A bipolar snare including an elongated tubular electrically insulating sheath, a pair of elongated flexible electrically conductive wires disposed within the sheath, and an electrically insulating connector disposed at the distal ends of the wires mechanically connecting the distal ends of the wires to form a loop projecting from the distal end of the sheath. The wires are provided with electrical insulation covering all but a selected portion of each of the wires. The device also includes a guide member located within the sheath and forming compartments for each of the electrically conductive wires, the guide member being rotatable within the sheath. The guide member is also set back from the distal end of the sheath to an extent such that the whole of the loop including at least part of the connector is capable of being received within the sheath.

Bipolar snares are known, and examples are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,493,320, 4,905,691 and 5,078,716. Each of these designs have a pair of wires extending from an elongate sheath, the wires being separated by an insulating divider to form first and second bipolar electrodes. An electrosurgical current flows between the wires, cutting the tissue as the wires are drawn into the sheath.
Each of the above designs, however, suffers from difficulties in completing the cutting of tissue as the wires are drawn against the end of the sheath.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,716 describes a bipolar snare in which the loop and connector are be received within the sheath. However, when the wires are withdrawn within the sheath there is a risk of the wires becoming twisted resulting in shorting between the wires. This is countered by an additional section of insulation adjacent the connector. This additional insulation prevents shorting between the wires, but results in the less efficient cutting of tissue, especially when the wires are very close to the sheath.
EP047501A illustrates a bipolar snare with a rotatable guide member, but in this device the guide member prevents the whole of the loop including the insulating connector from being withdrawn within the sheath. Thus the cutting effectiveness of the snare device, particularly when the wires are close to the end of the sheath, is reduced.


A multi-channel high field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometer (FAIMS) is provided. The apparatus provides for substantially simultaneous FAIMS analysis of plurality of ions from a single sample. The apparatus has a analyzer region comprising a hollow electrode, a plurality of plate electrodes positioned parallel to and distanced from the hollow electrode, a contact for applying an high voltage asymmetric waveform to the hollow electrode and a plurality of contacts for applying a compensation voltage to the plurality of plate electrodes. A method for substantially simultaneous FAIMS analysis of plurality of ions from a single sample is also provided.

High-Field Asymetric Waveform Ion Mobility Spectrometry (FAIMS) is a technology useful both for the separation of gas-phase ions at atmospheric pressure and room temperature as well as separation of gas phase ions over a wide range of temperatures and pressures.
In general, FAIMS is characterized by several features. These features include:
(1). Strong electric fields are used in FAIMS. Typically, FAIMS operates with fields greater then 5,000 volts/cm.
(2). In FAIMS a periodic asymmetric electric waveform is applied to conductive surfaces (e.g., plates) about 1-4 mm apart. The electric waveform is asymmetric which means that there is a significant difference between the peak +Ve and the peak −Ve voltage during the applied waveform. Either the +Ve or the −Ve may be the higher voltage.
(3). In FAIMS ions move through a gas in the electric field generated by the periodic asymmetric electric waveform. The gas is sufficiently dense that the ions rapidly reach a terminal velocity that is roughly proportional to the strength of the electric field. The velocity is compound dependent, permitting the separation of ion species from each other. The ions drift toward one of the plates as they travel in the electric field. Typically this drift may be stopped by applying a small DC voltage known as a compensation voltage (CV) which allows an ion specie of a selected mobility to pass through the field region to a detector.
A conventional FAIMS device permits sequential detection of different species of ions (e.g., ions having different mobilities) but does not provide for simultaneous analysis and/or detection of a plurality of ion species simultaneously.
Accordingly, there is a need for a FAIMS device and method for substantially simultaneous analyses and detection of a plurality of ion species.

Multi-channel high-field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry


Methods of playing card games wherein a player makes a plurality of wagers and is provided with an initial partial card hand for each wager. The player then receives additional cards which the player assigns to the previously received initial partial hands. The supplemental cards provided to a player for assigning to the initial partial hands can be provided to the player all at once or one at a time.

Games utilizing playing cards are popular throughout the world. Many people can get hours of enjoyment and relaxation from a single deck of playing cards. In certain parts of the world, wagering adds a new dimension of excitement to the game. Whether in "card room" games where one of the players who is not associated with the owner of the establishment acts as a banker or in a traditional "casino" game environment where an employee of the house acts as a banker, wagering adds excitement to many forms of card games.
Players involved in card games with wagering often enjoy new games with relatively simple rules that can readily be learned by a beginner or casual player. Players and casinos also enjoy games that can be played quickly.
Typical card games involve a dealer providing a plurality of cards to each player. Each player then gathers the cards and tries to form the best possible hand according to some pre-determined hierarchy of hand values. For example, a standard poker hierarchy is, in descending order, Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, and High Card. In some games, players are permitted to discard certain cards and receive new cards in an effort to form a better hand.
From a casino's perspective, games are preferably played very quickly since the total amount earned by the house is a small percentage of the total amount of money wagered. One significant disadvantage of known games that permit a player to play more than one hand at a time from the perspective of the casino is that there are many instances when the player and the dealer split hands, i.e. with the player winning a hand and the dealer winning a hand, consequently there are many hands with no winners. From the player's perspective, some such games have the disadvantage of not allowing a player to improve his hands after the initial seven cards are dealt and also the fact that he must pay a five percent commission on winning hands.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a card game readily adaptable to wagering which is relatively simple to learn for a new player and which can be played quickly.
It would also be desirable to provide a game which provides a player with opportunities to increase his wager, and ultimately his winning payout.

Method of playing a multiple hand card game


A thermal barrier coating including a two layered ceramic barrier coating, an inner ceramic layer and an outer ceramic layer, is provided. The thermal barrier coating has different thicknesses on different places of the component. In addition, the thickness of the inner ceramic layer and the thickness of the outer ceramic layer vary in relation to one another.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,299,865 discloses a two layered ceramic thermal barrier coating with an outer layer which has a very high porosity between 20 vol. % and 33 vol. % and a dense inner ceramic thermal barrier layer.
Thermal barrier coatings are substantially function layers and are attended to protect the substrate against excessive heat. The substrate has a sufficiently high mechanical strength and the thermal barrier coatings are likewise exposed to thermal strength and mechanical stresses and may fail as result of cracks.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Ceramic thermal barrier coating system with two ceramic layers


An electromagnetic actuator includes a stator assembly mounted to a center pole formed of material having high magnetic permeability and functions as a return path for the magnetic field generated when current is passed through coils in the stator assembly. When current is applied to one or more coils within the stator assembly, a magnetic field is generated that interacts with a magnetic field generated by one or more magnets disposed within the armature assembly and causes the armature to move relative to the center pole thus, for example, opening or closing a valve.

An internal combustion engine typically includes a number of cylinders that each has a set of valves that open and close to allow fuel and air into the cylinder and release exhaust from the cylinder. Typically, the valves of an internal combustion engine are controlled mechanically with, for example, a cam shaft.


In a device for estimating a sampled value of an impulse response from input and output signals of a decision circuit which performs a signal decision procedure for reproducing a digital signal, there are provided a first part, operatively coupled to the decision circuit, for generating a first average of absolute values of samples of decided values obtained from the output signal of the decision circuit. A second part is also provided, operatively coupled to the decision circuit, for generating a second average of absolute values of samples of equalized outputs obtained from the input signal of the decision circuit. Also provided is a third part, operatively coupled to the first and second parts for generating a ratio of the first average and the second average, with the ratio being an estimate of the sampled value of the impulse response at a sampling point.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a device and method for estimating a sampled value of an impulse response. Such a device and method are used for a signal reproduction procedure in a digital transmission system. Further, the present invention is concerned with a signal reproduction system using such a device.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Generally, the waveform of a signal distorts and attenuates during digital transmission. Thus, so-called three R functions (Retiming, Reshaping and Regeneration) are needed in the techniques of digital transmission.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional signal reproduction circuit used in a digital transmission system. The signal reproduction circuit is composed of a waveform equalizing circuit 101, a timing reproduction circuit 102, and a decision circuit 103. The waveform equalizing circuit 101 equalizes the waveform of a digital signal transmitted via an incoming line (reshaping function). The timing extraction or reproduction circuit 102 reproduces a timing clock (retiming function) from an equalized (reshaped) digital signal output by the waveform equalizing circuit 101. The decision circuit 103 performs a decision procedure on the equalized digital signal by using the reproduced timing clock output by the timing reproduction circuit 102, and outputs a reproduced digital signal to an outgoing line (regeneration function).
The timing reproduction circuit 102 generates the timing reproduction clock as shown in FIG. 2(a) on the basis of an eye in, for example, an equalized AMI (Alternate Mark Inversion) output. The decision circuit 103 detects the mark or space of the equalized AMI output at each rise (decision point) of the reproduced timing clock, and generates a reproduced output (NRZ (Non Return to Zero) output), as shown in FIG. 2(b).
Conventionally, the timing reproduction circuit 102 is comprised of an analog circuit, as shown in FIG. 3. The analog circuit shown in FIG. 3 extracts a signal portion of the AMI waveform around only each peak value thereof by a full-wave rectification circuit 102-1. Then, a full-wave rectified output from the circuit 102-1 as shown in FIG. 4(a) is input, via a resistor R, to an LC tank circuit 102-2, which is made up of an inductor L and a capacitor C. The LC tank circuit 102-2 generates a sine wave corresponding to a desired clock frequency, as shown in FIG. 4(b). The sine wave output by the LC tank circuit 102-2 is shaped by a limiter amplifier 102-3, which generates the aforementioned reproduced timing clock, as shown in FIG. 4(c).
However, there is a disadvantage in that it is necessary to use a large-size coil in order to form the LC tank circuit 102-2. In addition, the configuration shown in FIG. 3 cannot extract the timing signal from the AMI signal or a series of spaces (zeros).
In order to eliminate the above-mentioned disadvantages, a timing reproduction circuit using a digital phase-locked loop (DPLL) has been proposed. A conventional DPLL is shown in FIG. 5. The DPLL shown in FIG. 5 is made up of a phase comparator 201, a frequency divider 202, and a master clock generator 203. The master clock generator 203 generates a master clock having a frequency (20.48 MHz, for example) more than 100 times a necessary clock frequency (80 kHz, for example). The frequency divider 202 divides the frequency of the master clock in order to generate a clock having the necessary clock frequency. The phase of the clock generated by the frequency divider 202 is compared with the phase of an input signal. The frequency dividing ratio in the frequency divider 202 is adjusted based on the phase difference between the signals input to the phase comparator 201.
FIG. 6 shows a signal reproduction circuit which uses a DPLL as described above. The signal reproduction circuit shown in FIG. 6 is composed of a waveform equalizing circuit 1, a timing reproduction circuit 2 and a decision circuit 3. The waveform equalizing circuit 1 is made up of an automatic gain controller (AGC) 11 and a decision feedback type equalizer 12. The AGC 11 receives an input signal in digital form and automatically adjusts the gain of the input signal to a fixed level. The equalizer 12 corrects the output of the AGC 11 on the basis of input and output signals of the decision circuit 3, as will be described in detail later.
The timing reproduction circuit 2 generates a reproduced timing clock from an equalized signal output by the waveform equalizing circuit 1, and is composed of a sampled value estimating formula evaluation unit 21, a controller 22, a frequency divider 23 and a master clock generator 24. The evaluation unit 21 estimates an impulse response waveform of each isolated pulse contained in the input signal, and extracts information about the phase of the estimated impulse response waveform. The nth sampled value of the impulse response, labeled hn, is estimated as follows: ##EQU1## where fn is the nth value in a train of sampled values of the input signal (equalized outputs), and a.sub.n-k is a train of decided values of the input signal. Formula (1) can be modified as follows: ##EQU2##
It will be noted that the items after the second item a.sub.n-1 .multidot.a.sub.n-1 .multidot.h.sub.1 are values smaller than the second item and positive or negative signs at random. Thus, the summation of the items after the second item converges to zero. As a result, the average value of a.sub.n-1 .multidot.fn, E[a.sub.n-1 .multidot.fn] is as follows: EQU E[a.sub.n-1 .multidot.f.sub.n ]=E[a.sub.n-1.sup.2 .multidot.h.sub.q ]=h.sub.1 .multidot.E[a.sub.n-1.sup.2 ] (3).
Thus, h.sub.1 can be written as follows: EQU h1=E[an-1.multidot.fn]/E[an-1.sup.2 ] (4)
In the above-mentioned way, it is possible to estimate the first sampled value h.sub.1 of the train of sampled values of the impulse response at the sampling point.
FIG. 7(a) shows an input pulse, and FIG. 7(b) shows an impulse response thereto. The first sampled value h.sub.1 of the impulse response is estimated by the above-mentioned formula (4).
As shown in FIG. 8(a), a threshold value hth is determined. When the sampling point is at a correct position, the first sampled value h.sub.1 is equal to the threshold value hth. At this time, the sampling point is positioned at a left shoulder portion of a main response contained in the impulse response. The difference between the first sampled value h.sub.1 and the threshold value hth is calculated. When the sampled value h.sub.1 is larger than the threshold value hth, as shown in FIG. 8(b), the sampling point is too delayed. On the other hand, when the sampled value h.sub.1 is smaller than the threshold value hth, as shown in FIG. 8(c), the sampling point is too advanced.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the sampled value estimating formula evaluation unit 21. As shown in FIG. 9, the evaluation unit 21 is composed of multipliers 21-1 and 21-2, switches 21-3 - 21-5, an adder 21-6, a delay element (T) 21-7, registers 21-8 and 21-9, a output sample f.sub.n and the decided value sample an-1. The multiplier 21-2 calculates the square a.sub.n-1.sup.2 of the decided value sample an-1. The switch 21-3 has two switches 21-3a and 21-3b, which operate in opposite switching modes. The switch 21-3a controls the passage of the output f.sub.n .multidot.a.sub.n-1 from the multiplier 21-1, and the switch 21-3b controls the passage of the output a.sub.n-1.sup.2 from the multiplier 21-2. The switches 21-4 an 21-5 are used for controlling the inputting of the values calculated by the adder 21-6 to the registers 21-8 and 21-9, respectively, and operates in the opposite switching modes. The switch 21-4 has two switches 21-4a and 21-4b, and the switch 21-5 has two switches 21-5a and 21-5b. The switch 21-3a and the switch 21-4 operate in the same switching mode, and the switch 21-3b and the switch 21-5 operate in the same switching mode.
The adder 21-6 adds the (n-1) th calculated value and the (n-2)th calculated value. The delay element 21-7 delays the output of the adder 21-6 by a predetermined time. The register 21-8 is used for storing E[a.sub.n-1 .multidot.f.sub.n ], and the register 21-8 is used for storing E[a.sub.n-1.sup.2 ]. The comparator 21-10 compares E[a.sub.n-1 .multidot.f.sub.n ] read out from the register 21-8 with E[a.sub.n-1.sup.2 ] read out from the register 21-9. It can be seen from the above that the circuit shown in FIG. 9 uses the threshold value hth equal to 1. The controller 21-11 controls the comparison timing of the comparator 21-11, clears the registers 21-8 and 21-9, and controls the switches 21-3 - 21-5.
During operation, the product fn.an-1 is calculated by the multiplier 21-1, and the square a.sub.n-1.sup.2 of the decided value an-1 is calculated by the multiplier 21-2. The switches 21-3a, 21-4a and 21-4b are closed first. Thereby, an updating value for calculating the average of fn.multidot.an-1 is stored in the register 21-8. Next, the switches 21-3b, 21-5a and 21-5b are closed. Thereby, an updating value for calculating the average of a.sub.n-1.sup.2 is stored in the register 21-9. After that, E[a.sub.n-1 .multidot.f.sub.n ] and E[a.sub.n-1.sup.2 ] respectively read out from the registers 21-8 and 21-9 are compared with each other by the comparator 21-10 in response to a control signal output by the controller 21-11. Then, the comparator 21-10 outputs information indicating which E[a.sub.n-1 .multidot.f.sub.n ] or E[a.sub.n-1.sup.2 ] is greater (or smaller) than the other. When the comparator 21-10 executes the above-mentioned comparing operation, the contents of the registers 21-8 and 21-9 are cleared.
Returning now to FIG. 6, the evaluation unit 21 generates a control signal for adjusting the frequency dividing ratio in the frequency divider 23 on the basis of the comparison results output by the evaluation unit 21. The frequency divider 23 divides the frequency of a master clock generated by the master clock generator 24. The frequency dividing ratio is controlled by the control signal output by the controller 22. The clock signal output by the frequency divider 23 is input, as the reproduced timing clock, to the decision circuit 3, and is also input to the AGC 11, the equalizing circuit 12 and the evaluation unit 21.
The decision circuit 3 shown in FIG. 6 carries out the decision procedure on the equalized signal output by the waveform equalizing circuit 1 by using the timing reproduction signal output by the timing reproduction circuit 2, so that the reproduced digital signal can be generated. The timing reproduction circuit 2 estimates the impulse response waveform from the equalized output, and compares the estimated sampled value h1 with the threshold value hth in order to adjust the frequency dividing ratio. The frequency divider 23 outputs the reproduced timing clock to the decision circuit 3 in accordance with the adjusted frequency dividing ratio. The decision circuit 3 detects the mark or space of each equalized impulse response at a decision point (sampling point) which is at each rise of the reproduced timing clock, so that the reproduced output is generated by the decision circuit 3.
However, a conventional system as described above has a disadvantage in that it is necessary to calculate the products a.sub.n-1.sup.2 and an-1.sup.2 in order to estimate the sampled value of each impulse response. Nowdays, the reproduction/repeater function can be implemented one one-chip VLSI. However, the multiplier needs an extremely large scale integrated circuit having, for example, thousands of gates, each having a 16 bit .times.16 bit scale.

Device and method for estimating sampled value of impulse response and signal reproduction system using the device


A system and a method are for determining the origin of a signal received by a pay television subscriber in a given region. A system includes an encryption device located at a main operator, a transmission device adapted to transmit an encrypted video signal towards at least one local operator, and a decryption device at the local operator. The decryption device includes an identification device for replacing all or part of the decrypted video signal with an identification signal characterising the decryption device.

In the case of a pay television broadcasting, several intervening parties cooperate so that the subscribers can receive the desired emissions.
Amongst these intervening parties we find firstly the main or national operators who offer the important television channels. It should be known that a same channel can be offered by more than one national operator. These national operators can either be the creators of this channel or they can sign broadcasting contracts with other local or foreign broadcasters. These national operators thus offer a service palette to local operators, the latter being connected to a certain number of subscribers.
A local operator can be active in several regions and the contracts binding this operator to a national operator are generally based on the number of subscribers to which the channel will be broadcasted or according to a geographical definition. Thus it is possible for a local operator to sign a broadcasting contract for a region A although this operator broadcasts also in regions B and C. Then it exists technically a possibility for this operator to also broadcast in the regions B and C without the national operator being able to intervene.
This is particularly the case in the case that the illegally broadcasted channel in the region B is also offered by another national operator through another local broadcaster. It is then difficult for the main operator to know if the signal received in the region B comes from a contract signed only for the region A or if it comes from another national operator. In fact, each subscriber can be connected to more than one local operator, the latter being supplied by many national operators.
It is well known that the national operators transmit their signals to the local operators in encrypted form. For the decryption operation, decryption devices are supplied by the national operator. These devices can include a decryption module and a smart card, the latter being in charge of ensuring the access control. Once the signal is decrypted by the decryption device, the local operator can dispose of it as it likes. It is then allowed for the local operator to compose its television bouquet with a selection of channels subscribed from several national operators.


A converter capable of suppressing an instant voltage variation and outputting a desired DC power with high precision. The converter includes a power conversion unit that conducts power conversion on a supplied power, a smoothing filter that smoothes the power that has been converted in power, a voltage detector that detects a voltage of the smoothed power, and control unit that outputs a pulse signal for controlling a conduction ratio of a switching element within the power conversion unit so that an output voltage from the voltage detector becomes a desired voltage value. The control unit temporarily stops the power supply when the output voltage increases up to a first given voltage and restarts the power supply when the output voltage decreases down to a second given voltage.

In a system structure of a conventional electric vehicle DC/DC converter, an output voltage reference that is generated from a microcomputer is compared with an output voltage detection value and a conduction ratio of a switching element is controlled such that an output voltage coincides with the voltage reference (for example, refer to Non-patent Document 1).
According to domestic output voltage specifications disclosed in Non-patent Document 1, a variation range of ±10% is allowed. In general, a voltage variation range of only about ±1% is allowed according to overseas specifications, which requires a high precision as compared with the case of the domestic specifications. Therefore, in order to realize a high-precision converter device that satisfies the overseas specification, a countermeasure is required to be taken against an instant voltage variation, for example, by increasing a switching frequency to speed up a control response, by increasing the capacitance of a smoothing capacitor, or by adding an over-voltage prevention hardware.
Non-patent Document 1: Eiji Sawano and other 6 persons, "High frequency link system DC/DC converter device using IGBT", Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan of 1995, National convention, lecture collected papers, 1995


A novel light-emitting device includes an organic thin-film structure that is merged with an organic light-emitting diode structure by utilizing a part of the electron accumulation layer in the organic thin-film transistor as a common electrode for each structure. The organic thin-film structure and the organic light-emitting diode structure each include an organic semiconductor that comprises a material in which hole mobility is greater in a bulk region of the material than electron mobility in the bulk region. The advantages of such a light-emitting device include less complex processing and a simpler pixel circuit structure in comparison to separately fabricating OTFT and OLED structures and subsequently interconnecting them to form a pixel. Furthermore, relative to a light-emitting transistor, some embodiments offer the advantage of a broader light emission area more suitable for use in display devices.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Organic semiconductor devices such as organic light emitting diodes (OLED), organic thin film transistors (OTFT), organic solar cells (OSC), and the like, are being actively developed for multiple applications. This is because printing techniques can be used to fabricate such devices, which facilitates low-cost manufacturing of semiconductor devices and the introduction of new and flexible substrates for semiconductor devices, such as plastic or paper substrates. Consequently, OLEDs have reached a high level of maturity and have found commercial application in the field of electronic displays, with examples including simple MP3 players, smartphones, and flat panel TVs.

Organic thin film transistor merged with a light emitting diode using an accumulation layer as electrode


An electronic controller defining an autonomous mobile device includes a self-location estimation unit to estimate a self-location based on a local map that is created according to distance/angle information relative to an object in the vicinity and the travel distance of an omni wheel, an environmental map creation unit to create an environmental map of a mobile area based on the self-location and the local map during the guided travel with using a joystick, a registration switch to register the self-location of the autonomous mobile device as the position coordinate of the setting point when the autonomous mobile device reaches a predetermined setting point during the guided travel, a storage unit to store the environmental map and the setting point, a route planning unit to plan the travel route by using the setting point on the environmental map stored in the storage unit, and a travel control unit to control the autonomous mobile device to autonomously travel along the travel route.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an autonomous mobile device which plans a travel route and autonomously travels along the travel route.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional autonomous mobile device autonomously travels in an ambient environment. In order for an autonomous mobile device to autonomously travel in the ambient environment, an environmental map showing an area with objects (obstacles) and an area without objects within the travel space is required. Various methods have been proposed as the method of acquiring this kind of environmental map. Here, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H10-143243 discloses technology for representing the ambient environment as a map using a landmark. With this technology, for example, if a mobile area is an office, the landmark is set at positions where the autonomous mobile robot is able to pass through such as corners and branching points of a hallway, center of the room, entrance and exits of doors to and from rooms, and so on. Meanwhile, SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) is known as technology for estimating a self-location and creating the environmental map, in real time, while traveling. Here, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H7-129238 discloses a mobile robot which uses SLAM to generate a topographic map (environmental map) based on topographic data obtained as a result of measuring distances using a laser range finder (or a camera).
In the technology of creating an environmental map using landmarks described in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H10-143243, there is considerable burden on the user for setting the landmarks and performing other operations, and much time and effort (work, man-hours) are required to create the environmental map. Meanwhile, in the method of creating the environmental map by using SLAM, for example, when attempting to set setting points (for instance, starting point, target pass-through point, goal point) on an environmental map which was prepared in advance, there is a possibility that such setting points will be displaced in comparison to their actual positions. Thus, there may be cases where it is necessary to match the setting points with the actual environment.
Moreover, the following problems have been indicated in the method of creating an environmental map by using SLAM.
1. There are cases where an inconsistency arises in the created environmental map due to the accumulation of measurement errors. In particular, there are cases where the start portion and the end portion do not coincide upon creating a circular environmental map (so-called circular route problem).
2. When the layout of the mobile area is partially changed, it is necessary to recreate the entire environmental map.


A transport apparatus may include a patient bed unit for supporting the patient; a transferring unit for moving the patient bed unit along a first direction of the MRI device; and an elevating module for moving the patient bed unit along a second direction of the MRI device.

The present disclosure relates generally to a transport apparatus, and particularly, a transport apparatus and method for transferring and/or positioning a patient in the medical system. The medical system may be, for example, a medical imaging system (for example, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system), a treatment system, an examination system, or the like, or a combination thereof. For instance, an MRI device may be used to obtain tomographic images of a biological tissue in, for example, a patient, using a magnetic field generated by magnetic force; to this end, a magnetic field may be applied to the body of the patient who lies on a table device that has been transferred into the MRI device.
The table device used for relocating a patient may be referred to as a gurney or stretcher. A patient may be transported upon a gurney into and/or out of a medical imaging system such as an MRI device. The table device used in a medical imaging system, for example, an MRI environment, may have several features. For example, the table device may need to be used in a strong electromagnetic environment. As another example, an examination bed may be used for transporting a patient into the medical imaging system and in some cases bringing him into his room when the examination is over. It is then necessary to lift the patient and move the patient to the exact location to be imaged in the medical device.

SHANGHAI UNITED IMAGING HEALTHCARE CO., LTD.


A data processing system 2 is provided supporting address offset generating instructions which encode bits of an address offset value using previously redundant bits in a legacy instruction encoding whilst maintaining backwards compatibility with that legacy encoding.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of data processing systems. More particularly, this invention relates to the generation of an address offset in response to an address offset generating instruction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to provide data processing systems of the form illustrated in FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings. This data processing system comprises a processor core including a register bank 4, a multiplier 6, a shifter 8, an adder 10, an instruction pipeline 12 and an instruction decoder 14. It will be understood by those skilled in this technical field that the processor core 2 will typically include many further circuit elements, which have been omitted from FIG. 1 for the sake of clarity. In operation, the processor core 2 fetches program instructions to the instruction pipeline 12 wherein they are decoded by the instruction decoder 14 to generate control signals that act upon the register bank 4, the multiplier 6, the shifter 8 and the adder 10 as well as other circuit elements to control the desired data processing operations as specified by the program instruction being decoded. The processor core 2 is provided with a data bus, an address bus and an instruction bus.
One type of processing operation that can be required is the generation of an address offset value. One example of this type of operation is the BL/BLX instruction which is present in the Thumb mode of operation of Thumb enabled processors produced by ARM Limited of Cambridge, England. FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings schematically illustrates such instructions. It will be seen that these instructions can be considered as two 16-bit instructions or one 32-bit instruction. The leading five bits (namely 11110) are decoded as indicating that a BL/BLX instruction is present with the remaining eleven bits within the first two bytes being an offset value, including a leading sign bit S, this being offset field 2. This offset value is then followed by a bit pattern 111t1 and a further eleven bits of offset, this being offset field 1. The "t" bit indicates to the instruction decoder 14 whether the instruction is a BL instruction or a BLX instruction. A BL instruction is a branch with link staying within the Thumb mode of operation. A BLX instruction is a branch with link combined with a switch to the ARM mode of operation.
It will be appreciated that the offset values illustrated in FIG. 2 provide twenty two bits. This offset value is sign-extended as required and then added to the branch instruction's address. This offset value range is able to support branch jumps of plus or minus 4 MB to 16-bit halfword-aligned targets.
As application programs increase in complexity, they also tend to increase in size. It is desirable that it should be possible to make an end-to-end branch within a program image if this is required. Accordingly, as application images are becoming larger and greater in size than 4 MB, a problem arises in that the address offset values which are supported in the instructions have an insufficient range.
FIG. 3 schematically illustrates the action of a BL instruction in jumping the program execution flow to a new point. The maximum jump that can be commanded is constrained by the maximum address offset value which may be specified.
A further problem which should be addressed is the need to provide backwards compatibility in any modified form of the instruction. Thus, whilst adopting completely new instruction encodings for the BL/BLX instead of the old encodings might overcome the address offset range problem, it would suffer from the disadvantage of a lack of backwards compatibility with the existing software written using the legacy instructions. Alternatively, adding new encodings in addition to the existing encodings would be disadvantageously wasteful of instruction encoding bit space.

Address offset generation within a data processing system


A method and apparatus provides an indication of active handsets in a cordless telephone system (100). A user enters an inquiry (204) using either a handset (104) or the user interface (120) of the base station (102). The base station (102) pings or queries (210) each registered handset (106, 108, 110, 112) to establish a list of active handsets. The list of active handsets is then transmitted (228) to the handset (104) from which the inquiry was received or is displayed using the user interface (120) of the base station (102). This permits the user to learn what other users are actively registered with the base station (102) for call forwarding, intercom operation or for use of any other user convenience features of the cordless telephone system (100).

Modern cordless telephone systems provide for multiple handsets operating in conjunction with a single base station. The base station couples to a wire line telephone network. The base station also includes radio circuitry for communicating with the cordless handsets. The handsets include similar radio circuitry for communicating with the base station. Examples of such cordless telephone systems are systems operated according to the Digital European Cordless Telephone (DECT) standard, or systems operated according to the Personal Handy Phone system (PHS) in Japan.
Such systems provide numerous user convenience features which make use of this multiple handset capability. For example, the system supports calling from handset to handset, or call transfer between handsets, or paging between handsets, or handset-to-handset intercom features. These features are implemented using the base station as a common communication link, or may be implemented using direct communication between handsets. These features are available in systems in which the base station may be used as a hands free speakerphone or includes a corded handset for communication between the base station and a handset.
One problem occurring when using these user convenience features is the inability to know what other users or handsets are actively registered with the base. For example, a user answering an incoming call needs to know if the user for whom the call is intended is actively available in the system before transferring the call. Similarly, before intercom operation, a user would like to first determine if the other user is actively registered. However, current cordless telephone systems lack such capability.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a cordless telephone system which permits identification of active handsets prior to communication between handsets or communication between a handset and the base station.

Method for identifying active handsets in a cordless telephone system


A hub unit is configured such that nitrogen gas, which functions as inert gas, is filled in a rolling element arranging space which is defined by an inner circumferential surface of an outer ring and an outer circumferential surface of a hub body for arranging rolling elements therein in such a manner as to be sealed therein in a semi-hermetically closed state by a seal member and a cover, so as to prevent the nitrogen gas from flowing out to an exterior space. The seal member, which is provided at an end portion of the rolling element arranging space which end lies on a vehicle-outer side, is formed as an elastic seal element, and is fixed to the outer ring at one end whereas being secured to the hub body at the other end thereof while being elastically deformed, whereby the seal member has a function to prevent the intrusion of water from the exterior space into the rolling element arranging space. This seal member prevents the inert gas filled in the rolling element arranging space from flowing out to the outside.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hub unit, a method for manufacturing the hub unit and a method for transporting the hub unit.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, hub units for mounting a wheel and a brake disc are used on vehicles such as automobiles.
When vehicles such as automobiles are transported by cargo-trains or boats etc., minute vibrations are subjected to hub units mounted on the vehicles, whereby fretting wear is generated, producing wear dust, this producing false brinelling on raceway portions. Then, wear dust is oxidized to become iron oxide, and iron oxide so produced promotes the wear further, resulting in expansion of false brinelling.
As preventive measures, clearance filling is implemented. In addition, a technique is disclosed in which a high-frequency heat treatment is applied to a portion on a surface area of a hub body which lies from an inner ring raceway surface to a root portion of a flange so as to form a hardened portion thereon (JP-A-11-51064).
When a vehicle equipped with a hub unit in which false brinelling was generated by fretting wear during transportation is run, abnormal noise is generated. While false brinelling affects the life of a hub unit, such a clearance filling by itself cannot suppress sufficiently the occurrence of fretting wear. Further, the hardening treatment as suggested in JP-A-11-51064 calls for an increase in production costs.

Hub unit, hub unit manufacturing method and hub unit transporting method


A case for accommodating a camera includes a wrist cuff, a connector secured to the wrist cuff, and a strap having opposite ends coupled to the connector. The wrist cuff includes two elastic members, and a through hole with two openings at opposite ends of the through hole. The elastic members are arranged at opposite end portions of the wrist cuff for closing the openings when the elastic members are in normal state, and the elastic members are deformable so as to open the openings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a case for accommodating a camera.
2. Description of Related Art
Usually, a portable electronic device, such as a digital still camera, is accommodated in a case when the portable electronic device is not in use. For convenience, a typical case is connected to the camera by a strap. When the camera is in use, users hold the camera to take pictures while the case hangs from the camera strap. In this case, the case may swing in the wind or from movement of the user and reduce stability of the camera during picture taking. Further, should a user drop the camera during use it won't be protected.
What is needed, therefore, is to provide a case for accommodating a camera, in which the above problems are eliminated or at least alleviated.


The present invention discloses an apparatus for wirelessly transmitting display signals between a plurality of external host device and a display device. The apparatus comprises a wireless signal transceiver unit for establishing a network-transmission-protocol-based high-frequency signal channel for respective external host devices; a main controller, connected to the wireless signal transceiver unit, for analyzing signals from the wireless signal transceiver unit to extract information of the plurality of external host devices, configuration information and/or the display data, performing configurations and display mode selection based on the configuration information, and outputting the active display data; an image data process control unit, connected to the main controller and the display device, for storing the display data from the main controller, controlling the output of the display data, and performing timing control to interface signals of the display device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data wireless transmission and data process techniques, more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for wirelessly transmitting display signals, and a display device thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, communication is increasing in frequency and information amount. With the development of the electronic technology and material industry, various electronic data processing systems are used, and thus various display equipments and devices are widely and frequently used inevitably.
Recently, display devices have become a key part of usual life. The display devices are basically classified into: Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) displays, which are the main display sections of desktop computers; flat panel displays including Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) and plasma displays, which are displays widely applied in various fields, such as computers and home appliances; large screen display devices including Digital Lighting Processor (DLP) large projectors and television walls, which are preferably used in public.
As the display devices, they have a common characteristic that the input display data is of large amount and requires large bandwidth, which is also the key reason why most recently used display devices transmit their signals with cables.
However, there are disadvantages to connect the display devices by cable. For example, a desktop computer has to connect to the CRT display via a cable, and thus the distance is limited by the cable. Therefore, the mobility of the computer is also limited. Further, the display device is a specific device in a one-to-one correspondence. If some host devices share one flat panel display, plugging and drawing connections are frequently performed. More importantly, these host devices can not simultaneously display their respective contents on one display device having a large screen. Presently, the size of the display screen is increasing, and there is a demand and intend to use one display device by a plurality of host users, which is also a key technical problem.
For this reason, it is desired to wirelessly transmit signals to the display devices so as to overcome the limitations of the cables. In prior art, there is a method for wirelessly transmitting display signals, which comprises the step of: performing a deep compression (loss compression) on images by a host device to obtain compressed displaying signals; transmitting the compressed displaying signals to the display device by using IEEE 802.11a/b wireless transmission techniques; after receiving the compressed displaying signals wirelessly, the performing decompression to the compressed displaying signals by the display device to restore array image; and outputting and displaying the restored array image according to the requirements of the interface signal of the display device. However, the conventional method has following drawbacks. Since the wireless transmission techniques (IEEE 802.11a/b) can not solve the problem of data stream with high data rate for the display device well, the deep and loss compression is employed, which makes the displayed image not as good as the original image and can not be synchronized. In addition, since only the design manner of compression and decompression can be used, the cost can not be readily controlled, and it is also difficult to make a design in which a plurality of host devices simultaneously display their respective contents on one display device.
In view of above described problems, there is a need for providing a novel display signal transmitting mechanism to solve these problems.

Method and appratus for wirelessly transmitting display signals, and display device


An aqueous acidic copper electroplating bath that produces a satin deposit includes a source of copper ions, an acid, a satin additive, and optionally one or more acidic copper electroplating bath additive(s), wherein the satin additive includes a block copolymer with the structure of RO(EO)m(PO)nH.

Satin nickel coatings can be used as an intermediate layer or underlayer in decorative multilayer coating systems. Nickel, however, is an allergen, and nickel salts can be carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic. This makes the use of nickel more restricted, especially for fashion and jewellery applications. Several attempts have been made to develop a nickel-free electrolytic deposit for obtaining a satin layer.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0178668 A1 discloses a method for depositing nickel and chromium (VI)-free metal matte layers. The first matte layer is free of nickel and comprises at least one metal selected from the group consisting of copper, silver, tin, zinc or an alloy, which does not contain nickel. This method allows one to obtain a "matte" layer defined as a dull, non-glare or pearl surface finish. However, the matte layer obtained is not characterized and the additive used is a commercial additive without any indication about the chemistry of the molecule used. Additionally, there is no indication about the stability of the satin emulsion, which should be maintained to obtain a constant and uniform satin finish.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0341199 A1 discloses a copper electroplating additive and copper electroplating bath to provide a glossy copper plating film. To obtain a uniform plating film in a range from a low current density to high current density and provide a good glossiness, a block copolymer compound R—O—(PO)m—(EO)n—H is used in an acidic copper electroplating bath. The additive has a structure in which one end includes an oxypropylene group capped with an alkyl group or an alkenyl group. This allows one to obtain a portion of R—O—(PO)m, which act together as a hydrophobic group, whereby high hydrophobicity is provided.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0014177A1 discloses a method for deposition of a matte copper coating comprising two layers to obtain a homogeneous matte appearance for decorative applications. However, the matte layers obtained are not characterized and the copper electroplating bath used to form the copper coating only includes additives, such as polyethylene glycol and a sulfur-containing additive.

Satin copper bath and method of depositing a satin copper layer


The present invention provides a polypeptide able to specifically bind to rare-earth nanoparticles and the use thereof. The polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence shown by SEQ ID NO: 1 or analogs thereof. The present invention further provides a method for screening a polypeptide having the capacity of specifically binding to rare-earth nanoparticles. The present invention further provides a method for regulating and controlling the in vivo and in vitro autophagy and toxicity of the rare-earth upconversionnanophosphor material, comprising mixing and incubating the polypeptide specifically binding to rare-earth nanoparticles with rare-earth upconversion nanophosphor material, such that the polypeptide specifically binds to the nanophosphor material, wherein the rare-earth upconversion nanophosphor material comprises the rare earth, and the polypeptide specifically binding to rare-earth nanoparticles comprises the amino acid sequence shown by CTARSPWIC (RE-0, SEQ ID NO: 1) or analogs thereof.

Rare earth-based upconversion nanophosphors (UCN), as one of the new generation of bioluminescence labels, have advantages of good light and chemical stability, narrow absorption and emission bands, long luminescence life, and reduced risk of potential bio-toxicity and the like, compared to downconversion luminescence labels such as organic fluorescent dyes, quantum dots, and the like. Upconversion luminescence labels have great advantages such as deeper optical penetration depth, no fluorescence interference caused by biological background, and almost no harm to tissues due to the use of near infrared continuous laser as excitation source, which make it an ideal label for biological imaging. Further, since rare-earth upconversion nanomaterials are rare earth nanoparticles doped with fluorides, they have lower phonon energy, and may reduce non-radiative transition and increase luminescence intensity. Accordingly, among various substances such as oxides, sulfides, phosphides and the like, UCN has recently been widely used for analytic detection and the treatment of diseases and the like.
However, the use of rare-earth upconversion nanoparticles, as inorganic nanoparticles, for in vivo application and clinical test, may lead to many problems. For example, the nanoparticles are prone to agglomeration and not soluble in water, and thus can not be used in in vivo environment; when used for in vivo biological imaging and photodynamic therapy, the nanoparticles may non-specifically attach to a number of tissues, cells, and biomolecules, which may affect the effects to be obtained; when they are introduced into cells or animal bodies, the nanoparticles may result in serious autophagy of cells, or even death of cells and the like.
Recently, the surface modification of inorganic nanoparticles is mainly achieved in a covalent and non-covalent way, by using silica gel (CN101434748), fatty acids (CN1400167), PEG (CN101038290), chitosan (CN101411893), proteins, polypeptides, and the like to modify the surface characteristics of nanoparticles. Among others, the method of coating with a specific binding peptide is a preferred method for surface modification. The method results in significant multifunctionality, biocompatibility, simplicity, and expansibility. Recently, the specific-binding polypeptides, which are mainly reported nationally and internationally, are mainly binding to tissues, organs, cells, and proteins in vitro or in vivo. Examples of such polypeptides are polypeptides specifically binding to normal or cancerous tissues and organs (CN101531706, CN101827583A, CN1563078, CN102060909A, CN101891803A); polypeptides specifically binding to normal or cancerous cells (CN101918433A, CN1709905, CN1763082, CN101033251, CN1900108); and polypeptides specifically binding to proteins in vivo (CN102060913A, CN1823087, CN1262688, CN102105487A, CN101146822, CN1721432, CN1687128, CN101225108, CN101113164, CN101481418). However, polypeptides specifically binding to inorganic nanoparticles have been rarely reported. Only reported are polypeptides specifically binding to titanium, silver, and silicon (CN1829734) and polypeptides binding to nickel with high affinity (CN1911956).
Further, a common biological effect in nanomaterials has been discovered in recent studies, i.e., when they are introduced into cells, nanomaterials result in an abnormally increased level of autophagy of the cells. Cell autophagy is a stress response of cells to outside stimulation such as deficiency of nutrients and the like, in which a double-layer membrane structure is formed to encapsulate part of cytoplasm and organelles into autophagosomes which then fuse with lysosomes to form autophagy lysosomes, in which the contents are digested and reused. Therefore, the cell autophagy caused by nanomaterials is a double-edged sword. With the quick development of nano-technology, an increasing number of nanomaterials are introduced into human body with or without intention. Potential autophagy probably caused by these nanomaterials may have safety risks on human health. In addition, autophagy is closely associated with the occurrence and development of severe diseases. Regulation of autophagy caused by nanomaterials widely used for biomedical diagnosis and treatment may facilitate the use of nanomaterials for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as cancer.
Recently, the studies on the regulation of autophagy are mainly focused on the regulation of the level of autophagy per se. For example, autophagy revulsants, Dihydroartemisinin (CN102038678A), the complexes of manganese with dipicolylamine ligands targeting mitochondrion (CN101392007), 4-benzothiopheneaminoquinazoline derivatives (CN101836992A), β-carboline ruthenium complex (CN101845060A), plant viruses (tobacco mosaic virus) (CN101653462), rapamycin (CN102274219A), nonreceptor tyrosine kinase c-Abl specific inhibitor (CN1899616), hydroxytyrosol (CN102397268A); and some autophagy inhibitors, Bafilomysin A1 (CN101953845A), 3-methyladenine, SB203580, LY294002, or wortmannin (CN101869568A), chloroquine (CN101920015A), hydroxychlorquine (CN101428025) are used. However, no study on the regulation of autophagy caused by inorganic nanomaterials has been reported.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of polypeptides able to specifically bind to rare-earth nanoparticles, and for the development of a method of regulating (including increasing and reducing) autophagy and toxicity caused by the use of rare-earth nanomaterials (especially, upconversion nanomaterials) in vitro and in vivo.

Polypeptide specifically binding to rare earth nanoparticles and use thereof

University of Science and Technology of China


An apparatus for positioning a tape preform as a layer onto a substrate during the manufacture of a layered resistive device is provided. The apparatus includes at least one positioning member, wherein the positioning member defines a proximal end portion and a distal end portion. The apparatus also includes a contact member adapted to engage the tape preform against the substrate. The contact member and the distal end portion of the positioning member are configured to position the tape preform onto the substrate.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Resistive devices such as layered heaters or load resistors are typically used in applications where space is limited, when heat output needs vary across a surface, or in ultra-clean or aggressive chemical applications. A layered resistive device, such as a layered heater, generally comprises layers of different materials, namely, a dielectric and a resistive material, which are applied to a substrate. The dielectric material is applied first to the substrate and provides electrical isolation between the substrate and the resistive material and also minimizes current leakage during operation. The resistive material is applied to the dielectric material in a predetermined pattern and provides a resistive heater circuit. The layered heater also includes leads that connect the resistive heater circuit to a heater controller and may include an optional over-mold material that protects the lead-to-resistive circuit interface. Accordingly, layered load devices are highly customizable for a variety of applications.
Individual layers of the resistive devices can be formed by a variety of processes, one of which is a "thick film" layering process. The layers for thick film resistive devices are typically formed using processes such as screen printing, decal application, or film printing heads, among others. In some applications, one or more of the layers may be formed of a section of tape or other flexible sheet of material that may be handled and manipulated to conform to the geometry of the substrate. The tape generally does not exhibit adhesiveness or tackiness, and as such, a process must be utilized to adhere the tape to the substrate. The tape must be positioned on the substrate during the adhering process. Such positioning may be performed manually by a human operator, however, such manual application of the tape or preform may lack speediness and reliability in the positioning process. The use of thick film tape on a layered load device was disclosed in pending patent application Ser. Nos. 11/779,703 and 11/779,745, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

Method and apparatus for positioning layers within a layered heater system


A power module is basically formed of a circuit block, a resin casing surrounding the circuit block, and circuit terminals. The circuit block has a metal base, an insulative substrate disposed on the metal base, and a plurality of circuit parts mounted on the insulative substrate. The resin casing is connected to a periphery of the metal base. The circuit terminals have terminal frames at least partly molded in the resin casing. At least one of the terminal frames has an insertion hole therein to receive an insert pin of a mold. Thus, one of the terminal frames is held in position in the mold by the insert pin of the mold during molding. The power module has an improved terminal wiring structure which stabilizes the quality and improves the reliability of the integral resin casing incorporated with the terminals inserted to the resin casing by insert-molding.

The present invention relates to a power module which uses a power semiconductor device such as an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) for a switching device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a terminal wiring structure of the power module.
A conventional power module disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. H07-321285 includes a circuit block, a metal base, an integral resin casing, a casing cover and a sealing resin. The circuit block includes an insulative substrate such as a ceramic substrate on which circuit parts and components including a power semiconductor device such as an IGBT are mounted. The metal base is laminated on the back surface of the circuit block. The integral resin casing surrounds the circuit block and is bonded with adhesives to the periphery of the metal base. The integral resin casing is integrally united with lead-out terminals such as main terminals and auxiliary terminals. The main terminals include a collector terminal and an emitter terminal. The auxiliary terminals include auxiliary signal terminals for the emitter and gate. The integral resin casing is formed, by insert-molding, integrally with the terminal frames of the main and auxiliary terminals inserted thereto. Inner leads extend from the terminal frames and are wired inside the resin casing. The end sections of the inner leads are soldered to a circuit pattern on the substrate of the circuit block.
In another conventional power module which includes an integral resin casing formed, by insert-molding, integrally with lead-out terminals inserted thereto, auxiliary terminals are gathered in a peripheral portion of the resin casing. The terminal frames of the auxiliary terminals are buried in the wall of the resin casing and extended to the vicinity of soldering locations of the circuit block so as no to cross the wiring paths of the bonding wires of the circuit block inside the resin casing so that the terminal frames do not interact with the bonding wires. Inner leads extend inwardly from the terminal frames to the soldering locations, and the end sections of the inner leads are soldered to the substrate of the circuit block.
FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b) show the external appearance of the conventional power module including two IGBTs connected in series. FIG. 6 is an equivalent circuit of the power module of FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b). Referring now to FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b), the reference numeral 1 designates an integral resin casing integrally united with a lead-out terminal; numeral 2 is a casing cover; numeral 3 is a metal base on the bottom of the resin casing; numeral 4 is a main circuit terminal; and numeral 5 is an auxiliary signal terminal. The main circuit terminals 4 are led outside through the casing cover 2. The auxiliary terminals 5 are gathered on a peripheral portion of the resin casing 1. Each terminal is soldered to the substrate of a circuit block (not shown) mounted inside the resin casing such that the equivalent circuit of FIG. 6 is formed.
Referring now to FIG. 6, the symbol Tr1 designates an IGBT; Tr2 is another IGBT; and D is a free-wheeling diode connected parallel to the IGBT. The IGBTs Tr1 and Tr2 are mounted on the circuit block. The main circuit terminals 4 and the auxiliary terminals 5 are further designated by the terminal symbols for the collector, emitter and gate such as C1, E2, C2E1, G1, E1, G2 and E2.
The conventional internal wiring structure described above has the following problems in manufacturing and reliability.
The integral resin casing is formed through the steps of inserting the terminal frames for the main terminals and auxiliary terminals in the predetermined positions of a molding die, closing the molding die and supplying a molding resin through a gate of the molding die. The molding pressure which reaches 300 to 400 kg/cm.sup.2 may cause the inserted terminal frames to move from the predetermined positions or may deform the terminal frames. Especially, the auxiliary terminal frame in the form of a strip and buried in the wall of the resin casing is easily deformed under the molding pressure.
The middle portion of the auxiliary terminal frame inserted in the wall of the resin casing may be pushed to the outside of the casing wall and exposed. Or, the terminal frames for the terminals with opposite polarities may contact with each other in the resin layer of the casing. The exposed terminal frame or the short-circuited terminal frames are molding defects. The deformation of the terminal frame further causes random displacement of the end sections of the inner leads extending inside the casing from the predetermined soldering positions. The displaced inner leads are hazardous for soldering and cause problems in assembling the power module.
In addition, since the materials for the resin casing, metal base, ceramic insulative substrate, terminal frames and semiconductor devices exhibit different thermal expansion coefficients, thermal stress is exerted to the bonding portions of the constituent parts and components by the heat cycles due to the current carrying operations of the semiconductor devices. Especially, when the thermal stress is exerted repeatedly to the soldered portions of the end section of the inner lead and the wiring pattern of the circuit block, cracks are formed in the solder layer. As the cracks grow, the soldered faces are completely separated from each other to thereby causes a critical fault such that the semiconductor device stops operating.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the invention to provide a stable and reliable power module which obviates the foregoing problems.
It is another object of the invention to provide a power module which has an improved terminal wiring structure.


Embodiments of the invention generally provide for highly tolerant and adaptable content reuse in a content management system (CMS). The method and system allow an author to reuse fragments of content that are composed from a document structure incompatible with a document structure of a document which the fragment is being incorporated. In such a case, the CMS may be configured to generate a new branched fragment, based on the content of the original fragment, but composed according to the grammar of the document which the fragment is being incorporated. Additionally, the CMS may be configured to maintain a relationship between an original fragment and branched fragments derived therefrom. Further, any content changes made to the original fragment may be incorporated by any associated branch fragments.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention are generally related to managing a collection of data objects in a content management system. More specifically, embodiments of the invention are related to a method and system for managing content to ensure highly tolerant and adaptable content reuse.
2. Description of the Related Art
Content management systems (CMS) allow multiple users to share information. Generally, a CMS allows users to create, modify, archive, search, and remove data objects from an organized repository. The data objects managed by a CMS may include documents, spreadsheets, database records, digital images, and digital video sequences, to name but a few. A CMS typically includes tools for document publishing, format management, revision and/or access control, along with tools for document indexing, searching, and retrieval.
An XML-aware CMS, such as IBM Solution for Compliance in a Regulated Environment (SCORE), may provide the users with a variety of advantages, for example:                structured authoring—the ability to incorporate metadata that is normally lost in conventional formats        repurposing of data—the ability to share fragments of data or to transform the data into different formats        publishing—the ability to have "single source publishing" using XMLstylesheets (e.g. XSLT) that separate content from presentation        interoperability—the ability to utilize XML data across different systems or applications        intelligent storage—the ability to synchronize XML content with attributes in the CMSBecause of these, and other advantages, XML is growing in popularity as the preferred format for authoring and publishing (e.g. for Web page authoring/publishing).
To provide some of these advantages, a CMS may be configured to break apart or disassemble an XML document into smaller "chunks." This process is typically referred to as bursting, and each chunk can be managed as its own object in the CMS. The XML document may be referred to as a "parent" or "master" document and each chunk may be referred to as a fragment. When the user checks-out an XML document that has been burst, the CMS assembles the various fragments so that the XML document appears to the user as a single unit. In addition to bursting, there are numerous other techniques, equally known in the art, for creating XML fragments.
Fragments may be stored independently from a parent document in the CMS. As such, multiple documents may reuse any given fragment. By storing commonly used XML fragments, the common information may be written once and referenced by multiple parent documents.

Method and system for highly tolerant and adaptable content reuse in a content management system

International Business Machines Corporation


A RF linear electron accelerator system for generating a beam of accelerated electrons bunched in pulses having different energy spectra from pulse to pulse. The system is operable to generate a beam of high energy X-rays from such beam of accelerated electrons, using a conversion target, with pulses of the X-ray beam having energy spectra which are different from X-ray pulse to X-ray pulse. Preferably, the pulses of the electron beam have energy spectra which alternate from pulse to pulse and, correspondingly, the pulses of the X-ray beam have energy spectra which alternate from pulse to pulse. Also preferably, the current of electrons injected into the system's accelerating section and the frequency of the pulse RF power supplied to the accelerating section are changed in a synchronized manner to generate the electron beam. The system is employable in an inspection system for discriminating materials present in containers by atomic numbers.

Large object inspection systems using high energy X-ray beams to detect potentially harmful or illegal items (i.e., such as contraband, weapons, illegal drugs, and explosives) include RF linear electron accelerators and conversion targets that transform electron beam energy into a high energy X-ray beam with a single energy spectrum, the parameters of which are determined by the accelerated electron energy. The electrons that are directed at the conversion targets of such inspection systems acquire energy during acceleration in RF fields of the systems' RF linear electron accelerators. Typically, these accelerators provide electrons with 120 mA pulse current acceleration to 9 MeV energy. In the acceleration process, both the energy and current of accelerated electrons are kept constant from pulse to pulse. Unfortunately, the black and white images, representing the contents of a container, that are obtained using such high energy X-ray single spectrum beams do not provide for material discrimination of the container's contents by atomic number.
Therefore, there is a need for RF linear electron accelerators providing accelerated electrons with two energy spectra for use in large object inspection systems that enable the discrimination of materials found in objects present in large cargo containers, and for addressing other related issues.

System for alternately pulsing energy of accelerated electrons bombarding a conversion target


A bus system including a bus arbiter and a plurality of masters. The bus arbiter grants bus control to one of the plurality of masters. When a master with bus control sends a read command, bus control is transferred to another one of the plurality of masters, thereby increasing the efficiency of the bus system. A method including sending a read command and transferring bus control to another one of a plurality of masters before receiving the response to the read command.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to a bus system and method thereof, and more particularly to a bus system including an efficient bandwidth and method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional system-on-chip (SOC) may include a plurality of integrated circuit chips in a single chip board. Conventional SOCs may include time-to-market as a factor during development. Intellectual property (IP) cores may be reused (i.e., recycled) in order to reduce the time-to-market for conventional SOCs. The reuse of the IP cores may also improve the reliability of new SOC devices since the IP cores selected for reuse may come from functioning SOCs and there is a high probability that the reused IP core will operate correctly.
A bus system may be selected for a SOC to provide communication (i.e., data transfers) between IP cores within the SOC. A conventional bus system may include an advance high-performance bus (AHB) system which may be based on an advanced microcontroller bus architecture (AMBA). A silicon backplane (SB) micro-network may also be included in the bus system. The SB micro-network may be based on an open core protocol (OCP). Since the bus system may include both OCP and AMBA, there may exist a requirement within the bus system to translate between protocols (e.g., between OCP and AMBA and vice versa).
FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a conventional AHB system 150.
Referring to FIG. 1, the AHB bus system 150 may include masters 100/102/104, slaves 120/122/124/126, an arbiter 110, a decoder 118, and multiplexers 112/114/118.
The masters 100/102/104 may request bus occupation (i.e., bus control or bus bandwidth on which to transfer data) from the arbiter 110 in order to read or write data to or from the slaves 120/122/124/126. The arbiter 110 may grant the bus occupation to a single one of the masters 100/102/104 in response to the bus request based on priorities among the masters 100/102/104 and which master occupies the bus at the time of the request. A master which is granted bus occupation (i.e., a bus master) may read or write data with one of the slaves 120/122/124/126. Once designated as the bus master, the bus master may transfer data on the bus until its data transfer is completed. While the bus master transfers data on the bus, there may exist a queue of masters in a standby state (i.e., masters which have requested bus occupation).
Another conventional OCP bus system may function differently than the above-described AHB bus system 150 of FIG. 1. While the AHB system may include a bus master which may control the bus until its data transfer is completed, the OCP bus system may only allow the bus master to control the bus until data transfer is completed during a read operation (i.e., not during a write operation). Thus, when a bus master generates a write command in a conventional OCP bus system, a read command for data is first transferred (i.e., in order to acquire data associated with the write command) and the master may transfer bus control to a new master (i.e., a master with the highest priority on the standby queue). Also, data transferred in response to a read command may be sent to the master (i.e., the master which generated the read command) through an agent. Thus, the conventional OCP bus system may be more efficient than the conventional AHB bus system (e.g., AHB bus system 150 of FIG. 1).
FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a conventional SB micro-network 250 including an OCP bus system.
Referring to FIG. 2, the SB micro-network 250 may include masters 202/204/206, protocol transformers 208/210/212, agents 214/216/218 and an SB bus 200.
Referring to FIG. 2 the masters 202/204/206 may be designed based on the AMBA protocol which may be associated with the AHB system. The masters 202/204/206 may be connected to protocol transformers 208/210/212, respectively, in order to perform a conversion to and from the AMBA protocol and the OCP. The protocol transformers 208/210/212 may be connected to a SB bus 200 through agents 214/216/218 which may be included within a SB micro-network. The agents 214/216/218 may be connected to each other through the SB bus 200, thereby allowing data transfer between the masters 202/204/206. The agents 214/216/218 may transfer a read command to slaves (not shown) from the masters 202/204/206, and data may be transferred from the slaves to the masters 202/204/206 in response to the read command.
Each of the masters 202/204/206 may be connected to the SB bus 200 through the agents 214/216/218, and the number of the masters may limit a clock frequency of the SB bus 200.
A conventional SOC may include a plurality of masters and slaves. If each of the plurality of masters and slaves (i.e., IP cores) are connected to a bus (e.g., SB bus 200), the clock frequency of the bus may be degraded. Further, a number of agents (e.g. agents 214/216/218) attached to the bus (e.g., SB bus 200) may increase the physical size of the bus.
Conventional methods of solving the above-described problems may include grouping a plurality of masters into several blocks as sub-systems (i.e., grouping masters performing similar functions) with the sub-systems connected to the bus. Thus, a number of connections to the bus may be reduced since each group of masters may include only a single connection to the bus, and not an individual bus connection for each master. However, the above-described solution requires arbitration within the bus groups, since only one master within the bus groups may be connected through the group to the bus at a given time.
FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of another conventional bus system 350.
Referring to FIG. 3, the bus system 350 may be based on the AMBA protocol in an AHB system 310, and may include an OCP SB bus 300 accessed through an agent 302.
The AHB system 310 may include masters 312/314/316, an arbiter 318 and a protocol transformer 320. The arbiter 318 may control bus connections for the masters 312/314/316. The protocol transformer 318 may convert protocol (e.g., from AMBA to OCP and vice versa) for a master (e.g., master 312/314/316) which may be selected by the arbiter 318 and may connect the selected master to the SB bus 300 through the agent 302. The masters 312/314/316 may be based on the AMBA protocol. The arbiter 318 may permit the selected master to occupy the bus (i.e., become the bus master) until data transfer is complete (i.e., for either a write and/or read command). The conventional methods of bus arbitration including a plurality of protocols may be incapable of transferring control of the bus (e.g., SB bus 300) to a new bus master before a data operation of a bus master is complete. In other words, a separation of the command phase (i.e., requesting a data transfer) and the response phase (i.e., receiving data from a read command and/or for sending data to be written) may not be possible. Thus, the advantage of separation (e.g., as included in conventional systems using OCP without a protocol conversion) may not be possible in systems including a protocol conversion. Thus, when a plurality of masters attempt to occupy the bus (i.e., become bus masters), a latency time (i.e., a response time) for requests from the masters may be increased, resulting in a degradation (i.e., loss of efficiency) in the conventional bus system.

Bus system with protocol conversion for arbitrating bus occupation and method thereof


In a client-server environment, adaptively streaming programs from a program listing includes using an interaction between a client-side GUI and a server-side storefront to select a primary program for presentation, streaming the primary program at a primary streaming rate, and presenting the streamed primary program at a quality consistent with the primary streaming rate. The adaptive streaming further includes determining a number of secondary programs and a corresponding secondary streaming rate for each, which is less than the primary streaming rate. The adaptive streaming includes negotiating authorization rights for the secondary programs, then streaming the number of secondary programs at their secondary streaming rates, while streaming and presenting the primary program.

Distribution of multimedia (also referred to herein as "media" and/or "program(s)"), such as movies and the like, from network services to a client device may be achieved through adaptive bitrate streaming of the media. Conventional adaptive bitrate streaming includes determining streaming conditions, e.g., an available streaming bandwidth at the client device, and then selecting a presentation quality of the streamed media accordingly. Typically, source media or programs may be encoded at different bitrates into multiple streams that are stored by the network services. Adjusting the presentation quality includes switching between the different streams, i.e., switching between the different bitrates, while streaming. Required streaming bandwidth and presentation quality increase and decrease as the encoded bitrates increase and decrease. Accordingly, more and less available streaming bandwidth may translate to more and less presentation quality, respectively. Given streaming bandwidth constraints at the client device, there is a persistent need to conserve bandwidth while streaming programs. Accordingly, conventional streaming techniques typically stream a single program at any given time to conserve bandwidth.
From the perspective of the network service, streaming a program includes transmitting the media for the program in response to requests from the client device. The streamed program may include previously recorded media or, alternatively, live media. From the perspective of the client device, streaming a program includes continuously requesting and receiving the media for the program from the network services, and storing the received media for the program in a buffer for subsequent presentation or playback, essentially, in near real-time, i.e., without having to download the entire stream prior to playback. The buffered program may be presented, i.e., played back, in audio-visual form, for example. To avoid an unwanted interruption in presentation while streaming, a sufficient quantity of the streamed program must be stored in the buffer to avoid emptying the buffer prior to receipt of a next portion of streamed program. Typically, several seconds-worth of a streamed program may need to be buffered in this manner prior to its presentation.
Typically, streaming of a program is initiated when a user selects a program from a channel guide presented to the user on the client device. Often, the user channel surfs, i.e., switches between programs (or channels) every few seconds in search of a preferred program on which to settle. At each switch, the client device must initiate the streaming of the new program. However, the client device may be required to negotiate authorization rights for the new program before it can be streamed. Such negotiation introduces an undesirable delay, namely, an authorization delay, between the program switch and when the new program may actually be streamed and presented to a user.
Additionally, at every program switch, buffering of the streamed program introduces further delay prior to presentation. That is, the buffering introduces an undesired buffer delay between when the user selects a new program for presentation and when that program is actually presented. Together, the buffer and authorization delays create an overall presentation delay that can be frustrating to a user when switching between programs, especially while program surfing.
In the drawings, the leftmost digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears.


Method and apparatus which uses harmonic cantilevers, such as used in atomic force microscopy, to detect variations in the attractive and repulsive forces on a solid surface as a result of macromolecular binding, for example, hybridization of a single stranded DNA molecule attached to the surface with another DNA molecule. The complexed macromolecule is less flexible than an uncomplexed molecule. It will typically have more negative charge due to amino acids or DNA monomers. Both stiffness of the surface and the attractive capillary forces will change after binding and may be detected. The present methods and materials enable ultraflat surfaces for the macromolecule deposition, and may include the use of a gold-coated mica substrate and a self-assembling monolayer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to detection of the hybridization of DNA and other macromolecular events using scanning probe microscopy techniques, in particular, the use of harmonic cantilevers for tapping-mode atomic force microscope.
2. Related Art
Detection of hybridized DNA molecules has a central role in molecular biology and genetics. The hybridization reaction depends on the complementary matching of the sequence of single stranded DNA molecules. This allows one to use a single stranded DNA molecule with known sequence to identify the sequence of another DNA molecule. This fact has been widely used on DNA microarrays and similar technologies to determine the sequence of DNA molecules and to compare gene expression levels in different samples.
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) refers to a class of instruments and imaging methods where a sharp tip attached to the end of a flexible cantilever is scanned across a sample surface to map topographical features and various material properties. A variety of AFM is the tapping mode where the flexible cantilever is vibrated at one of its resonance frequencies in the vicinity of the sample. Vibration amplitude and other parameters of the cantilever motion are monitored to map the topography and material properties. The gentle interaction between the tip and the sample in tapping-mode AFM has made it the dominant operation modality of AFM.
Harmonic cantilevers and coupled torsional cantilevers for tapping-mode atomic force microscopy are specially designed cantilevers that can be used as a replacement for conventional cantilevers. When used in tapping mode, these cantilevers provide additional vibrational signals at higher frequencies (harmonics) that depend on the forces between the sample and the sharp tip of the AFM. These tip-sample forces have attractive components due to capillary forces and Van der Waals forces, and repulsive components due mainly to the stiffness of the sample. A detailed description of this technique can be found in Sahin, O., Yaralioglu, G., Grow, R., Zappe, S. F., Atalar, A., Quate, C. F. & Solgaard, O., "High resolution imaging of elastic properties using harmonic cantilevers," Sensors and Actuators A, 114, 183-190 (2004); and Sahin, O., Atalar, A., Quate, C. F. & Solgaard, O., "Resonant harmonic response in tapping-mode atomic force microscopy," Phys. Rev. B. 69 165416 (2004).
Kreuzer, et al., "Stretching a Macromolecule in an Atomic Force Microscope: Statistical Mechanical Analysis," Biophys. J. 80: 2502-2524 (2001) discloses methods for calculating a force-extension curve for a given macromolecule, as theoretically modeled for a molecule of PEG.
Antognozzi, et al., "Interpretation of Contrast in Tapping Mode AFM and Shear Force Microscopy: A Study of Nafion," Langmuir 17:349-360 (2001) discloses the use of tapping mode AFM for imaging delicate samples. The publication describes the use of shear-force microscopy (SHFM). The probe is mounted on a piezoelectric actuator, which drives the probe at a frequency close to one of its resonant modes. The tip is mounted in such a fashion that its direction of vibration is parallel to the sample surface, as the probe comes into close proximity with the sample, ˜10 nm. the amplitude of oscillation decreases due to damping from the Van der Waals interactions. NAFION™ is a commercially available perfluorosulfonate cation-exchange membrane (CEM) manufactured by E I du Pont de Nemours & Co. Inc. The two complementary scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques of AFM and TDFM were used to investigate the difference in phase contrast exhibited by two NAFION™ samples differing only in cation from (H+ and Cs+).
Auletta, et al., "A-Cyclodextrin Host-Guest Complexes Probed under Thermodynamic Equilibrium Thermodynamics and AFM Force Spectroscopy," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126:1577-1584 (Jan. 15, 2004) discloses the use of "chemical force microscopy," which combines the resolution available through force microscopy with attractive/repulsive forces taking place between a functionalized probe tip and the sample, allowing compositional mapping of surfaces with different chemical functionalities on the basis of different adhesion properties. The publication presents a study of single host-guest (HG) complex rupture forces between β-cyclodextrin self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) and several guest molecules confined onto the surface of gold-coated AFM tips by adsorption in mixed SAMs.
Viani, et al., "Probing protein-protein interactions in real time," Nature Struct. Biol. 7:644-647 (2000) discloses the use of a small cantilever AFM to observe individual protein interactions. The authors observed, in real time, individual Escherichia coli GroES proteins binding to and then subsequently dissociating from individual E. coli GroEL proteins. Height fluctuation (topography), rather than stiffness was measured.
Van Noort, et al., "High Speed Atomic Force Microscopy of Biomolecules by Image Tracking," Biophys. J. 77:2295-2303 (1999) discloses an image-tracking procedure to zoom in on an individual DNA plasmid. A stand-alone AFM was used. Triangular Si3N4 cantilevers (Park Scientific, Sunnyvale, Calif.) with a spring constant of 0.5 N/m were used for tapping mode in liquid, at a frequency of 30 kHz, non-harmonic mode.
Willemsen, et al., "Simultaneous Height and Adhesion Imaging of Antibody-Antigen Interactions by Atomic Force Microscopy," Biophys. J. 75:2220-2228 (1998) discloses imaging of individual ICAM-1 antigens in both tapping mode and adhesion mode. The contrast in the adhesion image that was measured simultaneously with the topography was reportedly caused by recognition between individual antibody-antigen pairs. By comparing the high-resolution height image with the adhesion image, it was shown that specific molecular recognition is highly correlated with topography. V-shaped cantilevers (MICROLEVERS, tip F, Park Scientific Instruments, Sunnyvale, Calif.) with a spring constant of 500 pN/nm were operated at frequencies between 18 and 24 kHz.
Further reports are: Hansma, H. G., K. A. Browne, M. Bezanilla, and T. C. Bruice, 1994. "Bending and straightening of DNA induced by the same ligand: characterization with the atomic force microscope,' Biochemistry, 33:8436-8441; Hansma, H. G., I. Revenko, K. Kim, and D. E. Laney, 1996, "Atomic force microscopy of long and short double-stranded, single-stranded and triple-stranded nucleic acids," Nucleic Acids Res. 24:713-720; and Laney, D. E., R. A. Garcia, S. M. Parsons, and H. G. Hansma, 1997, "Changes in the elastic properties of cholinergic synaptic vesicles as measured by atomic force microscopy," Biophys. J. 72:806-813.

Detection of macromolecular complexes on ultraflat surfaces with harmonic cantilevers

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