An amplifier for biasing and amplifying the signals produced by a magnetoresistive element is provided. The input stage of this circuit includes two transistors in a differential common base configuration having a low input impedance. Since the two transistors are coupled to separate identical current sources, balance between the currents through the two transistors is maintained. The currents are balanced without the use of a feedback loop. Additional input stages may be added to allow signals from additional magnetoresistive elements to be selected and amplified. By using a common mode switching configuration, switching transients are greatly reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the field of amplifiers for magnetoresistance sensors.
2. Background Art
Preamplification circuitry is used to bias magnetoresistance (MR) sensors and to detect output signals generated by MR sensors. MR sensors are used as transducers for reading magnetically recorded data from disks having high-magnetization film media. MR sensors differ from inductive sensors in that they sense flux rather than change in flux per unit time. Since high density disk applications require closely spaced tracks of data, they exhibit lower signal flux than do lower density media. Despite the lower signal flux, MR sensors typically generate larger read signals than inductive heads in high density applications. Therefore, MR sensors provide improved read performance over inductive heads in high density recording applications.
An MR read sensor consists of a narrow stripe of material such as Ni-Fe which is mounted perpendicularly to disk media. The MR sensor has dimensions of height h and width w where the resistance of the sensor is inversely proportional to height h. The magnetoresistive effect causes the resistance of the sensor to vary according to magnetic flux from the media incident upon it.
Amplification circuitry provides a sense current to bias an MR sensor and amplifies read signals produced by the sensor. The sense current for an MR sensor can be supplied by means of constant voltage or constant current. Similarly, the electronic sensing of a resistance signal can take two essentially different forms: detecting the voltage across the sensor by means of a high input impedance voltage amplifier or detecting the current through the sensor by means of a current amplifier with a virtually shorted input.
Preamplification circuitry provides a sense current which is applied to an MR sensor to bias its response to produce an optimum rate of change in resistance with respect to a magnetic field. Therefore, data stored as magnetized locations on a disk causes the resistance of an MR sensor to vary as the data passes under the MR read mechanism. Preamplification circuitry detects changes in the voltage across the MR sensor due to changes in its resistance and amplifies this read signal generated by the sensor. Thus, an MR sensor properly biased by amplification circuitry provides a linear response to the instantaneous magnetic field of disk media passing by the sensor.
Because the resistance of MR sensors is inversely proportional to height h, it is desirable to bias the sensor so that it is insensitive to variations in the height of stripes due to manufacturing processes or due to wear. Thus, problems associated with differences in the height of MR sensors may be reduced. In particular, it is desirable to generate a sensor signal having a voltage which is proportional to the change in sensor resistance normalized by its resistance, .DELTA.R.sub.h /R.sub.h, where .DELTA.R.sub.h is the change in MR sensor resistance, R.sub.h, from its steady-state resistance when a magnetic field is incident upon the MR sensor. It is noted that the steady state value of R.sub.h refers to the resistance value of R.sub.h while biased, but not being subjected to a magnetic field.
A diagram illustrating a prior art pre-amplifier is illustrated in FIG. 1. The circuit includes NPN transistors 107 and 108, amplifier 106, MR sensor 110, capacitor 109 and current source 111. Voltage rail 101 at a voltage of +V.sub.S is coupled to the first terminal of resistor 102 and the first terminal of resistor 103. Both resistors 102 and 103 have a value of R.sub.C. The second terminal of resistor 102 is coupled to output terminal 104, the inverting input of transconductance amplifier 106 and the collector of NPN transistor 107. The second terminal of resistor 103 is coupled to output terminal 105, the non-inverting input of transconductance amplifier 106 and the collector of NPN transistor 108. The output of amplifier 106 is coupled to the first terminal of capacitor 109 and the base of transistor 108. The second terminal of capacitor 109 is coupled to ground.
The base of transistor 107 is coupled to ground. The emitter of transistor 107 is coupled to the first terminal of current source 111. The emitter of transistor 108 is coupled to the first terminal of MR sensor 110. The resistance of MR sensor 110 has a value of R.sub.h. The second terminal of MR sensor 110 is coupled to the first terminal of current source 111. A current of 2I.sub.B flows from the first terminal to the second terminal of current source 111. The second terminal of current source 111 is coupled to voltage rail 112. Voltage rail 112 has a voltage of -V.sub.S. The differential output signal seen at output terminals 104 and 105 is V.sub.OUT.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art circuit that biases MR sensor 110 having resistance R.sub.h and amplifies the signal generated by the MR sensor 110. Current source 111 sinks emitter currents from transistor 107 and 108 equal to a constant value 2I.sub.B. MR sensor 110 causes a current imbalance in the two current paths through the differential pair resulting in a voltage across output terminals 105 and 104. The output signal V.sub.out produced by the differential pair is fed back through amplifier 106 and capacitor 109 to the base of transistor 108 to correct for DC offsets due to the steady-state resistance value of MR sensor 110 and variations in transistors 107 and 108. This feedback produces balanced current flow through each path of the differential amplifier. The low frequency response of this configuration is modified by adjusting the gain of amplifier 106 and capacitor 109 of the feedback loop in order to set the dominant pole appropriately.
A disadvantage of the prior art circuit is the considerable recovery time required to stabilize such a circuit as shown in FIG. 1 when switching from one sensor to another. This is accomplished by deactivating one sensor and associated input stage and activating another. The prior art describes a circuit for moving the dominant low frequency pole during switchover. However, the recovery time is still considerable due to the fact that the feedback loop control signal is applied to the input stage differentially. Thus, the transient at the output of the differential stage must decay sufficiently to resolve low level read signals, and this process requires substantial time. Another disadvantage is that the prior art amplifier requires additional, non-linear circuitry, which increases the complexity of the amplifier.


The present invention is concerned with a process for the formation of dental restorations from glass-ceramic materials and the resulting dental restorations. In this invention, a dental restoration is prepared by placing a glass-ceramic material in a heat-pressure deformable crucible. Heat is then applied to the crucible in order to bring the glass-ceramic material to a working range at temperatures above its liquidus temperature. The crucible in which the glass-ceramic material is placed has heat-pressure deformation properties which are matched to the working temperature of the glass-ceramic material being heated. The heat deformation properties of the crucible must be such that when the glass-ceramic material in the crucible is in the working range the crucible is heat-pressure deformable without rupturing. Once the glass-ceramic material is heated to its working temperature, the crucible is brought into contact with a mold having a preformed cavity therein, the cavity being in the shape of the desired dental restoration. As the distance between the heated glass-ceramic material and the mold is decreased, the crucible is deformed to form a seal with the mold thereby facilitating the injection of the molten glass-ceramic material into the mold cavity.

In the prior art various methods have been used to form metal free dental restorations from glass-ceramic materials. Glass-ceramic materials because of their strength, translucency, non-toxicity and other physical properties are ideal materials for use in forming dental restorations. Because of their suitability, glass-ceramic materials have been used to form dental restorations for at least eighty years. In the prior art the most widely used means for forming dental restorations from mixtures of glass and ceramic materials is a process which utilizes a slurry of glass and ceramic particles. In this process a die is formed which is an exact replica of the remaining portion of the tooth to which the restoration is to be secured. It is understood by one skilled in the art that the remaining portion of the tooth has been prepared by the dentist in such a manner that the attachment of the restoration is facilitated. To start the process the dentist takes an impression of the prepared tooth to create a negative impression of the prepared tooth or teeth. This negative impression is then packed with a material to form a positive impression of the prepared tooth or teeth. This positive impression is called a die. Platinum foil is then pressed over the die to from a matrix which is essentially a foundation on which the dental restoration is built. In order to form up the dental restoration many layers of a slurry of a particulate glass-ceramic material are applied to the platinum foil matrix. As multiple layers of the slurry are built up and dried a semi-solid structure is formed which can be carved into the shape of the desired dental restoration. Once the desired shape is achieved the structure is then removed from the die. At this stage the structure is referred to as a green structure. The structure is then fired, during the firing process the particulate glass-ceramic material fuses into a solid mass. Because the green structure is formed from multiple layers of the dried glass-ceramic material uneven fusing may result. As a result of this uneven fusing the physical properties of the finished restoration may be detrimentally affected. As a result an inferior dental restoration results. Further, as can be seen from the above description, the overall process is very labor intensive.
Other methods for forming the green restoration have been considered in the prior art, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,196,258, a mixture of particulate glass and ceramic materials which incorporates a binder is packed into a flexible mold to form a green structure which is then fired to form a finished structure. Again, because the process entails the fusing of particulate material, uneven fusing may result and hence a weakened and inferior dental restoration may result.
To overcome the problems as described above the trade has recognized that in order to produce strong, translucent metal free dental restorations it would be desirable to form these restorations directly from a homogenous molten glass-ceramic material. It was realized that it may be possible to produce a satisfactory restoration by forcing a molten or plastic glass-ceramic material into a mold having a cavity in the form of the desired dental restoration. The prior art further recognized that the glass-ceramic material could be introduced into the cavity when the glass-ceramic material was in the liquid or in the plastic state.
A constant goal of the prior art as described, was to effect the molding process in a quick and efficient manner and in a manner that produces a dental restoration that has excellent definition and fit. In dental restorations definition is extremely important, as in order to have a satisfactory restoration the finest details of the original tooth must be reproduced. For example, for a dental restoration to be successful the margins must be sharp and well defined. It is in this area that the prior art molding processes are deficient in that it was not possible to achieve the desired degree of definition.
Further, it is desirable to produce a dental restoration in a short period of time in order to efficiently utilize the overhead of the dental laboratory and in order to minimize the labor content of the dental restoration.
Dental laboratories are not typically well funded operations. Therefore, in order to keep cost to a minimum it is highly desirable that a suitable process for forming dental restorations utilize equipment which is relatively inexpensive. While the above described process fits this requirement the below described DICOR process does not.
As is discussed above, there are several prior art processes for the manufacture of dental restorations from glass-ceramic materials. A recent addition to the prior art is the DICOR process as sold by the Dentsply International,Inc. of York Pennsylvania. In this process a dental restoration is formed by centrifugal casting of a molten glass-ceramic material. This process is further described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,420 issued Feb. 14, 1984 and related patents. Centrifugal casting has been extensively used in the casting of metals principally by the lost wax process. Further, this process has been imminently successful for hundreds of years for use in conjunction with metals. This success results from the fact that molten metals have very low viscosity and high density in the molten state, hence, they function very well in centrifugal casting processes. That is, because molten metals have a high density and a very low viscosity in the molten state centrifugal force is adequate for purposes of injecting the molten metal into a preformed mold cavity. In an attempt to produce dental restorations which have high definition the above mentioned DICOR process uses centrifugal force to form the desired dental restorations from a molten glass-ceramic material. Molten glass-ceramic materials have a much higher viscosity and a much lower density when compared to molten metals. For this reason, it is not possible to consistently drive a molten glass-ceramic material, by centrifugal force alone into a mold in order to produce a satisfactory dental restoration. That is, a molten glass-ceramic material cannot be driven by centrifugal force into a mold cavity with sufficient force in order to always get the required definition, necessary to form a satisfactory dental restoration. It is well recognized by one skilled in the art that in order to have a satisfactory dental restoration, excellent definition must be achieved in order to recreate the desired margins which are needed for the proper fit of a dental restoration into the human mouth.
Further, the DICOR process, is deficient as to the coloration of the glass-ceramic material utilized. The resulting Dicor dental restoration had an undesirable white color and must be glazed in order to produce satisfactory human coloration. As a result the coloration is only on the surface of the dental restoration, If adjustment by grinding is needed in the final installation of the restoration into the human mouth the glazing is removed thereby exposing the whitish base which contrasts with the glaze. This contrast is very unsatisfactory from an esthetic point of view.
In contrast to this deficiency, the restoration of the subject process is adapted to utilize glass-ceramic materials wherein the coloration of the resulting dental restoration, throughout, approximates human tooth coloration. Hence, if grinding is necessary in final fitting contrast between the surface of the dental restoration and the underlying base is not observed.
Undesirable contrast can also result from normal wear, where as a result of the grinding action of one tooth against another the glaze is worn away. Again, this is not a problem in this invention as the preferred glass-ceramic material has a uniform natural coloration throughout. It should be noted that the restoration of the subject invention may be glazed to achieve the exact shade desired.
In contrast to the above discussed prior art processes, the process of the subject invention utilizes a positive mechanically applied force for purposes of injecting the molten dental glass-ceramic material into the preformed mold cavity.
For a dental glass-ceramic material to be satisfactory for use in the formation of dental restorations the material should incorporate many or all of the following properties:
1. It must be inert and non-toxic in an oral environment. PA1 2. It must have sufficient structural integrity to resist the forces of mastication and generally must have a 3-point MOR of at least 30,000 PSI. PA1 3. Should be capable of being formed into forms which are compatible with the human anatomy using simple equipment. PA1 4. Should have esthetic qualities (coloration similar to human teeth with a slightly translucent appearance) which are compatible with human teeth and hence should be monolithic or glazable. PA1 5. Further, the glass-ceramic material must not absorb moisture or stain and it must be stress corrosion resistant. PA1 6. Likewise the glass-ceramic material should have wear characteristics which are similar to natural human teeth and should be compatible with other dental materials. PA1 7. The glass-ceramic likewise must have dimensional stability and resist thermal shock during processing and in particular it must have dimensional stability during subsequent heat treating processes wherein recrystalization is effected. PA1 8. Further, the glass-ceramic material should be compatible from a thermal expansion point of view with metals, stains, glazes etc. as are conventionally used to form dental restorations. PA1 9. In order to create an esthetically pleasing dental restoration it may be necessary to alter the final dental restoration to the exact shape and shade desired. In order to effect these alterations the dental restoration must be heated to a temperature of about 950.degree. C. for each operation. Therefore, a satisfactory glass-ceramic material must be capable of withstanding multiple heat cycles to about 950.degree. C. PA1 10. A suitable glass-ceramic material must be capable of retaining its structural integrity during heat treating. PA1 11. In summary a suitable glass-ceramic material should have; PA1 Wherein the process comprises:
A. Coefficient thermal expansions (C.T.E.) of 5 to 145.times.10.sup.-7 /.degree.C. PA2 B. Translucency of 2.5 to 4.0 on a visible scale of 0 (clear) to 5 (opaque) and overall beauty. PA2 C. M.O.R. of at least 30 K.S.I. average. PA2 D. Ability to be heat treated to 925-950.degree. C. PA2 E. Structural integrity during heat treat PA2 F. Meltability and formability PA2 G. Chemical durability in an oral environment PA2 A. placing a glass-ceramic material in a heat-pressure deformable crucible; PA2 B. heating the crucible and glass-ceramic material to a temperature at which said crucible becomes heat-pressure deformable and the glass-ceramic material is moldable; PA2 C. bringing the heated crucible into contact with a mold having a preformed cavity therein; PA2 D. continuing to move the crucible into contact with the mold thereby causing the crucible to deform against the mold, and causing the moldable glass-ceramic material to be injected into said cavity, thereby forming a dental restoration; PA2 E. cooling the mold and the ceramic dental restoration therein; PA2 F. removing the formed ceramic restoration from the mold; PA2 G. heat treating the dental restoration; and PA2 H. finishing the dental restoration.
The subject invention includes glass-ceramic materials which meet the above set forth criteria.

Apparatus for molding dental restorations


In a method of forming an ink-receptive card substrate, an ink-receptive material is provided. The ink-receptive material includes a backing layer and an ink-receptive coating on a surface of the backing layer. Next, a card member is provided. Finally, the ink-receptive material is laminated to a surface of the card member with the ink-receptive coating facing the surface of the card member. This results in the bonding of the ink-receptive coating to the surface of the card member. Additional embodiments of the present invention are directed to devices that are configured to perform the above-identified method.

Ink jet printers are known and provide a number of advantages in the printing process. For example, ink jet printers are capable of providing relatively high density color output at an acceptable printing speed. Furthermore, such printers are relatively inexpensive. As a result, it is desirable to utilize such printers in the formation of identification cards. Unfortunately, ink from ink jet printers does not adhere well to the plastic surfaces of most identification card substrates, which are typically formed of PVC. Accordingly, it is necessary to create an ink-receptive surface on the identification card substrate to allow it to receive an image printed by an ink-jet printer.
Methods have been used to provide ink jet printable or receptive surfaces on various types of substrates, such as compact discs and identification cards. In general, these methods involve coating the surface with an ink-receptive material. Once coated with the ink-receptive material, the card substrates can be used in identification card printers utilizing ink jet printheads, such as the CardJet 410 printer and encoder manufactured by Fargo Electronics, Inc. of Eden Prairie, Minn. Examples of such ink-receptive materials encoding methods are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,051,306 and 6,270,858, which issued Apr. 18, 2000 and Aug. 7, 2001, respectively, and are both assigned to Fargo Electronics, Inc.
Ink-receptive films have also been applied to card substrates to form an ink-receptive surface thereon. As illustrated in FIG. 1, such ink-receptive films 10 are formed of a clear or an opaque backing layer (e.g., PET, PVC, etc.) 12, on which an ink-receptive coating 14 is applied. A layer of adhesive 16 is generally applied between the backing layer 12 and a surface 18 of a rigid or semi-rigid card member 20. Card member 20 is a conventional blank card substrate that is typically formed of PVC or other suitable material. A protective cover (not shown) is laid over the ink-receptive coating 14 and the backing layer 12 of the ink-receptive film 10 is laminated to card member 20 through application of heat and pressure. Portions of ink-receptive film 10 that overhang the edges of card member 20 are then trimmed as necessary. A laminate layer 22 can be laminated to a bottom surface 24 of card member 20 by adhesive layer 26 in an effort to counterbalance stresses that are applied to card member 20 as a result of the lamination of backing layer 12 of ink-receptive film 10 to surface 18 of card member 20.
Unfortunately, the above-described process of forming an ink-receptive card substrate using an ink-receptive film is problematic. The layers of adhesive, ink-receptive film, card member, and the laminate, result in a complex and expensive ink-receptive card substrate. Also, the backing layer of the ink-receptive film can potentially delaminate from the card member due to its exposed edges, thereby limiting the useful life span of the ink-receptive card substrate. Additionally, the image that is printed to the ink-receptive surface that is formed by the ink-receptive coating of the film can be easily modified by replacing the printed ink-receptive film with another. As a result, these ink-receptive card substrates are complicated, expensive to form, have a limited life span, and offer little security against alteration.
Images that are printed to ink-receptive surfaces of card substrates that are formed in accordance with the methods described above are susceptible to defacement due to abrasion, exposure to water, and other environmental conditions. Accordingly, a protective overlaminate material must be applied over the printed ink-receptive surface to protect the printed image.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and Device for forming an ink-receptive card substrate


Disclosed is a driving method of a PDP (Plasma Display Panel) which removes excess charged particles collected on the outside of a display screen through a reciprocating action of a scan order. The driving method of a PDP (Plasma Display Panel) includes dividing a field of an input video signal into a plurality of sub-fields having brightness weights and applying a scan pulse. Next, applying an input video data signal pulse to address electrodes to have an address period designating cells to be displayed and a sustain period applying a sustain pulse to the designated cells according to the brightness weight of the corresponding sub-field, wherein the plurality of sub-fields include sub-fields, which have the address period applying the scan pulse to the scan electrodes to the number of N in order of 1, 2, . . . , N−1 and N, and sub-fields, which have the address period applying the scan pulse to the scan electrodes in order of N, N−1 , . . . , 2 and 1.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving method of a PDP(Plasma Display Panel), and more particularly, to a driving method of a PDP capable of preventing abnormal discharge and dielectric breakdown due to excess charged particles collected on the outside of a display screen.
2. Background of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of a conventional surface-discharge type AC PDP(Plasma Display Panel). The surface-discharge AC PDP includes a front glass substrate 1, an address electrode 3 formed on the front glass substrate 1, a rear glass substrate 2 opposed to the front glass substrate 1, electrodes X and Y (7 and 8) arranged parallel to each other on the rear glass substrate 2, a dielectric layer 6 formed to cover the electrodes X and Y, an MgO protection layer formed on the dielectric layer, and a barrier 4 disposed between the front glass substrate 1 and the rear glass substrate 2 and dividing a discharge space.
FIG. 2 illustrates an arrangement of driving electrodes of the PDP of FIG. 1. The driving electrodes include a plurality of address electrodes A1, A2, A3, . . . , Am−1 and Am arranged parallel to one another and a plurality of electrodes X and electrodes Y Y1, Y2, Y3, . . . , Yn−1 and Yn arranged approximately vertical to the address electrodes. Discharge cells are formed at intersections of the electrodes X and Y and the address electrodes, electrodes Y are scan electrodes and electrodes X are common electrodes connected commonly.
FIG. 3 illustrates an ADS(Address Display-period Separation) method for driving the PDP of FIGS. 1 and 2. In the ADS method, 1 field of video signal is divided into 8 sub-fields; each sub-field consisting of a reset period, an address period and a sustain period. The reset period is a period for initializing the discharge cells by discharging all discharge cells of FIG. 2, the address period is a period for designating the discharge cells to be displayed according to video signal input, and the sustain period is a period for sustain discharge to the discharge cells designated in the address period. In the sustain period of each sub-field, a weight value is assigned as a display period, thereby combining the sub-fields to display multi-grade.
In general, scan lines Y1, Y2, Y3, . . . , Yn−1 and Yn of the PDP of FIG. 2, in case of a VGA(Video Graphics Array), consist of 480 lines, and the address operation is carried out by scanning to each line in a line sequential method, and at the same time, applying data signal through the address electrodes. As shown in FIG. 3, in the ADS method of dividing 1 video field into 8 sub-fields and having the address periods for all scan lines every sub-field, the scan period of 1 scan line is about 2.5 μs, and a period for scanning the whole 1 video field is approximately 2.5 (μs)×480 (lines)×8 (sub-fields), namely 9.6 μs. Because it takes 9.6 μs to scan if the 1 video field is about 16.7 μs, the residual period, that is, 7.1 μs is used for gray scale. However, if the number of the sub-fields is increased to 10 to remove false contour or to increase the number of gray scales, the scan period is 2.5 (μs)×480 (lines)×10 (sub-fields), namely 12 μs, and so, display must be performed in very high frequency because there is the period for the gray scale of only 4.7 μs left. Furthermore, In case that scan lines over 760 are used in an HD TV(High Definition TV), the scan period is 2.5 (μs)×760 (lines)×8 (sub-fields), namely 15.2 μs; most of 1 video period being used for the scan period.
To solve the above problems, as shown in FIG. 4, there is used a driving method of dividing the address electrodes into upper and lower parts. The method has a disadvantage that a plurality of driving ICs are used, but has several advantages that sub-fields more than that of the prior arts can be applied and the method can be used in the HD TV of scan lines over 760 by reducing the scan period to ½.
FIG. 5 illustrates a scan sequence in a driving method of a conventional PDP. In the scan sequence, a scan pulse is applied to the scan electrodes (electrodes Y) of 1, 2, . . . and 480 lines every sub-field in order, and at the same time, an input video data pulse is applied to the address electrodes. At this time, if the scanning is performed repeatedly, electric potential rises or falls by accumulation or vanishment of excess charged particles on the outer portion of a display screen adjacent to the scan electrode of the final line, i.e., the 480th line. So, there occurs abnormal discharge on the cells in vicinity of the scan electrode of the 480th line, thereby reducing reliability by deteriorating video quality or by occurring dielectric breakdown.
In the same way, FIG. 6 illustrates a scan sequence in a driving method of a conventional PDP in which address electrodes are divided into two. For example, when an addressing is performed in order of 1st˜240th lines and in order of 241st˜480th, electric charges are abnormally collected on a boundary between upper address electrodes and lower address electrodes, i.e., a central part, and on the outer portion of a display screen of 480th line and electric potential rises, thereby, occurring abnormal discharge on the cells in vicinity of the central part and of the 480th line to deteriorate the video quality or generate dielectric breakdown.


A MEMS device that enables an optical subsystem (e.g., an optical switch) having an optical component optically coupled to the MEMS device via free space to achieve optical alignment between the optical component and the MEMS device without moving the optical component with respect to the stationary part of the MEMS device. In one embodiment, a MEMS device of the invention has a stationary part and a movable part movably connected to the stationary part. The movable part has a platform and a plurality of mirrors mounted on the platform, wherein (i) each mirror is adapted to move with respect to the platform independent of other mirrors and (ii) the platform is adapted to move with respect to the stationary part together with the mirrors.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to optical communication equipment and, more specifically, to micro-electromechanical devices for use in such equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical subsystems (e.g., switches, modulators, compensators, and equalizers) in an optical communication system often employ free-space optics (where free space may be vacuum or a volume filled with a fluid, such as gas, vapor, and/or liquid). A representative optical subsystem is assembled from individual optical components and might include an arrayed MEMS device, a diffraction grating, an array of optical fibers, and the like, mounted on a support structure and optically coupled to one another. The optical components need to be appropriately aligned to enable the subsystem to perform its intended optical function.
Even if the components of an optical subsystem are initially well aligned, e.g., at the factory or when the subsystem is deployed, over time, these components might become misaligned due to mechanical movement of the support and mounting structures, aging, optical degradation, and/or variations in ambient temperature and pressure. Disadvantageously, this misalignment might detrimentally affect the quality of optical signals, increase the bit error rate (BER), and/or even completely disable the corresponding subsystem.

MEMS-based alignment of optical components


The invention provides recombinant human CAR (coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor) polypeptides which bind adenovirus. Specifically, polypeptides corresponding to adenovirus binding domain D1 and the entire extracellular domain of human CAR protein comprising D1 and D2 are provided. In another aspect, the invention provides nucleic acid sequences encoding these domains and expression vectors for producing the domains and bacterial cells containing such vectors. The invention also includes an isolated fusion protein comprised of the D1 polypeptide fused to a polypeptide which facilitates folding of D1 when expressed in bacteria. The functional D1 domain finds application in a therapeutic method for treating a patient infected with a CAR D1-binding virus, and also in a method for identifying an antiviral compound which interferes with viral attachment. The invention also provides a method for specifically targeting a cell for infection by a virus which binds to D1.

Characterization of the molecular basis for virus attachment to cells has importance both for understanding virus tropism and for developing agents that inhibit virus binding or alter the specificity of binding. Recently, a cellular receptor for adenovirus type 2 (Ad2) and other closely related serotypes was identified. This receptor, encoded by a single gene on human chromosome 21 (Mayr et al., J. Virol. 71: 412-8 (1997)), is a 46 kD glycoprotein which also serves as a receptor for group B coxsackieviruses (CBV) and thus was termed CAR. CAR mRNA is present in varying abundance in many human tissues. A broad tissue distribution of CAR protein expression correlates with the broad tropism of CBV, but subgroup C adenoviruses that are known to bind CAR have a much more restricted tropism limited primarily to the upper respiratory tract. Thus, other factors in addition to receptor availability clearly have important roles in determining adenovirus tropism. Although adenovirus binds to CAR with high affinity (Mayr et al., J. Virol. 71: 412-8 (1997); Wickham et al., Cell. 73: 309-19 (1993)), virus titers are significantly reduced on cells with down-regulated CAR expression (Freimuth, P., J. Virol. 70: 4081-5 (1996)). These results suggest that adenovirus infection in vivo may be restricted to cells which express CAR at levels above a minimum threshold concentration. CAR protein levels are relatively low on the apical surface of differentiated (ciliated) respiratory epithelial cell cultures, which may account for the poor efficiency of adenoviral gene transfer to human lung tissue in vivo.
Adenovirus binding to CAR results from an interaction between rod-shaped proteins located at the capsid vertices, called viral fibers, and the extracellular region of CAR. The distal, carboxy-terminal end of fiber consists of a globular domain, termed the knob, which has receptor-binding activity. The knob domain of adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) was expressed in E. coli as a soluble, trimeric, biologically active protein, and its 3-dimensional structure was determined by x-ray crystallography. The predicted amino acid sequence of CAR suggests a structure consisting of two extracellular domains related to the immunoglobulin IgV and IgC2 domain folds (Bork et al., J. Mol Biol. 242: 309-20 (1994); Bergelson et al., Science 275: 1320-3 (1997); Tomko et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94: 3352-6 (1997)), a single membrane-spanning region, and one carboxy-terminal cytoplasmic domain. Regions of CAR necessary for binding the fiber knob domain have not yet been determined.

Nucleic acid sequences encoding D1 and D1/D2 domains of human coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR)


A data processing apparatus for data processing an audio signal includes an input terminal (1) for receiving the audio signal, a 1-bit A/D converter (4) for A/D converting the audio signal to for a bitstream signal, a prediction unit (10) for carrying out a prediction step on the bitstream signal to form a predicted bitstream signal, a signal combination unit (42) for combining the bitstream signal and the predicted bitstream signal to form a residue bitstream signal, and an output terminal (14) for supplying the residual bitstream signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a data processing apparatus for data processing an audio signal, to a data processing method, a transmitter comprising the data processing apparatus, a transmitter in the form of a recording apparatus, a record carrier, to second data processing apparatus for reconverting an input signal into a replica of the audio signal, to a receiver comprising the second data processing apparatus, to a receiver in the form of a reproducing apparatus and to a transmission signal comprising a data compressed residual bitstream signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data processing an audio signal is well-known in the art. Reference is made in this respect to European Patent Application No. EP-A 402,973, document D1 in the List of Related Documents. The document describes a sub-band coder, in which an audio signal is A/D converted with a specific sampling frequency, such as, 44.1 kHz, and the resulting samples in the form of, e.g., 24-bit words of the audio signal, are supplied to a sub-band splitter filter. The sub-band splitter filter splits the wideband digital audio signal into a plurality of relatively narrow band sub-band signals. Using a psycho-acoustic model, a masked threshold is derived and blocks of samples of the sub-band signals are subsequently quantized with a specific number of bits per sample for each block of the sub-band signals, in response to said masked threshold, resulting in a significant data compression of the audio signal to be transmitted. The data compression carried out is based on 'throwing away' those components in the audio signal that are inaudible, and is, thus, a lossy compression method. The data compression described in document D1 is a rather intelligent data compression method and requires a substantial number of gates or instructions, when realized in hardware or software, respectively, so that it is expensive. Moreover, the subsequent expansion apparatus also requires a substantial number of gates or instructions, when realized in hardware or software, respectively.

Bitstream data reduction coding by applying prediction


An adhesive film which reliably completely covers the spine side of a book block, prior to mating with a cover, is applied by an applicator roller which is controlled to rotate at speeds which are a function of the book block linear velocity and the location of the book block relative to the roller. The applicator rotational speed is determined from stored information and, depending on book block location, will either be greater or less than book block velocity.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the manufacture of books and, particularly, to improvements in the adhesive bonding of "hard" covers to inner books. More specifically, this invention is directed to apparatus for applying a uniform coating of adhesive to the shaped back of a book block prior to the mating of the book block with a cover and, especially, to devices for exercising control over the glue applicator roller of such adhesive applying apparatus. Accordingly, the general objects of the present invention are to provide novel and improved methods and apparatus of such character.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In the manufacture of books on a commercial scale, attachment of the cover to the back of the book block is accomplished by establishment of an adhesive bond. Thus, the gauzing, sticking-back and capitalling of a book requires the application of an adhesive to the shaped back, i.e., the spine side, of the book block. The adhesive is customarily transferred to the book block by means of a profiled applicator roller which is caused to contact the book block back.
In a typical adhesive application procedure, a profiled applicator roller contacts a "scoop" roller which, in turn, is partly immersed in a reservoir containing molten adhesive. Adhesive is transferred from the reservoir to the profiled applicator roller by the "scoop" roller and, in turn, a film of glue is deposited to the book back as the profiled applicator roller rolls along the back of the book block. In one example of the prior art, the profiled applicator roller is movable relative to the back of the book blocks in synchronism with the movement of book blocks as the blocks are transported by a conveying device with their backs directed upwardly.
Experience has proven that the creation of a film of adhesive which extends over the full surface of a shaped book block back cannot be ensured solely through the use of a profiled applicator roller. This inability to achieve gluing over the full surface of the book block arises from the fact that it is impossible for the profile of the applicator roller to exactly match the contour of the backs of all of the book blocks to be processed.
To amplify the above remarks, when the profile of the applicator roller is "flatter" than that of the book block back, a film of glue having approximately the shape of a parabola will be created on the book block and, most importantly, no adhesive will be deposited in the corner regions of the book block back. Conversely, if the applicator roller has a profile which is "steeper" than the shape of a book block back, a region in the center of the block back may receive no adhesive.
A procedure for overcoming the above-briefly discussed deficiencies associated with the use of prior art profiled adhesive applicator rollers is disclosed in European Patent 0 189 580. In accordance with this procedure, during the time the applicator roller is in contact with the book block back, the rotational speed thereof is increased. Restated, European Patent 0 189 580 suggests that the adhesive applicator roller be caused to rotate such that a region on its periphery which is in contact with the book block be moving at a speed which is greater than speed of advance of the book block by a factor of 10-20%. Additionally, in the interest of preventing contamination of the cut face of the book block at the trailing end thereof in the direction of book block movement, this European patent teaches the necessity of reducing the rotational speed of the applicator roller concurrently with its being lifted clear of the book block back.
Implementation of the improved technique described immediately above has required complex, and thus expensive, apparatus. The complexity of this apparatus has been increased by the provision of mechanisms which allow compensation for the height of the book blocks being processed. Such hardware complexity inherently has an adverse effect on reliability.

Method of and apparatus for application of adhesive


The present technology provides a method for preparing an acid-reducing filter that includes depositing a mineral blend layer to a filter substrate, where the mineral blend layer comprises calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate at a weight ratio of about 1:10 to about 10:1, the mineral blend is free of soluble halide or hydroxide salts of alkali or alkaline earth metals, and the mineral blend layer is insoluble in water.

There exists methods of coffee filter production where a water-soluble salt is incorporated into a coffee filter for the goal of adjusting the pH. However, soluble materials dissolve in the cellulose suspension during typical paper filter preparation methods. In addition, when pH reducing compounds are water soluble (such as alkali metal hydroxide salts, etc.), control over the final pH of the beverage (e.g., coffee) is lost since the acid reducing method and the resulting pH are not hindered by any kinetic or thermodynamic steps. Because soluble materials will readily and rapidly dissolve in aqueous solution, there exists no control over the amount of the pH reducing compounds present in the paper filter during manufacture or dissolved into a beverage during use. Therefore, no pH control can be achieved. The present technology is directed to overcoming these and other deficiencies.

Acid-reducing beverage filter and method of producing same


A supporting structure for a cooling water reserve tank for a vehicle in which a powertrain including an engine is supported on a vehicle body by a mounting bracket and a cooling water reserve tank is attached to the mounting bracket via a reserve tank bracket. The cooling water reserve tank and cooling water stored therein is formed as a weight with the reserve tank bracket being formed as an elastic body to thereby constitute a dynamic damper, and a resonant frequency of the dynamic damper substantially coincides with a frequency of vibration occurring at a time of idling operation of the engine.

In a vehicle such as an automobile or car, a powertrain formed from an engine and a transmission arranged in an engine room is elastically supported on a vehicle body by a mounting device so as to suppress vibration transmitted to the vehicle body. The mounting device is formed from a powertrain-side mounting bracket which is attached to the powertrain, a vehicle body-side mounting bracket which is attached to a side member or the like forming the vehicle body, and a bush (bushing) mount for elastically connecting the mounting bracket on the powertrain side and the mounting bracket on the vehicle body side.
Furthermore, the vehicle has auxiliary components and the like for the engine arranged in the engine room. For example, in the engine room of the vehicle, there are provided with a battery for supplying power to the engine and the auxiliary components, and a cooling water reserve tank for securing an expansion space for cooling water in relation to a rising in a temperature and for compensating for a loss of cooling water due to evaporation or the like.
As a supporting structure for a battery, there is provided a structure for attaching a battery tray on which the battery is mounted to the mounting bracket on the vehicle body side of the mounting device via a buffer (for example, Patent Document 1). Furthermore, as a supporting structure for a cooling water reserve tank, there is provided a structure for attaching a reserve tank bracket, to which the reserve tank is attached, to the mounting bracket on the vehicle body side of the mounting device (for example, Patent Document 2).

Supporting structure for cooling water reserve tank of vehicle


Convergent and extrapolated samples are provided for synthesizing sine waves. In a first embodiment, memory having the sine function, sin(x), mapped therein provides convergent samples. Memory size is reduced in a second embodiment by summing the outputs of two memories to produce convergent samples, one memory having an auxiliary function, f(x), mapped therein and a second having the sine function less the auxiliary function, sin(x)-f(x), mapped therein. A sine wave quadrant is conceptually divided into a plurality of uniform phase sectors demarked by boundaries phases. Additional memory provides extrapolation value sets uniquely associated with the sectors. In a given sector, extrapolation samples are produced by serially adding values of the associated extrapolation set to the convergent samples selected in the sector. An auxiliary function is chosen to closely approximate the sine function at at least the sector boundary phases, the difference between it and the sine function never exceeding the dynamic range of the sin(x)-f(x) memory. Each extrapolation value set can define a ramp having a slope closely matching the sine function slope within the set's associated sector. The first embodiment's extrapolation sets are derived from the second terms of Taylor Series expansions of the sine function at sector boundary phases. The second embodiment's extrapolation sets can be likewise derived but are adjusted as needed to compensate for quantization errors introduced by truncating the f(x) samples and limiting there number, both done to reduce memory size.

This invention relates in general to devices and processes for reducing the amount of quantized data required to faithfully reproduce a sinusoidal signal over a range of frequencies, and in particular to such devices and processes in a direct-digital frequency synthesizer which uses quantized samples of the signal produced from summations of values stored in multiple sample memories.
The process used in conventional direct-digital frequency synthesizers is to communicate the output (phase) of a clocked, variable-increment, phase accumulator to a memory wherein quantized samples of the function being synthesized are mapped, i.e. stored in order of recall. The digital data from the memory is converted to corresponding analog signals which are then suitably filtered to remove high frequencies components inherently introduced by the process. Such a process is a general process for producing a wide variety of functions, e.g., sine, sawtooth, square wave, etc. Also, if the function being produced has symmetry, it is common to take advantage of the symmetry by mapping into the memory only that portion of the function which repeats itself for the purpose of reducing the amount of memory needed. For example, only a quadrant of a sine function, that is, 90 degrees, need be mapped because the other quadrants can be generated by simple digital manipulation. This process saves about 75% of the memory otherwise required.
This invention has the very significant advantage of allowing a further reduction in the amount of memory required for phase to sine wave conversion/transformation; the reduction can be by over 90% of the memory otherwise required. For example, in order to conventionally map magnitude samples of a sine function singularly corresponding to the phase outputs of a fourteen-bit phase accumulator (M=14) into a sample memory having a twelve-bit resolution output (K=12), one needs 2.sup.M .times.K bits of memory, which calculates to 196,608 bits, i.e. 16,384 quantized samples stored each as a twelve-bit binary number. For low and moderate speed operations, such large memories with suitable access times are available, but they are not currently available for high speed operations, e.g., over 50 Mhz. This invention can accomplish the same task, i.e., produce up to 2.sup.12 twelve-bit quantized samples, but only requires about 3152 bits of sample memory (in the preferred embodiment as discussed herein), a memory size that can be currently achieved for such high speed applications.
Heretofore, no direct-digital synthesizing device or process has been presented which takes advantage of characteristics of a sine wave as does this invention. This invention goes further and takes advantage of the smooth, monotonic, convex (albeit non-linear) properties of the sine wave. It uses piece-wise linear extrapolation and manipulation possible because of certain mathematical properties as will be explained.
A further advantage of this invention lies in the fact that the sample memories need not output data words wider than eight binary bits. From the standpoint of manufacturing integrated devices, this is very advantageous.
Other advantages and attributes of this invention will be readily discernible upon a reading of the text herein.

Source of quantized samples for synthesizing sine waves


A digital work may be annotated using an eBook reader device. Upon receiving an annotation relating to a specific portion of the digital work, an invariant location reference identifier corresponding to the specified portion of the digital work may be appended to the annotation. The annotation may then be stored in association with the digital work for later reference. In some instances, an annotation may be presented on an eBook reader device upon receipt of a valid authorization credential granting access to the annotation.

For many years, print media provided the only way to transmit information and ideas in a fixed form. With the advent of photography and audio recording, additional media have become available for transmitting information and ideas. Moreover, with the widespread use of the Internet, it has become possible to distribute large, coherent units of media, such as books, using electronic technologies. The information in such media, however, is static. That is, updated information is provided only by preparing and distributing additional media. However, widespread distribution of updated information, including comments, supplements, features, thoughts, insights, etc., becomes difficult when the information is authored by multiple parties. Media consumers having additional information or insight typically do not have a way to effectively share that information with other consumers. What is needed is a method and system that allows users of media to easily annotate the media and afterward distribute such annotations to others in an economical and efficient manner.
Another problem that arises with electronic media is that display conditions (e.g., screen size, font type or size, screen resolution, margins, line spacing, etc.) affect the amount of content that can be displayed on a given display screen. Electronic media is typically structured as virtual frames presented on a display device, and a user may turn or change from one virtual frame or "page" of electronic content to another. The term "page" as used herein refers to a collection of content that is presented at one time on a display. Thus, "pages" as described herein are not fixed permanently, and may be redefined or repaginated based on variances in display conditions, such as screen size, font type or size, margins, line spacing, resolution, or the like. Accordingly, it may be difficult or impossible for a user reading electronic media on one display device to meaningfully communicate a page cite or annotation to a reader of the same electronic media on another display device, because one or more of the foregoing display conditions may be different.


A relief grinding device (100) is disclosed including a flange assembly (106) slideably mounted on and rotatable with a grinding shaft (18) which is mounted on the free ends of pivot arms (14) pivotally mounted to a table (12). A grinding wheel (108) is mounted to and rotatable with the flange assembly (106). A back relief housing (114) is rotatably mounted to the flange assembly (106) and held at an adjustable angle on the grinding shaft (18) by a back relief restraint (124) adjustably secured thereto and slideable on a support shaft (102). A stop (134) for abutting with the first face of the blade is mounted to a holder (128) slideably mounted to a mount (122) of the back relief housing (114). A guide finger (138) for abutting with the opposite face of the blade is slideably mounted to the holder (128) and a holding block (136) secured to the stop (134). The blade freely passes between the stop (134) and the guide finger (138) which maintain the position and orientation of the blade relative to the grinding wheel (108) grinding a relief grind on the radially outer edge of the blade.

The present invention generally relates to devices for relief grinding blades, particularly to devices for relief grinding blades of mower reels, and specifically to mower reel blade relief grinding devices utilized in a table-type sharpening system including a spin grinding device.
When manufactured, mower reels are ground to be perfect cylinders. The diameter at all points is equal. The bed knife is mounted so it is perfectly parallel to the blade surface across the full width of the mower. When the blades and knife are properly aligned the best cut is obtained.
Usually two things happen to cause a reel to lose its shape and become tapered. First, most cutting units require that field adjustments be made to keep reel and bedknife in the best cutting proximity. Excessive adjustment on one side causes the reel blades on that side to wear faster. Repetition of the overadjustment actually compounds the problem. The reel loses its cylindrical shape and becomes tapered. The second reason reels lose their cylindrical shape is traced to the very nature of the reels themselves. The natural helix (or twist) in the reel blades causes the "lead in" end of the reel to wear faster. The diameter at that end becomes smaller. Each time the mower reel is adjusted, the accelerated wear continues and the "lead in" diameter becomes even smaller.
If the simple "touch method" of alignment for sharpening is utilized where each end of the mower reel is contacted with the grinding wheel, the reel's conical or tapered condition is not corrected and the reel is not restored to a true cylinder. The difference between the two ends continues to increase, and eventually the taper exceeds the mower's range of adjustment.
To remove the conical shape and restore the reel back to a sharp cylindrical shape with all blade cutting edges ground to the same distance from the reel shaft, a grinding wheel is rotated and moved along an axis parallel to and spaced from the reel shaft while the reel is rotating on the reel shaft. One type of system utilized to spin grind a mower reel and which has been very commercially successful is of the table top variety. Specifically, the reel is mounted by suitable means above a table and with the reel shaft being parallel to and spaced from a grinding shaft. The grinding wheel is rotatable with but axially movable along the grinding shaft.
However, although table top grinding systems have been very successful in spin grinding, prior to the present invention they were unable to provide relief grinding of the blades of the mower reel. Relief grinding removes the excess steel behind the cutting edge (particularly on thick or heavy bladed reels) to allow the reel to operate with less wear and tear on its cutting surface and mow with less power consumption by the mower.
Thus, a need has arisen for a device for providing relief grinding of blades of a mower reel which can be utilized with a rotating grinding shaft and particularly which can be utilized in a table top grinding system.


A circuit arrangement is provided, the circuit arrangement including a processor; a memory circuit connected to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to access the memory circuit; a blocking circuit configured to generate one or more random wait state signals which prevent the processor from accessing the memory circuit; and an integrity checking circuit configured to check the memory circuit during a wait state period of the one or more random wait state signals.

In Hardware Secure Modules (HSM) it is desirable to monitor the integrity of program code or data by an integrity checking circuit which is independent from the central processing unit (CPU) itself. The integrity checking circuit may be implemented in a less tamper prone way than the CPU system. For example the integrity checking circuit may be implemented as hardwired logic. When a change of the memory content is detected, the CPU may be halted, thereby increasing the tamper resistance of the overall system. Furthermore, hardware secure modules may be resistant against side channel attacks by inserting random wait-states into the CPU execution flow. For example, side channel attacks may be executed by monitoring the power supply during operations, e.g. during security related operations. Inserting random wait states into the CPU execution flow may disperse the power profile over time and may remove visible characteristics of security related operations. Random wait-state insertion may be used to prevent side-channel attacks. Both integrity checking and random wait-state insertion may slow down the program execution of the CPU.

Circuit arrangement, a method for forming a circuit arrangement, and method for integrity checking


An apparatus for controlling propagation of incident electromagnetic radiation is described, comprising a composite material having electromagnetically reactive cells of small dimension relative to a wavelength of the incident electromagnetic radiation. At least one of a capacitive and inductive property of at least one of the electromagnetically reactive cells is temporally controllable to allow temporal control of an associated effective refractive index encountered by the incident electromagnetic radiation while propagating through the composite material.

Devices for temporal control of the propagation of electromagnetic radiation represent fundamental building blocks for many modern technologies. Where a single spatial dimension is involved, such as in the propagation of a fiber optic communications signal down an optical fiber, such control is commonly achieved by devices affecting the amplitude of the propagating light (e.g., OFF/ON). In that environment, one-dimensional electrooptical modulators are often used that are based on electrooptic and/or magnetooptic materials such as calcite, quartz, and lithium niobate that change their refractive index responsive to applied control signals, the materials being arranged into Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) or similar devices converting induced phase changes into amplitude changes by interference effects. Other one-dimensional electrooptical modulators include electroabsorption modulators variably absorbing the incident signal according to an applied electric field, and acoustic wave modulators using high-frequency sound traveling within a crystal or a planar wave guide to deflect light from one place to another. Among other issues, such as limited power-handling ability, the above modulators each have substantial bandwidth limitations, e.g., practical limits to the speed at which they can vary the output signal between ON and OFF. By way of example, the maximum bit rate of many of the above electrooptic/magnetooptic effect modulators, as well as many of the above electroabsorption modulators, is on the order of 10-40 GHz, while many acoustic wave modulators have an even lower maximum bit rate.
Where two spatial dimensions are involved, e.g., in the controlled propagation of electromagnetic wavefronts in imaging systems, devices for temporal control of the propagating radiation include liquid crystal-based spatial light modulators (SLMs) and microelectromechanical (MEMs)-based SLMs, each generally providing for pixelwise amplitude or phase modulation of the propagating radiation. Among other issues, each of these SLM types has substantial bandwidth limitations. Although some liquid-crystal SLMs may use optical control signals rather than electrical control signals, pixel response times are nevertheless on the order of microseconds (binary) or milliseconds (analog). Typical response times for so-called digital micromirror devices, one type of commercially available MEMs SLM, are on the order of microseconds. Other issues relating to the above devices for one- or two-dimensional control of propagating radiation include power consumption, power handling ability, size, and environmental considerations.
One particular scenario involving control of the propagation of electromagnetic radiation relates to coupling pump laser light into a target device. This can be a desirable objective in many cases, such as for optically pumping the core of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) using pump light from a semiconductor diode laser. In order to facilitate higher power (e.g., one watt or greater) without damaging the semiconductor diode laser, the facet of semiconductor diode laser is often made relatively large. The transverse spatial modes of the semiconductor diode laser can become quite irregular, and light can be emitted with a numerical aperture on the order of 0.3-0.4, for example. However, the EDFA core usually has a small circular mode and can only receive light with a smaller numerical aperture on the order of 0.2, for example. Coupling the pump light into the EDFA core using a tapered optical fiber and cylindrical lens can yield relatively low efficiencies. More generally, it may be a desirable objective to couple source radiation from a source device having a first transverse spatial mode pattern into a target device having a second transverse spatial mode pattern that may be substantially different than the first transverse spatial mode pattern.
Accordingly, in relation to at least one of the above one-dimensional and two-dimensional contexts, it would be desirable to control the propagation of electromagnetic radiation in a manner that at least partially resolves one or more of the above issues. It would be further desirable to provide one or more useful devices based on such control capabilities.

Composite material with controllable resonant cells

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A current sensor includes at least one primary circuit that is intended to conduct the current to be measured, and a secondary circuit containing at least four Neel-effect® transducers, each having a coil and a superparamagnetic core. The current sensor is designed on the basis of a printed circuit board, the primary circuit including at least two distinct metal tracks that are composed of one and the same metal and connected to one another by a via made of a rivet, of a tube or of an electrolytic deposit of the same metal.

The present invention relates to a device for measuring a magnetic field and more particularly a device for measuring direct and/or alternating currents of a primary conductor. The field of the invention is that of the measurement of magnetic fields (magnetometers) or the measurement of electric currents via the magnetic fields thereof (contactless current transducer).
In the field of DC current sensors, "shunts" are known that have great immunity to interfering currents and make it possible to measure currents accurately, but they are not naturally isolated. The use of a shunt requires isolating electronics, which is generally expensive and bulky, and not very robust in a harsh environment (in particular at high temperature). For high-voltage applications (>50V), there are solutions with optical isolation. In general the material used for measurement is a material the resistivity of which has a constant thermal drift of approximately zero (for example constantan). Sometimes copper is used directly, and it is then necessary to provide thermal drift compensation, which makes measurement more complicated and generally makes it less accurate. Among the defects of the shunt, the presence of a voltage drop and power dissipation by the Joule effect should be noted. For a 1000 A sensor there is typically a resistance of 10 μΩ and thus thermal dissipation of 10 W. One of the consequences is great difficulty in using a shunt in a compact system owing to its self-heating.
In general a shunt is also fairly bulky to allow proper thermal dissipation without exceeding its maximum temperature.
Finally, the shunt has a very limited bandwidth due to self-induction effects, except in the case of non-inductive shunts, the volumes, weight and costs of which are prohibitive apart from some very uncommon metrology applications.
The open-loop Hall Effect sensors are of low accuracy and are very sensitive to interfering currents. In order to improve their immunity, magnetic shielding is often used, which introduces additional faults: it is subject to strong magnetic remanence with time and temperature drift.
Zero-flux Hall effect sensors are accurate and are based on the use of a magnetic core, which serves as magnetic shielding and field collimator. However, they are also subject to magnetic remanence drift over time and with respect to temperature. They are also large and bulky owing to the presence of the core of magnetic material, required for channelling the magnetic flux and for shielding. The limit of operation at high temperature is often imposed by the ferromagnetic core.
Flux Gate technology is very sensitive and accurate but is extremely sensitive to cross-talk and to perturbed environments owing to the high permeability of its magnetic material. The technology then requires heavy and bulky shielding solutions in order to prevent local saturation of the transducer core under the effect of a magnetic field.
The GMR (Giant MagnetoResistance) and/or AMR (Anisotropic MagnetoResistance), or even TMR (Tunnel MagnetoResistance) technologies are relatively sensitive and accurate when they make use of the zero-flux principle. They can easily be incorporated in an integrated circuit, except for the compensating coil, which poses a problem for strong fields and therefore limits the applicable range of current. Consequently, they are relatively sensitive to cross-talk phenomena and they also display drift of their magnetic offset owing to the ferromagnetic nature of their transducer.
Fibre-optic current sensors (FOCSs) are based on the Faraday Effect. They give very good performance for measuring very high currents (up to 600 kA). They have excellent immunity to cross-talk, and excellent performance when operating at zero flux. The latter leads to high power consumption for high currents. However, FOCSs are not applicable a priori for the requirements of integration, as they are relatively bulky and necessitate surrounding the primary conductor.
Current sensors of the transformer type (of the "Rogowski" type with air core or CT with magnetic core) have relatively low sensitivity to cross-talk, but they do not allow measurement of the DC components.
Moreover, for most of the technologies used, sudden changes in primary voltage (dV/dt) cause injections of parasitic currents, which may be prohibitive at the level of the electronics of the sensor (at best saturation of the measurement stages, at worst destruction). It is particularly sensitive in the case of the shunt. Certain technologies such as the transformer (CT, Rogowski or Hall or Flux Gate) allow the use of an electrostatic screen, since magnetic field measurement is carried out in a torus outside of the primary conductor.
The Neel Effect® is very accurate. Neel Effect® is the name for the technology described in patent FR 2,891,917, based on the use of a coil and of a magnetic composite without remanence B(H) the third derivative of which at the origin has an extremum (for example a superparamagnetic composite). The Neel Effect® technology has low sensitivity to external fields owing to the low permeability of their magnetic material. They exist in a "universal" flexible form of the Rogowski type for measuring direct currents (patent FR 2,931,945). This topology has high immunity to cross-talk, being based on Ampere's law and measuring circulation of the magnetic field on a substantially closed external contour. This topology has the same advantages and drawbacks as the other technologies from the standpoint of integration: they are large because they have to surround the primary conductor and they have high electric power consumption in order to operate at zero flux.
Compact topologies have also been described for Neel Effect® sensors based on a measurement directly on a busbar or even inside a busbar, in order to allow a significant reduction in consumption despite operation at zero flux (French patent applications No. 1158584 and No. 1162100). However, with these topologies it is difficult to be able to ensure good withstand strength under voltage, in addition to adding an electrostatic screen and having high immunity to cross-talk.
French patent application No. 15 52694 is also known, which describes a compact topology of a Neel Effect® sensor based on the use of an IpHp conversion component and a field transducer consisting of two antiparallel-mounted differential pairs.
The aim of the present invention is to improve the existing Neel Effect® sensors by making them more compact and for use with a wide bandwidth.
A further aim of the present invention is to provide a current sensor allowing linear measurement and having low thermal drift over a wide frequency range.

Neel effect® isolated DC/AC current sensor incorporated in a PCB


A method and system for automatic camera configuration, upon establishment of a communication session is described. A number is entered into a video phone and a first segment of a communication session is established between the video phone and a service system. The service system retrieves and stores a current default pan, tilt, zoom (PTZ) setting from the video phone camera. The service system transmits the video phone's corresponding camera PTZ preset settings and the video phone configures the camera according to the preset. Upon termination of the communication session, a video relay service (VRS) transmits the default PTZ setting to the video phone and the video phone reconfigures the camera according to the original camera setting.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to increased efficiency in a video phone communication system, and more specifically, to a method and system for automatically configuring a video phone during a communication session.
2. State of the Art
Video phone communication systems provide visual and audio communication between two or more users during a communication session. A video phone camera at a first location can transmit and receive audio and video signals to and from a video phone camera at a second location such that participants at the first location are perceived to be present or face-to-face with participants at a second location and vice versa. Video phones typically include a camera, display device, telephone keypad, speaker and a microphone all of which are operatively connected. Several video phones on the market are equipped with "Pan Tilt Zoom" (PTZ) cameras, which allow the camera to pan the room and locate a particular location. Typically, users can adjust the pan, tilt, and zoom functions from either the near side or remote side.
Video phone communication systems span a variety of applications. One possible application of a video phone system includes facilitization of a communication session with a deaf or hearing-impaired user. A hearing-impaired user can use a video phone during a communication session to relay his or her expressions. The expressions, such as sign language and/or body language, may be interpreted or translated by a translation service such as a video relay service (VRS). The translation service provides a hearing-capable user who relays the expressions of the hearing-impaired caller to a user on the other end of the communication session in a conventional manner, such as through the use of a voice-based dialogue conveyed over a conventional voice phone.
Traditionally, at the beginning of a video phone communication session, users are required to align the camera in order to locate and focus on a particular location. Even though a hearing-impaired user may sit in the same location from one call to the next, an interpreter on the other end may spend time at the beginning of a call attempting to adjust the camera in order to obtain an improved view of the hearing-impaired user. Because live interpreters are very expensive, valuable time can be wasted at the beginning of a call while framing the user in the picture.
Therefore, in order to provide increased efficiency for users of a video phone communication system where a calling party needs the assistance of an intermediary service, a need exists for improving efficiencies during the setup time of each call.

Method and system for auto configuration in a video phone system


A fuel-saving driving diagnostic device stores an external power amount which indicates an amount of power charged by an external device and an internal power amount which indicates an amount of power charged by vehicle driving. The fuel-saving driving diagnostic device calculates a driving power amount which indicates an amount of power required for vehicle driving based on the stored external power amount, stored internal power amount, and an amount of power a vehicle currently has, and makes a diagnosis of fuel-saving driving based on the calculated driving power amount and the stored external power amount. As a result, sufficient information is calculated for prompting the driver of a plug-in hybrid car to do the fuel-saving driving.

In recent years, global environmental issues such as measures against global warming have become focused. Carbon dioxide emission caused by the use of fossil fuel such as petroleum has come to an issue. In particular, emissions from gasoline-fueled automobiles and the like have been brought into question.
To address these issues, various electric automobiles have been developed to reduce emissions: for example, solar cars using solar cells as their power source, fuel-cell cars using fuel cells as their power source, hybrid cars using both gasoline and electricity (electric motor) have been developed.
The electric automobiles mentioned above are driven by a gasoline-fueled engine for running on the one hand, and recharge a battery that stores electric energy by driving the engine on the other. Recently, electric cars such as plug-in hybrid cars which can be recharged by plugging into a household wall socket without using an engine have been developed. However, emissions of these automobiles still cause serious problems. Hence, various technologies to help drivers of automobiles to reduce emission have been disclosed.
For example, a technology for calculating and displaying the driving efficiency of a hybrid car to its driver has been disclosed. This technology uses accelerations and instant fuel consumptions of the hybrid car calculated based on the driving distance and the fuel consumption thereof to calculate the driving efficiency (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Patent Documents
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-253727

Fuel-saving rating device and power amount management device


Disclosed are primary materials, precursor materials and final materials as well as methods to prepare these materials. The final materials are mixed lithium transition metal oxides, useful as performance optimized cathode materials for rechargeable lithium batteries. The transition metal is a solid solution mixture of manganese, nickel and cobalt, M=(Mn1-uNiu)1-u-yCoy, with 0.2.

State of art cathode material for rechargeable lithium batteries are transition metal oxides with layered crystal structure (r-3m) like LiCoO2, LiNiO2, LiCoxNi1−xO2, doped LiCoxNi1−xO2 (using dopands like Al, Mn, Mn1/2Ni1/2, Mg, Ti1/2Mg1/2), LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2, Li(Ni1/2Mn1/2)1−xCoxO2, Li1+xM1−xO2 (M=Mn1−yNiy), LiCo1−x(Ni1/2Mn1/2)xO2 etc. Generally these materials are powders. These materials have different properties, but generally the composition in the outer bulk near to the surface of a particle is the same as the composition in the inner bulk, near to the center of the particle. Much work has been spent to optimize the composition and morphology for such cathode material. This approach can be summarized as the "uniform approach". "Uniform" cathode materials have a composition, which is the same in the outer and inner bulk. A uniform composition can be simple (like Co in LiCoO2) or complex. Recent disclosures show that lithium transition metal oxides with complex metal composition have improved properties. Complex lithium transition metal oxides are described in various patents, without claim for completeness a few will be mentioned.
PCT—WO141238 A1 (Paul Scherrer Institute, Swizterland) with priority Dec. 3, 1999 describes complex materials basing on doped LiNi1/2Mn1/2O2, prepared from precipitated precursors.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,635 (Matsushita) describes LiNiO2 doped by Mn or Co.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,040,090 (Sanyo) describes materials having a certain X-ray diffraction feature. The patent covers a very wide selection of doped LiNiO2, where dopands are Mn, Co, Al etc. The patent claims also include complex materials, with composition LixMO2, where M is (Ni1/2Mn1/2)1−xCox.
EP1 189 296 A2 (Ilion) with priority Mar. 9, 2001 claims lithium rich materials Li1+xM1−xO2 with M=(Mn1−uNiu)1−yCoy with u≅0.5, x>0 and y<⅓.
US20030108793 and US20030027048 (3M) with later priority (Aug. 7, Apr. 27, 2001) claim an extremely wide range of solid state solutions within the quaternary system LiCoO2—LiNi1/2Mn1/2O2—Li[Li1/2Mn2/3]O2—LiNi1/2Mn1/2O2, but eventually focusing on materials which are solid state solutions of Li[Li1/2Mn2/3]O2 with LiNi1/2Mn1/2O2 or solid state solutions of LiCoO2— with LiNi1/2Mn1/2O2.
Excellent results of complex cathode materials were reported: Examples are materials like Li[LixM1−x]O2 with x≅0.05 and M=(Mn1/2Ni1/2)5/6Co1/6 (Paulsen&Ammundsen, 11th International Meeting on Lithium Batteries (IMLB 11), Cathodes II, Ilion/Pacific Lithium), LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 as demonstrated by Ohzuku (Makimura&Ohzuku, Proceedings of the 41st battery symposium on 2D20 and 2D21, Nagoya, Japan 2000 or N. Yabuuchi, T. Ohzuku, J. of Power sources 2003, (in print) ) or doped LiCoO2 demonstrated by Prof. Dahn's group (S. Jouanneau et all., J. Electrochem. Soc. 150, A1299, 2003).
Generally, the optimum of all uniform compositions is a compromise between many different requirements, like cost, processing and performance/properties. These requirements cannot be met simultaneously. This is because the requirements for the inner bulk, the outer bulk and the surface of the particle are different. Consequently, conventional materials with a uniform stoichiometry do not represent the optimum regarding cost, processing and properties, and as a general conclusion, materials with uniform composition are not fully optimized.
Previously, some work, usually called "surface coating", has been spent to engineer cathode materials. The coating approach is for example described by Y. J. Kim et all., J. Electrochem. Soc. 149 A1337, J. Cho et all., J. Electrochem. Soc. 149 A127, J. Cho et all., J. Electrochem. Soc. 149 A288, Z. Chen et all., J. Electrochem. Soc. 149 Al 604, Z. Chen, J. Dahn, Electrochem. and solid-state letters, 5, A213 (2002), Z. Chen, J. Dahn, Electrochem. and solid-state letters, 6, A221 (2003), J. Cho et all., Electrochem. and solid-state letters, 2, 607 (1999), J. Cho and G. Kim, Electrochem. and solid-state letters, 2, 253 (1999), J. Cho et all., J. Electrochem. Soc. 148 A 1110 (2001), J. Cho et all., Electrochem. and solid-state letters, 3, 362, (2000), J. Cho et all., Electrochem. and solid-state letters, 4, A159, (2001), Z. Whang et all., J. Electrochem. Soc. 149, A466 (2002), J. Cho, Solid State Ionics, 160 (2003) 241-245.
In the surface coating literature, a small amount of a compound M2 is coated onto the surface of particles having the composition M1, usually followed by a heat treatment. Depending on the choice of M2 and M1, and depending on preparation conditions, two extreme cases exist: Case 1: A very thin layer around the particle has a significantly different stoichiometry than the bulk of the particle. Case 2: An extended region at the outside of the particle has a small change of stoichiometry.
To achieve performance optimized materials, it is however required, that both the change of stoichiometry is significant, as well as that the regions with different stoichiometry are extended.
A cathode material, usually with layered crystal structure (preferred LiCoO2) was coated by a gel, containing another metal, followed by a mild heat treatment. Metals of choice were Al, Sn, Zr, Mg, Mn, Co. In most cases, no solid state solution between LiCoO2 and the metal exist, so that the surface is partially or completely coated by a localized second phase, showing phase boundaries, and a steep change of stoichiometry across the boundary. The composition of inner bulk and outer bulk is the same. In some cases a solid state solution between the LixMO2 cathode and the coating metal exist. In this case a gradient of composition of the coated metal is achieved. However, generally, only small or very small amount of the metal were coated, not exceeding about 0.03 mol or less coating metal per 1 mol of LixMO2 cathode. As a result the composition M1, M2 in the inner bulk and the outer bulk differ significantly only for the coating metal composition, but not significantly (<10%) for the bulk transition metal.
Typical coated cathode particles are covered by a very thin, often incomplete surface of a metal oxide phase with a sharp phase boundary. It is discussed in the literature, that the coating prevents the contact of electrolyte with cathode, thus hindering unwanted side reactions. During charge-discharge, a cathode like LiCoO2 expands and contracts. It is speculated that a "hard" surface could mechanically prevent the exapansion-contraction, thus limiting the strain within the bulk, and causing better cycling stability. In this case a thin coating layer with relatively sharp interface between bulk and coating layer will experience significant local strain. A thin surface cannot accompany this strain, resulting in cracks, or loss of mechanical contact, thus making the coating layer less efficient. Additionally the coating material might be electrochemically inert, not contributing to the charge capacity of the cathode material. The surface layer of coated cathode powders is typically formed by a separated "wet" sol-gel step, followed by a mild heating. Sol gel technology is expensive, thus increasing the cost.
It also needs to be mentioned that the effectiveness of the coating is severe questioned. Recent publications by J. Dahns group (Z. Chen, J. Dahn, Electrochem. and solid-state letters, 6, A221 (2003) and Z. Chen, J. Dahn, Abs 329, 204th ECS Meeting, Orlando) show that not the coating, but rather the heat treatment of LiCoO2 is responsible for the observed performance improvement.
From a general point of view, coated cathode materials are not fully optimized. It is not sufficient to distinguish between different requirements for bulk and surface properties only, for a full optimization it is also required to optimize the cathode for different requirements for the properties in the inner bulk, the outer bulk and at the surface.
The actual invention is instead focusing on materials with significantly different transition metal stoichimetry in the inner bulk, outer bulk and surface. In cathode materials of this invention, the transition metal stoichimetry changes smoothly over an extended region of the particle. In cathode materials of this invention, the outer bulk expands or contracts in a similar way as the inner bulk. Therefore mechanical integrity is guaranteed. Furthermore, the modified layer is electrochemically active, therefore no capacity of the cathode is lost.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,555,269 (J. Cho et all., submitted by Samsung) describes LiCoO2 coated by metal selected from Al, Mg, Sn, Ca, Ti, Mn. The coating is made by sol-gel technique, followed by a mild heat treatment at 150-500° C. The maximum amount of metal per Co is 6%. The final cathode does not contain nickel. Furthermore, Ca and Sn (and probably Mg) do not form solid state solutions with LiCoO2. Manganese and titanium only form solid state solutions if fully lithiated to Li2TiO3 and Li2MnO3. This approach does not achieve a Mn—Ni—Co based material as described in the actual invention, where the manganese composition, as well as cobalt composition as well as nickel composition of inner bulk and outer bulk change significantly. Particularly, particles having a layered crystal structure and with smooth but significant spatial change of stoichiometry are not achieved.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,274,273 (J. Cho et all., submitted by Samsung) describes a an active material, being lithium manganese spinel, coated by cobalt, thus establishing a concentration gradient of cobalt. The cathode material is prepared coating the spinel by sol-gel, followed by a heat treatment below 850° C. The amount of Co (per Mn) is limited to below 5%. Only very small stoichiometric changes of the base manganese are achieved. FIG. 5a for example would lead to the conclusion, that the manganese stoichiometry only varies by about 1%, ranging from 0.963 at the surface to about 0.973 in the center of the particle. Neither the starting lithium manganese oxide nor the coating metal contain nickel. This approach does not deliver a Mn—Co—Ni material according the present invention, and having a significant change of manganese, nickel and cobalt stoichiometry.
J. Cho, Solid State Ionics, 160 (2003) 241-245 describes the coating of LiCoO2 by Li—Mn spinel particles. Basically a slurry, containing balhmilled microsized spinel is added to a slurry containing LiCoO2. The final material does not contain nickel. It is questionable, if a thick coating can be achieved at all by the described method. In the beginning, spinel might be coated onto the surface of LiCoO2. But, as soon as the surface is covered by spinel, further coating of spinel would require the attachment of spinel particles to the spinel covered surface of the LiCoO2 . This attachment, however, is not limited to the surface of LiCoO2 particles, it will also cause an uncontrolled agglomeration of spinel particles. As a result, either the surface is thin, or only partially coated, or significant agglomerates of spinel, without LiCoO2 core will be present. In fact, FIG. 1 shows different types of particles and indicates that a significant fraction of the particles are agglomerates of spinel without LiCoO2 core.
Some patents describe cathode materials with non-uniform composition. Improved electrochemical properties are for example reported for mixtures of LiNi1−xCoxO2 and lithium manganese spinel. These cathodes are however uniform (i.e. not non-uniform) in the sense of the actual invention because particles have the same composition in the outer and inner bulk.

Lithium transition metal oxide with gradient of metal composition


A method of determining the purity of oxygen present in an oxygen-enriched gas produced from an oxygen delivery system is disclosed. The oxygen delivery system includes at least one sieve bed having a nitrogen-adsorbing material disposed therein and configured to adsorb nitrogen from a feed gas introduced into the at least two sieve beds via a pressure-swing adsorption cycle. The method includes determining a quantity of nitrogen adsorbed by the nitrogen-adsorbing material by inferring an effective volume of the at least one sieve bed based on a pressure change of the at least one sieve bed.

The present disclosure relates generally to oxygen delivery and, more particularly, to a method of determining the purity of oxygen present in an oxygen-enriched gas produced from an oxygen delivery system.
Oxygen delivery systems are often used to produce an oxygen-enriched gas for the user. Some oxygen delivery systems are oxygen concentrating systems including one or more gas fractionalization systems configured to separate oxygen from other components (e.g., nitrogen) in a feed gas to produce the oxygen-enriched gas. The gas fractionalization system(s), for example, may include one or more sieve beds having a nitrogen-adsorbing material disposed therein and configured to adsorb at least nitrogen from the feed gas. One technology used to adsorb nitrogen is referred to as Standard Pressure-Swing Adsorption (PSA). During PSA, nitrogen is selectively adsorbed in the nitrogen-adsorbing material due to pressure changes in the sieve beds, leaving the oxygen-enriched gas to be delivered to the user.
The purity of the oxygen-enriched gas produced by gas fractionalization systems such as those described above is often directly measured in the oxygen delivery system. For example, the oxygen delivery system may include an oxygen sensor coupled to a user conduit, a user outlet, or the like, that directly measures the purity of the oxygen present in the oxygen-enriched gas.

Method of determining the purity of oxygen present in an oxygen-enriched gas produced from an oxygen delivery system