An electron cyclotron resonance ionization device includes a sealed vacuum chamber configured to contain a plasma, an electromagnetic wave injector to inject an electromagnetic wave into the sealed chamber, a magnetic structure for generating a magnetic field in the chamber and for generating a plasma along the magnetic field lines, the modulus of the magnetic field forming a magnetic mirror structure, with at least one electron cyclotron resonance region. The sealed chamber is a waveguide having a length that is greater than or equal to the guide wavelength corresponding to the frequency of the injected electromagnetic wave, and the plasma is ignited without prior injection of gas.

In electron cyclotron resonance sources, the ions are obtained by ionisation of the particles of a gaseous medium formed by one or more gases, metal vapours or molecules in vapour phase, contained in an axially symmetrical sealed enclosure, by means of a plasma of electrons highly accelerated by electron cyclotron resonance.
Electron cyclotron resonance is obtained due to the combined action of a high-frequency (HF) electromagnetic wave injected into the enclosure and of a magnetic field of which the modulus structure corresponds to a structure of the magnetic mirror type, referred to as a minimum B structure. The profile of the magnetic mirror structure has at least two maxima (Bmax) on the abscissas, arranged respectively in the regions of injection and extraction of the source, and a minimum (Bmin) arranged between the two maxima (Bmax).
The two maxima (Bmax) have a value greater than the value of the magnetic field (Bres) for which electron cyclotron resonance satisfying the condition Bres=f·2πm/e is achieved, where e represents the electron charge, m represents the electron mass, and f represents the frequency of the HF electromagnetic wave.
The minimum (Bmin) has a value equal to or less than the value for which electron cyclotron resonance is achieved.
Waveguide-type electron cyclotron resonance sources of multicharged ions, such as the source described in patent EP 0527082, are known.
In patent EP 0527082, the introduction of the high-frequency electromagnetic wave can be ensured, both by a coaxial transition and by direct injection, from rectangular or circular fundamental mode waveguides. According to the described invention, the enclosure, in its mid-plane, has a cross section substantially equal to that of the waveguide ensuring the injection of the electromagnetic field into the enclosure and the propagation of the wave in the enclosure referred to as a waveguide enclosure.
The use of the enclosure as a waveguide enables the propagation of the HF wave in any confinement enclosure and thus the formation of a plasma at the place where the ECR conditions are combined.
Patent EP 0527082 also proposes the use of a specific arrangement of axially symmetrical permanent magnets, making it possible to avoid the use of solenoids and making it possible to produce a simple source of small size.
However, the use of these ion sources requires the injection of a gas or of a metal vapour into the confinement enclosure in order to initiate and maintain the electron cyclotron resonance plasma. The gas has to be injected into the enclosure under conditions that make it possible to ensure a minimum pressure of approximately 10−4 mbar in the confinement enclosure in order to ensure the ignition of the plasma.
The use of this type of ion source thus results in the need for control and adjustment of the pressure in the confinement enclosure before the injection of the gas so as to achieve the pressure required for the ignition of the plasma.

Electron cyclotron resonance ionisation device

COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES


Methods and systems are disclosed herein for providing a universal PCIe port. In one example, the same port is configured to accept a PCIe connection as a host or an endpoint symmetrically. Downstream transactions towards an endpoint can be intercepted and a virtual address in the downstream transaction can be translated to a local address using a mapping. The downstream transactions can be forwarded to the endpoint using the local address instead of the virtual address. For endpoints that share the same local address with multiple hosts, a reverse lookup may be provided to determine which one of the hosts a local address corresponds when forwarding upstream transactions. PCIe over Ethernet is provided as one embodiment for allowing remote PCIe endpoints to be associated with a local host transparently.

Computer servers typically include components such as central processing units (CPUs), memory, and input/output (IO) devices. As the needs for computing grows, the number of components in a computer server also grows. To interconnect these components, a blade server chassis can provide a rack unit where component cards can be plugged into an interconnect fabric via a plurality of slots. Blade server chassis on the market may offer 4, 8, 12, 16, or more slots in a single chassis.
Through the interconnect fabric provided in the blade server chassis, the component cards can communicate with other component cards in the blade server chassis or with other systems over a network (e.g., if the blade server chassis provides network connectivity). The functions of the interconnect fabric is typically provided by specialized hardware (for performance reasons), for instance, the interconnect fabric may be implemented as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The interconnect fabric, depending on the chosen configuration of the blade server chassis, would have slots which are each configured to only receive a particular type of component card, for example, a host having one or more CPUs, a target device having an IO device, network interface controllers, or a hard drive (or similar storage device).
Thus, the specific hardware in the interconnect fabric, interconnecting the component cards of a chassis, poses some limitations to ways server components can be configured in a data center. For instance, adding components, which do not work with the empty slots in an existing chassis, prompts a costly purchase for a new chassis. In another instance, some slots in a chassis may be left unused, thereby wasting valuable physical space and resources of a chassis. Furthermore, if different components cards cannot be disaggregated easily, the infrastructure for the various types of component cards and the component cards themselves cannot be scaled or updated independently.


Provided is a liquid ejecting head that includes a manifold which communicates with a plurality of nozzle openings through which liquid is ejected, a compliance portion which constitutes a part of the manifold and is constituted by a film having flexibility, a fixing plate which is fixed to a surface side of the film, which is a side opposite to the manifold, and has an opening formed in an area which constitutes the compliance portion, and a cap member which is fixed to a surface side of the fixing plate, which is a side opposite to the compliance portion, and covers the opening, in which a protrusion portion which regulates adhering of the film to the cap member is provided, in a state where the protrusion portion is not fixed to the fixing plate, in a space formed in a portion between the compliance portion and the cap member.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting head in which liquid is ejected through nozzle openings and a liquid ejecting apparatus, and particularly, relates to an ink jet type recording head which discharges ink as liquid and an ink jet type recording apparatus.
2. Related Art
Examples of an ink jet type recording head as a representative example of a liquid ejecting head which ejects liquid droplets include an ink jet type recording head which has nozzle openings and a flow path, such as a pressure generation chamber, communicating with the nozzle openings and in which ink droplets are discharged through the nozzle openings in such a manner that a pressure generation unit causes a pressure change of ink in the pressure generation chamber.
An ink jet type recording head having a so-called compliance portion, in which a part of a manifold communicating with a plurality of pressure generation chambers is defined by a film having flexibility, and thus pressure fluctuation of liquid in the manifold is absorbed by deforming the film, has been proposed as an example of the ink jet type recording head described above (see JP-A-2006-95725).
However, there is a possibility that the film may be bent during manufacturing processes, such as a process for adhering the film which constitutes the compliance portion and the bent film may be adhered to another member (a cap member) which forms a space between the compliance portion and the member, due to dew condensation or the like. Thus, there is a problem in that the compliance portion does not function.
Particularly, the bonding of the film is performed using an adhesive, and thus there is a possibility that viscidity of the adhesive may be recovered under a high-temperature/high-humidity condition. Therefore, there is a problem in that the film is adhered to another member (the cap member) by the adhesive.
Furthermore, even in a case where the adhesive is not applied to a part of the film, which constitutes the compliance portion, when the film is adhered to another member (the cap member) due to dew condensation or the like, an adhesion force by a surface tension increases in accordance with an area. Thus, it is not possible to separate the film in such a manner that, for example, the ink is discharged. As a result, the adhered state of the film to another member is maintained.
Such a problem is not limited to an ink jet type recording head but is also common to a liquid ejecting apparatus which ejects liquid other than ink.

Liquid ejecting head and liquid ejecting apparatus


The invention concerns a system for remote control of vehicle functions and/or inquiry of vehicle status data, including a first communication device (25) for bidirectional wireless communications with at least one vehicle communication unit (40), wherein control commands for remote control of vehicle functions and/or inquiries for retrieving vehicle status data are transmitted via the first communication device (25),and further including a second communication unit (220) for establishing speech communication with a user of the system. According to the invention a computer (20) is provided for translation of speech information received via the second communication unit (220) into control commands and/or inquiries, which are then transmitted by the first communication device (25). Command controls for remote control of vehicle functions are provided and inquiries for requesting vehicle status data are provided. The computer (20) is adapted to translate information regarding the vehicle (10) received via the first communication device (25) into speech information and to transmit this information via the second communication unit (220) in the form of speech.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a system for the remote control of vehicle functions and/or for the inquiry or retrieval of vehicle status data of the general type set forth in the precharacterizing portion of Claim 1.
2. Related Art of the Invention
U.S. Pat. No. 6,028,537 describes a system for the remote control of vehicle functions and requesting vehicle status data, which transmits, via a communication device, control commands for remote control of vehicle functions and inquiries for retrieving vehicle status data. The user can use a voice telephone to instruct an employee of a call center of the system to transmit control commands.

System for remote control of vehicle functions and/or inquiry of vehicle status data


Described herein are embodiments of a slurry used for the chemical mechanical polishing a substrate that includes aluminum or an aluminum alloy features having a width of less than 1 um. The slurry includes a precipitated silica abrasive having a diameter of less than or equal to 100 nm and a chelating buffer system comprising citric acid and oxalic acid to provide a pH of the slurry in the approximate range of 1.5 and 4.0.

1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of microelectronic device fabrication. In particular, an embodiment of the present invention relates to chemical mechanical polishing slurries for aluminum and aluminum alloys.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) techniques are used in the semiconductor industry to remove thin films from the surface of semiconductor substrates. One common use of these techniques is to form metal interconnect lines, vias, or contacts by (a) patterning and etching trenches or holes in an dielectric layer, (b) depositing a blanket of metal, and (c) chemically mechanically polishing away the metal lying over the dielectric layer. FIGS. 1a to 1c illustrate the formation of aluminum interconnect lines using this process.
FIG. 1a shows the cross sectional view of two trenches 110 that have been patterned and etched into a dielectric layer 102. The dielectric layer 102 lies over a silicon substrate 100. FIG. 1b shows the trenches 110 after the blanket deposition of a barrier layer 104 and a layer of aluminum 106. FIG. 1c shows the cross sectional view of two interconnect lines 112 that have been formed after the CMP step is complete.
The apparatus of a typical CMP process is illustrated in FIG. 2. The substrate wafer 200 is placed face down on a polishing pad 212 which is attached to a rotating table 214. In this way, the thin film to be polished is placed in direct contact with the pad 212. A carrier 216 is used to apply a downward pressure F against the backside of the substrate wafer 200. During the polishing process, the carrier as well as the table 214 and pad 212 are rotated while a chemically reactive and abrasive solution, commonly referred to as a "slurry" 222, is pumped onto the surface of the pad 212.
The slurry 222 facilitates the polishing process by chemically reacting with the thin film and by providing an abrasive material to remove the thin film while the table 214 rotates. Slurry composition is an important factor in the manufacturability of the process.
Prior art slurry compositions for the polishing of aluminum contained strong oxidizers such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) or persulfate ions (S2O82−) and harsh etchants such as mineral acids or harsh oxidizing ethants such as potassium fluorite (KF). These chemistries were needed to remove thick layers of aluminum oxide created by the strong oxidizers. But, this combination of chemistries leads to chemical attack recessing of the aluminum 103 metal line or via below the surface of the dielectric layer, as shown in FIG. 1c. In the case of KF chemistry, it also leads to chemical attack on the dielectric layer 102. The recessing creates nonplanarities that propagate to subsequent layers and impair the ability to print narrow, high density lines on those layers. The recessing may also affect the integrity of the metal lines or vias formed during the CMP step, presenting reliability problems. For the thin metal thickness used in front end applications, the high recess can lead to complete removal of the Al layer. Additionally, the formation of a thick layer of alumina (Al2O3) by the oxidizing agent produces an increased concentration of alumina. This alumina acts as an aggressive abrasive and causes excessive surface roughness and scratching of the aluminum 103. As the width of the aluminum 103 interconnect lines is reduced to smaller and smaller widths, the affects of recessing, surface roughness, and scratching become increasingly problematic.

Slurry for chemical mechanical polishing of aluminum


A compound comprising Formula I, or a mixture thereof,

Most commercially available fluorinated surfactants are produced through electrochemical fluorination, telomerization, and oligomerization. Electrochemical fluorination utilizes anhydrous hydrofluoric acid as the fluorine source. However, industrially produced hydrofluoric acid contains impurities, which requires further complicated methods to remove these impurities.
Telomerization or oligomerization processes use tetrafluoroethylene as the starting material. However, the source of available tetrafluoroethylene is limited. The product obtained from telomerization process usually contains a mixture of homologues having different carbon chain lengths resulting in a distribution of carbon chain lengths. Therefore, the sequential separation of telomerization products is required in order to produce fluorosurfactants which contain a fixed length of the fluorinated carbon chain, as described by Erik Kissa in "Fluorinated Surfactants, Synthesis-Properties-Applications" Surfactant Science Series, Vol. 50, Marcel Dekker, New York, (1994).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,279 discloses the use of a special class of sulfonic and phosphonic acids, and salts of the acids to give improved nucleation for foam extrusion of thermoplastics to produce foam. The nucleating agent is of the formula [Z(CF2)x(CF2CFX)p(R′)y(CH2)zRO3]nM, wherein X is H, F, Cl, or CF3; M is a cation; R is sulfur or phosphorus; and R′ is a C5-C6 perfluorinated alicyclic ring diradical, a C1-C16 perfluorinated aliphatic polyether diradical with repeat units selected from [CF2O], [CF2CF2O], and [CF2CF(CF3)O], or a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic diradical, in which case, Z is H. The above nucleating compound is structurally different and is produced differently from the composition of the present invention.
It is desirable to have a composition comprising fluorinated surfactants which can be produced from starting materials other than tetrafluoroethylene. It is also desirable to have a method to lower surface tension using a very low concentration of surfactant and to provide surface effects. The present invention provides such a composition comprising fluorinated sulfonate surfactants which are produced from fluoroalkyl vinyl ether as the starting material for the fluorine source. The present invention also provides methods of providing various surface effects to liquids.

Abstract: wherein                Y is a bond or CmH2m−p(OA)p wherein m is 0 to 4, and p is 0 or 1,        X′ is X or H,        X is CH2CH2OA, CH(CH2OA)2, C(CH2OA)3, or        X and X′ combine to form (CH2CH2)2NCH2CH2OA or (CH2CH2)2O, provided that when X and X′ combine to form (CH2CH2)2O then Y is CH2CH(OA)CH2,        A is CF2CFHO—Rf or H,        Rf is CnF2n+1 wherein n is an integer of 1 to about 6,        M is a cation having a charge equal to a, and        a is a positive integer equal to 1 or 2,        provided that at least one of X, X′, or Y contains A equal to CF2CFHO—Rf,        and its use in lowering surface tension and imparting improved surface effects.


A fluid-filled elastic mount wherein an elastic body elastically connecting a first and a second support partially defines a fluid chamber filled with a non-compressible fluid. The elastic mount includes an oscillating plate which partially defines the fluid chamber and which is supported by the second support such that the oscillating plate is displaceable relative to the second support, and an actuator for oscillating the oscillating plate to thereby change a pressure of the fluid in the fluid chamber. The elastic mount further includes an elastic support member for flexibly connecting the oscillating plate to the second support such that the oscillating plate is movable toward and away from the fluid chamber. This elastic support member is formed of an elastic material which substantially permits shearing deformation of the elastic support member and inhibits its compressive and tensile deformation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a fluid-filled elastic mount used as a vibration damper such as an automobile engine mount, which has a fluid chamber filled with a non-compressible fluid, and more particularly to such a fluid-filled elastic mount wherein the pressure of the fluid in the fluid chamber is suitably regulated to effectively change the damping characteristics of the mount, depending upon the type of the input vibrations received.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
As a vibration damper for flexibly connecting two members in a vibration system or mounting one of the two members on the other member in a vibration damping fashion, there is known an elastic mount interposed between the two members of the vibration system. The elastic mount has an elastic body interposed between and elastically connecting a first and a second support which are respectively fixed to one and the other of the two members of the vibration system. This type of elastic mount may be used as an engine mount or a suspension bushing for a motor vehicle, for example.
Recently, there have been proposed various types of fluid-filled elastic mounts adapted to exhibit sophisticated damping characteristics, wherein the elastic body which elastically connects the first and second supports partially defines a fluid chamber filled with a non-compressible fluid. Some of these fluid-filled elastic mounts are adapted to electrically control the fluid pressure within the fluid chamber, depending upon the type of the input vibrations received, so that the specific vibrations can be suitably damped or isolated.
Examples of such electrically controllable fluid-filled elastic mount are disclosed in JP-A-60-8540, JP-A-59-1828 and JP-A-59-1829, wherein the fluid chamber is partially defined by an oscillating plate which consists of a magnetic body or a permanent magnet. The oscillating plate is actuated by a solenoid coil, so as to produce pressure pulsation within the fluid chamber to thereby control the fluid pressure within the chamber. Another type of electrically controllable fluid-filled elastic mount is disclosed in Publication No. 3-73741 of unexamined Japanese Utility Model Application, wherein the fluid chamber is partially defined by an oscillating plate fixed to one of an annular permanent magnet and an annular coil which is disposed radially inward or outward of and concentrically with the permanent magnet. The oscillating plate is oscillated by an electromagnetic force produced upon energization of the coil, so as to suitably control the fluid pressure within the fluid chamber.
In the fluid-filled elastic mount of the above type, the oscillating plate must be supported by the second support such that the plate is displaceable relative to the second support. In the known elastic mounts as disclosed in the above publications, therefore, the oscillating plate is supported by the second support with a suitable clearance therebetween, or connected at its outer peripheral portion to the second support through an elastic rubber layer.
In the former case where a suitable clearance is left between the oscillating plate and the second support, the fluid pressure in the fluid chamber tends to be reduced due to the flow of the fluid through the clearance. In the latter case where the elastic rubber layer is interposed between the oscillating plate and the second support, the fluid pressure in the fluid chamber tends to be reduced due to the expansive deformation of the elastic rubber layer. Consequently, the fluid pressure within the fluid chamber cannot be suitably and effectively regulated by the oscillation of the oscillating plate. Thus, the known fluid-filled elastic mount is incapable of exhibiting the intended damping characteristics depending upon the type of the input vibrations received.

Elastic mount having fluid chamber partially defined by elastically supported oscillating plate


A timing sprocket is secured to a camshaft by a locking coupling so that before the coupling is tightened the sprocket will free wheel on the shaft for adjustment purposes and yet be firmly supported against tipping under load, and when tightened the sprocket is locked to the camshaft. The sprocket has a bore fitting on the shaft and a counterbore accommodating a longitudinally split locking ring. A taper between the bore and the counterbore matches a taper on the end of the locking ring. A bolt axially threaded into the camshaft end moves the locking ring from the loose condition where the sprocket can rotate on the shaft to a tight condition where the tapers compress the ring against the shaft and clamp the sprocket for rotation with the camshaft.

It is known in the art relating to automotive engine manufacture and timing the camshafts of engines to loosely install the sprockets on the camshafts to allow free rotation of the sprockets, lock the camshafts into an index position, install the timing belt on the drive sprockets, rotate the engine several times to seat the belts (with the sprockets free-wheeling on the camshafts), index the crankshaft to a predetermined position, and then lock the sprockets onto the camshafts.
Previous arrangements for mounting the sprockets on the camshafts required that the nose of the camshaft be hardened and have a special profile with very precise size tolerances, the sprocket have a counterbore spaced from the shaft, two rings fitting into the space between the shaft and counterbore, a washer for pushing the rings into the space with a specific force to achieve a press fit, and a bolt threaded into the shaft end to push the washer against the rings. During the free-wheeling part of the timing operation the bolt is not yet tightened and the sprocket tips excessively due to limited support or alignment control. During tightening, the press force must be monitored.
It has also been proposed to use tapered rings and shafts for the coupling with sprockets but they tend to bind the sprocket or lock up during free wheeling, and they pop out of position under load and can not prevent the sprocket from tipping.


A method of developing a software system using Object Oriented Technology. The present invention addresses the problem of providing a technical foundation for the development of software applications using Object Oriented Technology and frameworks. The present invention solves this problem with a framework supporting flexible interchange of domain algorithms. The present invention is applicable in the technical field of application development of software systems, e.g. for a business application as Financial or Logistic and Distribution, wherein it is the purpose of frameworks to provide significant portions of the application that are common across multiple implementations of the application in a general manner, easy to extend for specific implementation.

The present invention relates to a method of developing a software system using Object Oriented Technology and frameworks, in particular relates to a method for providing a framework supporting flexible interchange of domain algorithms.
In order to maintain or enlarge their competitiveness, enterprises of almost every type of business all over the world have to rework and bring up to date their information technology to meet customer""s requirements and thus to be successful in the market. But keeping an information system based on traditionally developed software up to date is at least an expensive undertaking, and in many cases it is an unsolvable problem. Object Oriented Technology or simply Object Technology, often abbreviated xe2x80x9cOOTxe2x80x9d or simply xe2x80x9cOTxe2x80x9d, has the technical potential to overcome the problems associated with development, maintenance, and extension of software applications within a company""s information system and to provide interoperability and adaptability across multiple applications and hardware platforms.
Object Oriented Technology describes a method for the development of operating software as well as application software for a computer system. Contrary to the traditional, non object oriented ways of developing software, Object Oriented Technology comprises and uses preengineered xe2x80x9cmethodsxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cobjectsxe2x80x9d for the development of software, comparable to tools and parts for the development of an automobile.
Similar to the development of an automobile, wherein not each required screw is developed individually, but standardized screws are used which can be individually adapted by shortening to the required length, within the development of software, Object Oriented Technology provides a xe2x80x9cclassxe2x80x9d as a kind of software template from which individual xe2x80x9cobjectsxe2x80x9d can be instantiated. These classes are usually stored in a software library or a so called xe2x80x9cclass libraryxe2x80x9d. A class library is simply a collection of several classes stored together in a special filing format called a library.
In Object Oriented Technology an xe2x80x9cobjectxe2x80x9d is a self-contained piece of software consisting of related data and procedures. Data means information or space in a computer program where information can be stored, e.g. a name or an inventory part number. Procedures are parts of a program that cause the computer to actually do something, e.g. the parts of a program which perform calculations or the part of a program that stores something on a computer disk. In Object Oriented Technology, an object""s procedures are called xe2x80x9cmethodsxe2x80x9d.
The concept of an object being a self-contained piece of software having data and procedures inside itself is a new way of developing software. In non object oriented software, most of the data for an entire program is often grouped together near the beginning of the program, and the procedures then follow this common pool of data. This conventional method worked okay for smaller programs, but as soon as a piece of software started to grow and become somewhat complex, it become increasingly difficult to figure out which procedures were using which data. This made it quite difficult and expensive to debug or change traditional software programs.
In Object Oriented Technology it is generally easier to debug, maintain, and enhance object oriented software. The three most popular object oriented programming languages are probably xe2x80x9cC++xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cJAVAxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cSmalltalkxe2x80x9d. The concept that both data and methods are contained inside an object is called xe2x80x9cencapsulationxe2x80x9d. Part of the concept of encapsulation is that an object has a predictable way of communicating with other objects, a so called predictable xe2x80x9cinterfacexe2x80x9d or sometimes also called the method contract.
Provided that interface will not be changed, the code or methods inside the object can be changed without disrupting other objects"" ability to interact with that object. For example, a TAX CALCULATION object would have a predictable interface for use by PAYCHECK objects. Provided that interface will not be changed, the detailed program code inside the TAX CALCULATION object could be changed whenever the tax laws changed, and no other objects in the payroll system would have to know anything about such changes.
In Object Oriented Technology the term xe2x80x9cinheritancexe2x80x9d is used to communicate the concept that one object can inherit part of its behavior and data from another object, e.g. since an employee is a type of person, an EMPLOYEE object might inherit the characteristics of a PERSON object, such as having name, birth date, and address data, as well as an EMPLOYEE object might inherit methods for updating and displaying these data.
Even if an object inherits some of its characteristics from other objects, that object can, and usually would, also have its own non-inherited characteristics, e.g. whereas a PERSON object would have an inheritable method to display a person""s address, a PERSON object would probably not have a method for displaying paycheck history, since not all persons get paychecks. Because an EMPLOYEE object could not inherit this method from a PERSON object, an EMPLOYEE object would have to define its own method for displaying paycheck history.
Although Object Oriented Technology clearly seems to be the most sophisticated way for the development, maintenance, and extension of software applications, many companies developing software applications are concerned about the cost and risks involved with the rework of existing applications and with the construction of new applications using Object Oriented Technology. For those software application developers, a technical foundation for software applications has to be built as a tool using Object Oriented Technology as the basis, allowing each developer to develop highly unique software products. This technical foundation is formed by frameworks comprising the basic application structure which software application developers previously had to develop by themselves.
In Object Oriented Technology the term xe2x80x9cframeworkxe2x80x9d is used to describe a reusable set or collection of classes which work together to provide a commonly needed piece of functionality not provided by any of the individual classes inside the framework. Thus a framework defines a specific way in which multiple objects can be used together to perform one or more tasks which no single object performs. In other words, a framework is a reusable, predefined and preengineered bundle of several objects which address a recurring programming problem.
Frameworks provide a way of capturing a reusable relationship between objects, so that those objects do not have to be reassembled in that same relationship every time they are needed. Frameworks provide a way of grouping multiple objects together to perform some function which should not have to be thought through each time at the underlying object level. For example, a PRINT framework would consist of all the objects necessary for a programmer to easily print something on any printer, and would probably include objects for printer selection, spooling to disk or error detection as xe2x80x9cout of paperxe2x80x9d. Frameworks can be regarded as an group of software objects which contain a technical foundation for a software application. For example in the business field of Financial, Logistic and Distribution or Production. Although a framework represents a skeleton of a software application, usually a framework is not an executable software program.
By providing frameworks as the technical foundation for developing software applications, the following problems have to be addressed:
Applications have to support all hardware platforms and related software operating systems relevant on the market. Applications have to fulfill the requirements related to client/server configurations including the requirement for graphical user interfaces and windowing techniques. Also, applications have to offer internet compatibility and access on demand. Furthermore applications have to provide integrated solutions with respect to installed software.
In particular, frameworks need to support flexible interchange of domain algorithms so that application developers and end users can easily configure a business object with specific behavior. In many cases, a default behavior that can be overridden at multiple levels is desirable. For example, the default algorithm used to identify a stock location within a warehouse, where a product is to be retrieved from, may be defined on the company object within the framework but may be overridden for a specific combination of product and warehouse, a specific warehouse, or a specific product.
A software application developer may want to change the path, or may want to allow the end user to select one of many possible paths, used to retrieve an overriding algorithm for a specific business object instance. In addition, the application developer may want to improve the performance of the framework, or allow the end user to do so, by bypassing the override retrieval mechanism. The developer may want to apply both of these optional behaviors to some or all of the objects in his application.
Known from the prior art, see e.g. E. GAMMA et al: xe2x80x9cDesign Patterns: elements of reusable object-oriented softwarexe2x80x9d, Addison-Wesley, 1995, ISBN 0-201-63361-2, are two object oriented design patterns, xe2x80x9cChain of Responsibilityxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cStrategyxe2x80x9d. The Strategy pattern defines a mechanism to supply multiple replacable algorithms within an object oriented design but the Strategy pattern in isolation is insufficiently flexible as it does not enable the ability to selectively override algorithms on a per-object basis. The Chain of Responsibility pattern provides this ability to override a domain algorithm. In its standard form, however, the Chain of Responsibility is fixed and is defined through direct linkage between the objects in the chain.
Within the accompanying figures, representation standards for classes, objects, relationships etc. are used at least partly according to Grady Booch: xe2x80x9cObject-Oriented Analysis and Design with Applicationsxe2x80x9d, second edition, The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Ind., Redwood City, Calif., USA.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a technical foundation for the development of software applications using Object Oriented Technology which overcomes the above discussed problems.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a framework supporting flexible interchange of domain algorithms.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a framework which allows the modeling of businesses with a multiple level organizational structure.
The present invention solves this object with methods and apparatus as layed down in enclosed independent claims. Particular embodiments of the present invention are presented in the respective dependent claims.
In particular, the present invention provides a framework to be used for developing a software system, e.g. for a business application, said framework using the concept of a Chain of Responsibility design pattern, characterized in that said Chain of Responsibility design pattern concept is abstracted so that a separate class hierarchy defines a set of encapsulated Chains of Responsibility. This has the advantage that the Chain of Responsibility is not limited to objects which are directly linked to each other. Furthermore it is advantageous, that multiple independently defined chains can be implemented and selected on a per-object basis. Thus, the invention supports all of the above requirements relating to flexible interchange of domain algorithms in an efficient and flexible manner.
Objects in the retrieval path do not directly hold instances of Strategy objects as attributes. Instead, these objects are held as properties within an object""s Property Container, as described in the patent application xe2x80x9cProperty Container Type Objectsxe2x80x9d, filed with the European Patent Office, application number 96117940.5. The Chain of Responsibility implementations are thus not limited to using instances of those classes which were defined by the framework to directly hold Strategy objects. This gives the application developer a great deal of flexibility in defining their own retrieval algorithms, including using other framework defined classes and also classes which the application has introduced assuming these application classes are defined to support the Property Container.
In a particular embodiment of the invention the Chain of Responsibility class hierarchy is also implemented using the Strategy pattern so that any one of the alternative retrieval algorithms may be associated with a domain object. In a further particular embodiment, the Strategy class representing the domain algorithm is itself a subclass of the Chain of Responsibility base class, and the Chain of Responsibility""s base class public interface directly exposes the domain algorithm""s Interface. This allows a domain object to be configured with a specific algorithm retrieval implementation, providing a more flexible behavior, or directly with a specific algorithm providing a faster run-time behavior. Such flexibility is crucial in a framework which must allow software application developers to tailor specific applications to widely disparate requirements sets and operating environments.

Method of using decoupled chain of responsibility

International Business Machines Corporation


A maximum likelihood detection method detects a maximum likelihood path using trellis transitions when decoding a code string which is obtained by encoded data by a sliding block coding employing trellis-coded partial response (TCPR) technique. The maximum likelihood detection method includes the steps of (a) inputting the code string, and (b) detecting a maximum likelihood path with respect to the code string from state transition paths using a number of trellis transition states greater than a number of states of a state transition pattern of the sliding block code.

The present invention generally relates to maximum likelihood detection methods and information recording and reproducing apparatuses, and more particularly to a maximum likelihood detection method which is suited for use in a partial response channel in which a trellis encoding is made and to an information recording and reproducing apparatus which employs such a maximum likelihood detection method.
In order to carry out high-density information recording and reproduction with respect to a magnetic disk, there is a known magnetic disk unit which employs the so-called partial response with maximum likelihood (PRML) technique which combines partial response and maximum likelihood detection. Recently, a trellis-coded partial response (TCPR) technique has been proposed which employs trellis encoding in the PRML technique so as to further improve the encoding gain.
In order to carry out the high-density information recording and reproduction with respect to the magnetic disk in the magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus, it is necessary to improve the data error rate in a state where the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio is relatively poor. For this reason, it has recently become more and more important to record the information on the magnetic disk by adding an error correction code to the data. The TCPR technique combines to the partial response (1-D) channel a sliding block code which makes code values "0" and "1" correspond to the increase and decrease of the state, so that the hamming distance becomes larger than that in the case of the PRML technique and the error correction capability is improved.
The TCPR technique itself is proposed in Rae et al., "Design and Performance of a VLSI 120 Mb/s Trellis-Coded Partial Response Channel", IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol.31, No.2, pp.1208-1214, March 1995, for example.
FIG. 1 is a system block diagram for explaining a conventional maximum likelihood detection method for a case where the TCPR technique is employed. In FIG. 1, a recording system of a magnetic disk unit includes a sliding block encoding circuit 501. On the other hand, a reproducing system of the magnetic disk unit includes a maximum likelihood detection circuit 511, a sliding block decoding circuit 512, and a code synchronizing circuit 513. The illustration of a magnetic disk and recording and reproducing heads is omitted in FIG. 1 for the sake of convenience. Instead, a path made up of the magnetic disk and the recording and reproducing heads is illustrated as a recording and reproducing (1-D) channel, that is, as a partial response (1-D) channel.
In FIG. 1, a numeral within brackets "{ }" indicates a state of the sliding block code, and it is assumed in this example for the sake of convenience that the sliding block code has 7 states {1} through {7}. As shown within the sliding block encoding circuit 501 and within the sliding block decoding circuit 512, when the state of the sliding block code is {4}, for example, the previous state is {5} if the previous code value is "0", and the previous state is {3} if the previous code value is "1". Similarly, when the state of the sliding block code is {4}, the next state is {3} if the present code value is "0" and the next state is {5} if the present code value is "1". However, when the state of the sliding block code is {1}, the previous code value can only be "0" and the previous state can only be {2}, and the present code value can only be "1" and the next state can only be {2}. In addition, when the state of the sliding block code is {7}, the previous code value can only be "1" and the previous state can only be {6}, and the present code value can only be "0" and the next state can only be {6}.
The state transition pattern of the sliding block code differs depending on whether the numeral indicating the state of the sliding block code is an odd number or an even number. For this reason, the maximum likelihood detection circuit 511 detects a maximum likelihood path from the state transitions by switching the state transition pattern depending on whether the numeral indicating the state of the sliding block code is an odd number or an even number. There are two kinds of state transition patterns P1 and P2, and these two state transition patterns P1 and P2 are alternately repeated. The switching of the state transition pattern is carried out based on a transition pattern switching signal received from the code synchronizing circuit 513. The sliding block decoding circuit 512 decodes a code string based on the code string from the maximum likelihood path detected by the maximum likelihood detection circuit 511 and a code conversion signal from the code synchronizing circuit 513.
The maximum likelihood detection circuit 511 detects the maximum likelihood path from the state transitions by switching the two kinds of state transition patterns P1 and P2 which are alternately repeated. In other words, the maximum likelihood detection circuit 511 detects the maximum likelihood path using the same number of states of trellis transitions as the number of states of the sliding block code. Consequently, it is necessary to synchronize the code string and the maximum likelihood detection circuit 511 before starting the detection of the maximum likelihood path. More particularly, it is necessary for the code synchronizing circuit 513 to detect a synchronizing word from the code string which is obtained from the recording and reproducing (1-D) channel, and to output the transition pattern switching signal to the maximum likelihood detection circuit 511 based on the detected synchronizing word.
Therefore, although the recording system adds the error correction code to the code string so that the error correction process can be made in the reproducing system, the maximum likelihood path cannot be detected in the maximum likelihood detection circuit 511 unless the synchronizing word of the code string is first reproduced. As a result, there was a problem in that the error correction process cannot be made with respect to the synchronizing word. In addition, since the conventional maximum likelihood detection method cannot carry out the error correction process with respect to the synchronizing word, there was a problem in that it is extremely difficult to further reduce the data error rate and to improve the reliability of the information recording and reproduction.

Maximum likelihood detection method and information recording and reproducing apparatus


Provided are an image output apparatus, an image output system, and an image output control program. Each of the image output apparatus, the image output system, and the image output control program outputs an image based on a video signal generated from data, detects a storage medium having available data stored therein, obtains the data stored in the newly detected storage medium in response to the detection, switches, from an input path of the image to be output to an input path associated with the newly detected storage medium, and outputs a video signal generated from the obtained data after the switching of the input path is complete.

1. Technical Field
Example embodiments relate to an image output apparatus, an image output system, and an image output control program.
2. Background Art
Projectors are known as a display device that can be viewed by a number of people. Projectors project moving images on a large screen by projecting the images based on the input video signals. In addition to the function of projecting moving images, projectors that are provided with information processing capability have been proposed. Such projectors can generate video signals based on files in specified formats (hereinafter, files in specified formats are referred to as contents), and project still and moving images on a screen.
Contents are stored in several kinds of external devices such as an external medium connected through a universal serial bus (USB) and a content server accessible through the network. In the projectors provided with the information processing capability, when one of such external devices is selected, the contents are obtained from the selected external device, and the projection of the obtained contents is initiated. In so doing, the input source of image data, which provides a projection unit with the image data to be projected on a screen, needs to be switched to a module that obtains contents from the selected external device or to a module that generates video data from the contents stored in the selected external device.

Image output apparatus, image output system, and image output control program


A method for heat-treating wood, including at least one step of maintaining the wood to be treated at a predetermined temperature in a treatment chamber in order to destroy at least partially the hemicellulose of the wood. The method comprises monitoring the current amount of at least one of the gases given off during hemicellulose decomposition throughout the treatment step, and stopping the treatment step once the amount begins to reach a substantially constant value.

It is known that, in the natural state, wood or the wood fibers which are in contact with a humid atmosphere, tend to be logged with water, going as far as absorbing it up to 100% of their weight. Such water absorption is accompanied, on the one hand, by a swelling and, on the other hand, by a loss of the mechanical qualities and qualities of cohesion of the material which, in certain cases, can go as far as an advanced disintegration thereof. This is why the habit is taken, before every step of machining wood, of effecting a drying step which, by eliminating the water therefrom, improves its dimensional stability.
Although the drying step enables the water to be eliminated from the wood, it in no way modifies the hydrophilic nature thereof, with the result that it is again likely to reabsorb the water eliminated during drying when it is again in a humid atmosphere.
In order to decrease the hydrophilic character of the natural wood and thus to give it a long-lasting dimensional stability, different techniques of heat treatment at high temperature have been proposed.
Among these techniques, it has been proposed to subject the natural wood to different steps of treatment including in particular a drying in open circuit followed by heating and maintenance at a temperature included between about 220.degree. C. and 300.degree. C. for a determined period. Such a technique of treatment, called curing, makes it possible to give the wood both a hydrophobic character and an excellent dimensional stability.
However, it has been ascertained that the operation of curing had to be carried out with the greatest rigour, on pain of decreasing the mechanical characteristics of the wood treated. In fact, it is known that this curing step has for its object to partly destroy the hemicellulose of the wood without being detrimental to the structure thereof, in other words without destroying the lignin.
Under these conditions, one of the major difficulties encountered during the curing treatment consists in determining the time during which the curing temperature must be maintained in order to destroy the hemicellulose without significantly destroying the lignin.

N O W (New Option Wood)--societe anonyme


The present invention is a method and apparatus for traveling wave transport of charged particles, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for the loading, conveying and dispensing of particles for use in the preparation of pharmaceutical dosages as well as the monitoring and control thereof.

This invention relates generally to traveling wave transport of charged particles, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for the loading, conveying and dispensing of particles as well as the monitoring and control thereof.
The following related patents and application are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for their teachings:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,179 to F. Schmidlin, issued Mar. 3, 1987, for xe2x80x9cDevelopment Apparatusxe2x80x9d;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,926 to F. Schmidlin, issued May 10, 1988, for xe2x80x9cDirect Electrostatic Printing Apparatus and Toner/Developer Delivery System Thereforxe2x80x9d;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,716, to F. Schmidlin, issued Jul. 30, 1996, for xe2x80x9cElectrostatic Toner Conditioning and Transport Systemxe2x80x9d;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,587 to F. Schmidlin, Issued Dec. 15, 1998, for xe2x80x9cElectrostatic Toner Conditioning and Controlling Meansxe2x80x9d; and
Co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/188,458, filed Nov. 9, 1998 by F. Schmidlin, entitled xe2x80x9cXeroJetxe2x80x94A New Dry Powder Printing Processxe2x80x9d.
The present invention is related, in operation to the Dry Powder Printing Process, called XeroJet, described in co-pending application Ser. No. 09/188,458, and is based on the process of transporting dry powders using Electrostatic Traveling Waves and further includes means for confining the powder flow to narrow channels. The flow channels are preferably defined by xe2x80x9cBarrier Electrodesxe2x80x9d (BE), or xe2x80x9cguide railsxe2x80x9d, aligned parallel to the direction of flow. Barrier electrodes, in the copending application, are made extremely narrow to facilitate the formation of narrow transport channels (40 to 90 microns wide) for printing high-resolution images, including uniform solid areas. The dry powder in the XeroJet printing process is comprised of toner particles containing pigments or dyes as colorants. Independent modulation of each channel is also required to print arbitrary images.
The only essential requirement of the medium in transport, however, is that it be comprised of dry powder particles possessing an electrostatic charge (Q). This charge and the electric field (E) of the traveling wave supplies the driving force that moves the powder. As will be appreciated, aspects of the previously incorporated U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,541,716 and 5,850,587 patents are now recognized as having application to the conditioning and controlled conveyance of any chargeable dry powder. Accordingly, other powder-based applications may utilize a similar powder dispensing process, though significant benefits can ensue from application specific designs. This is illustrated herein via the design of a powder dispensing method and apparatus for use in applications pertaining to the preparation of pharmaceuticals.
Heretofore, a number of patents and publications have disclosed traveling wave transport for the transport of charged toner particles, the relevant portions of which may be briefly summarized as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,179, issued Mar. 3, 1987, teaches a traveling wave transport for conveying toner from a supply to a development station where the toner is used to form images. FIGS. 3-5 illustrate electrode arrays for accomplishing the traveling wave transport apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,926, issued May 10, 1988, discloses a developer or toner delivery system for presenting toner to a charged surface or addressable printhead. Moreover, FIG. 4 therein depicts a toner charging apparatus including a corona charging means (corona wire) and a toner separator for transporting oppositely charged toner particles, one to a print medium and the other being returned to a toner sump.
Fred Schmidlin, xe2x80x9cA New Nonlevitated Mode of Traveling Wave Toner Transportxe2x80x9d, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol. 27, No. 3, May/June 1991), where toner particles were disclosed as moving in an aerosol state as tiny linear clouds, with one such cloud confined in the potential trough of each wave.
As evidenced by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,846,595 and 5,858,099 to Sun et al., hereby incorporated by reference for their teachings, pharmaceutical manufacturers utilize a xerographic like development process to deposit charged pharmaceutical powders on an electrostatic receiver electrode comprised of separated voltage patches. The powder mass per patch is controlled in part by: the area of a patch, the voltage on the receiver electrode and the average charge/mass of the powder particles.
Recognizing the ability to move a large quantity of charged particles with a high degree of control, the present invention seeks to combine novel aspects and improvements of traveling wave transport to provide an efficient and highly accurate method and apparatus for the loading, conveying and dispensing of pharmaceutical compounds (particles) as well as the monitoring and control thereof.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for conveying electrostatically charged particles to a particle receiver, including: a traveling electrostatic wave conveyor for conveying the electrostatically charged particles from a source at a first end thereof to a receiver at a second end thereof; and barrier electrodes overlaid on said conveyor from the first end to the second end, said electrodes dividing said conveyor into parallel columns and forming isolated potential wells to receive packets of particles therein and to convey said packets to said receiver, wherein the barrier electrodes are connected to a common bus.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided An apparatus for conveying electrostatically charged particles to a particle receiver and estimating the mass of electrostatically charged particles conveyed thereon, including: a traveling electrostatic wave conveyor for conveying the electrostatically charged particles along a surface thereof from a source of particles to a particle receiver; barrier electrodes overlaid on said conveyor in the direction of travel from the particle source to the receiver, said electrodes dividing said conveyor into parallel columns and forming isolated potential wells to receive packets of particles therein and to convey said packets to said receiver, wherein the barrier electrodes are connected to a common bus; and a photodetector directed to receive light reflected from the electrostatically charged particles, wherein the output signal of said photodetector is proportional to the mass density of the particles being conveyed.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for extracting charged particles from a fluidized bed of particles and loading the particles on to a traveling wave conveyor, comprising: electrically isolating at least one segment of the traveling wave conveyor; operating the at least one segment of the traveling wave conveyor at a voltage slightly above a corona generating voltage; and immersing the at least one segment within the fluidized bed, where the at least one segment operating above the corona threshold voltage will charge the particles and advance the charged particles to an adjoining segment of the traveling wave conveyor, the segments of which are operated at a voltage below the corona generating voltage.
One aspect of the invention is based on the discovery of techniques for the use and modifications of the electrostatic transport and control means described relative to printing equipment to produce a powder dispensing method and apparatus suitable for the manufacture of oral pharmaceuticals (e.g. tablets, pills, capsules). More specifically, one aspect of the present invention deals with a basic problem in the preparation of pharmaceuticalsxe2x80x94the accurate measurement of various components on a mass production scale. Hence, the present invention is directed to a means of dispensing accurately controlled, isolated quantities of powder or particles in the sub-milligram to several milligram mass range.
The techniques described herein are advantageous because they provide a simple, yet highly accurate means for transporting pharmaceutical components or other dry-powder compounds from a source to a receiver. The technique is further suited for automated high volume production and packaging of pharmaceuticals at low cost. Such methods and apparatus make it unnecessary to have expensive weighing equipment. Moreover, the system is flexible enough so as to be applicable to a number of different powder or particulate dispensing situations, and is not limited to pharmaceuticals.

Powder conveying and dispensing method and apparatus using traveling wave transport


A braking apparatus is described which is used to control the motion of a sliding platform of a pickup truck in order that the sliding platform may be stopped anywhere along its travel for convenience. The sliding platform is used to load and unload freight from the pickup truck when in an extended position at the rear of the truck. When the truck is parked on ground which is uneven the sliding platform is provided with energy which must be dissipated when it is moved from one position to another. When the usual braking device is released (usually a pin located appropriately in the tracks of the platform members) the sliding platform is in a “runaway” condition. The brake described here is capable of preventing this condition.

The pickup truck is the motor vehicle of choice when it comes to moving items which must be loaded and transported a short distance. More and more it is seen that vehicles are equipped with sliding platforms that are permanently installed in the cargo carrying space are called upon for service of such freight.
It is not impossible that the vehicle in which the sliding platform is installed will be called upon to work on a sloping surface when it is desired to load or unload freight into or out of the vehicle. This causes the standard sliding platform to be difficult to move and when released the platform moves with such energy that in almost an instant it is in a "Runaway" condition. It is to solve situations such as the one described above that this invention was made.
The standard sliding platform is provided with several "hard" stops (at least two) located at points along its travel. These are points are set permanently by apertures in the stationary mounted hardware where the sliding platform essentially can lock into any of these apertures. When the handle of the sliding platform member is actuated to release the sliding platform, it is not known how much energy is going to be released or absorbed by the sliding platform and the freight it is carrying. It is left to the operator to "guess" the amount of energy contained by such a maneuver.
When freight is to be loaded, the load must be lifted up until it is placed on the sliding platform and the sliding platform is moved to its "stored" position, locked in place, where the freight may safely carried during periods when the motor vehicle is powered to move the vehicle and the load on the sliding platform.
When the load has reached its destination, it must be unloaded using the sliding platform mounted in the cargo carrying area of the vehicle. The operator generally searches out a level area on which he parks the vehicle, and proceeds to unload the freight. Often, there will be no level area available, and the operator has no choice but to unload the freight in the sloping area (although it may be most unsatisfactory). The operator will generally summon all the help he can obtain to unload the freight on the sliding platform. He instinctively knows that he will need help to steady the sliding platform and let down the freight gently from the extended sliding platform in the area chosen.
If there is no help available the operator has little choice but to unload the freight the best way he knows how. And that may involve damage to the freight or injury to the operator, both of which cannot be tolerated by management.


A memory element includes: an electrical fuse provided to be inserted between a first input node and a second input node; and an antifuse provided to be inserted between the second input node and a third input node. The third input node is configured to be a node to which a voltage is allowed to be applied separately from a voltage to be applied to the first input node.

The present disclosure relates to a memory element that stores therein information by utilizing such a property that a resistance value changes. The present disclosure also relates to a semiconductor device provided with such a memory element, and a writing method by which information is written to such a memory element.
In many cases, an OTP (One Time Programmable) memory to which data is allowed to be written only once, and an MTP (Multi-Time Programmable) memory to which data is allowed to be written two or more times, are integrated in a semiconductor integrated circuit. These types of memories may store therein, for example, trimming information used to adjust circuit properties. Thus, such a semiconductor integrated circuit is allowed to realize desirable properties, by making an adjustment based on the trimming information stored in a memory thereof, immediately after power-on. Further, an identification (ID) number of a semiconductor integrated circuit may also be stored to realize traceability of this semiconductor integrated circuit.
In a memory like those described above, an electrical fuse is often used as a memory element. In the electrical fuse, a resistance value is increased by application of a stress. Further, an antifuse may be used as a memory element in some cases. In the antifuse, a resistance value is decreased by application of a stress. Furthermore, a memory element may be configured using both the electrical fuse and the antifuse. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-174211 discloses a semiconductor trimming device in which an antifuse is connected in parallel, to a series circuit in which an electrical fuse and a resistor are connected in series. This semiconductor trimming device causes both terminals of the memory element to open, by increasing the resistance value of the electrical fuse, and also causes both terminals of the memory element to short-circuit, by decreasing the resistance value of the antifuse.

Memory element, semiconductor device, and writing method


A position-measuring circuit is described for use with an analog position encoder of the kind comprising a code member and at least two sensors for sensing successive marks on the code member during relative movement between the code member and sensors, the sensors providing two oscillating quadrature signals. The circuit comprising means for obtaining a relatively coarse measure of position by detecting successive instants t0–t3 at which the amplitudes of the sensor signals are equal or at which the amplitude of one signal is equal to the inverse of the amplitude of the other signal. The amplitude of one of the signals or its inverse is stored at each detection instant to alternately establish relatively high and low threshold levels. A fine measure of position at an arbitrary instant T is obtained as a function of the instantaneous amplitude P of one of the signals and the difference between neighbouring high and low thresholds levels.

Position encoders are used in many different systems to sense the position of different parts, subsystems, etc. One such system is a large format printer where several encoders are typically used to sense paper position, carriage position, etc.
A common encoder is based on optical technology and comprises a codewheel 10a in the case of a rotary encoder, FIG. 1, or a codestrip 10b in the case of a linear encoder, FIG. 2. Generally, each codewheel or codestrip (herein collectively referred to as "code members") contains marks 12 which are optically distinct either in terms of reflectance or transmissivity from their background. The wheel or strip moves past an optical sensor 14 which picks up reflected or transmitted light from a light source (not shown) modulated by the marks moving across the sensor's field of view. In FIG. 1 the sensor comprises two individual elements, whereas in FIG. 2 the sensor comprises two series of interleaved elements. In both cases, the light incident on the sensors causes the sensors to produce two oscillating quadrature (i.e. 90° out of phase) voltage signals A=(A1–A2) and B=(B1–B2) from which it is possible to derive positional information.
In digital encoders, the sequence of marks in the code member are sensed to generate analog quadrature signals which are digitised, typically by being fed through respective Schmidt triggers. The edges of the digital signals are then used to derive the position information. The resolution of the encoder is dictated by the number of the codestrip marks over a given distance travelled (linear encoders) or over a given angle (rotary encoders).
Analog encoders generate, for example, sinusoidal or rounded edge triangular signals—the shape of the waveform being determined by the shape of the optical sensors and the encoded marks. Examples of such encoders are produced by Agilent under the product numbers QEDS 9852/9855 and QEDS 9862/9863.
Certain distinguishable instants in the two sensor signals that are used to obtain the digital signals in digital encoders are still needed in analog encoders to derive the position information. They can be the zero crossing points of the analog signals or the points where the amplitude of the two signals is the same. The main advantage of the analog encoders is that it is possible to increase the system resolution over that of a digital encoder using the same code member. These techniques involve the calculation of the phase angle of the signal so that the position between two digital edges can be calculated.
The most common technique for encoders whose sensors have a sinusoidal output is shown in FIG. 3. Signals A and B are the analog encoder outputs as described above, voltage shifted to oscillate about zero volts, while DIG A and DIG B represent digital signals derived from the instants when the signals A and B respectively cross the zero line. The quadrature digital signals DIG A and DIG B feed a digital counter (CTR) that provides a coarse measure of position, and is used to compute direction of movement and displacement to "digital" accuracy. To provide a fine measure of position at an arbitrary instant T, the amplitudes of signals A and B at the instant T are measured and, since the shape of the curves A and B is known, the associated electrical angle or phase displacement (PHASE) from the last crossing point is computed from them. The combination of the counter value and the phase displacement provides fine position resolution.
However, the mathematics required involves the calculation of trigonometric functions and is usually performed in some type of processor (generic CPU or a DSP (digital signal processor)). An advantage of such encoders is that by determining phase displacement, the encoders can be made independent of the amplitude of the quadrature signals A and B. This means that even if the code member or sensors degrade over time, the phase relationship of the quadrature signals should still be retained and correct measurements should still be made.
For encoders with triangular output signals having rounded maxima and minima, the above technique cannot be applied without a degradation of resolution so the amplitude of one of the sensor output signals is used instead to determine phase angle. This type of encoder is specially applicable to low cost systems because of the lower costs of the sensor itself and the associated electronics (it requires a single measurement instead of the two synchronous measurements required to measure the A and B amplitudes in the case of sinusoidal outputs, as well as reduced computations).
FIG. 4 is an example of the operation of such an encoder. Signals A and B (voltage shifted to oscillate about zero volts) are the sensor outputs, and are essentially triangular signals with rounded maxima and minima; the segments enclosed between the lines labelled LOW and HIGH are straight lines and the rounded maxima and minima, as well as the straight line segments, each occupy ¼ of the signal period. In each cycle of the signals, the instants t0 and t2 where the amplitude of the two signals are equal (A=B) and the instants t1 and t3 where the amplitude of one signal is equal to the inverse of the amplitude of the other (A=−B), as indicated on FIG. 4, are the distinguishable instants used to derive the digital signals DIG A and DIG B used to feed the digital counter (CTR). This, as before, provides a coarse measure of position. To obtain higher resolution position information, the instantaneous amplitude of one of the analog signals at the arbitrary measurement instant T is measured, the particular signal chosen being that which has a straight line in the relevant quadrant. Thus, in the example of FIG. 4, the amplitude of signal B is measured at point P while the encoder counter contains the "n+1" value. This value is scaled to the difference between the LOW and HIGH levels to obtain the instantaneous value of Signal B as a proportion of the difference between the LOW and HIGH levels, which is used to derive the fine position information.
As mentioned, the particular signal (A or B) whose instantaneous amplitude value is measured to determine the fine position depends upon the particular quarter cycle in which the measurement instant T lies, since the chosen signal is that having a straight line in the relevant quadrant. Thus, signal A would be used for counter values n, n+2, etc. while signal B would be used for counter values n+1, n+3, etc. In fact if an inverse signal is available, then A can be used for n=1, not B for n+1, not A for n+2 and B for n+3, so providing linearly increasing monotonic values ranging from low to high during each quarter cycle. These values can be combined with the counter value indicating the specific quarter cycle to give a continuously increasing value across the full range of the encoder.
This technique tends to fail when the amplitude of the encoder signals is not constant. This is not an uncommon situation and several factors contribute to this behaviour:                Different amplitude ranges of the signals A and B in the two encoder channels.        Mechanical errors in the codewheel, for example, eccentricity, warp.        Degradation of the codewheel through, for example, the application of aerosol cleaning products.
In real conditions, the values of the HIGH and LOW threshold levels, which define the upper and lower limits of the straight line portions of the signals A and B, cannot be represented as parallel straight lines. They change with the sensor position and possibly over time, making it difficult to accurately compute the fine position using the above technique. Their variation limits the maximum number of quantization levels (steps) the measurement system can use without introducing errors, thus reducing the effective resolution and/or inducing position errors. The position errors negatively affect the system and, for instance, in a printer can appear as defects in image quality.
Different calibration techniques are used to compensate for these defects. The most common one consists of calibrating the encoder subsystem section by section. The value of the HIGH and LOW levels is measured at different positions of the sensor (different angles on a rotary encoder or different positions on a linear one) and an interpolation technique is used to calculate intermediate points. The calibration must be repeated from time to time to compensate for time-related degradations (aerosol, encoder sensor, etc.), which is time consuming. In many cases, the calibration can only be run at low speeds, so it is not fully representative of when the system operates at higher speeds.
It is an object of the invention to provide a position-measuring circuit for use with an analog position encoder which can provide improved resolution and simplified calibration procedures.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A power station system operable to generate energy and comprising a heat engine system and a hydraulic system connected thereto. The heat engine system comprises n number of energy cells, wherein n is an integer, and n≧2, a heat source connected to the energy cells, and a cooler means connected to the energy cells. Each energy cell is operable to generate a pressurized fluid when a phase change material (PCM), comprised in each energy cell, changes from solid phase to liquid phase, and the energy cells are operable between a first phase, and a second phase. During the first phase, a first n/2 of the energy cells produce pressurized fluid, and a second n/2 of the energy cells are cooling down, and during the second phase, the first n/2 of the energy cells are cooling down, and a second n/2 of the energy cells produce pressurized fluid. The hydraulic system comprises a pressure transducer, and a hydraulic motor connected thereto, and is operable to generate a constant rotation speed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power station system operable to generate energy.
2. Description of the Related Art
The possibility to generate mechanical or electrical energy from low grade heat is limited. Existing systems based on techniques such as Organic Rankine Cycles, Kalina Cycles and Sterling Cycles suffers from very low overall efficiency when the temperature on the input heat decreases below 60° C. There are no existing technologies that could combine an acceptable efficiency at a competitive cost. It is pointed out that the efficiency is defined as the ratio between output electrical or mechanical energy (We) and heat input energy (Q).
The patent document US 2009/0013691 A1 relates to an energy producing device disclosed in FIGS. 4 and 5, comprising a PCM heat machine 200, a hydraulic system with a hydraulic fluid 210 and a hydraulic motor 250 used for conversion of hydraulic energy to electrical energy. The hydraulic fluid is adapted to be controlled within the energy producing device in accordance with the density changes of the PCM (see paragraph [0012]). The document discusses mass and cost reductions which can be achieved by use of the device ([0023]).
The patent document US 2008/0061560 A1 relates to a system for generating electrical power signals including at least one heat engine 12 with a piezoelectric transducer element 28, which engine 12 may comprise one or more PCM 26. Mechanical stress on the piezoelectric transducer element 28 causes generation of a sequence of high voltage, low current electrical pulses (see FIG. 1A-B, [0044] and [0054]). The system comprises a pressure control mechanism 40.
The patent document US 2008/0245068 A1 relates to an apparatus for harvesting energy and generating power. The apparatus comprises a phase-change media segregated and contained within an expandable capsule wherein the phase-change media expands upon cooling to create pressure, a carrier liquid that does not change phase in an operating temperature range, a heat exchanger, a separator, a pressurizer, and an engine.

Hydraulic pressure transducer and hydraulic system


A playback apparatus includes a data source (1) that provides a data stream signal (d0), and a device (2) responsive to the data stream signal. The device forms a first data stream (d1) in a first data format (F1), wherein the first data stream (d1) includes a data field (D1) that is encoded in a second data format (F2). A code converter (3) is responsive to the first data stream (d1), and converts selected parts of the first data stream (d1) to a second data stream (d2) that has data encoded in a third data format (F3). An output decoder (5) forms playback signals from the second data stream (d2). The playback signal may be audio and/or video signals that are presented to the appropriate audio transducer or display device for presentation to a playback apparatus user(s).

This present invention relates to the field of audio/video playback devices and in particular, to a playback device that supports playing back data that is encoded in more than one format.
A playback apparatus receives from a data source that delivers audio and/or video data. The data source may be of very different nature; for example, it may be hidden behind a data interface if the data are received from the Internet or another data network via a personal computer (PC). Other examples of such data sources are compact data storage in which the data are stored (e.g., magnetically, optically, electronically, or on another principle) and converted during readout into an electronic data stream by suitable devices. Also suitable for use as compact data sources are solid-state memories, because such memories do not require a mechanical drive.
Data from the data source is converted to an error corrected data stream, and fed to an output decoder that separates the data stream into the respective signal components and, if necessary, converts the latter from digital to analog form. These signal components are then fed to a playback transducer (e.g., headphones, loudspeakers, etc.). In the case of video signals, the playback transducer may be a television receiver, a multimedia apparatus, or a simple video display on the playback apparatus.
CDs are reasonably priced devices for storing audio data, and have the benefit of being rewriteable (i.e., CD-RW). The original data is frequently streamed from the Internet. To permit the use of commercially available audio playback apparatus, the data must be stored according to submitted standards, for example according to the "Sony-Philips Red/Blue Book".
The transmission, storage, and reproduction of data, particularly of audio data, in accordance with these standardized data formats is very common. However, it has the disadvantage that these standardized data formats frequently do not provide for data compression or only provide for relatively little data compression, so that they do not make optimum use of the existing storage space. On the other hand, there are techniques in which the level of compression can be chosen in a wide range. Pure voice applications allow a higher compression level than high-quality music reproduction. Such compression and coding techniques are known, for example, by the acronym "MPEG", and are used, for example, in the optical storage of video and audio signals for a DVD system. It is desirable to take advantage of these data compression techniques, while retaining the proven recording, storage, and playback system as far as possible. In particular, a playback apparatus is desirable that is suitable for the reproduction of at least one improved data format and conventional or mixed data formats.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


In one possible implementation, a motor is provided including a rotor and a stator. Front cooling fins are thermally coupled to a front of the stator, and rear cooling fins are thermally coupled to a rear portion of the stator. The winding is between the front and rear cooling fins.

Electric motors for vehicles need to have high efficiency to conserve power. Furthermore, in unmanned aerial vehicles, light weight and compact electric motors are also desirable. Thus, ironless motors are often used which can provide the benefit of no iron losses due to changing flux direction.
Motors are normally rated for the peak power and efficiency of the motor. In some applications, high part load efficiency is desired, which is high efficiency when machine is loaded at a partial load, i.e. 15% or some other percent.
What is needed is a higher efficiency compact motor.


The invention provides a wind turbine blade comprising a first shell, having a first bonding region, and a second shell having a second bonding region, wherein the second bonding region of the second shell is bonded to the first bonding region of the first shell; and a temperature sensor positioned between the first bonding region and the second bonding region. Having a temperature sensor positioned within the turbine blade, in the region at which the two shells of the turbine blade are bonded together, allows for accurate determination and control of the temperature of the critical bonding regions during blade manufacture. The temperature sensor may be used during the service life of the wind turbine blade to detect delamination of the wind turbine blade.

FIG. 1 illustrates wind turbine 1, comprising a wind turbine tower 2 on which a wind turbine nacelle 3 is mounted. A wind turbine rotor 4 comprising at least one wind turbine blade 5 is mounted on a hub 6. The hub 6 is connected to the nacelle 3 through a low speed shaft (not shown) extending from the nacelle front. The wind turbine illustrated in FIG. 1 may be a small model intended for domestic or light utility usage, or may be a large model, such as those that are suitable for use in large scale electricity generation on a wind farm, for example. In the latter case, the diameter of the rotor could be as large as 100 metres or more.
Wind turbine blades are typically made by forming two blade halves or shells, which are then bonded together to form the complete blade. Failure of the bond between the two shells, often called blade delamination, is a serious problem, as it most often occurs after the blade has been installed on a turbine.
The bonding process used to bond the two shells is critical in minimising the likelihood of delamination occurring and in increasing the useful lifetime of the turbine blade. Typically, the bonding of the two shells is performed by applying a bonding resin to one or both of the shells, pressing the shells together, and then curing the bonding resin in an oven. The temperature of the bonding resin during the curing process is critical in achieving good bond strength.
Typically, the blade is placed in an oven, and the oven temperature and curing time is controlled based on empirical data obtained from the manufacture of previous blades. However, no two blades are ever identical, nor is the performance of the oven used necessarily identical each time that it is used. We have appreciated that there is a need to provide a system and method for more accurate control of the bonding process for blade shells during wind turbine blade manufacture.

Turbine blade temperature measurement system and method of manufacture of turbine blades


Durable hermetic seals between two inorganic substrates are produced using a high-intensity electromagnetic energy source, such as laser, to heat and seal enamel layers with controlled absorption of high-intensity energy source. Durable hermetic seals incorporating electrical feedthroughs are also produced.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a frit-based hermetic sealing system for glass plates, seal materials, processes to apply these seal materials, seal designs for selective and controlled absorption of light to heat and seal the system. These hermetic seals are useful in various applications such as (a) encapsulating solar cells based on silicon, organic systems, and thin film, (b) encapsulating other electronic devices such as organic LEDs (OLED), and (c) architectural windows and automotive glass.
2. Description of Related Art
Laser sealing is a widely investigated selective sealing process. Conventional frit-based laser sealing process involves absorption of an Infra-Red (IR) laser light by an absorber such as pigment or colored frit in the seal system. Accordingly, the IR absorption (i.e., heating) occurs at the top interface—the interface between glass plate and the seal material. Owing to the thickness and mass of material to be heated, the amount of heat supplied must be relatively high. Conventional laser sealing processes involve absorption of IR radiation by an appropriate pigment or colored frit in the sealant material. Deposited seals are typically about 60% or less of their theoretical density before melting/sintering. Therefore, significant dimensional changes are to be expected during laser processing to form the seal (or any related localized energy deposition process). The process can be time consuming because such a large mass of material must be heated and is not trouble free. For example, conventional frit based laser sealing material includes an organic binder which can provide contamination within the sealed glass from combustion of the binder upon heating, large voids and bubbles that could reduce the strength of the seal. Since most of the heat is generated at the glass/seal material interface the process is more prone to cracking of seal and the glass plate. Similar such problems arise in other selective sealing processes where IR, visible or UV lights are used for sealing.
Accordingly, improvements in the art of selective sealing processes such as laser sealing are required.


A system that identifies processes with a memory leak in a computer system. During operation, the system periodically samples memory usage for processes running on the computer system. The system then ranks the processes by memory usage and selects a specified number of processes with highest memory usage based on the ranking. For each selected process, the system computes a first-order difference of memory usage by taking a difference between the memory usage at a current sampling time and the memory usage at an immediately preceding sampling time. The system then generates a memory-leak index based on the first-order difference and a preceding memory-leak index computed at the immediately preceding sampling time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for detecting memory leaks in computer systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for detecting memory leaks by observing the historical memory-usage of processes in a computer system.
2. Related Art
Memory leaks can adversely affect computer system performance and can significantly decrease software reliability. Moreover, memory leaks can remain in programs despite extensive testing during the development phase and despite the use of garbage collection techniques during runtime. Long-running programs with memory leaks and programs that allocate memory extensively can consume enough resources in a computer system to seriously hinder performance, or even worse to cause application or system crashes. This problem is more acute in a multi-user environment, where a large numbers of users can be affected by a single application or a single process which has a memory leak. If applications or processes with memory leaks are detected in advance, preventive actions can be taken to avoid serious problems affecting many users.
Many programming languages provide mechanisms for explicit dynamic allocation and deallocation of memory during program execution. After using a dynamically allocated object, if there is no more need for it, the memory consumed by the object should be explicitly released. Failure to release the memory consumed by the object can cause a memory leak.
Memory leaks are common in programming languages such as C and C++, which rely heavily on pointer arithmetic and which do not provide a garbage-collection mechanism.
However, garbage collection does not necessarily prevent memory leaks from occurring. Note that a garbage collection mechanism cleans up objects only if there are no references to the objects. Consequently, memory leaks can occur in a garbage-collected system if applications continually generate a large number of referenced objects which eventually become unused but remain referenced.
A memory leak causes the computer system as a whole, not merely the erroneous process, to use an ever growing amount of memory. Eventually, much (or all) of the available memory will be allocated (and not freed), thereby causing the entire system to become severely degraded or to crash.
System administrators typically do not get a warning that there is a problem until 95%-98% of the available memory has been used up. At this point, the system administrator typically identifies processes consuming the largest amounts of memory, and then terminates these processes in an effort to prevent a system crash. However, the terminated processes may not be the ones that actually have a memory leak; they may simply be processes that use a lot of memory. Moreover, well before the system administrator starts taking remedial actions, individual user processes may request more memory than is available, which can cause processes to swap to disk, thereby greatly decreasing performance of the process.
Tools are available for debugging programs and for detecting memory leaks when the source code is available. However, these tools cannot be used when the source code is not available; for example, when third-party and off-the-shelf software is used.
Another technique to detect memory leaks involves detecting gradual resource exhaustion in computer systems. This technique uses time-series analysis to detect trends in resource usage and to estimate the time until resource exhaustion. Preventive actions, such as software rejuvenation operations, can be taken to avoid any impending failure. The drawback of this technique is that it does not pinpoint the offending process, and hence, the entire system may have to be rebooted. Furthermore, this technique provides no feedback to facilitate root-cause analysis. Another drawback is that subtle memory leaks cannot be detected when the memory usage is large and "noisy," which commonly occurs in multi-user server systems.
Hence, what is needed is a method and an apparatus for detecting the onset of memory leaks in computer systems without the problems described above.

Method and apparatus for detecting memory leaks in computer systems


The subject invention provides a method for detecting and analyzing the hair follicles on a scalp to assist with hair follicle transplantation. The methods of the subject invention are able to count the number of hair follicle groups and the number of follicles within each group based upon a microscopic image of a sample from a human scalp. An algorithm is then used to cluster the follicles and generate a neighboring connected graph to calculate the inter object distances. A report can then be generated that provides information regarding the density, placement, and percentage of hair follicle type in different areas of the scalp. This report can be used to generate a hair follicle transplant strategy to assist a physician or robotic system.

Recent developments have increased the need for computerized analysis of biological images. Some of these types of biological images contain so much visual information, referred to as "noise," that most standard image computer analysis procedures cannot be applied to accurately detect desired objects. One example of such a noisy images are those of human hair and skin obtained through a microscope. The variations in skin texture, color, surface features, etc. make most image analysis procedures difficult to apply or provide inaccurate results. Of particular interest is the ability to analyze skin images to determine follicular counts and densities for use in hair transplant surgeries.
Qureshi and Bodduluri [1] developed a follicle detection model using contour. With their technique, a contour is drawn around the circumference of any detected possible follicle instance. If the contour has one concave hull, there are two follicles grown from same root. So the contour will look like a triangle with a concave hull. Similarly two concave hulls indicate three follicle units and so on. Unfortunately this method is only applicable to images where the follicle units does not overlap each other and where the follicle units is in good regular geometric shape like hair. If two or more follicles overlap or are crossed over each other, there will be more concave hulls, which will increase the error in counting of follicles. Also, if the image contains irregular shaped follicle units, the method will perceive more concave hulls on the contour.
TrichoScan is another system proposed by Hoffmann and Rolf [2] to count hairs on scalp images. This method detects straight lines on an image. These straight lines are considered to be individual hairs. To ensure accuracy, before the input image is acquired, a patient's hair is subject to a number of chemical treatment steps. These steps make the hair straight and prepares it for image analysis. After treatment and image acquisition, each straight line in the image is considered a hair instance in the image. This method is useful for some standard cases where the hair must be straight and hair edges must be smooth. However, if some hairs are crossed or overlapped with each other, there may be more hair lines counted than actually exist, or other anomalies in the data can occur.
Lempitsky and Zisserman [3] developed a supervised learning model to count objects in microscopic images. This method works well if there is similarity among the trained sets and input sets. Variation between trained sets and real input sets will cause errors. Unfortunately, most follicles in skin images are not similar and vary in size, color and geometric shape. So the learning method of Lempitsky and Zisserman is not very applicable and would require significant refinement to address the problem of follicular analysis of an image.
Thus, it can be seen that there is a particular need to be able to detect and count the number of follicles in a microscopic image of the scalp. An analysis to obtain an exact count of follicles in a given sample area is difficult not only because such images are noisy, but also the follicle shapes are nonstandard. Follicle objects can usually be detected in an image utilizing analysis based on RGB color codes. Unfortunately, follicles also overlapped, three or four of them can be tied together or growing from same root and fan out to different directions. Thus, distinguishing individual follicles or other structures in a visual image can be problematic.

Context based algorithmic framework for identifying and classifying embedded images of follicle units

The Florida International University Board of Trustees