There is provided an in vitro assay for screening a test compound for toxicity in renal proximal tubular cells. The method comprises contacting a test compound with a test population of renal proximal tubular cells; and examining one or more cell morphology features, examining one or more cytoskeleton features, and/or determining cell numbers of the renal proximal tubular cells in the test population and comparing such cell morphology, arrangement of cytoskeletal components and/or cell count with the respective features of a control population. A change in one or more cell morphology features, a change in arrangement of one or more cytoskeleton features or a decrease in cell numbers of the test population relative to the control population is indicative that the test compound is toxic for renal proximal tubular cells.

The kidney is one of the major target organs for drug-induced toxicity. Nephrotoxic drugs and chemicals can induce acute kidney injury (AKI), or chronic kidney disease and subsequently end stage renal disease (ESRD) (1-3). AKI and ESRD patients have increased morbidity and mortality and depend on dialysis (1, 4, 5). About 5% of all hospitalized patients and ˜20%-30% of ICU patients develop AKI, and ˜20%-25% of these cases are due to nephrotoxic drugs (2-4). When alternative and new drugs become available their nephrotoxic potential is often underestimated (6), which leads again to clinical complications, as in case of COX2 inhibitors (7).
Typically, nephrotoxicity is detected only late during drug development and accounts for 2% of drug attrition during pre-clinical studies and 19% in phase 3 (8). Also, due to the large functional reserve of the kidney nephrotoxic effects often become obvious only after regulatory approval. A recent example is tenofovir, which injures the renal proximal tubules (9, 10). Together, the problems outlined above are associated with increased risks for patients and subjects enrolled in clinical trials as well as substantial costs for the health care system and the pharmaceutical industry.
One major problem is the lack of pre-clinical models with high predictability. The predictability of animal models is compromised by interspecies variability, and there are other problems such as high costs and low throughput. Further, legislation changes in the EU (REACH and the 7th Amendment of the Cosmetics Directive) and new initiatives in the USA (ToxCast and Tox21) have increased the interest in in vitro models. Regulatory accepted or validated in vitro models for the prediction of nephrotoxicity in humans are currently not available. Major difficulties are related to the identification of appropriate cell types and endpoints (11-13).
In the kidney the cells of the renal proximal tubule (PT) are a major target for drug-induced toxicity due to their roles in glomerular filtrate concentration and the transport of drugs and organic compounds (2, 3). PT-derived cell lines, such as the human and porcine cell lines HK-2 (human kidney-2) and LLC-PK1 (Lewis lung cancer-porcine kidney 1), have been frequently applied in in vitro nephrotoxicology. However, immortalized cells are less sensitive than human primary renal proximal tubular cells (HPTC) (14) and insensitive to well-known nephrotoxicants (13), which is due to do functional changes and changes in drug transporter expression associated with immortalization (15-17). Further, endpoints that are associated with general cytotoxicity, such as cell death, metabolic activity or ATP depletion, are not useful for addressing organ-specific toxicity. A recent study measuring ATP-depletion in liver-, kidney PT- and heart-derived cell lines treated with hepatotoxic, nephrotoxic and cardiotoxic compounds found that the majority of compounds had similar effects in all three cell lines (18).
The European and US regulatory agencies in charge of the validation and acceptance of alternative methods (European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) and the National Toxicology Program Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods/Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (NICEATM/ICCVAM)) are currently not involved in any activities on the validation of methods for in vitro nephrotoxicology. The ECVAM has funded one pre-validation study (19) which used 15 drugs. Other models for in vitro nephrotoxicology that have been developed since then during the last 10 years (20-24) have been tested with limited numbers of drugs and are of unclear predictability. A recently developed high-throughput mitochondrial nephrotoxicant assay is based on rabbit cells (25), which raises issues concerning interspecies variability. This applies also to a model employing PT freshly isolated from murine kidneys (23, 24). Both models would still require the use of animals.

In vitro assay for predicting renal proximal tubular cell toxicity

Agency for Science, Technology and Research


Content item requests are identified in a web page source document. For each request, it is determined if a content item request has been generated, and if a content item request has not been generated, a content item request for all requests in the web page source document is generated.

Content displayed on a web page can be generated by one or more content item servers in response to content item requests that are generated during the rendering of the web page by a client device. Often a publisher of a web page may define multiple content item environments, e.g., advertisement slots, for content items, e.g., advertisements, to be displayed within a web page. Typically, each content item environment has an associated content item request e.g. an advertisement request, that is transmitted to a content item server, e.g., an advertisement server. When the web page is rendered by a client device that has requested the publishier's web page, a content item will be displayed in each content item environment.
A web page having multiple content item environments can, however, generate excessive traffic to the content item server. Additionally, because web page instructions are often interpreted, the content item requests are generated as each content item request instruction is processed. Accordingly, a first content item request for a web page is transmitted and served without knowledge of any subsequent content item requests that may be encountered for that page. Thus, each content item served by the content item server for a web page if the rendering of the web page generates multiple content item requests.


A braided cable having outwardly successive layers including: a core having a transmission medium, the transmission medium being an insulated conductor; a shielding tape surrounding the core and extending longitudinally within and parallel to the length of the cable, the shielding tape having a first edge and an oppositely located second edge, the first and second edge overlapping by inwardly curving towards one another, the shielding tape further having at least one layer of aluminum material and a second layer of polyolefin or polyester material; a cable braid longitudinally surrounding the shielding tape; and an outer jacket longitudinally surrounding the cable braid.

A variety of shielded cables are known. These known shielded cables typically utilize a helically applied foil shield (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,323,721 and 4,327,246). In addition to the aforementioned helically applied foil shield cables, there are other shielded cables which include the following configurations: one, a laterally applied foil shield under a cable braid; two, a Z-Fold.TM. foil under a cable jacket; or three, a cable braid under a cable jacket. While these known cables provide fairly adequate shield protection at low, middle or high frequencies, there is no cable that utilizes all three configurations (a laterally applied foil shield, a Z-Fold foil, and a cable braid) simultaneously to provide superior or increased shield effectiveness.


In a wireless network environment comprising a mobile router serving a moving network, said mobile router for attaching to a packet-switched access network that uses a micro-mobility protocol and a Quality of Service (QoS) protocol to route packet data to and from said mobile router, wherein said mobile router has a QoS aggregate requirement generated by nodes attached thereto, a method of handover of said mobile router to a mobility agent in said access network, which method comprises the steps of: (i) said mobile router sends a QoS request message to said mobility agent, which QoS request message comprises a QoS parameter representing said QoS aggregate; (ii) upon receipt by said mobility agent, said access network takes a QoS admission decision on the basis of said QoS parameter; and (iii) said mobility agent sends a QoS acknowledgement to said mobile router whereby said mobility agent informs said mobile router of the outcome of said QoS admission decision; characterized by the step of (iv) if said QoS admission decision is that said mobility agent cannot handle all of said QoS aggregate, said QoS acknowledgement comprises an identity of one or more alternative mobility agent that might meet at least a part of said QoS aggregate that will not be provided by said mobility agent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of handover of a mobile router to a mobility agent, to a packet-switched access network for taking part in the method, to a router for use in the method, to a mobile router for use in the method, and to a vehicle comprising such a mobile router.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many different requirements are expected of the network layer in all-IP access networks (e.g. 4G cellular networks). Two in particular are mobility and QoS. The former enables users to communicate seamlessly with remote network nodes via the Internet wherever they are, whereas the latter enables users to receive different levels of service for certain types of traffic.
Mobility at the network layer is concerned with maintaining the routability of packet data to and from a mobile node when that mobile node moves away from its home access network. The main candidate for provision of this functionality is Mobile IP (MIP). Very briefly MIP relies on a Home Agent in the home access network to tunnel IP packets to the domain where the mobile node is attached. The mobile node forms a Care-of Address (CoA) that is globally topologically correct in the network to which it is attached. The Home Agent encapsulates packets that it receives addressed to the mobile node's home address in another IP packet addressed to the CoA. In this way packet data may still reach the mobile node even when it is away from the home network. Further details of Mobile IP can be found in RFC 3344, 3775 and 3776 to which reference is specifically made.
However, when a mobile node hands over to a new access router, binding updates are triggered to the Home Agent, etc. These binding updates can introduce unwanted delays and loss of packets, and thereby degradation in performance from the user's perspective. When attached to a particular wireless access network (such as a cellular network), a mobile node may change its point of attachment (i.e. access router) quite frequently (e.g. every few minutes or more often, particularly if on the move). Each change triggers configuration of a new CoA, followed by the necessary binding updates. Doing this frequently (e.g. every few minutes) is not practical.
Hierarchical Mobile IPv6 (HMIPv6) has been proposed (see RFC 4140) to address this problem. HMIPv6 provides a mobility agent known as a Mobility Anchor Point (MAP) in the access network. A MAP is a logical entity that handles micro-mobility for the mobile node. Micro-mobility is a change in point of attachment of the mobile node from one access router to another, both of which are within the same domain of the access network. Whenever this happens, the mobile node sends a binding update to the MAP (comprising a new Link local CoA or LCoA), but the mobile node's primary CoA (or Regional CoA or RCoA) remains unchanged. In this way the mobile node can move between access routers in the same administrative domain without having to send a binding update to the Home Agent. In contrast when the mobile node changes point of attachment to an access router in a different access network, this is a macro-mobility event i.e. requiring a binding update to be sent to the Home Agent of the mobile node.
It is possible that the mobile node may take the form of a moving network, a specific example of which is called a 'network in motion' or NEMO network. Network mobility support is concerned with managing the mobility of an entire network, viewed as a single unit, which changes its point of attachment to a fixed network infrastructure and thus its reachability in the network topology, most frequently the Internet. The mobile part of the network is referred to as a 'moving network', that can be installed in a train for example, and which includes one or more 'mobile routers' (MRs) which act as gateways to the moving network and connect it to the global Internet. Nodes behind the MR(s) can be classified as "Local Fixed Nodes" (LPNs) such as wired Internet access point on the train, Local Mobile Nodes (LMNs) such as mobile PDAs carried by personnel working on the train, and Visiting Mobile Nodes (VMNs) such as notebook computers, PDAs, portable media players, hand-held gaming devices and mobile telephones carried by passengers on the train. In most cases, the internal structure of the moving network will in effect be relatively stable (no dynamic change of the topology), subject to joining and leaving of VMNs and LMNs. The MR provides wireless access for the network nodes via access routers that are part of the fixed network infrastructure. Access routers include satellites, UMTS Node Bs, GSM base stations, DVB transmitters and wireless access points.
The mobility of moving networks does not cause the network nodes to change their own physical point of attachment, although they happen to change their topological location with respect to the global Internet. If network mobility is not explicitly supported by some mechanism, the mobility of the MR results in mobile nodes losing Internet access and breaking ongoing connections with correspondent nodes (hereinafter CNs) in the global Internet. In addition, the communication path between the network nodes and the CNs becomes sub-optimal, and nested mobility will cause yet worse routing paths.
The current solution to provide network mobility is promoted by the NEtworks in MOtion (NEMO) working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (see www.ietf.org/html.charters/nemo-charter.html). "NEMO Basic Support" (see RFC 3963 at the same website) aims to provide connection continuity for nodes in the moving network.
NEMO Basic Support provides connection (or session) continuity (e.g. continuity for TCP connections) by creating a "bi-directional tunnel" between the MR and its home network. This bi-directional tunnel is formed by encapsulating IP packets to and from the network nodes in IP packets addressed between the MR and a Home Agent on the MR's home network. In this way traffic flows are routed via the MR and its Home Agent and the mobility of the moving network is transparent to all network nodes attached thereto.
We have realized that mobile routers that arrive within the signal coverage of an access network that operates both a micro-mobility protocol, such as HMIPv6, and a QoS protocol, face particular difficulties. In particular, when an access network operates both a mobility protocol (such as HMIPv6) and a QoS protocol (such as DiffServ or IntServ), the requirement that all packets to and from the moving network pass through a single mobility agent creates a bottleneck which will lead to congestion in the router hosting the mobility agent and at other routers nearby.
Furthermore, the utilization of the mobility agent's resources is always likely to be relatively high since all traffic within its domain must pass through it. This bottleneck can be particularly problematic for moving networks utilizing aggregated QoS reservations, in which a high number of mobile terminals (e.g. ten, twenty, one hundred or more) may require the simultaneous and substantially seamless handover of ongoing sessions to a single mobility agent. We have realized that the main problem is the possibility that no single mobility agent within the new network is likely to have the capacity to support the resource requirements of the moving network as a whole. If so, the mobility agent will reject the resource request of the moving network, causing the mobile router either to blindly seek alternative mobility agents with which to make a resource reservation, or negotiate a lower resource reservation with the mobility agent, with the intention of either dropping the sessions of some mobile nodes, or proportionally reducing the QoS given to all sessions.
In both of these situations, handover latency will be significantly increased as the mobile router attempts to establish a reservation with a mobility agent that can accommodate the resource requirements of the moving network, assuming that there is another mobility agent available in that access network.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A hospital bed includes an articulatable patient support with a fowler portion movable between horizontal and inclined positions relative to a frame of the bed. A reversible electric drive motor is supported on the frame of the bed and, through a reduction gearing arrangement and a releasible coupling mechanism, can rotatably drive a threaded shaft. A nut engages and is held against rotation with the shaft, and a linkage arrangement couples the nut to the fowler portion to effect reciprocal movement of the fowler portion in response to reciprocal movement of the nut along the shaft. A manual release is provided on the fowler portion and, when actuated, disengages the releasible coupling mechanism so that the threaded shaft is free to rotate independently of the motor and gearing arrangement.

Existing hospital beds have a fowler portion which supports the head and upper torso of a patient and which can be pivoted from a horizontal position upwardly to various inclined positions. A common drive arrangement for the fowler includes a reversible electric motor which can rotatably drive a threaded shaft extending lengthwise of the bed, a nut which engages the threaded shaft and is held against rotation so that the nut moves axially along the shaft in response to rotation of the shaft, and a linkage which couples the nut to the fowler portion so that the fowler portion pivots in response to axial movement of the nut in order to alter the inclination of the fowler portion.
When a patient experiences a sudden trauma such as a heart attack while the fowler portion is in the inclined position, it is medically important that the fowler portion be pivoted downwardly as quickly as possible to an approximately horizontal position, so that appropriate therapy such as cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can be administered. Also, there are times when the fowler must be operated without electrical power, for example to shorten the effective length of the bed so that it will fit into an elevator during patient transport. However, in most existing fowler drive arrangements, the threaded shaft has a relatively fine pitch and is rotated at a slow to moderate speed in order to permit slow and gentle movement of a patient during normal operation. In order to move the fowler portion to its horizontal position substantially more rapidly than is possible by using the electric motor, manually operable quick release arrangements have previously been developed to allow selective interruption of the driving connection between the rotating shaft and the fowler portion. One example of such a known quick release mechanism is disclosed in Peck U.S. Pat. No. 4 559 655. While this known mechanism has been generally adequate for its intended purposes, it has not been satisfactory in all respects.
For example, the quick release mechanism in this known apparatus includes a relatively bulky coupling mechanism which reciprocally moves lengthwise along the threaded shaft with the nut, and an appropriate clearance space must be provided along the entire range of movement of the nut to allow movement of this bulky coupling arrangement. Consequently, this known fowler drive mechanism is not very compact and requires the allocation of a relatively significantly amount of space beneath the patient support, which in some situations is undesirable or impractical.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved quick release mechanism for a motor-driven fowler which permits the entire fowler drive arrangement to be relatively compact.
A further object provides such a mechanism which can be quickly and reliably released and re-engaged, and which requires little or no maintenance over its normal operational lifetime.

Quick release coupling for head section of a hospital bed


A corrosion resistant, electrically conductive component such as a bipolar plate for a PEM fuel cell includes 20–55% Cr, balance base metal such as Ni, Fe, or Co, the component having thereon a substantially external, continuous layer of chromium nitride.

Chemical-to-electrical energy conversion devices, especially PEM fuel cells, are of great interest as efficient, non-polluting power sources for automotive applications, and also for stationary applications such as distributed power sources for buildings and houses as well as portable power generation for consumer electronic devices. A major barrier to commercial application of this technology is the cost of the devices.
A key component of the fuel cell design (and for electrochemical power generation devices in general, such as some battery designs) is the well-known bipolar plate, which serves to separate fuel and oxidant and to connect the cathode of one cell to the anode of the adjacent cell in a stacked series. The cost of the machined graphite bipolar plates in PEM fuel cells accounts for as much as 60% of the overall fuel cell stack costs. Metallic bipolar plates offer the potential for significantly lower cost since they can be formed by readily available and inexpensive conventional metal forming processes.
Low cost graphite and carbon fiber net shape composites are under development to replace the machined graphite plates. However, gas permeability and strength issues require the composites to have a greater thickness than a corresponding metallic bipolar plate, which increases both volume and weight, making them less desirable for many applications where power density is important.
A well-known drawback of metallic bipolar plates is that they generally exhibit inadequate corrosion resistance, which leads to high electrical resistance and/or PEM contamination, degrading fuel cell performance to unacceptable levels. Corrosion-resistant coatings have been applied to metallic bipolar plates, but surface defects therein have limited the success thereof.

Corrosion resistant metallic bipolar plate


Methods are provided for transfecting cells with large cargo using a poly(beta-amino ester) (PBAE) molecule, and achieving high efficiency and viability. A method is provided of transfecting cells with a cargo, by forming a complex of the cargo with a (PBAE) molecule, mixing the complex with a first buffer and contacting the complex with the cells, wherein the cargo has a dimension of at least 0.1 μm. The PBAE molecule may be formed by reacting an amine with a di(acrylate ester). In some aspects, the PBAE molecule is poly(1,4-butanediol diacrylate-co-4-amino-1-butanol). In some aspects, the PBAE molecule is capped with 1-(3-aminopropyl)-4-methylpiperazine.

The background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the methods and techniques presented herein. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the subject matter presented herein, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Various transfection techniques for introducing nucleic acids into cells to produce genetically modified cells are known in the art. These techniques include optoperforation, microinjection, electroporation, viral transduction, and lipid mediated methods (e.g., using liposome-DNA complexes), as well as poly (beta) amino acids for DNA and RNA transfection. Some of these methods are prohibitive due to high cost or poor efficacy. Other methods, e.g., lipid based methods, do not work well with certain cell types of clinical interest, e.g., natural killer (NK) cells. While commercial products exist, these products are not optimal for transfecting all cell types or all types of cargo, and often lead to poor yield and/or issues with cell viability. Typical electroporation rates may yield 2-5% DNA transfection efficiencies with about 10-20% cell viability.
Methods for transferring mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which may be packaged inside mitochondria, into cells are limited by a variety of factors, including low yield/throughput, limited cell type availability, selection difficulties, contamination from other cellular components, as well as unreliability and/or inconsistencies in transfer of mtDNA into recipient cells. In some cases, such methods may rely on spontaneous biological processes, which are associated with low yield.
Mitochondria has been implicated in a variety of diseases, including mitochondrial disorders, cardiac dysfunction, heart failure, autism, diabetes mellitus, and deafness. These diseases may arise in part because mtDNA lack proofreading capability during mtDNA replication, which may lead to a high rate of mutations. Accordingly, as an individual ages, mtDNA mutations may accumulate and clonally expand in various tissues, including but not limited to nerve cells, cardiomyocytes, skeletal muscle cells, colon tissue, etc. Some estimates place the prevalence of mtDNA disease at about 1 in 5,000 individuals (Schaefer et al., Ann Neurol (2008) v 63:35-9).
One approach to treat mitochondrial diseases is to target diseased cells with wild type mtDNA, absent mutations or other known defects. However, methods to transfect large molecules into cells are limited. As traditional transfection techniques often have poor yield, especially as the size of the cargo increases, recent techniques have relied upon mechanical techniques involving applied force to improve yields. However, while force-dependent techniques may have improved yield, these techniques are necessarily performed ex-vivo. Treatment of a patient would therefore involve extraction of diseases cells from a patient, transfection with corrected mtDNA, and transfer back into the patient.
While poly(beta-amino esters) (PBAEs) have been used for DNA and RNA transfection in vitro as well as in vivo, these studies have been limited to transfection of small molecules such as nucleic acids.
Even though various transfection systems and methods exist for mammalian cells, these techniques typically involve transfer of small molecules such as DNA and RNA. Accordingly, there is still a need to provide improved transfection systems and methods for large cargo and/or for techniques that may be applied in vivo.

Methods of transfection for large cargo using poly(beta-amino esters)


To provide an anode mixture configured to, when used in an all-solid-state battery, decrease the resistance of the all-solid-state battery and increase the charging performance of the all-solid-state battery, wherein the anode mixture is an anode mixture for an all-solid-state battery comprising an anode comprising an anode mixture layer; wherein the anode mixture contains a first anode active material and a second anode active material; and wherein a difference between a reaction potential of the first anode active material with respect to lithium metal and a reaction potential of the second anode active material with respect to lithium metal, is 1.0 V or more.

In recent years, with the rapid spread of IT and communication devices such as personal computers, camcorders and cellular phones, great importance has been attached to the development of batteries that is usable as the power source of such devices. In the automobile industry, etc., high-power and high-capacity batteries for electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles are under development.
Of all-solid-state batteries, an all-solid-state lithium ion battery has attracted attention, due to its high energy density resulting from the use of a battery reaction accompanied by lithium ion transfer, and due to the use of a solid electrolyte as the electrolyte present between the cathode and the anode, in place of a liquid electrolyte containing an organic solvent.
Patent Literature 1 discloses an all-solid-state lithium secondary battery capable of exhibiting high battery characteristics (cycle characteristics, battery resistance and negative electrode active material utilization rate) even at high temperature (150° C.), the all-solid-state lithium secondary battery comprising Li4Ti5O12, lithium, silicon, graphite, hard carbon or soft carbon as an anode active material.
Patent Literature 2 discloses a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery which allows a high energy density to be stably ensured over a long period of time, the nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery comprising a lithium titanium complex oxide and SiO as a cathode active material.
Patent Literature 3 discloses an anode for lithium secondary batteries, the anode comprising lithium titanium oxide as a low-temperature additive.
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2016-201310
Patent Literature 2: JP-A No. 2016-081881
Patent Literature 3: Japanese translation of PCT International Application No. 2016-536737
Anodes as disclosed in prior art references, have a problem in that they show poor lithium ion occlusion performance when used in an all-solid-state battery.


Cables incorporating discontinuous shielding elements are described. A cable may include at least one twisted pair of individually insulated conductors, and a shield element may be positioned adjacent to the at least one twisted pair. The shield element may include a plurality of segments positioned along a longitudinal direction of the cable. Each segment may include a respective dielectric substrate with electrically conductive material formed on the substrate, and each segment may be electrically isolated from the other segments. A respective overlap may be formed between adjacent segments along a shared longitudinal edge. Additionally, a jacket may be formed around the at least one twisted pair and the shield element.

As the desire for enhanced communication bandwidth escalates, transmission media need to convey information at higher speeds while maintaining signal fidelity. However, effects such as noise, interference, crosstalk, alien crosstalk, and/or alien equal-level far-end crosstalk ("ELFEXT") can strengthen with increased data rates, thereby degrading signal quality or integrity. For example, when two cables are disposed adjacent one another, data transmission in one cable can induce signal problems in the other cable via alien crosstalk interference.
Additionally, in certain types of cables, it is desirable to separate internal cable components. For example, certain cables make use of multiple twisted pairs of conductors to communicate signals. In each pair, the wires are twisted together in a helical fashion to form a balanced transmission line. When twisted pairs are placed in close proximity, such as within the core of a cable, electrical energy may be transferred from one pair of the cable to another pair. This crosstalk causes interference to the information being transmitted through the twisted pairs and can reduce the data transmission rate and cause an increase in bit rate error. Interlinking typically occurs when two adjacent twisted pairs are pressed together, and interlinking can lead to an increase in crosstalk among the wires of adjacent twisted pairs.
One approach to addressing signal degradation associated with communication cables is to circumferentially encase cables or various cable components in a continuous shield, such as a flexible metallic tube or a foil that coaxially surrounds the cable's conductors. However, shielding based on conventional technology can be expensive to manufacture and/or cumbersome to install in the field. In particular, complications can arise when a cable is encased by a shield that is electrically continuous between the two ends of the cable. The continuous shield can inadvertently carry voltage along the cable, for example from one terminal device at one end of the cable towards another terminal device at the other end of the cable. If a person contacts the shielding, the person may receive a shock if the shielding is not properly grounded. Accordingly, continuous cable shields are typically required to be grounded at both ends of the cable to reduce shock hazards and loop currents that can interfere with transmitted signals. Such a continuous shield can also set up standing waves of electromagnetic energy based on signals received from nearby energy sources. In this scenario, the shield's standing wave can radiate electromagnetic energy, somewhat like an antenna, that may interfere with wireless communication devices or other sensitive equipment operating nearby.
In order to address the limitations of continuous shields, segmented or discontinuous shields have been incorporated into certain cables. These segmented shields typically include metallic patches formed on a polymeric film with gaps or spaces formed between adjacent patches to maintain electrical discontinuity. Thus, the metallic patches function as an electromagnetic shield; however, it is not necessary to ground the shields during cable installation. Current segmented shield designs are typically manufactured by wrapping a shield tape either longitudinally or helically around a cable core or desired cable components. However, the spaces or gaps between the metallic patches may lead to electrical perturbations and decreased performance in the cable. Additionally, when a shield is wrapped around cable components, a space or gap may exist at an overlap region in which one edge of the shield overlaps the other edge in a circumferential direction. Accordingly, there is an opportunity for improved segmented shields, methods or techniques for forming segmented shields, and/or cables incorporating segmented shields.
Additionally, in order to improve crosstalk performance, separators (also referred to as separation fillers, fillers, interior supports, or splines) have been inserted into many conventional cables. These separators serve to separate adjacent twisted pairs and limit or prevent interlinking of the twisted pairs. Certain separators incorporate metallic material that performs a shielding function. However, these conventional separators typically suffer from the same problems as those described above for conventional shields. More specifically, separators having continuous metallic material can lead to shocking hazards unless properly grounded. Additionally, separators including discontinuous metallic material include gaps or spaces between metallic patches that may lead to electrical perturbations and decreased cable performance. Accordingly, there is an opportunity for improved separators or separation fillers for use in cables. There is additionally an opportunity for improved separators or separation fillers that include discontinuous patches or sections of shielding material, as well as cables incorporating such separators.

Shielding elements for use in communication cables


A camera shutter is capable of switching between a spring-drive mode and a motor-drive mode through a single electromagnet without performing an exposure operation. A control circuit controls a stepping motor for rotating a driving ring and the electromagnet for controlling the opening and closing operations of the diaphragm. A control circuit operates in a mode in which a first switch is turned ON, and in another mode in which a second switch is turned ON. When the first and second switches are turned ON, a normal photographing operation can be performed. However, when the first switch is turned ON and then OFF while keeping the second switch OFF, a power supply stop signal is transmitted to the electromagnet so that a closing sector is released from its restrained condition allowing the shutter to return to its initial state. When a photographer presses a shutter button after changing the mode, a photographing operation can be performed in the changed mode without the necessity of completing an exposure operation in the first selected mode.

There is known a camera shutter which is capable of selection between a shutter opening operation by a spring and a shutter opening operation by a motor and which is capable of controlling the diaphragm and the shutter speed independently of each other depending on the photographing conditions. For example, there is a camera shutter in which the timing of the operation of a shutter opening member and the timing of operation of a shutter closing member are controlled by separate electro-magnets (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H6-138515).
In contrast, the present applicant proposed a camera shutter having a structure such that the diaphragm is set to a predetermined value by causing a closing member to operate by a driving ring capable of turning clockwise and counterclockwise through a motor, and the lens opening is closed by the closing member after opening a shutter sector by an opening member, wherein when the driving member begins to operate from a first state, the operation of the opening member is restrained by an opening controlling portion of the driving ring and when the driving member begins to operate from a second state, the operation of the opening member is restrained by an opening restraining member. This is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H7-261239.
Of the above-described two known technologies, the former has had the problem that since it requires two electromagnets and spaces for setting these electromagnets and a power supply for energizing the electromagnets, it is not possible to obtain miniaturization and power savings.
On the other hand, it can be said that the latter technology has solved the problems of miniaturization and power savings since the provision of a single electromagnet can be used. However, this latter technology has also had the problem that when the release button is once pressed in a spring-drive mode, unless the operation of the camera up to the termination of photographing including exposure is performed, the shutter can not be returned to its initial state because the shifting from the spring-drive mode to the motor-drive mode can not be effected until the photographing operation in the spring-drive mode has been completed.


An interactive program guide (IPG) may include a program grid section and a multimedia section. The program grid section typically contains program information organized in a grid with a time axis and a channel axis. The multimedia section may include video for advertisement, previews, and other purposes. Such an IPG may be rendered and encoded at a server and distributed to client terminals in the form of compressed bit streams.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications systems in general and, more specifically, the invention relates to encoding techniques for use in an interactive multimedia information delivery system.
2. Description of the Background Art
Over the past few years, the television industry has seen a transformation in a variety of techniques by which its programming is distributed to consumers. Cable television systems are doubling or even tripling system bandwidth with the migration to hybrid fiber coax (HFC) cable transmission systems. Customers unwilling to subscribe to local cable systems have switched in high numbers to direct broadcast satellite (DBS) systems. And, a variety of other approaches have been attempted focusing primarily on high bandwidth digital technologies, intelligent two way set top boxes, or other methods of attempting to offer service differentiated from standard cable and over the air broadcast systems.
With this increase in bandwidth, the number of programming choices has also increased. Leveraging off the availability of more intelligent set top boxes, several companies have developed elaborate systems for providing interactive listings. These interactive listings may include the following aspects and features: a vast array of channel offerings; expanded textual information about individual programs; the ability to look forward to plan television viewing as much as several weeks in advance; and the option of automatically programming a video cassette recorder (VCR) to record a future broadcast of a television program.
Unfortunately, the existing program guides have several drawbacks. They tend to require a significant amount of memory, some of them needing upwards of one megabyte of memory at the set top terminal (STT). They are very slow to acquire their current database of programming information when they are turned on for the first time or are subsequently restarted (e.g., a large database may be downloaded to a STT using only a vertical blanking interval (VBI) data insertion technique). Disadvantageously, such slow database acquisition may result in out-of-date database information or, in the case of a pay-per-view (PPV) or video-on-demand (VOD) system, limited scheduling flexibility for the information provider.

Encoding optimization techniques for encoding program grid section of server-centric interactive programming guide

Abstract: For certain IPGs, the program grid section may comprise alternating stripes of background with different shades (lighter/darker) or different colors. Typically, the alternating background stripes may be used to visually separate text information into timeslots or channels.

Abstract: Blank areas of the background may be “skip” encoded to “save” a portion of the bit rate. Meanwhile, the quantizer stepsize for encoding that section may be lowered so as to utilize the saved bits to improve the viewing quality of the program grid section. Additionally or alternatively, the quantization matrix for encoding the program grid section may be optimized for encoding text (rather than being, for example, a standard quantization matrix).

Abstract: Encoding may be performed on the program grid section such that encoded macroblocks do not cross a border between two stripes. In other words, each encoded macroblock in the program grid section may be within a single stripe. Additionally or alternatively, low-pass frequency filtering may be applied on the background stripes. Such low-pass filtering reduces visual defects due to ringing from edges between stripes.


A light emitting diode (LED) backlight driving circuit includes a plurality of LED light bars, a power supply driving the LED light bars to light, and comparing units corresponding to the LED light bars one by one. A first input end of the comparing unit is coupled to a cathode end of the LED light bar, and a second input end of the comparing unit receives a first reference voltage. Each of the LED light bars is connected in series with a switching unit, an output end of the comparing unit is coupled to a statistic unit, an output end of the statistic unit is coupled to driving units corresponding to the switching units one by one and controlling the switching units to turn on/off. The statistic unit divides the LED light bars into two groups according to a logic state output by the comparing unit, and controls the driving unit to turn off one of two groups of LED light bars having a fewer number than the other group of the LED light bars.

A liquid crystal display (LCD) device includes a backlight driving circuit, and a backlight driving circuit that uses a light emitting diode (LED) as backlight source is called a LED backlight driving circuit. The LED backlight driving circuit includes an LED light bar and a constant current driving chip that drives the LED light bar. A typical constant current driving chip has a short-circuit protection function. A comparator is connected with a cathode end of each of the LED light bars, and the comparator compares voltage of the cathode end of each of the LED light bars with a reference voltage. If the voltage of the cathode end of the LED light bar is greater than the reference voltage, a corresponding LED light bar turns off, and if the voltage of the cathode end of the LED light bar is less than the reference voltage, the corresponding LED light bar is in normal operation.
Voltages of one or more LED light bars are great, and far exceed voltage of remaining normal LED light bars, however, the constant current driving chip turns off remaining normal LED light bars instead of turning off abnormal LED light bars.

LED backlight driving circuit and method for driving the LED backlight driving circuit


Techniques for manufacturing a light field print using a printing press. The techniques include: identifying at least one characteristic of the printing press at least in part by printing at least one calibration pattern; obtaining content to be rendered using the light field print, the content comprising multiple scene views; generating, based at least in part on the content and the at least one characteristic of the printing press, a front target pattern and a back target pattern; and using the printing press to: print the front target pattern on a first side of a substrate; and print the back target pattern on a second side of the substrate.

There are a number of techniques for producing printed documents with 3D effects. For example, holographic foils have been in widespread use for verifying the authenticity of high value documents and goods. When a hologram is desired on printed material, a heat or pressure activated adhesive is used to combine printed material with a holographic foil. Alternatively, holographic effects may be achieved by using specialised machinery to transfer diffractive fringes to a special radiation curable ink. Outside of holography, 3D effects may be produced using lenticular printing, which relies on patterning a paper or film and coupling it with a one- or two-axis lens array.


A method and apparatus for agricultural product production with heat and moisture recovery and control. Some embodiments transfer heat and moisture from a warm, moist exhaust air stream to incoming agricultural material, steam condition the material, pelletize the material into warm pellets, cool the warm pellets with make-up air to produce the warm, moist exhaust air used to transfer heat to the incoming material and to produce cooled pellets, wherein the cooled pellets are at a temperature lower than the warm moist air. In some embodiments, the system includes counter-flow devices to transfer heat and moisture. In some embodiments, a controller is used to adjust system devices and overall system flow. In some embodiments a water sprayer, to moisten agricultural product when the product is over dry, and an air flow controller, to slow air flow through the pellet dryer/cooler when ambient temperatures are dryer/cooler, are provided.

Basic methods for processing agricultural products using heat are generally known. Agricultural-product processing, for instance making pelleted feed for livestock, can typically include grinding raw material, storing material, mixing ration additives to create mash, steam conditioning, pelletizing, and pellet cooling and drying. It is sometimes desirable to dry and cool pellets output from this system to within about six degrees Celsius (about ten degrees Fahrenheit) of ambient-air temperature in order to control product moisture in storage bins, and thus prevent growth of mold.
Before entering a pellet mill, mash has generally been steam conditioned by injecting, for example, five points of steam into the mash. One point of steam means adding an amount of steam equal to one percent of the weight of the product mash being heated. Steam conditioning is also useful in the agricultural-production process in that it may sterilize the agricultural product, cook the product to make nutrients more available, and/or gelatinize starch in the product so the product is better capable of sticking together.
Climate changes affect the output from an agricultural-product processor. Industry trends have shown that, when ambient air temperatures are higher, production is increased and the production process is more cost efficient. The raw material and ambient air, used in the process, are already at a higher temperature when input into the system, thereby cutting down on energy costs because the product requires less additional heat than is necessary when raw material and ambient air temperatures are cooler, such as in winter months.
Similar processes involving grinding raw material, steam conditioning/heating, cooling and drying are also used in ethanol production, wet corn milling, sugar production, wood-pellet production (e.g., pellets for burning in home wood-pellet-burning stoves to generate residential heat), and other processing of agricultural products. These processes typically include at least some of the above functions, in particular steam moisturizing and conditioning/heating.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,299 (incorporated herein by reference), a system is described in which "pre-heated mash is pelleted to thereby form warm pellets. Thereafter, the warm pellets are cooled by ambient air and the ambient air is heated by the heat from the warm pellets. The heated ambient air is used to pre heat the mash." "The airflow path is provided from the ambient air inlets through the dryer/cooler, through the belt conveyor to cool and remove moisture from the warm pellets and pick up heat, through the conveyor to pre-heat the mash and then exits the air dryer/cooler through the warm air conduit. The belt conveyor conveys the mash through the warm air in the air flow path to pre-heat the mash."
This U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,299 starts to address energy use and efficiency problems, but the belt conveyer mechanism used in this invention for cooling the pellets does not address inefficiencies related to a co-flow system or cross-flow system or an uneven dispersion of pellets. Because U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,299 describes a single cross-flow system using inefficient heat transfer (typically, a belt or tray requires high air flow and is prone to channeling, wherein most of the air goes through the spots with fewest pellets and least resistance), the system is typically unable to cool the agricultural product to a temperature below that of the intermediate moist exhaust air. The exhaust air is typically unable to reach a temperature higher than that of the pellet output. The dispersion of pellets created by the belt conveyor in this patent leaves the problem of an uneven spread of pellets. If the pellets are not spread uniformly in the cooling process, the air used to cool the product will travel through the path of least resistance, or where the fewest number of pellets are located. This will cause an inconsistent and inefficient cooling and drying of the pellets, and a lower quality product output. The belt-conveyor cooler is now usually considered obsolete technology that is generally being replaced in the industry by more efficient counterflow devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,163 (incorporated herein by reference) describes a system "which utilizes moisture in its liquid phase, i.e. water, and heat in the form of hot air, but no steam in converting the dry material into a mash suitable for pelleting." This is done for purposes of "separating the temperature input from moisture input such that they may be individually adjusted independently of each other," thereby addressing the problems of using steam in which "an increase in the amount of steam increases both moisture and temperature and vice versa." While the device described addresses the inefficiency problems of steam, it does not provide a method for recovering moisture and heat from the agricultural product output, thereby necessitating a larger cost expenditure in the production of agricultural products since this unrecovered moisture and heat goes to waste. Further, the use of hot air for heating the product independent of any moisture addition during the heating will result in drying the product. Thus resulting in energy loss for evaporating water, which will need to be replaced with liquid water.
As described by C. B. Theurer et al. in Invited Review: Summary of Steam-Flaking Corn or Sorghum Grain for Lactating Dairy Cows, Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 82, No. 9, 1999: The net energy for lactation of steam-flaked corn or sorghum grain is about 20% greater than the net energy for lactation for dry-rolled corn or sorghum. Steam-flaking of corn or sorghum grain with careful quality control consistently improves most lactational measurements, especially milk and milk protein yields.
Theurer et al. further describe that steam-rolling is a common processing method for barley, corn, and wheat used in dairy concentrates. Grains are usually steamed for 15 minutes or less to increase grain moisture to about 15 percent and then crushed with various sizes of rollers to produce a thick flake without a specific flake density endpoint, usually about 438 to 540 g/L for corn and sorghum (34 to 42 lb./bu., in units as used in the industry). Quality is usually based on visual appraisal rather than steaming time, moisture content, flake density, or laboratory indices. Dry-rolling is a common form of processing barley, sorghum, and wheat; dry grain is passed through large rollers (46 to 76 cm or larger) to break the grain into several pieces (similar to coarsely ground), with a bulk density for sorghum of about 450 to 644 g/L (35 to 50 lb/bu).
Theurer et al. still further describe that steam flaking is a more extensive processing system (with careful quality control) than dry- or steam-rolling. In some embodiments, whole grain is steamed for 30 to 60 min in a vertical, stainless steel steam chamber (usually 3.1 to 9.2 m height and 91 to 183 cm diameter) to increase grain moisture to 18 to 20% and then flaked between preheated large rollers (e.g., 46 cm diameter by 76 to 91 cm length or 61 cm diameter by 122 cm length) to a specific desired flake density (usually 309 to 386 g/L or 24 to 30 lb/bu) (53). In most cited studies, the grain was steam flaked to a flake density (FD) of about 360 g/L and is referred to as SF 28 (reflecting the flake density in pounds per bushel after steam flaking). The rollers become hot as the steamed grain passes through, which is important in the flaking process. The extent of processing (flaking pressure) increases as flake density decreases (i.e., 309 g/L flake is more extensively processed than a 386 g/L flake). The quality of steam-flaked grain is routinely measured by flake density, and by laboratory methods (enzymatic starch hydrolysis or percent starch gelatinization).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,330,982 (incorporated herein by reference) describes a grinding system that allows for processing of both coarse and fine particles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,102 (incorporated herein by reference) describes a pellet mill.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,418, (incorporated herein by reference) describes a cyclone cleaner.
What is needed is a system and method for processing an agricultural-product with improved heat and moisture recovery and control.

Agricultural-product production with heat and moisture recovery and control


This invention relates to an articulated iron cap for a hand plane. The iron cap pivotally mounts to a hand plane. The iron cap for the hand plane mates to either a beveled down iron or a bevel up iron. One embodiment of the invention has a chip breaker for engaging the iron where the chip breaker pivots approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the hand plane. A nose piece on the chip breaker may be configured to extend and pivot so as to align with the grind angle on the iron. This invention places a mass near the cuffing edge of the iron which allows for preloading the iron and dampening vibration of the iron. In turn, this all creates a smoother more accurate cut and requires less effort to use.

This invention relates to woodworking tools. Specifically, this invention relates to an articulated iron cap for a hand plane.
Hand planes have been used for hundreds of years to smooth the surface of wood. A hand plane works when a woodworker pushes or pulls the plane across the surface of the wood which allows the sharp blade or the plane iron to engage the wood and shear off a thin layer of wood, thereby smoothing the wood surface.
FIG. 1 shows an expanded view of a prior art hand plane. The hand plane assembly 10 has a base unit 12, in which the bottom of the base unit 12 is the sole 14. In addition, the base unit 12 has an opening in the sole 14 which is called the throat 16. Attached to the base unit 12 is at least one handle or tote 18. A device called a frog 20 extends upward from the inside of the base unit 12. The frog 20 holds the blade or cutter which is known as the iron 28. The user can turn the depth adjuster 22 which allows the iron 28 to extend farther through the throat 16. Adjustment of the iron 28 depth allows the iron 28 to engage a deeper or shallower cut in the wood being planed. The lateral adjuster 24 allows the user to adjust the iron 28 into a left or right position. This in turn, allows for deeper cuts on one side of the plane or the other. A bolt inserted near the center of the frog 20 is called the fulcrum stud 26. This stud 26 allows the iron 28 to be fastened securely to the frog 20, so as to make a secure, tight fit which holds the iron 28 in place during use.
In order for the iron 28 to be of use, it must be sharpened. The sharpened area on an iron 28 is called the bevel 29. Most prior art hand planes are designed in one of two ways. They either have the iron bevel up, or the bevel down in relation to the sole 14 of the plane. Typically planes that have a down bevel are similar to the design shown in the hand plane assembly 10. On the other hand, common bevel up irons are used in a different style of hand plane (not shown) which do not have the frog. Instead, the iron 28 lays on an inclined surface on the inside of the base unit 12 without the aid of the frog 20. This allows a bevel up iron 28 to lie at a much more reclined angle inside the base unit 12 of the plane.
A prior art bevel up type iron 28 plane which is not shown, is commonly known to one skilled in the art. A bevel up iron 28 allows a user with the much more inclined angle on the iron 28 to use the plane in more difficult types of wood. The sharper attack angle allows the plane to cut woods with more difficult grain. Thus, each type of plane, bevel up or bevel down, has its own specific purpose.
A cap iron 30 is used in conjunction with the iron 28 on bevel down type planes. The cap iron 30 is secured to the iron 28 by the use of a cap iron screw 36. This cap iron 30 acts as a chip breaker which helps to curl the cuttings cut by the iron 28 before they have a chance to split away from the larger working piece of wood. The end result is that the chip breaker part 38 on forward end of the cap iron 30 as seen in FIG. 1A, which is the rounded-out bottom portion of the cap iron, is desirable in bevel down type irons 28. Overall, the chip breaker contributes for much smoother cutting on the work surface of the wood. The iron 28 and the cap iron 30 when bolted together by the use of the cap iron screw 36 become one piece, which is held onto the frog 20 by the use of the lever cap 32. This lever cap has a lever 34 with a cam on the end which applies pressure against the cap iron 30 to hold the cap iron 30 and the iron 28 assembly in place on top of the frog 20. The cam on the bottom of the lever 34 causes the lever cap 32 to pivot around the fulcrum stud 26 and remain tight on the cap iron 30 and iron 28 assembly.
Typically, most lever caps 32 are of solid construction cast metal with the only moving part as the lever 34. This allows for a solid lever action while pivoting at the fulcrum stud 26 to allow force on the cap iron 30 to hold it tight. However, other types of lever caps 32 have been developed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,822,520 discloses a clamping lever assembly 40 which is seen in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. This clamping lever assembly 40 was comprised essentially of two main sections, the clamping lever main body 44 and the clamping lever tip 46. On the back side near the lever 34 is a spring 42 which helps to hold the lever 34 into place which maintains pressure or tension on the cap iron 30 and iron 28 assembly. The clamping lever main body 44 and the clamping lever tip 46 are held together by a rivet which is loosely fit and allows the clamping lever tip 46 to move a little with respect to the clamping lever main body 44. On the bottom of the clamping lever tip 46 are two lugs 48. These lugs also engage the cap iron 30 and iron 28 assembly to apply pressure to the assembly to hold it tight on the plane. The bearing edge 50 is what contacts the cap iron 30 to apply pressure to the iron 28 to hold it tight during operation of the plane. Here again, a fulcrum stud 26 goes through the fulcrum slot 52 to allow the assembly to mount together.
One of the problems with existing planes is that frogless planes lack a chip breaker. This can cause a "lever-effect" of a shaving and wood can be "torn" out ahead of the cut. The result is an undesirable rough cut. Another problem with this type of assembly of the prior art, is that the pressure from the lever cap 32 or the clamping lever assembly 40 is applied to the cap iron behind the cutting edge of the iron 28. This allows the cutting edge of the iron 28 to vibrate and contributes to rough cuts. This creates opportunities for vibration and flex of the iron 28. This leads to chatter in thin cuts as the iron 28 loads and depends on the user to maintain a rigorous and forceful motion to keep the iron loaded during use. Every cutting edge, whether in wood or metal, needs a load (or bite) to work properly. With hand planes, the load occurs when the cutting edge first encounters the material to be cut. The edge of the blade or iron 28 deflects slightly and as long as there is significant forward motion of the plane, the iron 28 remains loaded and cuts the material.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved plane iron cap.
It is a further object of this invention to allow the iron to be tensioned or loaded while locked in place.
It is a further object of this invention to create the ability to vary the depth of the cut while the iron is locked in place.
It is a further object of this invention to add mass and tension to the area of the iron that is unsupported in traditional planes therefore making the iron more rigid.
It is a still further object of the invention to create a plane which dramatically dampens vibration during use.
It is a further object of the invention to create a cap iron which also functions as a chip breaker.
It is a further object of the invention to eliminate the need to separate the iron from the chip breaker on the cap iron prior to sharpening.
It is a still further object of the invention to create a seal between the iron and the chip breaker which eliminates tuning of new planes and prevent chips from becoming lodged between the chip breaker and the iron.
It is a still further object of the current invention to allow bevel up planes to have the aid of a chip breaker.
It is a still further object of the invention to minimize grain lift when using the plane to plane wood.
It is a further object of the invention to allow the cap iron to seat throughout the entire lateral adjustment range of the iron.
It is a further object of the invention to allow the cap to seat against the iron regardless of the primary grind angle or bevel on the iron.
It is a still further object of the invention to add mass to the cutting edge of the iron to act as a vibration dampener.
It is a still further object of the invention to create a plane which can eliminate the use of a frog while still having a chip breaker.
It is a further object to move the flexing point of the iron from the fulcrum stud down closer to the cutting edge of the iron.
A further object is the provision of the articulated plane iron cap which is economical to manufacture, durable in use, and efficient in operation.
One or more of these or other objects of the invention will be apparent from the specification and claims that follow.


A method of forming an interconnection within a high aspect ratio contact hole includes, forming a contact hole in an insulation film over a silicon substrate so that a diffusion layer, formed on a surface of the silicon substrate, is shown through the contact hole, removing spontaneous oxide film from a surface of the diffusion layer shown through the contact hole, heating at a temperature in the range of 350.degree. C. to 450.degree. C. the substrate to deposit a titanium film having a first thickness t1 by a collimated sputtering method, heating the substrate to deposit a titanium nitride film having a second thickness t2 by a collimated sputtering method, and heating the substrate to cause a titanium silicidation reaction at a boundary between the titanium film and the silicon diffusion layer thereby forming a titanium silicide film on the silicon diffusion layer at the bottom of the contact hole. Thereafter, a conductive film is formed which covers the titanium nitride film. Laminations of the conductive film, the titanium nitride film and the titanium film are patterned to form an interconnection in the contact hole.

The present invention relates to a method of forming a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a method of forming an interconnection in a contact hole formed in an insulation layer over a silicon substrate.
In recent years, high density and three-dimensional integration of the semiconductor device has been increasingly under development. A contact hole is formed in an insulation layer which extends over a silicon substrate. An interconnection is formed which extends over the insulation layer and within the contact hole so that the interconnection is connected through the contact hole to a semiconductor element formed on a surface of the silicon substrate. For the high density and three-dimensional integration, an aspect ratio of the contact hole is required to be high wherein the aspect ratio is defined as a ratio of a depth to an opening diameter of the contact hole. If an aluminum-based metal interconnection is formed in the high aspect ratio contact hole by the normal sputtering method, a disconnection of the aluminum-based metal interconnection may appear on side walls of the high aspect ratio contact hole.
In order to solve this problem, it was proposed that a tungsten interconnection be formed by a blanket chemical vapor deposition method in place of the above aluminum-based metal interconnection.
If the tungsten interconnection is formed by the blanket chemical vapor deposition method, it is required that the tungsten interconnection film be connected through a conductive barrier layer to a diffusion region formed on the surface of the silicon substrate for the purpose of suppression of the excess diffusion of tungsten into the diffusion layer. As the barrier layer, laminations of titanium films and titanium nitride films are available. If the titanium film is deposited by the normal sputtering method at room temperature, the titanium film formed on the side walls of the high aspect ratio contact hole is not a continuous film but includes large size titanium grains discontinuously, for which reason this tungsten film is likely to be peeled from the side walls of the contact hole by a subsequent heat treatment. It is thus difficult to fill the high aspect ratio contact hole with the titanium film completely.
In order to settle the above problem, the following method was proposed which is also disclosed in the Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 7-106281. The conventional method will be described with reference to FIGS. 1A through 1E.
With reference to FIG. 1A, field oxide films 202 are selectively formed on a surface on a silicon substrate 201 so that the field oxide films 202 surround an active region of the surface of the silicon substrate 201. A diffusion layer 203 is formed on the active region of the surface of the silicon substrate 201. An insulation film 204 having a thickness of 1 micrometer is deposited by a chemical vapor deposition method so that the insulation film 204 extends over the field oxide films 202 and the diffusion layer 203. A contact hole 205 is formed in the insulation film 204 so that the diffusion layer 203 is shown through the contact hole 205. The contact hole 205 has an opening diameter of 0.35 micrometers.
With reference to FIG. 1B, a titanium film 206 having a thickness of about 100 nanometers is deposited on the insulation film 204 and on the side walls of the contact hole 205 as well as on the diffusion layer 203 by a sputtering method at a substrate temperature in the range of 350.degree. C. to 450.degree. C. The titanium film 206 extends continuously not only over the insulation film 204 but also on the vertical side walls of the contact hole 205. This allows the tungsten film to be filled within the contact hole and prevents the tungsten film from being peeled from the side walls of the contact hole 205. The thickness of the titanium film 206 over the insulation film 204 is thick to secure the thickness of the titanium film 206 which covers the diffusion layer 203 at the bottom of the contact hole 205. The thickness of the titanium film 206 which covers the diffusion layer 203 is 4 nanometers.
With reference to FIG. 1C, when the silicon substrate 201 is held at room temperature, a titanium nitride film 207 having a thickness of 50 nanometers is formed. A conductive barrier film comprising laminations of a titanium film 206 and a titanium nitride film 207 has a thickness of 150 nanometers over the insulation film 204.
With reference to FIG. 1D, a lamp anneal is carried out at 700.degree. C. for 30 seconds to cause a titanium silicidation of the titanium film 206 having the thickness of about 4 nanometers covering the diffusion layer 203 to form a C49-structured titanium disilicide film 208 having a thickness of 12 nanometers.
With reference to FIG. 1E, a tungsten film 209 is entirely formed by the blanket chemical vapor deposition. Laminations of the tungsten film 209, the titanium nitride film 207 and the titanium film 206 are patterned to form interconnections.
The above conventional method has the following two problems. The titanium nitride film 207 formed under the above conditions and covering the diffusion layer 203 has a thickness of 2 nanometers, which is insufficient as a barrier layer. The titanium nitride film 207 is required to have a thickness of at least about 10 nanometers in order to prevent that the titanium film 206 reacts with a source gas WF.sub.6 at the bottom of the contact hole 203 during formation of the titanium film 206 whereby titanium fluoride and prevent that the tungsten film 209 is diffused through the titanium silicide film 208 into the diffusion layer 203. If the aspect ratio of the contact hole 205 is 2.85, then the minimum thickness of the titanium nitride film 207 over the insulation film 204 is about 250 nanometers. In order to secure the ohmic contact of the tungsten film 209 and the diffusion layer 203 at the bottom of the contact hole 205, at least 10 nanometers thickness of the titanium silicide film 208 is needed, for which reason the titanium film 206 covering the diffusion layer 203 at the bottom of the contact hole 205 is required to be at least 3.3 nanometers. If the aspect ratio of the contact hole 205 is about 2.85, then the minimum thickness of the titanium film 206 over the insulation layer 204 is about 83 nanometers. The conductive barrier film comprising the titanium film 206 and the titanium nitride film 207 at the bottom of the contact hole is required to have a thickness of at least 333 nanometers over the insulation film 204 for allowing the conductive barrier film to have the barrier and ohmic properties. If the conductive barrier film has a thickness of 300 nanometers or more over the insulation film 204 and the tungsten film 209 is formed on the conductive barrier film for subsequent patterning the same, then it is difficult to keep the pattern of the photo-resist because the etching rate of the conductive barrier film is not high with reference to that of the resist film. This makes it difficult to obtain desired interconnections. It is difficult to satisfy both the requirements for obtaining the barrier ability and for accurate patterning of the interconnection layers.
The second problem is concerned with the shape of the titanium nitride film 207. With reference to FIG. 1D, if the titanium nitride film 207 is formed by the above conventional method, then the titanium nitride film 207 has an overhang shape at the top edges of the contact hole 205 whereby due to shadowing effect, growth of the titanium nitride film 207 on the side walls and the bottom of the contact hole 205 is prevented. As a result, it is difficult to fill the contact hole 205 with the tungsten film 209 and in place a cavity 210 is formed in the contact hole 205 thereby resulting in deterioration of the electrical connection of the interconnection and the diffusion layer 203.
Collimated sputtering method is effective in order to solve the above first problem but not effective to the second problem.

Method of forming an interconnection in a contact hole in an insulation layer over a silicon substrate


A method and system of dynamically updating presence, capabilities and identity information based on environmental conditions using environment information of a user of a mobile device. One or more wireless networks or devices or both are detected using at least one wireless interface of the mobile device. Thereafter, presence information of the user of the mobile device is generated based on the mobile device's location. Next, either a mode of the mobile device is set in accordance with the presence information or communication handling preferences are configured for the user of the mobile device based on the presence information or preferences of applications on the mobile device are configured.

With the advancement in technology, the capabilities of mobile devices such as mobile phones, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and the like are highly enhanced. This enables service providers to extend various services like call forwarding, voicemail, etc. to its subscribers who use such devices. A subscriber may subscribe to one or more of these services to ensure, for example, that phone calls or messages are not missed during the subscriber's unavailability. For example, a subscriber/user may not be available to receive a call when in a meeting and may therefore subscribe to call forwarding service offered by the service provider. The unavailability of the user may either be tracked or, where applicable, defined by the user to set their communication preferences.
Several solutions have been proposed in the art to set communication preferences of a user during their unavailability. In accordance with one proposed solution, a user's availability or willingness to answer or attend a call can be shared with the caller using the concept of 'presence'. For example, in SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) telephony, the SIP presence information of a user may be tracked in connection with their activity on a computer terminal to indicate availability/unavailability. The call may then be routed using the SIP presence information. For example, a call placed to a user's SIP telephone when the presence status of that user is 'away', may be redirected to the user's mobile phone by the SIP network. Alternatively, the user may manually update their current presence which can then be used to define their communication preference.
In accordance with another proposed solution, the information of user activity on a networked computing device on which a user is logged on is utilized to update the user's presence status. The presence status is determined by monitoring various kinds of user activities on the user device such as the user's activity on a productivity program, such as a word processor, or on an application that performs or monitors telephony activity. The former activity would result in a status such as "Online" while the latter activity would result in a status such as "On the Phone" for the monitored users. Presence indicators are now also being extended by leveraging the user's schedule, for example, their Calendar in Microsoft® Outlook®, to refine their presence status. When the user's Calendar indicates that they are in a meeting, their presence status, when linked to the Calendar, is changed to a status such as 'Busy'. The appropriate presence status may then be published to a presence server. The published presence status may cause, for example, a telephone call placed to a user's regular (land-line) telephone to be routed to the user's mobile telephone.
Another known solution uses installed infrastructure for tracking user devices. In this solution, installed wireless devices such as Bluetooth devices are used to track and determine the location of a user device. Alternately, other tracking mechanisms such as GPS can be used to track a user device. The tracking and location data thus gathered is stored at a central location and used for updating user presence status. The user device in this solution does not generate or update presence information, and neither can it modify its own functionality or communication handling preferences such as call redirections.
Thus, the above proposed solutions are either scheduled/logged-in based implementations for updating the presence information of a user or use an installed infrastructure for tracking a user device for dynamic presence status updates. In addition, most known solutions are not directed toward a user's device dynamically updating the user's presence information when, for example, either the user moves from one location to another or when the surrounding wireless environment of the user changes. Similarly, in most known solutions, a user device does not update the presence status depending on a user's location inside a building or depending on whom they are occupying that space with. Thus, an incorrect presence status would be available for a user engaged in an ad-hoc hallway meeting or, for example, when a user needs to change conference rooms for a meeting because their originally scheduled room is unavailable. As a result, impromptu meetings can be interrupted by unwanted telephone calls and/or, in a corporate environment, team members may have difficulty finding the user whose presence is required.
Some proposed solutions track the user's location to update the presence status. These solutions propose to infer the user's location at any point of time based on the known wireless networks detected at the user device at that point of time. The user device may be programmed to update that user's status information as well as mode settings of the user's device depending on the particular wireless network(s) detected. However, in practice, location information inferred using only information about the wireless networks in range is often inaccurate. For example, there may be a wireless network available at the entrance/exit gate of a building, and mobile devices may be configured to toggle their "inside the building"/"outside the building" location state whenever this wireless network is detected. However, the user of the mobile device may walk up from inside the building to the gate to, for example, receive someone at the reception of the building, and then return back and remain in the building. In this case, the user's mobile device may erroneously infer that the user has exited the building. Such erroneous inferences may increase manifold in cases where there may be, for example, a meeting room or a cafeteria close to the exit of the building.
In addition, known solutions use presence information locally, and none of the known solutions propose to update the presence information to a remote server for managing telecommunications for the user. Further, in known solutions, location and corresponding updates to presence information or device mode are inferred using known wireless networks only. None of the known solutions proposes a way of managing user presence or device mode while the device is near unrecognized wireless networks. Lastly, according to known solutions, the behavior of the user device while it is near a known wireless network is statically configured. For example, the user device may be programmed to update the user presence to "busy" and device mode to "silent" whenever a wireless network known to designate a meeting room is in range. None of the known solutions propose a way to dynamically reprogram such device behavior based on the particular requirement at that time.
Thus, there is a need for an improved system and method in which a user device can dynamically fine tune the presence, capabilities and identity information of a mobile device by taking into account the user's environmental conditions and location.

Determining communication modes of a mobile device based on presence information


A driver including: an ejection part to which a fastener is supplied; a driver blade which moves from a first position toward a second position and drives the fastener into a driven member; and a rack provided to the driver blade. The driver further includes: a rotary component engaging with the rack and moving the driver blade from the second position to the first position; and a lock plate engaging with the rack. The driver blade moves from the second position to the first position while the rotary component rotates once, the rotary component is released from engaging with the rack after the driver blade moves from the second position to the first position, and moves from the first position to the second position, and the lock plate is engageable with the rack when the driver blade stops before reaching the second position from the first position.

A driver which drives a fastener into a driven member has been described in Patent Document 1. The driver described in Patent Document 1 includes a housing, a cylindrical guide member provided in the housing, a bumper provided in the housing, a bellows disposed in the housing, and a piston as an operation member which is operable along the guide member. A first end part of the guide member in a center axis direction is connected to the housing. The bellows is extendable, a first end part of the bellows is connected to the piston, and a second end part of the bellows is fixed to the housing. When compressed air is enclosed in the bellows, a compression chamber is formed.
The housing includes a wall part, and a bumper is supported by the wall part. The wall part is extended to a radial direction of the guide member, and the wall part is connected to a second end part of the guide member in the center axis direction. To the piston, a driver blade is fixed as an impactor. An ejection part is provided outside the housing, and the ejection part is fixed to a partition wall. An ejection path is provided to the ejection part. A magazine is attached to the ejection part, and a fastener housed in the magazine is supplied to the ejection path.
Furthermore, the driver described in Patent Document 1 has a motor provided in the housing, a gear which transmits a torque of the motor to a cam, a protrusion provided to the cam, an engagement part provided to the piston, and the bumper provided in the housing. Still further, the driver described in Patent Document 1 has a push rod which is movable with respect to the housing and a trigger which is operated by an operator.
When the motor stops, the piston is pushed against the bumper by a pressure of the compression chamber to stop at a bottom dead point. When the trigger is operated while the push rod is pushed against the driven member, the cam is rotated by the torque of the motor to mesh the protrusion with the engagement part, and the piston is moved from the bottom dead point toward a top dead point by a torque of the cam. While the piston is moving from the bottom dead point toward the top dead point, the bellows is compressed to increase the pressure of the compression chamber.
When the piston reaches the top dead point, the protrusion is away from the engagement part so that the torque of the cam is not transmitted to the piston. Thus, the piston is moved from the top dead point toward the bottom dead point by the pressure of the compression chamber. As a result, the driver blade impacts the fastener positioned in the ejection path to drive the fastener into the driven member. Next, when the piston collides with the bumper, the bumper reduces and attenuates an impact load. Furthermore, the motor stops after the driver blade drives the fastener into the driven member, and the piston stops in a state of being in contact with the bumper.


In an apparatus for forming a thin film on substrates, two substrate supporters having respective recesses therein are connected by a shaft so that the recesses oppose one another, and opposing ends of many rod-like substrates are supported on the side walls of the recesses. Then, the substrates are rotated on the side walls as the substrate supporters are revolved, and the substrates shift their positions under their own weight. In this state, deposition particles impinge against the substrates from a material source, while the rod-like substrates are stirred so that each region of the outer peripheries thereof has an equal probability of having the film deposited thereon. Thus, a uniform thin film is formed on the surface of every substrate. The numbers of recesses may be two or more. Further, a nest of substrate supporters may be used.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for forming a thin film, such as vacuum deposition, sputtering and chemical vapor deposition, and an apparatus therefor.
2. Prior Art
Recently, devices manufactured with thin film techniques have been researched by many workers in order to add functions and value thereto, and thin film process technology on which the characteristics of the devices depend has become an important key technology. The characteristics of thin films are affected largely by the material, shape and the like of substrates to which the thin films are applied. Therefore, individual techniques for manufacturing thin films are necessary for each usage and for each object.
When a thin film is formed on the surface of a three dimensional substrate, a film is deposited, for example, while the substrate is rotated so as to expose the surface of the substrate and allow a uniform film to be deposited. There is known a type of prior art thin film forming apparatus exemplified as an ion plating apparatus disclosed in Japanese Utility Model laid open Publication 57955/1990 and a barrel coating apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent laid open Publication 125869/1990. In the former ion plating apparatus, many substrates are attached to a holder, and the substrates are revolved with rotation of the holder. Then, a uniform thin film is formed on each substrate. In the latter barrel coating apparatus, many substrates are enclosed in a rotating tubular barrel and evaporation material is supplied from a crucible arranged inside the barrel.
However, in such prior art apparatuses, the precision of the size of substrates to which a thin film is applied becomes deteriorated in the process of manufacturing the thin film if the substrate is a component to be used in a precision mechanism and high mechanical precision is required. Further, a problem of mass productivity may arise, depending on the form of the substrate.
For example, in an apparatus wherein a substrate such as a capstan shaft for a videocassette recorder which must be manufactured precisely has to be held in a holder, stress may arise and strain due to the stress may be generated when the temperature increases in the film-forming process. In an apparatus wherein substrates are included in a barrel, a thin film is also adhered on the barrel, and this undesirable film causes many problems. For example, if the material of the film has high electrical resistance, the quality of film becomes lower. For example, the potential of the substrate becomes unstable or discharge may cause damage to the substrate. Further, the thermal conduction from the substrate to the barrel is hindered by the film and the temperature of the substrate becomes high.

Method for forming thin film and apparatus therefor

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The invention includes a new method of creating a client-specific virtual managed care network spanning multiple states. The method seeks to maximize savings while minimizing the inconvenience and disruption to plan participants in changing health care providers. Based on the utilization or disruption data and projected future savings, one or more managed care networks is selected per state. The various managed care networks selected for each state comprise a virtual health care network for providing health care services to health care plan participants. The present invention also includes a new method of predicting future health care savings based upon the selection of a particular managed care network.

1. Field of the Invention
This present invention relates generally to health care insurance products and services. More particularly, though not exclusively, the present invention relates to a new method of selecting health care plans and a method of creating a virtual health care network.
2. Problems in the Art
Health care in America is changing rapidly. Twenty-five years ago, most people in the United States had indemnity insurance coverage. A person with indemnity insurance could go to any doctor, hospital, or other provider (which would bill for each service given), and the insurance and the patient would each pay part of the bill. But today, it is estimated that more than half of all Americans who have health insurance are enrolled in some kind of managed care plan, an organized way of both providing services and paying for them. Different types of managed care plans include preferred provider organizations (PPOs), health maintenance organizations (HMOs), and point-of-service (POS) plans.
Indemnity and managed care plans differ in their basic approach. Put broadly, the major differences concern choice of providers, out-of-pocket costs for covered services and how bills are paid. Usually, indemnity plans offer more choice of doctors (including specialists, such as cardiologists and surgeons), hospitals and other health care providers than managed care plans. Indemnity plans pay their share of costs of a service only after they receive a bill.
In contrast, managed care plans have agreements with certain doctors, hospitals, and health care providers to give a range of services to plan members/participants at reduced cost. PPOs have become a quite popular form of managed care. A PPO has arrangements with doctors, hospitals and other providers of care who have agreed to accept lower fees from the insurer for their services. As a result, cost sharing is generally lower than if a participant goes outside the network. In addition to the PPO doctors making referrals, plan participants can refer themselves to other doctors, including ones outside of the plan. If the plan participant goes to a doctor within the PPO network, the participant will pay a co-payment (i.e., a set amount for certain services). The coinsurance is based on lower charges for PPO participants. If the plan participant chooses to go outside the network, the participant will have to meet a deductible and pay coinsurance based on higher charges. In addition, the participant may have to pay the difference between what the provider charges and what the plan will pay.
Today, health care providers have formed their own managed care organizations and are competing successfully with the mainstream organizations. Provider owned organizations compete quite well in their local communities but cannot provide needed services to employer groups with employees in multiple states. For companies with employees in multi-state locations, the choice is national and regional PPOs. The problem with many national PPOs is that they are made up of many smaller PPOs which are accessed by the nationals via leased arrangements. This can be effective but presents problems when the providers of the leased networks do not know that their contracts have been leased and refuse legitimate discounts which causes havoc for payors, patients and ultimately employer groups. Thus, there is a need in the art for new and improved methods of selecting health care networks for employer groups with employees in multiple states.

Method of creating a virtual health care network


A method of controlling an electronic apparatus and the electronic apparatus using the same are provided. The method includes transmitting signals through a medium, receiving and selecting some of the signals transmitted through the medium, and performing or setting a function according to the selected signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method of controlling an electronic apparatus and the electronic apparatus using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Examples of methods for controlling an electronic apparatus include using a camera to recognize an action by the user and performing a particular operation according to a result of the recognition, recognizing the voice of a user and performing a particular operation according to a result of the recognition, and receiving a control command by an input means such as a touch pad and performing a particular operation according to the control command.
Using a camera to control an electronic apparatus consumes a large amount of power. Voice recognition is difficult in a noisy environment and requires quiet.
Therefore, there is a need for a method of controlling an electronic apparatus regardless of its environment, with low power consumption by using communication through a medium (hereinafter, medium communication), and the electronic apparatus using the same.

Method of controlling electronic apparatus and electronic apparatus using the same


A level shift circuit includes a level shift module and a voltage comparing module. The level shift module includes a plurality of stages of level shift units, each including a front-end circuit and an inverter circuit. The inverter circuit is electrically coupled to the front-end circuit and receives and inverts an output signal of the front-end circuit. The front-end circuit receives a clock signal, converts high/low voltage level of the clock signal into first/second voltage level, respectively, and outputs a respective signal with the first/second voltage level. The voltage comparing module is coupled to the level shift module and receives output signals of the inverter circuit of the first level shift unit and of the front-end circuit in the second level shift unit and compares the two output signals. The voltage comparing module outputs a short-circuit protection trigger signal when the two output signals have different voltages.

Generally, the display apparatus adopting gate on array (GOA) technology can be divided into two parts, which are the external circuit board and the display panel. The external circuit board is disposed with a timing controller and a level shift circuit. The display panel includes a plurality of pixels and is disposed with a plurality of source lines, a plurality of gate lines and a gate driver circuit comprising a plurality of shift registers which are directly formed the substrate of the display panel. The timing controller is configured to provide a plurality of clock signals to the level shift circuit; and the level shift circuit is configured to convert high and low voltage levels of the received clock signals into another high and low voltage levels and transmit the converted clock signals to the gate driver circuit through the wires on the display panel. Thus, the gate driver circuit can generate gate pulses according to the converted clock signals.
However, if dust particles are fallen on these wires during the display panel manufacturing or assembly processes, a short-circuit issue may occur while the converted clock signals are being transmitted from the level shift circuit to the gate driver circuit. As a result, the circuit components in the display apparatus may be damaged by the short-circuit issue.

Level shift circuit with short-circuit detection mechanism and short-circuit detection method thereof