interface configured to communicatively couple the antenna with the receiver.

Various signal sources may emit signals for wireless transmission. Moreover, antennas, or arrays of antennas, may be used to receive signals from such emitters of signals, which may be radio frequency (RF) emitters. In this way, RF emitters may transmit signals which are received by one or more antennas. The RF emitters may be stationary, or may be mobile and experience positional changes. For example, the RF emitters may be included in mobile vehicles, or may be in buoys that drift in a current or move with water. Furthermore, the antennas may be included in vehicles that are aircraft. Accordingly, both the antennas and the RF emitters may be in motion. Further still, the transmission frequency of the RF emitter may experience drift associated with imperfections in the RF emitter itself. For at least these reasons, conventional techniques remain limited in their ability to efficiently and effectively identify a location of an RF emitter and a carrier frequency of an RF emitter while such motion and frequency drift are occurring.

Systems, methods, and devices for Doppler based position estimation


A combine (10) includes a support frame (12) that can be moved across a field in a forward operating direction and a grain tank (42) fastened to it. The grain tank (42) is provided with side walls (58) that can be moved by means of an adjusting drive (68) between a retracted position for operation on public roads and for the storage of the combine (10) and an extended position for the harvesting operation. Each side wall (58) is connected in the upward direction with a cover (84) that is a component of a ring-shaped grain tank extension. The grain tank extension can be moved between an extended position in which it forms a ring that enlarges the grain tank (42) in the upward direction, and a retracted position, in which it encloses the grain tank (42) in the upward direction.

In combines the threshed out, cleaned harvested crop is stored temporarily in a grain tank and is transferred to a transport vehicle by means of an unloading conveyor when a sufficiently high fill has been reached. Since the permissible dimensions of a combine are limited by over the road regulations, grain tanks of larger combines are provided with extension elements that increase the volume of the grain tank during the harvesting process.
Such a grain tank with a ring-shaped extension is described in patent publication no. DE 100 51 096 A. There four elements, of which two are made of flexible material, are pivoted through 90° or more between a flat position and an extended position. U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,705 B proposes a cover arrangement for a grain tank that include two covers connected to each other so as to pivot on two sides of the grain tank. The two other sides of the grain tank extension can be pivoted between a horizontal non-operating position and a vertical operating position. In both publications cited the extension of the grain tank is performed only upward. This has the disadvantage, among others, that the center of gravity of the combine is relatively high when the grain tank is loaded which has the effect of decreasing the steering capabilities during operation around curves and on side slopes. Moreover, the volume of the grain tank extension is limited by its relatively small base surface area.
Patent publication no. DE 1 951 498 A, which is seen as forming a class, describes another combine in which the outer side walls of the grain tank can be pivoted outward to increase the volume of the grain tank during the harvesting process. The upper cover of the additional volume being formed at the sides of the combine is also moved outward so that the grain tank is covered in the upward direction at all times. This leads to the disadvantage that the added supplementary volume remains relatively small.
What is needed is a grain tank for a combine that offers a lower center of gravity and/or a larger additional volume. It is an object of the invention to provide such a grain tank.


An apparatus (10) for utilizing solar energy includes an outer shell body (11), an inner body (40) inside it, and a hollow body (30) provided in between which are formed in a shape of a uniform polyhedron, in particular a dodecahedron. The shell body (11) and the hollow body (30) are provided with at least one opening (12, 13, 15) for the entrance of solar rays. The shell body (11) is therein disposed above a reflector pan (20) and has a partial polyhedron form, in particular in dodecahedral form. The solar energy concentrated in the shell body (11) is converted and conducted further to a consumer. With this cost-effectively produced apparatus (10) an improved efficiency relative to know apparatus is attained.

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to an apparatus for utilizing solar energy. The invention more specifically relates to a solar energy apparatus which requires less space than a conventional solar energy apparatus.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In a solar generating station according to publication DE-A-32 38 797, a number of heliostats are provided which reflect solar radiation, which enters into them, onto optical waveguides and radiation receivers. These radiation receivers are mounted on a support unit or a tower. This solar generating station requires a large-area for the heliostats and their associated optical waveguides. Therefore, this solar generating station only meaningfully can be used in regions in which sufficient space is available, such as for example in a desert or in mountain ranges.


When the amount of a loan of the user of an IC card is written to a personal information storage provided in a center and when the IC card is inserted into the slot of an electronic purse terminal at the time of a current transaction, the amount of the loan stored in the personal information storage is cleared and this loan is paid. The balance stored in the sum information storage of the IC card is updated by this payment and is stored as the current balance in the sum information storage. If the balance is more than the charge for a transaction, the transaction is carried out and if the balance is less than the charge for the transaction, the transaction is performed by obtaining a new loan. The amount of this new loan is stored in the personal information storage.

The present invention relates to an electronic purse loan system or POS terminal for storing loan data relating to a shortage in the amount of a payment to a center and for effecting a processing to clear off a loan amount in the next transaction when a commercial transaction is performed using the electronic purse loan system or POS terminal.
If a commercial transaction is performed using a prepaid card of the type which is in widespread use at the present time, such as a telephone card, the above-described system operates to inhibit a commercial transaction involving use of the card at that time when the total consumed amount reaches or exceeds the sum stored in the card.
In addition, an electronic purse system has been developed in which a transaction is performed by recording information concerning the charges for transaction in an IC card, for example; however, in such an electronic purse system, a transaction may be performed only to the extent of the sum payable from an electronic purse, as described in Japanese published unexamined patent application No. H3-92966. That is, if the balance stored in the IC card is less than the amount of the transaction, the user of the electronic purse is informed that the balance is short and is urged to select whether the transaction is to be stopped, the amount to be paid using the IC card is to be changed or another transaction method, such as a regular credit card, is to be used to perform a flexible transaction.
Since the above-described prepaid card is usable only for payment for a specific service, a card for the amount of money corresponding to the service is prepared beforehand. Therefore, there are few occasions on which the balance is short. However, in the above-described electronic purse system, there is a great possibility that a shortage in the balance will occur at the time of payment due to the user forgetting to pay into his own electronic purse, and the shortage of a required amount to be paid for a transaction occurs because an electronic purse is utilized in many diverse fields. Therefore, in an electronic purse system, the balance in an IC card can be checked at any time using a portable balance display and other means, however, if the balance is short at the time of a transaction, the transaction using the electronic purse is not permitted.


A multiple chamber IV manifold delivery device for controlling infusion of blood, medical drugs or other solutions to a medical patient. The manifold includes a transparent housing defining a set of drip chambers that communicate with a Y-site fluid reservoir that delivers fluid to a conduit line leading to a medical patient. The Y-site reservoir is provided with a flotation check valve. The manifold delivery device is operable to control the order of delivery of at least two fluid solutions from separate supply chambers to a medical patient. The flotation check valve is used to maintain one supply chamber in a sealed condition while another chamber supplies fluid to be administered to a patient. The IV manifold device is provided with exit and entry ports to enable the device to be coupled together with at least two other similarly constructed apparatus to thereby increase the time period for administering drugs of fluids to a medical patient.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to an apparatus for intravenous administration of blood, medication drugs and/or other fluid solutions to medical patients. More specifically, the invention relates to an improved apparatus for delivering blood or an intravenous fluid typically, a solution such as saline, glucose or electrolyte to medical patients via a multiple chamber manifold device, automatically without the aid of manual or electrical switches.
2. Prior Art
Infusion delivery systems for administering blood or fluids to a medical patient from more than one solution source have been described in the prior art. A common system shown in the prior art features gravity flow and manually adjustable tubing clamps or pinch valves. A variety of valves and junctions may be used to control fluid delivery at a desired rate and sequence. Examples of such systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,886,937; 4,034,754; 4,14,617; 4,219,022; 4,223,695; 4,236,515; 4,237,879; 4,237,880; 4,250,879; 4,252,116; 4,256,104; 4,456,105; 4,258,712; 5,200,090; and RE 33,021. Dual delivery systems relying on electronic flow control means are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,318, for example.
There is a need for a drug IV infusion manifold delivery system for providing extended administration of medical drugs or solutions that do not require manipulation or intervention by hand or manual switching operation.
There is a further need for a IV manifold delivery system that reduces the need to transfer or switch from an empty sterile container to another supply fluid container.
There is still a further need drug IV manifold delivery systems operable to control the order of delivery of two separate fluid solutions to a medical patient.


Step 2 demodulation is conventionally performed using a secondary synchronization channel that correlates a received signal at a known time slot location against each of a plurality of sequences associated with the secondary synchronization code. The disclosed implementation proposes the use of a different synchronization channel to complete the step 2 process. More specifically, a complete synchronization channel correlator is used for the demodulation where the received signal at the known time slot location is correlated against a combination of the primary synchronization code and each of the plurality of secondary synchronization codes. This combined correlation produces enhanced step 2 performance in terms of acquisition time or signal-to-noise ratio.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) receivers and, in particular, to the initial acquisition of synchronization code group and frame alignment data by a UMTS-FDD receiver.
2. Description of Related Art
The cell search procedure for wideband CDMA receivers in general, and UMTS-FDD receivers in particular, to acquire the scrambling code group and frame synchronization of a cell is typically carried out in three steps: slot synchronization (step 1); frame synchronization and code-group identification (step 2); and scrambling code identification (step 3). In slot synchronization (step 1), the receiver uses the primary synchronization code (PSC) of the primary synchronization channel (P-SCH) to acquire slot synchronization to a given cell. This is typically accomplished with a single matched filter (or any similar device) matched to the primary synchronization code (which is common to all cells). The slot timing of the cell can then be obtained by detecting peaks in the matched filter output. Next, this slot timing is fed to the frame synchronization and code-group identification (step 2) process, the receiver uses the secondary synchronization codes (SSC) of the secondary synchronization channel (S-SCH) to find frame synchronization and identify the code group of the cell found in step 1. This is typically accomplished by correlating, over several slots, the received signal with all possible secondary synchronization code sequences and then identifying the maximum correlation value. Since the cyclic shifts of the sequences are unique, not only the code group, but also the frame synchronization, is determined by this correlation. Finally, scrambling-code identification (step 3) is achieved by determining the exact primary scrambling code used by the found cell. This primary scrambling code is typically identified through symbol-by-symbol correlation over the common pilot channel (CPICH) with all codes within the code group identified in the second step. After the primary scrambling code has been identified, the primary common control physical channel (CCPCH) can be detected, and the system- and cell-specific broadcast control channel (BCH) information can be read.
The primary synchronization code Cpsc is constructed as a so-called generalized hierarchical Golay sequence chosen to have good aperiodic auto correlation properties:PSC=(1+j)·<a,a,a,−a,−a,a,−a,−a,a,a,a,−a,a,−a,a,a>
wherein: a=<a0,a1, . . . , a15>, and more specifically:a=<1,1,1,1,1,1,−1,−1,1,−1,1,−1,1,−1,−1,1>in the case of UMTS-FDD. The PSC is defined for the first 256 chips of 2560-chip long slot, and takes 0 values for the 2304 remaining chips of the slot. Thus, the PSC may be rewritten as:PSC=(1+j)·<A0a,A1a, . . . ,A14a,A15a>
wherein: a=<a0,a1, . . . ,a15>, and more specifically:a=<1,1,1,1,1,1,−1,−1,1,−1,1,−1,1,−1,−1,1>, andA=<1,1,1,−1,−1,1,−1,−1,1,1,1,−1,1,−1,1,1>in the case of UMTS-FDD.
With respect to the plurality of secondary synchronization codes (SSC), a first 256-chip long code z is defined as:z=<b,b,b,−b,b,b,−b,−b,b,−b,b,−b,−b,−b,−b,−b>
wherein: b[0-7]=a[0-7], i.e., the first eight chips of sequence b are the same as the first eight chips of sequence a; and                b[8-15]=−a[8-15], i.e., the last eight chips of sequence b are the opposite of the last eight chips of sequence a.The code z may be reformatted with respect to a code sequence B and more specifically is:z=<B0b,B1b, . . . ,B14b,B15b>
wherein: b=<b0b1, . . . ,b15>, and more specifically:b=<1,1,1,1,1,1,−1,−1,−1,1,−1,1,−1,1,1,−1>, andB=<1,1,1,−1,1,1,−1,−1,1,−1,1,−1,−1,−1,−1,−1>in the case of UMTS-FDD.
The sixteen secondary synchronization code sequences Cssc are then constructed from a position wise multiplication of a Hadamard sequence and the code sequence z. The Hadamard sequences are obtained as the rows m in a matrix H8 constructed recursively by:
                                          H            0                    =          1                                                                                H            v                    =                                                    (                                                                                H                                                  v                          -                          1                                                                                H                                                  v                          -                          1                                                                                H                                                  v                          -                          1                                                                                -                                                  H                                                      v                            -                            1                                                                                )                                                                                v                        ≥            1                                              (        1        )
The rows m=16k of the matrix H8 possess the property that their elements are equal within a group of sixteen consecutive values, where the first group starts with the first element of a row. In other words, the i-th element of row m takes on a value hm,1 such that:hm,1=hm,16n  (2)where n is the integer division of i by sixteen:i=16n+r, 0≦r≦15  (3)For the sake of simplicity, denote h′k,n such that:hm,1=hm,16n=h16k,16n=h′k,n  (4)with n specified as set forth above in Equation (3), and n corresponding to the index of a group of sixteen consecutive chips within the 256-chip long sequence. Thus, the k-th secondary synchronization code sequence is:
                              SSC          k                =                                              (                          1              +              j                        )                    ·                      〈                                                            h                                      k                    ,                    0                                    ′                                                b                            ,                                                h                                      k                    ,                    1                                    ′                                                b                            ,                                                h                                      k                    ,                    2                                    ′                                                b                            ,                                                -                                      h                                          k                      ,                      3                                        ′                                                                  b                            ,                                                h                                      k                    ,                    4                                    ′                                                b                            ,                                                h                                      k                    ,                    5                                    ′                                                b                            ,                                                -                                      h                                          k                      ,                      6                                        ′                                                                  b                            ,                                                                                -                              h                                  k                  ,                  7                                ′                                                  b                    ,                                    -                              h                                  k                  ,                  8                                ′                                                  b                    ,                                    -                              h                                  k                  ,                  9                                ′                                                  b                    ,                                    h                              k                ,                10                            ′                                    b                    ,                                    -                              h                                  k                  ,                  11                                ′                                                  b                    ,                                    -                              h                                  k                  ,                  12                                ′                                                  b                    ,                                    -                              h                                  k                  ,                  13                                ′                                                  b                    ,                                                                                -                              h                                  k                  ,                  14                                ′                                                  b                    ,                                    -                              h                                  k                  ,                  15                                ′                                                  b                          〉            which can be reformatted as:SSCk=(1+j)·<h′k,0B0b,h′k,1B1b, . . . ,h′k,14B14b,h′k,15B15b>.
The frame synchronization and code-group identification (step 2) process for UMTS-FDD (WCDMA) cell search amounts to determining which of the k secondary synchronization code SSCk sequences is transmitted every slot (where it is assumed from completion of step 1 that the slot beginning time t0 is already known). This is equivalent to finding the row k of the Hadamard matrix H8 that is used for the given time slot. In accordance with well known prior art techniques, the row k is typically identified by correlating the complex-valued input signal s(t) by every possible secondary synchronization code SSCk to obtain sixteen estimates as follows:
                                          SSC            _                    k                =                              ∑                          n              =              0                        15                                          (                                          h                                  k                  ,                  n                                ′                                                                            B                  n                                ·                                  (                                                            ∑                                              p                        =                        0                                            15                                                                                b                        p                                                                                s                                                                          (                                                                                t                              0                                                        +                                                          16                                                            n                                                        +                            p                                                    )                                                                                )                                                      )                                              (        5        )            to generate secondary synchronization energies. In the foregoing Equation (5), the signal s(t) is correlated over 256 samples, and the correlation by all sixteen possible hk rows is known as a reverse Hadamard transform. The energy of each of the sixteen correlations is then calculated by the searcher and used in the step 2 frame synchronization and code-group identification processing in a manner well known to those skilled in the art.
In a prior art implementation, the inner sum of the correlation defined by Equation (5) above is accomplished using a dedicated hardware device and the outer sum is taken care of by a complementary software process. That inner sum comprises N=16 separate inner sum (IS) calculations as follows:
                              IS          n                =                              ∑                          p              =              0                        15                                                        b              p                                                  s                                            (                                                      t                    0                                    +                                      16                                        n                                    +                  p                                )                                                                        (        6        )
wherein: 0≦n<N=16,
with the sixteen consecutive inner sums being used to perform the reverse Hadamard transform, and each and every one of them being used in any secondary synchronization code SSCk processing to produce correlations as follows:
                                          SSC            _                    k                =                              ∑                          n              =              0                        15                                          (                                          h                                  k                  ,                  n                                ′                                                                            B                  n                                ·                                  IS                  n                                                      )                                              (        7        )            The entire step 2 process may last over many slots, and in fact may take more than a frame to complete.
Notwithstanding the use of combined dedicated hardware device and software process for performing the step 2 frame synchronization and code-group identification process, it would be advantageous if the number of slots are required for step 2 completion were reduced thus producing enhanced receiver performance. The present invention addresses the foregoing need with a method and associated apparatus that outperforms conventional step 2 processes and allows for code group and frame alignment acquisition to occur at Eb/No levels lower (i.e., under more adverse conditions) than possible with prior art solutions.

Code group acquisition procedure for a UMTS-FDD receiver


The present invention is a specimen preparation method of preparing an observation specimen by placing an observation object on a light transmitting plate, comprising a conveyance step of conveying the observation object by a conveyance mechanism including a placement portion configured to place the observation object, and a transfer step of transferring the observation object from the placement portion of the conveyance mechanism onto the plate at a conveyance terminal end of the conveyance mechanism, wherein in the transfer step, a liquid is supplied to the placement portion on which the observation object is placed, and the observation object is carried by a flow of the liquid and transferred onto the plate.

An observation specimen used in a microscope observation or the like is generally prepared by placing an observation object (tissue piece) on a translucent plate (microscope slide). PTL 1 discloses the structure of a specimen preparation device that prepares an observation specimen. This specimen preparation device includes a conveyance belt configured to convey an observation object, and conveys the observation object held on the lower surface of the belt by static electricity. According to PTL 1, transfer of the observation object from the lower surface of the belt onto a plate is done by loosening the belt and bringing the lower surface of the belt into contact with the plate arranged under the belt.

Specimen preparation method and specimen preparation device


A retardation element containing a liquid crystalline compound, and at least one compound selected from the group consisting of a compound represented by the following formula (1), a compound represented by the following formula (2) and a compound represented by the following formula (3). In the formula (1), n represents an integer of 3 to 10 and R2 represents a —CH2—CH2— group, a —CH2—CH(CH3)— group or a —CH2—CH2—CH2— group. In the formula (2), R3 represents a —(CH2)p— group or a phenylene group and p represents an integer of 4 to 8. In the formula (3), R4 represents a substituted phenylene group. In the formulas (1) to (3), R1-1, R1-2 and R1-3 each represent an alkyl group having a branched structure having 5 or more carbon atoms and R1-1, R1-2 and R1-3 may be the same or different.

A retardation element has a function of converting the direction of linearly polarized light vibrating in a certain direction to another direction, or a function of converting circularly polarized light or elliptically polarized light to linearly polarized light, and by utilizing these functions, for example, viewing angles, a contrast, and the like of liquid crystal displays (LCD) can be improved. As specific examples of utilizing this function of converting polarized light of the retardation element, there are known an example in which a retardation element referred to as a half-wave plate is employed as a polarization rotator of a polarizing beam splitter of a liquid crystal projector, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, and an example in which a retardation element referred to as a quarter-wave plate is employed in order to convert circularly polarized light obtained from a cholesteric liquid crystal to linearly polarized light, as disclosed in Patent Document 2. This quarter-wave plate is known to be used for an anti-reflection filter or the like as a circularly polarizing plate formed by being combined with a polarizing plate.
Examples of the retardation element include retardation elements formed by uniaxially stretching or biaxially stretching conventionally known plastic films such as polycarbonate films, polyarylate films, polyethersulfone films, cycloolefin polymer films, and the like. Generally, these retardation elements are referred to as a retardation plate or a retardation film.
Performance of the retardation element can be determined, for example, by a retardation value derived from the product of the birefringence which represents the difference between the refractive index in a direction of a slow axis (a direction in which the refractive index is maximized in one plane) and the refractive index in a direction of a fast axis (a direction perpendicular in one plane to the slow axis direction) and the thickness of the element. Further, in recent years, as disclosed in Patent Documents 3 to 7, the retardation element has been prepared by aligning a liquid crystalline compound in a specific direction and fixing the alignment state.
The retardation element using the liquid crystalline compound has been attracting attention since the element is characterized in that it can be a thin film which cannot be realized in a plastic film and can realize a complicated alignment state which cannot be realized by stretching a plastic film.
It is known that viewing angle properties, colors and a contrast of various liquid crystal displays can be improved by using the retardation element employing such a liquid crystalline compound. For example, Patent Document 3 discloses an improvement in viewing angle properties of a TN (twisted nematic) type liquid crystal display which uses a retardation element having a discotic liquid crystal layer in which a hybrid alignment is employed. Further, in Patent Document 4, color compensation of a STN (super twisted nematic) type liquid crystal display is disclosed. Patent Document 5 discloses an improvement in viewing angle of an ECB (electrically controlled birefringence) type liquid crystal display which uses a retardation element having a liquid crystalline polyester in which a hybrid alignment is employed. Furthermore, Patent Document 6 discloses an improvement in viewing angle properties of a VA (vertically alignment) type liquid crystal display which uses a twisted aligned liquid crystal layer having a wavelength region of selective reflection in an ultraviolet region and an OCB (optically compensated bond) type liquid crystal display. In Patent Document 7, compounds to be used for the retardation element, in which liquid crystalline compounds for compensating the above-mentioned liquid crystal displays are used, and a production method are disclosed.
The above-mentioned retardation value is important in order that the retardation element properly convert the polarized light at a desired wavelength.
However, the retardation value can vary under various environmental conditions, for example, in an atmosphere of high temperature or in an atmosphere of high temperature and high humidity, and the solution of the problem is desired. For example, in the case of liquid crystal displays used in an automobile instrument panel section or a liquid crystal projector, the viewing angle properties or the contrast of the liquid crystal display may be deteriorated when the retardation value varies due to exposure of the display to a high temperature atmosphere.


A downhole gas separator includes an external tube having a closed bottom and an open top; and an internal tube positioned eccentrically within the external tube and having an open bottom and a top adapted for connection to a production tube. The internal tube can alternatively be connected to a pump intake. The separator is positioned eccentrically within a casing, and provides for separation of gas from produced fluids before the fluids enter the production tube and/or pump.

The invention relates to a downhole gas separator which is useful in separating gas from produced fluid in a subterranean producing well, especially a well which produces hydrocarbons.
Hydrocarbons fluids are obtained from subterranean formations through production wells as is known to a person of skill in the art. A production tube is communicated through a well to receive fluids from the formation, and these fluids flow upwardly through the production tube to surface storage, refining, treatment and/or further transportation facilities.
It is frequently necessary or desirable to utilize a pump to enhance flow rate through the well. Unfortunately, produced fluids when they first enter the hydrocarbon producing well typically have a large amount of entrained gas, and this gas presents difficulty to the pump. Downhole separators are known and are used to separate gas before the fluids enter the pump. One example of a known downhole separator is as is disclosed in Canadian Patent Number 2,164,145 to McCoy et al. The device of McCoy et al. provides some gas separation and is therefore useful. However, it is desirable to provide even better downhole separation of gas.
It is therefore the primary object of the present invention to provide improved downhole separation.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such improved separation with an apparatus which is simple and reliable in manufacture, installation and use.
Other objects and advantages will appear hereinbelow.


Provided is a plug conversion adapter which can easily open a shutter even in the case of a BF type AC power plug socket and can also be used in other types of AC power plug sockets. The interval between a pair of electrode pins can be controlled by operating a pair of first movable members, and thus the plug conversion adapter can be used in a larger number of types of AC power plug sockets. The interval between the pair of first movable members is restricted by a second movable member at a maximum, and thus a shutter can also be easily opened even in the case of an AC power plug socket that has a structure in which the shutter is opened by pushing both corners of the pair of electrode pin insertion openings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plug conversion adapter which is used to convert a predetermined type of plug such as a plug that is inserted into an AC power plug socket into other types of plugs.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are various types of AC power plug sockets in the world. Therefore, in a case where electric appliances in Japan are used overseas, an adapter which converts a plug to be appropriate for the AC power plug socket of the country is needed. In JP 3946491 B1 described as follows, an adapter for overseas plug sockets capable of converting the shapes, arrangement, the number, and the like of electrode pins to be appropriate for AC power plug sockets (BF, B3, B, C, SE, and O) in various overseas standards is described.


There is disclosed an endless power transmission belt having a tension section, a cushion section and a load-carrying section disposed between the tension section and cushion section; and the belt containing a free radically cured elastomeric composition comprising the reaction product of an ethylene alpha olefin elastomer, from 0.1 to 40 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of total rubber (phr) of an acrylate polybutadiene having a molecular weight (MN) within the range of from about 500 to about 500,000 and from 0.1 to 40 phr of a curative coagent.

Recent developments in the automotive industry have resulted in higher engine output in a more compact engine compartment. As a result, power transmission belts on these engines have been required to operate under higher load, at high tensions and at high temperatures. This environment demands a high quality belt capable of withstanding these severe conditions along with consumer demand for longer lasting belts. Therefore, there exists a need for new and improved belts to quench the demand in the industry.
The present invention relates to a power transmission belt that is characterized by a free radically cured elastomeric composition comprising the reaction product of an ethylene-alpha olefin elastomer, an acrylated polybutadiene and a curative coagent.