According to one embodiment, a transmitting device includes a transmitter configured to transmit a frame; a first carrier sensor configured to perform carrier sense in a wider bandwidth than a signal bandwidth to be used for a transmission of the frame by the transmitter; and an idle detector configured to determine whether the first carrier sensor succeeds in detecting an idle for a period that is equal to or more than a period for the transmitter to transmit the frame. The transmitter is configured to, when the idle detector succeeds in the idle detection, start the transmission of the frame after a lapse of a first period after the success of the idle detection.

Industry-Science-Medical (ISM) bands such as 2.4 GHz band are used by various types of industrial equipment. The industrial equipment generates electromagnetic waves that may interfere with wireless communication of communication devices for wireless communication. Some of the interference sources are electromagnetic waves having a periodicity. There is a possible method that detects the periodicity of the electromagnetic waves and performs wireless communication based on the detection result in order to avoid influence of the interference.
An exemplary interference source having the periodicity includes an unnecessary electromagnetic wave that is radiated from a microwave oven in a wide band in the 2.4 GHz band. Another exemplary interference source having the periodicity includes a beacon signal from access points (AP) of a wireless local area network (LAN) compliant with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11b standard and IEEE 802.11g standard.
Recently, a following wireless communication method has been proposed. In this method, a transmitting device side performs transmission on a certain channel in the band while a receiving device side performs reception on all the channels in the band without a narrow band filter that extracts a signal on one channel in the band. This method can save the cost of the receiving device side.
Even in the case where the transmitting side performs transmission on the one channel while the receiving side performs reception on all the channels, the transmitting side can perform transmission on the one channel without being affected by the interference. However, a problem arises in that the receiving side is interfered by the electromagnetic wave that is radiated from another interference source.

Transmitting device and transmitting method


An image encoder of the present invention includes an encoder unit for generating first encoded data, re-encoder unit for re-encoding the first encoded data to generate second encoded data, parameter updating unit for updating of the encoder unit when the sum of data amount of the first and second encoded data reaches a target amount, and controller for starting a re-encoding process when the sum reaches the target amount. The encoder unit encodes still unencoded image data using all encoding parameters that are updated from the parameter that has been used at the beginning of the encoding of the source image data. The image encoder thus encodes image data into data having a desired data amount on a substantial real-time basis. When the encoded data is decoded, non-uniformity in image quality of the decoded image due to different numbers of encoding and decoding operations is controlled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control technique in an encoding process for encoding digital image data to convert the digital image data into encoded data having a predetermined data amount.
2. Description of the Related Art
A number of apparatuses are equipped with the function of compression encoding a still image. Digital cameras are available as a typical example of such apparatuses. Many digital copying apparatuses have also the function of compression encoding.
In such a digital copying apparatus, a document reader reads an original document and image using an optical sensor or the like, and source image data is reproduced by performing a diversity of image processes.
When the source image data is transferred to a printer, the amount of data to be transferred is reduced. The document reader is thus provided with the function of compression encoding the source image data.
On the other hand, the printer is provided with the function of decompression decoding for decoding an encoded data stream.
The amount of data of the encoded data stream obtained through the compression encoding process is typically smaller than a fraction of the amount of the image data prior to the compression coding process, i.e., a fraction of the amount of the source image data.
It is preferred that a distortion due to the compression encoding (an image degradation) is as small as a value (a compression rate) that cannot be easily recognized from reconstructed image data (a decoded image) obtained through a decompression decoding process. That value is preferably adopted as an upper limit of the compression rate.
A lower limit permitted as the compression rate depends on factors, such as the maximum amount of source image data formed by the document reader per predetermined unit time, and the maximum amount of encoded data transferred from the document reader to the printer, namely, the performance of the processing system.
The upper limit and lower limit of the compression rate, namely, a permissible range of the compression rate, is thus determined. However, it is extremely difficult to restrict in practice the compression rate of the source image data formed in the document reader to within the permissible range.
Even if the same quantization table affecting the compression rate is used to compression encode the source image data of the same size, the amount of the resulting encoded data becomes different from source image data to source image data. In other words, the source image data changes depending on the content of the image.
To maintain the compression rate at a constant value, an encoding parameter (such as a quantization table) must be modified to an appropriate value each time each source image data is compressed.
Two techniques, a feed-forward method and feedback method, are available to control the compression rate (the amount of encoded data).
In the feed-forward method, the source image data, input as data to be encoded, is analyzed prior to compression encoding, an encoding parameter is estimated based on the analysis result, and compression encoding is performed using the parameter.
In the feed-back method, a trial compression encoding process is performed using a predetermined encoding parameter, an appropriate encoding parameter is estimated based on the amount of the resulting encoded data, and an actual compression encoding process is performed using the estimated parameter.
The latter feedback method achieves a target encoded data amount with a probability higher than the feed-forward method because the feedback method uses the actual data amount of encoded data.
The feedback method needs more time because of the trial compression encoding thereof.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 02-100487 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 08-032037) discloses a technique which repeats a compression encoding process until a target compression rate (encoded data amount) results. Real-time processing is not considered in this disclosure.
Real-time processing is typically required of apparatuses, such as a digital camera or a digital copying apparatus. The above-mentioned simple repetition process is not appropriate for these apparatuses.
An optimum encoding parameter must be precisely predicted in the feedback method that controls the compression rate (the encoded data amount). To this end, a plurality of trial compression encoding processes are performed by several times using a plurality of different encoding parameters. It is effective if the number of combinations of the encoding parameter in use and the data amount of the encoded data (actually measured value) corresponding to the encoding parameter is increased. To minimize extra time required to predict the parameter, calculation circuits or processing circuits, of the same number as the number of encoding parameters used in the trial compression encoding, must be arranged. The circuits are run in parallel to shorten prediction time.
An article entitled "HDTV CODER/DECODER COMPATIBLE WITH 60–140 MBPS" 1992 January Issue of Journal of Imaging and Information Technology discloses a compression coder which includes N quantizers and N measurement circuits for measuring amount of generated codes, and uses N combinations of quantization tables. An optimum quantization table is obtained by using a curve fitting based on the amount of N pieces of encoded data.
Japanese Patent No. 02523953 discloses a technique which uses three quantizers and performs quantization in parallel using five combinations of quantization tables during a trial compression coding, and thus calculates five values of encoded data amount.
An encoding method for successively encoding image data by dynamically changing the scaling factor for a quantization table, namely, a motion image compression coding method using a so-called MPEG may be used to compression encode a single piece of image data. U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,844 (corresponding to Japanese Patent No. 02897563) discloses such an encoding method and uses a successive correction algorithm for an encoding parameter. In this disclosed technique, the amount of encoded data obtained block by block from quantization calculation using a particular quantization scaling factor is measured. M encoded data amounts expected to be obtained from M quantization scaling factors based on the measured data amount are predicted. A quantization scaling factor to be actually used is successively corrected based on a predicted error, namely, a difference between a target encoded data amount calculated from M predictive values and a cumulative value of data amount of an encoded data stream actually output up until now. A compression coding is thus performed on a single frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,282 (corresponding to Japanese Patent No. 03038022) discloses a technique which prevents an encoded data amount from exceeding a permitted upper limit against prediction. A quantization step value determined from an encoded data amount that is obtained in an trial compression encoding process is used. When the encoded data amount that is obtained through a quantization calculation and variable-length coding process exceeds a data amount assigned to each block, the variable-length coding process in that block is quit (effective transform coefficient information is discarded).
The control methods of the compression rate (the encoded data amount) using the above-mentioned conventional type feed-back method are common in that an optimum encoding parameter and a data amount of encoded data generated through the encoding process using the optimum encoding parameter are estimated based on one or a plurality of pieces of encoded data obtained through a trial compression encoding (actual measured value).
In the JPEG encoding method which is a typical still image compressing encoding method, it is regulated that "a single quantization table is commonly applied to all blocks constituting a single piece of source image data" when a quantization table as the most typical encoding parameter is applied.
The technique of selecting an encoding parameter disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,844 cannot be applied if there is a requirement that a compression encoding method with the freedom of selecting an encoding parameter limited be adopted, as in the above-mentioned JPEG.
In the algorithm disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,282, it is determined whether or not a data amount assigned to each block is exceeded on a block by block basis. A variable-length coding is quit on a block by block basis. An effective orthogonal transform coefficient is discarded even if a final encoded data amount does not reach the upper permissible value when the compression coding of all blocks constituting the source image data is completed. As a result, a decoded image suffers from a localized distortion on a per block basis.
When the feed-back method having a high prediction accuracy is used, a conventional type parallel circuit architecture proves effective in a variety of apparatuses, of which real-time processing is required. However, the scale of the circuitry becomes large. A capacity of buffers which temporarily store a plurality of encoded data streams must be large, leading to a cost increase.
When the compression encoding process is performed on the still image on each of the above-discussed apparatuses, a difference in localized encoding distortion from one to another piece of the source image data (a visual image degradation) must be avoided.
In many cases, the encoding distortion is caused by quantization calculation. The JPEG coding scheme does not allow different quantization tables to be used on a block by block basis. Conversely, this constraint provides the advantage that the source image data is free from localized encoding distortion.
For this reason, the JPEG coding scheme is frequently used as a still image compression coding method in a digital camera or digital copying apparatus which handles a still image.
It is a good choice that a "re-encoding process function" is applied to perform a compression coding at a target compression rate with a high performance maintained in an apparatus that adopts "the compression encoding method with the freedom of selecting an encoding parameter limited" as in the above-mentioned JPEG.
A number of application methods of the "re-encoding process function" are available. The function and advantages of the re-encoding process become different depending on what status of the image data the re-encoding process is performed.
In the middle of the compression encoding of the single source image data (from the beginning of the encoding to the formation of final encoded data), the source image data itself or orthogonal transform coefficients prior to quantization are temporarily stored in a buffer. A technique of performing a re-encoding process using stored source image data or the orthogonal transport coefficient is known. However, this technique requires a large buffer capacity.

Image encoder, image encoding method, image encoding computer program, and storage medium


A secured virtual container is enabled to securely store personal data corresponding to a user, where such data is inaccessible to processes running outside the secured virtual container. The secured virtual container may also include an execution environment for a machine learning model where the model is securely stored and inaccessible. Personal data may be feature engineered and provided to the machine learning model for training purposes and/or to generate inference values corresponding to the user data. Inference values may thereafter be relayed by a broker application from the secured virtual container to applications external to the container. Applications may perform hyper-personalization operations based at least in part on received inference values. The broker application may enable external applications to subscribe to notifications regarding availability of inference values. The broker may also provide inference values in response to a query.

Products and services are increasingly being marketed and sold in various ways that are facilitated by computing devices. For example, businesses today often operate through e-commerce platforms that consumers access with a browser or other application from a personal computer, smart phone, tablet or the like. Business analytics have revealed that a personalized e-commerce experience can drive sales and also generate brand loyalty. Historically, such personalized experiences were driven by aggregating customer data (age, location, purchase histories, and the like) to identify similar groups of people, and thereafter treating each member of a given group as having the persona of that group. Decisions about how to personalize the e-commerce experience and/or market to a particular person were thereafter dictated by the persona assigned to that person, and thus the experience is at least somewhat personalized to that person.
Hyper-personalization attempts to achieve the same goals as the personalization experience described above, but in a manner that is specifically tailored to a person based on that person's customer data. Delivering a hyper-personalized experience for a customer typically involves the application of a user's private data (e.g., buying history, usage information, financial information, demographics, biometrics, relationships/social connections) to sophisticated machine learning algorithms.
E-commerce vendors and other service providers typically invest a lot of money in creating and training machine learning models, and such models may thereafter embody a great deal of proprietary business intelligence. For this reason, such models are closely held secrets. That is, vendors simply cannot trust that their models will not be misused, and therefore choose not to distribute such models.
Accordingly, to receive a hyper-personalized experience based on the output of such a machine learning model, a user typically must be willing to provide all their private data to a vendor/service provider for them to apply the data to their model. Unfortunately, this means that the user simply must trust that the service provider will not mis-use the personal data (e.g., by selling access to the data to third-parties), and that the service provider is willing and able to safeguard the data (i.e., prevent hackers from stealing the data).

Secure and private hyper-personalization system and method


A locking device for fixing an electronic component to a housing includes a rear stop frame adapted to be disposed on the housing for fixing a rear side of the electronic component, a front frame spaced apart from and in front of the rear stop frame and having a retaining portion, and a locking mechanism including a positioning frame for fixing a front side of the electronic component, and a locking member disposed on the positioning frame and releasably engaged to the retaining portion. The locking member is engaged to the retaining portion to fix the positioning frame on the front frame.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates to a locking device, more particularly to a locking device for fixing an electronic component to a housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Existing server hard drives are fixedly installed in a server housing through a bracket. To install the hard drive in the server housing, the hard drive must first be placed in a bracket, after which screws are used to securely fix the hard drive therein. Once secured, the bracket is fixedly installed in the server housing to complete the installation process. Additionally, to detach the hard drive from the server housing for repair or replacement, the bracket must first be dismantled from the server housing, followed by removal of the screws from the bracket to release the hard drive therefrom.
However, the installation and detachment of the hard drive to and from the server housing require an auxiliary tool, such as a screwdriver, and the securing mechanism must also be manipulated to secure the bracket in the server housing or to release the locking device from and between the bracket and the server housing. Therefore, the entire process does not only involve complex steps and inconvenience, but also consumes many working hours. Moreover, the aforementioned method of fixing the hard drive to the server housing through the bracket involves the use of a great number of securing elements, thereby resulting in complex structure and high manufacturing cost of the server.


A sputtering target of a single crystal aluminum alloy which has a uniform concentration distribution of an added metal element and a controlled crystal orientation is prepared using a continuous casting apparatus equipped with a starting rod by solidifying a melt of aluminum having a purity of at least 99.9 wt. % which contains 0.1 to 3.0 wt. % of at least one metal element selected from the group consisting of elements having atomic numbers of 3 to 83, at a casting temperature of 670 to 850.degree. C. at a casting rate of 1 to 80 m/min. in one direction with maintaining an angle between a center axis of a continuous casting mold and a direction of pulling a casting material at 2 degrees or less.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sputtering target of a single crystal aluminum alloy which is set in a sputtering apparatus and used in the formation of a thin film, and a method for producing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A sputtering process comprises irradiating a sputtering target by an ion beam under reduced pressure, impacting the ions on a target surface to evaporate a material of the target, and depositing the material on a substrate to form a thin film of the material. The sputtering process is widely used for forming the thin film, and targets containing various elements are used for the improvement of properties of the formed thin films.
In the sputtering process, crystal orientations on the surface and in an interior of the target are known to have great influences on emitting properties of atoms from the target and, in turn, have influences on film forming properties such as a film formation speed and step coverage of the thin film formed on the substrate (cf. Phys. Rev., 102, 699 (1956)). Therefore, it is important to control the crystal orientations of the target for the formation of the thin film with good film properties.
Hitherto, a polycrystalline aluminum alloy has been used as a material for a sputter target, the crystal structure and orientations of which are adjusted by working or heat treating it. But, since this target consists of a polycrystalline alloy, it is impossible to fully control the crystal orientations in accordance with purposes of the use.
For the production of a single crystal material having controlled crystal orientations, there are known solidifying methods such as the Bridgeman method, the Charmars method and the Czochralski method. However, in a case of an alloy, a solute suffers from a solid-liquid separation during solidification, and added elements are segregated to provide a nonuniform distribution of elements in these solidifying methods.
For example, when an eutectic element such as Cu or Si is added to aluminum, the concentration of such an alloy element in a solid phase is lower than that in a liquid phase during the solidification, so that, with the progress of solidification, the alloy element is concentrated in the liquid phase, whereby the concentration of the alloy element in the liquid phase is increased. By the influence of such concentration change, the concentration of the alloy element in the solid phase increases from the initial part to the ending part of the solidification.
When a peritectic element such as Ti or V is added to aluminum, a phenomenon contrary to the above appears. Then, only a single crystal having a nonuniform distribution of the added element is obtained, and such a single crystal is not suitable for a sputtering target material.
The above phenomena are significant, particularly when the diameter or longitudinal size of the target which can be set in the sputtering apparatus is 100 mm or larger. Accordingly, there has not been known any sputtering target of a single crystal aluminum alloy having a uniform distribution of an added element.

Sputtering target of single crystal aluminum alloy


A system (10, 110, 210) for detecting particles (144) on a surface of a substrate-supporting chuck (14, 114, 214) including an inspection subsystem (128, 130, 131, 116, 250, 252, 222, 216) for analyzing the surface of the chuck (14, 114, 214) to determine if any particles (144) are thereon, a movable table (16, 116, 216) for holding the chuck (14, 114, 214) to inspect it and for moving the chuck (14, 114, 214) during inspection, and a control unit (22, 122, 222) for moving the movable table (16, 116, 216) relative to the inspection subsystem (128, 130, 131, 116, 250, 252, 222, 216) to inspect the surface of the chuck (14, 114, 214) and to produce an indication signal if a particle (144) is detected on the surface of the chuck (14, 114, 214). A method for detecting a particle (114) on a substrate-supporting chuck (14, 114, 214) of photolithography equipment (18, 118) includes the steps of providing an inspection subsystem (128, 130, 131, 116, 250, 252, 222, 216); using a movable table (16, 116, 216) associated with a stepper (18, 118) to move a substrate-supporting chuck (14, 114, 214) relative the inspection subsystem (128, 130, 116, 250, 252, 222, 216), and using the inspection subsystem (128, 130, 131, 116, 250, 252, 222, 216) and movable table (16, 116, 216) to inspect a surface of the substrate-supporting chuck (14, 114, 214) to locate any particles thereon.

Many modern electronic systems incorporate various electronic components. For example, personal computers may include electronic components in the form of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) units. Each of the electronic components may include an integrated circuit fabricated on a substrate.
The techniques used in fabricating the integrated circuit on a substrate and packaging it for use with the electronic system are many. As a part of one approach, photolithography may be used to place geometric patterns that define devices onto the substrate surface. The photolithography process may utilize a projection-type aligner.
In a projection type aligner, known as a stepper, an illuminating light is irradiated onto a reticle or the original of a mask on which the patterns have been formed for the formation of a given circuit. The projected image of the pattern is transferred by exposure to a photoresist-coated layer on the substrate. Most of the process may be automated. For example, after a reticle case and a wafer carrier are mounted, the stepper may automatically perform the following functions according to the data and sequence stored in a data file: reticle transport to a reticle stage, wafer transport to the wafer stage, reticle pattern focusing on a wafer surface, reticle and wafer alignment, step and repeat of wafer stage, exposure, wafer transport, and the transport of the next wafer to the wafer stage.
In more recent times, as the pattern dimensions of integrated circuits have increasingly become smaller with higher densities, increased demands have been placed on the optical conditions of the stepper such as the focus for the transfer. A small particle or contaminant on a substrate-supporting chuck for holding the substrate during the photolithography exposure process may cause a number of problems, e.g., inexact focusing that may cause the integrated circuit to fail. Because a particle may cling to the substrate-supporting chucks between the chuck and a substrate being exposed on a stepper, any defect caused by the particle may continue until the next cleaning of the chucks. The delay in cleaning may cause as much as a day's worth of material to be bad. On the other hand, if the routine maintenance of cleaning the chucks is performed unnecessarily, time and resources may be needlessly applied.
Cleaning the chucks frequently involves physically cleaning the chucks with isopropyl alcohol. Even with this cleaning process, it is not guaranteed that all the particles will be removed, and in fact, on occasion, a particle may be added by the operator cleaning the chucks.
One approach to addressing the particle-on-the-substrate problem has been to form pin chucks. Pin chucks have a plurality of pins used to support a substrate. If a particle finds its way to the chucks, it will ideally be located between the pins such that the particle will not cause the substrate to be unlevel with respect to a desired exposure plane. The contamination event is, however, not detected with a pin chuck. Furthermore, as dimensions continue to decrease on integrated circuits while wafer sizes continue to increase, this approach may become more limited.
Another approach in trying to correct for particle contamination of substrate-supporting chucks is to provide for focus compensation. Using this approach, compensation is based on information gathered during the tools processing of the wafer. The approach is limited to the size of the area exposed at a given time and is based on the average value of the focus.

System and method for detecting particles on substrate-supporting chucks of photolithography equipment


A urinary anti-backflow device is provided which prevents urine from flowing back into the patient's bladder from a urine collection bag. The device comprises a flow tube having an upstream section connectable to an external urinary device secured to a patient and a downstream section connectable to a urine collection bag, a rod within the flow tube, and a stopper which moves along the rod between the downstream and upstream ends of the flow tube. When the upstream section of the flow tube is elevated relative to the downstream section, urine from the patient is free to flow through the flow tube. When the downstream section of the flow tube is elevated relative to the upstream section, urine forces the stopper against the upstream section to prevent backflow.

Patients who are incontinent, comatose or otherwise unable to control their urination are typically provided with an external collection bag, such as a urinary drainage bag or a urinary leg bag. When such a patient is fitted with an indwelling Foley catheter or an external urinary device, urine in the patient's bladder is able to drain, using gravity, into the external bag. However, if the bag is elevated above the patient's urethra, gravity causes the urine to flow back into the bladder. Once outside the body, even in a collection bag, urine is easily contaminated and may harbor bacteria. Therefore, a patient with an external bag may be particularly susceptible to repeated urinary infections.
While some external urinary bag systems purport to prevent urine backflow, they may not work as advertised. Consequently, a need remains for a urinary bag system which prevents urine from flowing back into the patient's bladder.


An apparatus and method for automatically offsetting the linear deviation of a V/F converter, the offset adjust pin of which is connected to a fixed resistance, and the frequency output pin of which is connected to a microcontroller unit (MCU) via an opto-isolator, a standard V/F transfer function being pre-stored in the MCU, wherein standard frequencies F1 and F0 (i.e., two coordination points (V1, F1) and (V0, F0)) are output by the V/F converter, when V1 and V0 are input as standard voltages, and the MCU may detect an error status in the V/F converter, when the V/F converter obtains real output frequencies F1′ and F0′ from real input voltages V1 and V2, and standard coordination points (F1, K1) and (F0, K0) will be corrected to (F1′, K1) and (F0′, K0′), from which a transfer function of offsetting frequency down is obtained, when the MCU processes a frequency down procedure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a V/F converter, in particular, to a V/F converter for power inverter.
2. Description of Prior Art
Following the increasing maturity of frequency conversion technology, the application of frequency converter is very popular currently, not only frequently seen in various domestic appliances (e.g., air conditioner, refrigerator, and washing machine), but also applied prevalently in each industrial control.
In frequency conversion application, a V/F converter is usually used, such as: TC9400 series manufactured by MICROCHIP Company and ADVFC32 manufactured by ANALOG DEVICE Company, which are all IC products that convert analogical voltage signal into digital frequency signal, such that the digitization of precision control may be processed conveniently. In said V/F converters, the relationship between input voltage and output frequency is a linear transfer function, which implies a direct proportion relationship between these two values. In all these V/F converters of IC products, an offset adjust pin (e.g., the second leg of TC9400 series and the first leg of ADVFC32) is usually arranged and connected to a variable resistance, the adjustment of which may change the slope of said transfer function during frequency conversion procedure, and thus a more accurate corresponding between the frequency output value and the voltage output value may be obtained.
However, such offsetting adjustment must be handled one by one through artificial manner, which is very uneconomical in a mass production of frequency converter, because it consumes substantial manpower and time. Furthermore, in the mobile structure of a variable resistance, its accuracy and endurance are all inferior to those of a fixed resistance, so the phenomenon of resistance floating is occurred frequently and also influences the accuracy of V/F conversion.
On the other hand, it has been very popular that a microcontroller unit is used in a frequency converter for processing digital control, but the prior frequency converter did not use the microcontroller unit for offsetting the transfer deviation of V/F converter. Therefore, if an existent microcontroller unit is used for automatically offsetting linear deviation of a V/F conversion, not only the cost of manpower and time needed by previously artificial adjustment can be completely saved without additional element cost, but also the unstable problem generated from the usage of variable resistance may be prevented.

Apparatus and method for automatically offsetting linear deviation of V/F converter


A method of producing activated carbon from lignite, in which pit-wet lignite is heated to high temperatures. The invention further describes the heating of the lignite in the presence of additional water vapor. The invention also contemplates the addition of potassium ions to the lignite, in the form of potassium hydroxide.

The invention relates to a method of producing activated carbon based on lignite [brown coal].
The production of activated carbon from lignite is known. Such known methods are described in the following documents:
D. J. McCarthy, Carbon 15 (1977), pp. 95-101.
Lignite is dried and briquetted. The lignite briquettes are comminuted again and activated with water vapor in a countercurrent.
R. A. Durie et al, Fuel 58 (1979), pp. 472-476.
The lignite is subjected to an acid washing and an ion exchange, dried in air, optionally granulated, carbonized and activated with water vapor.
L. J. Harner et al., Proc.-Int. Conf. Coal Res. 5th, 1980, 805-19/CA 90: 74826Y.
The lignite is predried to a moisture content of approximately 16% by weight and briquetted. The briquettes are comminuted again, carbonized and activated with water vapor.
A. Albiniak et al., Pr. Nauk. Inst. Chem. Technol. Nafty Wegla Politech. Wroclaw 41 (1985) 213-8 / CA 104: 209 764 n.
The lignite is dried, coked and subsequently activated with water vapor, carbon dioxide and oxygen.
DE-OS 36 03 003.
The lignite is dried, pyrolized at 350.degree.-500.degree. C. and activated with water vapor at 700.degree.-800.degree. C.
DDR-PS 207 183.
The lignite is dried to a moisture content of 20%, extracted with organic solvents, dried in air, subsequently mixed with sawdust and zinc chloride solution, granulated and heated to 600.degree.-750.degree. C.
DDR-PS 211 331.
The lignite is predried, mixed with sawdust and/or peat as well as hydrochloric zinc chloride solution, granulated and heated to 650.degree.-750.degree. C.
DDR-PS 227 946.
The lignite is dried and pressed to blanks, the blanks are comminuted, the comminuted blanks are finally pressed to blanks again, the finally-pressed blanks are degassed, comminuted and activated in known activating reactors.
EP-PS 2275 and EP-PS 2674.
The lignite is subjected to an acid and water washing, dried, ground and briquetted. The briquettes are comminuted, carbonized (at a low temperature) and activated.
Kirk-Othmer, Encyclopedia of Chemical Terminology, 3rd Edition, Vol. 4, pp. 561-569, "Activated Carbon" also describes some prior art methods of processing lignite into activated carbon.
These prior art references show the background methods and are herein incorporated in their entirety.
The known methods have the disadvantage that numerous method steps are required, for example, water and acid washing, drying, grinding, briquetting and coking of the lignite are necessary as a pretreatment of the lignite.

Method of producing activated carbon from pit-wet lignite


A shoe includes spring type support members, optionally for at least a heel area of a foot. The support member includes a primary biasing element in the form of a V-shaped spring assembly and a secondary biasing element provided at least partially within a volume defined by the primary biasing element (e.g., between its base member and its flexing member, beneath the flexing member, etc.). When the primary biasing element compresses beyond a predetermined extent, it will compress the secondary biasing element. This construction allows the degree of ground reaction force attenuation and energy absorption properties of a shoe to be dually controlled to meet the specific demands of the activity for which the footwear is intended to be used.

Conventional articles of athletic footwear include two primary elements, namely, an upper and a sole structure. The upper is usually formed of leather, synthetic materials, or a combination thereof and comfortably secures the footwear to the foot, while providing ventilation and protection from the elements. The sole structure often incorporates multiple layers that are conventionally referred to as an insole, a midsole, and an outsole. The insole is a thin, relatively soft member located within the upper and adjacent the sole of the foot to enhance footwear comfort. The midsole, which is traditionally attached to the upper along the entire length of the upper, forms the middle layer of the sole structure and serves a variety of purposes that include controlling potentially harmful foot motions, such as over pronation; shielding the foot from excessive ground reaction forces: and beneficially utilizing such ground reaction forces for more efficient toe-off. In order to achieve these purposes, the midsole may have a variety of configurations as discussed in greater detail below. The outsole forms the ground-contacting element of footwear and is usually fashioned from a durable, wear resistant material that includes texturing or other features to improve traction.
The primary element of a conventional midsole is a resilient, polymer foam material, such as polyurethane or ethylvinylacetate, that extends through the length of the footwear. The properties of the foam midsole are primarily dependent upon factors that include the dimensional configuration of the midsole, the material selected for the polymer foam, and the density of the midsole material. By varying these factors throughout the midsole, the relative stiffness, degree of ground reaction force attenuation, and energy absorption properties may be altered to meet the specific demands of the activity for which the footwear is intended to be used.

Footwear including heel spring support members


A music score recognition method and a system thereof are provided. In the present method, a music score is detected and at least one measure in the music score is obtained by searching bar lines, so as to plan a recognition order according to the position of each measure in the music score. Next, an image capturing apparatus is controlled to capture one of the measures according to the recognition order, and music information in the captured measure is recognized and outputted immediately. The method follows the recognition order to repeatedly perform the steps of controlling the image apparatus, recognizing the captured measure, and outputting the music information on the other measures until each of the measures has been processed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method for recognizing music scores, and more particularly, to a method capable of recognizing all kinds of music scores immediately and a system thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Along with the thriving development of the information technology (IT), the computer technology has been widely applied to various fields. Accordingly, the scope of the information technology industry becomes much wider, wherein the music score recognition technology is a technology which combines the image processing technology with the music art.
In the current optical music recognition (OMR) technology, a complete music score is generally scanned as an image file through a scanner, and the music information in the complete music score is then recognized. After the complete music score is recognized, the music information is converted to a format which is readable for robots, and further, the electrical piano or the other electrical musical instruments are controlled to play. However, the above-described method simply outputs a recognized result until the music score is completely recognized. In other words, users necessarily operate the scanner and spend much time for waiting the recognition result. After that, it is possible to listen to the played music. Moreover, due to operating environments of the scanner, the above-described method simply recognize a flat music score without twists, folds, or turns. The object to be recognized will be limited through scanning the music scores, and it usually spends much time for waiting.
Another related art to recognize music scores is that the music information of a predetermined music score is directly recorded in an optical disk and the like. When the electrical piano or the other electrical musical instruments read the optical disk, the music information recorded in the optical disk is directly converted to the hardware signals that control the electrical piano to play. However, it is highly inflexible that the electrical piano simply plays the predetermined music score with the above-described method. Meanwhile, it can not achieve the purposes of freely selecting music scores by users and immediately recognizing the music scores with the above-described method.

Music score recognition method and system thereof

National Taiwan University of Science and Technology


A method for a vehicle, in particular a vehicle which is operated in an at least partially automated manner, for detecting an impact event. The method includes of:    a. developing a driving environment model for the vehicle as a function of first sensor signals from at least one driving environment sensor system of the vehicle; b. using the driving environment model to determine a probability of contacting an object; c. opening a measurement window for second signals of a contact sensor system as a function of the determined contact probability; d. detecting an impact event as a function of the second sensor signals, in particular within the measurement window.

Accidents, in particular damage to a vehicle, are generally detected by methods, which are based on the signals from contact sensor systems, in particular from acceleration, respectively pressure sensor systems of a vehicle safety system, for example, from a safety system of the passive (airbag system) or active safety (braking system, respectively vehicle stability control system).
Significant features in the signal characteristics are thereby evaluated in order to infer an accident and thus possible damage. Since accelerations from many environmental influences act on a vehicle, it is necessary that this approach be robustly configured in order to avoid incorrect deployments. This, in turn, makes it difficult to detect accidents that involve light damage.
Conventional systems can measure damage using sensors that are directly mounted on the vehicle body.
The additional expenditure entailed in such systems, such as the requisite cabling, for example, make such systems considerably more expensive.


There is provided a network system and its associated devices and techniques which allow a terminal device to utilize functions of another terminal device without the need to provide any dedicated interface or system switch. A server 12 receives a service request from a first terminal device 13 or a second terminal device 16 while the first and second terminal devices 13 and 16 are in voice communication with each other. Upon receipt of the service request, the server 12 searches position information on the second terminal device 16 from an identifier contained in the service request to specify a processor 18 located in the neighborhood of the second terminal device 16 on the basis of the position information. Then the server 12 establishes a new connection (communication lines 2B and 2C) for image communication. Thus the image data is transferred from the first terminal device 13 to a reception device 17 through the communication lines 2B and 2C, and displayed on a large screen of the processor 18.

1 Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network system available for simultaneous connections of plural pieces of terminal equipment such as portable communication terminals, advanced equipment in the system, a method of using functions of another piece of equipment, and a storage medium.
2 Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in the area of portable communication terminal devices, voice-only telephones or advanced terminals capable of exchanging textual information in addition to voice information have become commercially practical. Further, image exchangeable terminals such as video telephones and personal computers are now on the market. On the other hand, in the area of display devices, compact display devices with excellent portability and low power consumption such as liquid crystal displays are proceeding toward practical utilization. In addition, display devices for possible adoption into portable terminals have also been studied and become commercially practical.
However, when combining a portable terminal with a display device, a tradeoff will have to be made between portability of a compact terminal and visibility of a larger display screen. In other words, providing a large, high-definition display device increases the size of the portable terminal and hence reduces its portability. On the other hand, if high priority is given to portability, the screen size has to be reduced, which makes it difficult to display images with high definition on a large screen.
To solve the above-mentioned problem, a video telephone system has been proposed, in which a display device is provided on a desktop-type public terminal accessible from portable telephones or terminals so that a large, easy-to-see display screen can be obtained with maintaining the portability of portable terminals. This proposal, however, needs to prepare public terminals and portable terminals, both of which have a dedicated interface.
On the other hand, as digital-network penetration increases in telecommunications, various kinds of additional services are now available such as to establish another connection with maintaining current connection between communication partners. Even through an existing analog network, plural connections are possible by multiplexing via a modem or the like.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,545 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 11-331957) discloses a call processing method in which a proximity-based temporary association is established, within a system switch, between a terminal and at least one other terminal. While the terminal is associated with the other terminal, the terminal user can utilize the functions of the other terminal.
The call processing method according to U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,545 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 11-331957) can assume such utilization that a portable terminal accesses a display facility of another terminal. This utilization can solve the above-mentioned problem. Since U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,545 discloses call processing within a system switch, it is adopted to a local-area network, but its application to a wide-area network requires the installation of new or additional system switches or addition of functions to the system switch, resulting in the need to change the entire network.

Network system available for simultaneous connections of plural pieces of equipment, advanced equipment in the system, method of using functions of another piece of equipment, and storage medium


A method for forming a contact opening is described and which includes providing a node location to which electrical connection is to be made; forming a conductive line adjacent the node location, the conductive line having a conductive top and sidewall surfaces; forming electrically insulative oxide in covering relation relative to the top surface of the conductive line; forming electrically insulative nitride sidewall spacers over the conductive sidewall surfaces, the nitride sidewall spacers projecting outwardly of the conductive line top conductive surface, the electrically insulative oxide positioned between the nitride sidewall spacers; forming an electrically insulative layer outwardly of the conductive line, and the node location; and etching a contact opening to the node location or the top surface through the electrically insulative layer substantially selective relative to the nitride sidewall spacers.

As various electronic components such as DRAMS have increased in memory cell density, designers face a continuous challenge to provide contact openings to predetermined node locations, and to the top surface of conductive lines.
Heretofore, so-called self-aligned contact openings are provided to node locations which are adjacent to wordlines, by first encapsulating the wordline in nitride spacers, and providing a nitride cap thereover. Once this is achieved, a silicon dioxide layer in the form of BPSG, is provided over the encapsulated wordline. Following the provision of the layer of BPSG, the contact opening is etched. In view of perceived shortcomings in the prior art techniques, the patterning and etching of the contact openings through the layer of BPSG to the node location, can be somewhat misaligned. To address this problem, an etching chemistry is provided which is selective to nitride and therefore the etching will stop on the nitride material which encapsulates the wordline.
In addition to the foregoing, the fabrication of certain electronic components may require that contact openings be made to both the top surface of the respective wordlines and to substrate areas adjacent thereto. To make electrical contact to the top surface of wordlines, the prior art techniques have typically included separate photo patterning, and etching steps. The present method provides a convenient means by which contact openings to the top surface of the wordline, and adjacent node location can be provided in a single photo masking and etching step.

Method of forming contact openings and an electric component formed from the same and other methods


An interchangeable, plug-in, in-line module for attenuating electrical noise wherein a plurality of plug-in terminals are electrically coupled to an attenuating circuit in the form of a filter network array including a plurality of discrete components electrically interconnected by conductive traces or printed circuits formed on an insulating board to facilitate a plug-in connection to an electrical system. The attenuating circuit is electrically connected to a conductive retainer which is adapted to receive and retain a plastic motor end cover therein and to make electrical contact with a conductive frame member of the motor. The attenuating circuit includes four ferrite choke beads each having axial through holes or bores through which through-connectors of the terminals pass. The choke beads are supported by an insulating carrier so that the through-connectors can be electrically coupled to the conductive traces.

With ever increasing applications and utilization of electrical and electronic control systems composed of sensors, control electronics, and actuators, there are concurrent and ever increasing technical difficulties pertaining to reliable implementation thereof. Additionally, urgency in rushing product development to facilitate getting devices to market, ongoing incremental technical developments, and desires to include upgraded functional features increasingly cause product obsolescence prior to end of life failure.
Numerous new sensors are constantly being developed, many of which push the limits of physical properties and principles. Some sensors transduce very small changes in physical signals with high resolution and accuracy into low voltage, low current, high impedance analog electrical signals. Modern control system electronics typically tend toward various features including: higher clock frequencies; higher switching slew rates; lower voltages; lower and higher currents; widely distributed controls; direct digital control of power electronics; wider environmental operating conditions; and wire harnesses containing mixed conductor types of analog, digital, and power conductors.
Improvements in modern electronic control systems, power electronic components, and high power electrical actuators now enable sophisticated control of electrical transducing actuators to perform tasks previously practical only by other non-electrical methods. High power actuators, now in typical use, require high levels of voltage and/or current. One result of these technological advancements in sensing, electronics, and actuators is numerous new opportunities for electrical noise caused by various transients and frequencies of voltages and currents of a system to interfere with another system or even with itself. Witness the numerous standards issued by major technical societies and industrial nations pertaining to allowable levels of wideband radio frequency interference (RFI) emissions and susceptibility via conduction and field transmission. An additional result is obsolescence (sometimes planned) of existing electrical and electronic devices by new, improved devices offering additional features.
Interference noise from zero Hz through RF is transmitted via four major methods consisting of: Electric field (e-field), magnetic field (m-field), electromagnetic (EM) field, and conduction. The fields are transmitted via contactless transmission. Conducted transmission is essentially electrical energy passing via direct electrical connection. High voltages produce strong e-fields. High currents produce strong m-fields. High voltages and/or high electrical currents oscillating at high frequencies or high acceleration of charges produce strong EM fields. EM fields from the very low frequency (long wavelengths on scale of kilometers and longer) to extremely high frequency (short wavelengths on scale of molecules and shorter) are generally composed of orthogonal coupled e-fields with m-fields which emanate at the speed of radio waves in that medium and which may also have such characteristics as being polarized, rotating, coherent, or incoherent. EM antenna characteristics of a device at a given frequency relate to geometry, conductivity, and dielectric coupling with its environment. A device which is a good field emitting or transmitting antenna with high emissivity characteristics is generally also a good field receiving antenna with associated high susceptibility characteristics.
Undesired interference is called noise. Not all interference is man-made. Natural phenomena which product high (RF) and/or low frequency interference include: solar wind (atmospheric ionization), electrical storms (lightning), static electricity discharge (sparks), geomagnetic storms (ground currents), and more. Many sources of interference are man-made devices operating as designed and in other cases, not operating as intended. Newer electronic devices and systems tend to be more sensitive and thus can be more affected by various natural and man-made sources of interference. It is possible that devices engineered and manufactured to older specifications can produce interference which is not readily apparent to the casual observer but which can have catastrophic effect upon susceptible devices.
Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is here understood to relate to components, devices, and systems compatible with respect to transmitted and/or received via conduction and/or field transmission, especially in the RF spectrum. Typical specifications relate quantities and durations of anomalous system operation allowed versus quantity of interference of various types, examples of which a system output may have are: no effect, temporary effect on performance or accuracy, permanent effect on performance or accuracy, and functional death of the system. Critical safety related applications mandate a very high reliability and tolerance to all types of interference and environmental conditions. Modern application customers expect and demand reliable operation from all components and systems under all anticipated operating conditions. The need increasingly exists for systems and component devices to reduce both interference emitted and susceptibility to external noise emissions received.
One significant source of electrical noise is motors for which currents and voltages are switched or commutated. This includes direct current (DC) motors and also some types of alternating current (AC) motors such as AC commutator motors, universal motors, and motors for which the alternating currents are generated by switching inverter circuits. Motors can be particularly noisy under certain transient conditions, for example, high startup current, stalled rotor, and overspeed of an under-loaded series DC motor. For many of the existing motor designs in production and common use, it is desired simply to attenuate the RFI noise which they produce to maintain compliance with newer EMC regulations. It is common knowledge that various types of motor operation emit noise that can be detected by radio or television receivers.
Modern motor applications can include electrical analog and digital signal-carrying wires to and from the motor along with the power supply wires. These signals are typically used with closed loop feedback control and safety systems for monitoring and control of such motor parameters as position (rotary or linear), velocity, acceleration, stator and armature resolver and encoder voltage waveforms, stator and armature current and voltage waveforms, rotor torque (also the linear motor analog of force), stator and armature temperatures, and the like.
In various applications, signal processing circuitry (analog and/or digital) is incorporated: (1) within the motor housing; (2) attached to the motor; (3) near but separate from the motor; or (4) remote from the motor. This control circuity and thus the system functional operation can potentially be detrimentally affected by noise generated within the motor itself and/or by outside sources and transmitted by: motor wiring, magnetic fields, electric fields, or via EM fields. New demand and consideration are being given for use of multiple critical and sensitive low-level and/or high speed analog and/or digital motor sensing and control circuits which are potentially sensitive to RFI conduction, emissivity and susceptibility.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,605 discloses an electronic filter component for attenuation of high frequency conducted electrical current noise of a single conductor (and thus its associated radiated noise), being comprised simply of a cylinder of semiconductor ferrite having also some capacitive properties imparted by virtue of metallizing the outer circumference and optionally the inner bore such that with or without ohmic contact of the conductor with the inner metallized bore the component will have properties of distributed inductance and capacitance to perform in the functional capacity as a low pass common mode electronic current filter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,060 discloses an electronic filter device having a standard ferrite component with no metallization. Inner metallization is functionally supplied by a metal shield around the wire bundle. Outer metallization is functionally supplied and held proximal by the inside of the connector shell, shaped to be captive and protected within the connector housing, and optionally being axially split to fit within the two halves of the connector. The component is integral within at least one end of a shielded cable connector for attenuation of high frequency conducted electrical current noise primarily of the shield of a shielded conductor bundle (and thus also its associated radiated noise). The ferrite, making metal contact on its inner and outer cylindrical surfaces, also has some capacitive properties imparted by virtue of the metallic contact with the outer circumference and the inner bore such that properties of distributed inductance and capacitance result in the functional capacity as a low pass common mode electronic current filter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,500,629 discloses an electronic filter component for attenuation of high frequency conducted electrical current noise (and thus its associated radiated noise) of a single conductor (and/or with multiple use for multiple conductors), being comprised simply of a sandwich-like shape of special types of engineered non-linear ferrite having inductive, resistive, and capacitive properties in bulk and also some capacitive properties imparted by virtue of metallizing electrical contact areas such that the component will have properties of transient clipping with distributed inductance and capacitance to perform in the functional capacity as a low pass common mode electronic current filter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,348 discloses an adjustable electronic filter including dielectric block having one or more through holes.
For applications using both existing and new motors, an emerging need exists for reliable methods to control noise, especially RFI noise, both where generated and where received.
Significant opportunity lies not only in new replacement devices meeting updated electrical-related interference noise specifications but also in modular in-line retrofit and/or optional modular in-line device additions to existing and even new systems rendering improved interface and/or optional functional capabilities.

In-line module for attenuating electrical noise with male and female blade terminals


A protective case for an electronic device, the protective case having a cushion layer that covers a back surface, a left side surface, a right side surface, a top side surface, and a bottom side surface of the electronic device. A structural layer has a back portion and side wall portions that extend from the back portion and surrounds the cushion layer. A sliding drawer is attached to an outer surface of the back portion of the structural layer. The sliding drawer has a compartment that can store one or more items in the protective case. The sliding drawer can make the items accessible when open and concealed when closed.

Personal electronic devices are commonly used for communication and entertainment purposes. Examples of personal electronic devices include smartphones, tablets, audio players, video players, cameras, portable computers, two-way radios, and GPS receivers. As these devices become an increasingly important part of peoples' daily activities, it is desirable to create new protective cases that not only protect electronic devices from damage, but also serve other useful purposes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Protective case with compartment including spring


A content data storage apparatus that enables content data on a plurality of client apparatuses to be individually updated according to the preferences or the like of users. Content data on a memory card is stored in association with client content management information for managing the content data and client content identification information for identifying the content data in management units. When client content identification information stored on a memory card connected to an input/output unit matches any storage content identification information stored on a hard disk, a control unit updates the content data of the memory card based on content data included in management units identified by this storage content identification information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a content data storage apparatus that is able to select content from storage content data and easily rewrite the content data of a memory card, an external memory or the like, and to a content data update system that uses the content data storage apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional content data update systems hold information on selected playlists, and update content data on a memory card, a hard disk or a portable audio player with built-in semiconductor memory, based on this information (e.g., see JP 2005-533333A).
However, with this conventional configuration, since only one type of information for updating playlists is held on a host audio device that is a content data storage apparatus, it is impossible to set individually the updating of a plurality of memory cards or external memories. For example, in the case where the host audio device is shared by a family, memory cards or external memories cannot be updated individually according to the preferences of each family member.

Contents data storage device and contents data update system


A semiconductor device comprises a first insulating film provided over a substrate and heat-treated, a second insulating film provided over the first insulating film, and a semiconductor film provided over the second insulating film, the second insulating film and the semiconductor film being formed successively without exposing them to the atmosphere.

The present invention relates to a structure of a semiconductor apparatus having semiconductor circuits made of semiconductor devices such as insulated gate transistors, and also to a method of manufacture thereof. Particularly, the invention relates to a technology that forms a crystalline semiconductor film over an insulating surface. The semiconductor apparatus include not only semiconductor devices such as thin-film transistors (TFTs) and MOS transistors but also displays and electrooptic apparatus, such as image sensors, both of which have semiconductor circuits made of insulated gate transistors. In addition, the semiconductor apparatus of this invention also include electronic apparatus incorporating these displays and electrooptic apparatus.
An active matrix liquid crystal display, which forms a pixel matrix circuit and a drive circuit by using thin-film transistors (TFTs) formed on an insulating substrate, is attracting attention. A liquid crystal display currently used as a monitor has a size range of 0.5–20 inches.
TFTs that use as an active layer a crystalline semiconductor film represented by polysilicon are being spotlighted as a means for realizing the liquid crystal display capable of displaying finely defined images. Although TFTs using a crystalline semiconductor film as an active layer have a faster operating speed and a higher driving capability than those TFTs that use an amorphous semiconductor film as an active layer, their TFT characteristics are difficult to control.
One of the causes for the difficulty in controlling the TFT characteristics is the property of an interface between the active layer and the insulating film. This interface, when contaminated, makes it difficult to manufacture the semiconductor devices with good controllability of the TFT characteristics. It is therefore important to clean the interface between the active layer and the insulating film.
Currently, there are growing demands on the TFTs for high mobility and it is considered more promising to use a crystalline semiconductor film with high mobility than to use an amorphous semiconductor film as the TFT's active layer. The method of manufacturing a conventional top gate type TFT using a crystalline semiconductor film will be briefly explained.
First, a substrate having an insulating surface is formed with a base insulating film (hereinafter referred to as a base film) and then heat-treated, after which it is deposited with an amorphous silicon film. Next, the amorphous silicon film is subjected to crystallization processing such as heating and laser beam irradiation to form a polysilicon film (polycrystalline silicon film). Next, the polysilicon film is patterned to a desired shape and deposited with an insulating film (gate insulating layer) and a conductive film (gate line forming material layer). Then these films are patterned to form gate lines. Next, impurities of p- or n-type conductivity are selectively introduced into the polysilicon film to form impurity regions, such as source and drain regions. This is followed by depositing an interlayer insulating film, forming contact holes to expose the source and drain regions, forming a metal film, and then patterning the metal film to form metal lines in contact with the source and drain regions. In this way, the process of manufacturing the TFTs is completed.
In the conventional technology described above, when the base film after being formed is subjected to the heat treatment to improve the TFT reliability, the surface of the base film is exposed to the atmosphere. At this time, the base film surface is contaminated with impurities contained in the air (boron, oxygen, water, sodium, etc.). If a semiconductor film that constitutes an active layer is formed over and in contact with the base film contaminated by the open air, the characteristic of an interface between the active layer, particularly a channel forming region, and the base film deteriorates, leading to a degradation in the electrical characteristic of TFTs.
Because the air in the clean room contains boron from a HEPA filter generally used for cleaning, an unspecified amount of boron mixes into the surface of the film exposed to the atmosphere. The HEPA filter is made of a mesh of glass used to remove minute particles in the air. The glass contains a large amount of boron to make it easy to manufacture the mesh-like structure. Using other filters than the HEPA filter is disadvantageous from the standpoint of reducing the manufacturing cost.
To investigate the effect of the impurities in the air, the insulating base film after being formed is exposed to the atmosphere and then deposited with a laminated structure of semiconductor films made of amorphous silicon films to form TFTs. The SIMS analysis on the manufactured TFTs revealed a concentration peak of boron whose maximum value was 3×1017 atoms/cm3. When boron mixes into the active layer of semiconductor film, it is diffused and activated by the processes that follow (heat treatment and laser beam processing, etc.) making the control of the impurity concentrations in the active layer difficult. Measurement of the TFT electric characteristic revealed a phenomenon in which the threshold voltage shifts to the plus side.
When impurities (boron, oxygen, water, sodium, etc.) enter into the active layer of semiconductor film, it is found that the crystallization of the semiconductor film is hindered.
The present invention provides a semiconductor apparatus having semiconductor circuits made of semiconductor devices which improve the interface between an active layer, particularly a channel forming region, and a base film to improve the TFT characteristic (such as threshold voltage) and which have high reliability. The invention also provides a method of manufacturing such semiconductor apparatus.

Semiconductor device having two insulating films provided over a substrate

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


With an object of decreasing the size and weight of a derailleur and a control lever assembly by decreasing a difference in an elastic returning force between a beginning and ending phases of the pantograph link mechanism's deformation, the following technical is provided: The parallelogram pantograph link mechanism (7) is provided with a first and second pivotal members (12, 13) each having a predetermined length and pivoted to a predetermined position of a different constituent member of the parallelogram pantograph link mechanism (7), and respective ends of the first and second pivotal members (12, 13) are mutually connected by a pin for causing the first and second pivotal members (12, 13) to pivot relatively to the members to which they are respectively pivoted when the parallelogram pantograph link mechanism (7) is deformed; and a return spring (15) is provided between the first or second pivotal member (12 or 13) and a selected one of the constituent members of the parallelogram pantograph (15).

A bicycle derailleur, a rear derailleur for instance, has a chain guide which rotatably supports a guide pulley and a tension pulley. This chain guide is pivotally supported via a shift link mechanism such as a parallelogram pantograph link mechanism while being elastically urged in a direction to tension a chain. When a control lever, which is connected by a control cable to the shift link mechanism, is operated, the shift link mechanism is deformed to cause the chain guide, which is supported by a movable member of the shift link mechanism, to move axially of a hub shaft, forcing the chain to move to a selected sprocket of a multiple free wheel.
For the above-mentioned control cable, there is commonly employed what is known as a pull type cable wherein pulling force can only be transmitted. Therefore, the derailleur is provided with a return spring which elastically urges the shift link mechanism constantly toward the returning direction. Hence, when the control lever is turned to pull the control cable, the shift link mechanism is forced to deform in a direction where the elastic force of the return spring is accumulated. When, on the other hand, the control lever is turned otherwise to release the control cable, the accumulated force of the return spring causes the shift link mechanism to return to the original position. This movement of the shift link mechanism causes the movable member which supports the chain guide to perform a reciprocal movement corresponding to the reciprocal turning movement of the control lever.
The return spring is mounted conventionally around a pin which pivotally connects two adjacent members of the shift link mechanism. This return spring is mounted in such a way that ends of the spring elastically contact the respective constituent members of the shift link mechanism.
With this arrangement, the return spring will be contracted by an amount corresponding to a relative pivotal movement of the two members between which the ends of the return spring are placed: For instance, when these two members make a relative pivotal movement of 45.degree., the spring is also contracted by about 45.degree.. According to the Hooke's law, the return spring's elastic force is proportional to its torsional deformation. This means that if the return spring receives a great amount of contraction such as described hereinabove within the shift link's deformation range, the difference in the spring's elastic force between beginning and ending phases of the shift link's deformation will also be great, posing a problem of deteriorated speed shift operatability.
To elaborate on this point, in order for the speed shift control lever to be retained at a selected rotational position, the control lever must be given a predetermined amount of friction resistance (or click resistance.) The amount of this resistance must be determined according to a maximum elastic force of the return spring. This means that as the elastic force of the return spring increases, a greater friction resistance must be provided, which results in a greater rotational resistance of the control lever with deteriorated operatability thereof. In addition, it calls for an increase in the size of a friction generating mechanism and the entire control lever assembly.
As a means to solve the above-mentioned problem, the difference in elastic force caused by the difference of the return spring's contraction may be made smaller by increasing the number of windings of the coil spring, or in other words, by increasing an overall length of the spring wire. This solution, however, will result in a very large coil spring to be used, with a decreased productivity in assembly process and an increased size and weight of the derailleur mounted with this coil spring.


Exemplary embodiments are directed to use of transparent transmission of teleprotection commands in the form of GOOSE or GSSE messages, as defined by the Generic Substation Event class model by the standard IEC 61850, between substations combined with Channel Supervision and Monitoring equivalent to CSM offered by known teleprotection equipment. This approach avoids the disadvantage of non-transparent transmission when using the gateway approach and of the lack of the CSM functionality when using the tunnelling approach.

Known electric power utilities or transmission system operators own and operate electric power transmission networks interconnecting sites, such as power sources and substations, which despite being distant from each other some 100 km or more, have to be coordinated in one way or the other. Across their utility communication systems, a variety of messages are exchanged over long distance communication links between distant sites of the utility in order to safely transmit and distribute electric energy. For some of these messages, and considering a specific implementation for teleprotection commands, the transmission delay between transmitter and receiver can be detrimental to the system and should not exceed a few milliseconds up to some 10 ms. For any time-sensitive application, increased transmission delay, or packet loss, can result in malfunction or even damage of a power system.
Teleprotection commands for known distance protection schemes in electrical power networks can be transmitted by remote tripping devices or protection signal transmission devices, also known as teleprotection devices, over dedicated point-to-point communication links. Physical signal links can involve radio waves or fiber optics, and in an exemplary embodiment, the protection signals can be transmitted over pilot wires, analog leased lines, voice channels of analog or digital communication systems, or even high-voltage electricity transmission lines, the latter being known as power line communication (PLC). Dedicated teleprotection systems permanently monitor the state of a communication system, for example, by means of dedicated loop test messages periodically exchanged.
For securely transmitting messages over long distances from one site to the other, the utility can also rely on a Wide-Area communication Network (WAN). In the present context, a WAN can be a dedicated point-to-point communication link between two sites based on e.g. optical fiber or pilot wires, a connection-oriented communication network with a guaranteed data rate such as Ethernet over SDH/HDLC, or a packet-oriented communication network interconnecting a number of sites of the utility, and comprising a plurality of specific network elements such as switches, repeaters and possibly optical transmission media at the physical layer.
WO 2010/081798 is directed to increased reliability of communication over a non-deterministic communication channel, and is suited for inter-substation teleprotection in electric power systems. A communication channel is being monitored based on regular network traffic, e.g., by evaluating data traffic, messages or data packets carrying real-time operational data as a payload. A permanent determination of a channel quality, including generating an alarm in case the channel quality is found insufficient, is based on an evaluation, at a receiving node, of data packets continually, or repeatedly, transmitted by a sending node. In packet oriented WANs, the repeatedly transmitted data packets can be considered as replacing a known guard signal in analogue teleprotection systems or known guard frames in digital teleprotection systems.
A communication standard for communication between the devices of a Substation Automation system has been introduced as part of the standard IEC 61850 entitled "communication networks and systems in substations". For the exchange of non-time sensitive messages within substations, IEC 61850-8-1 specifies the Manufacturing Message Specification (MMS, ISO/IEC 9506) protocol based on a reduced Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) protocol stack with the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP) in the transport and network layer, respectively, and Ethernet as physical medium. For the exchange of time-sensitive event-based messages within substations, IEC 61850-8-1 specifies the Generic Object Oriented Substation Events (GOOSE) and the Generic Substation State Events (GSSE) directly on the Ethernet link layer (OSI-Layer 2) of the communication stack. Hence, the standard defines a format to publish event-based messages as multicast messages on an industrial Ethernet. Notably, as in known IT communication networks with quasi-permanent traffic, the routers and switches of a substation do not provide for an intra-substation communication network supervision mechanism.
The IEC 61850 standard is concerned with communication systems and communication networks or Local Area Networks (LANs) within substations. Modelling of applications involving communication between substations such as teleprotection is thus outside the scope of the present version of the standard. In order to extend the concepts of the standard to the communication between substations, chapter 8 entitled "Communication Aspects" of the report IEC/TR 61850-90-1 (E) entitled "Communication networks and systems for power utility automation—Part 90-1: Use of IEC 61850 for the communication between substations" proposes two approaches.
FIG. 1 schematically shows two known inter-substation communication alternatives in accordance with known implementations.
As shown in FIG. 1, the known "tunneling" approach (FIG. 1, top), provides that messages are forwarded transparently, e.g., without any loss of information through message conversion at the interface between a LAN of a substation and the WAN connecting the substations. No loss of information implies that every bit of the original message is transmitted, which precludes e.g., stripping of Layer-2 MAC address by a router at the interface. This approach presumes the availability of sufficient bandwidth for transmission of an entire, uncompressed message according to IEC 61850 within a maximum time delay of the order of 10 ms. The tunneling approach models only the command transfer function of the teleprotection communication, but ignores the channel supervision and monitoring function that nevertheless form an important part of a known teleprotection communication.
The above-mentioned report IEC/TR 61850-90-1 (E) does not address any detail relating to implementation of the tunneling approach. As GOOSE/GSSE frames are multicast on OSI Layer-2, their transmission over Layer-3 or IP networks between substations is not entirely straightforward. Exemplary ways to implement tunneling in packet-oriented networks can comprise i) assigning the different substations to the same Layer-3 subnet and using Virtual Local Area communication Network VLAN identifiers to separate the intra-substation traffic from the inter-substation traffic, and to prevent the GOOSE/GSSE frames from flooding the subnet, ii) manual programming of the switches at the LAN/WAN boundary such that native Layer-2 GOOSE/GSSE frames with specific MAC source addresses, Ethertype protocol definition and/or VLAN-ID are forwarded to the WAN channel, or iii) using adapters or specially adapted switches for tunneling the unmodified GOOSE/GSSE frames encapsulated in Layer-3 packets over Layer-3 networks (e.g. Layer-2 tunneling protocol).
FIG. 1 also shows the known "gateway" approach (FIG. 1, bottom). The "gateway" approach provides that messages to be exchanged between the substations are modified for transmission over the WAN, in other words, the relevant information content is extracted from the intra-substation messages according to IEC 61850 and embedded in a different inter-substation message. Thus, from an IEC 61850 point-of-view, the message transmission is not transparent. For teleprotection applications, this approach allows using known teleprotection equipment, which incorporates channel supervision and monitoring functionality and which is designed to reliably and securely convey protection commands with low delay over communication channels with limited bandwidth such as radio links, copper wires or power line carriers. To this purpose, on the sending side of the WAN link, the commands should be extracted from the IEC 61850 messages carrying these commands, while on the receiving side, the original IEC 61850 messages should be reconstructed using the commands delivered by the teleprotection equipment and based on additional information configured or transmitted earlier and independently of the command.


An circuit device includes a stack of electrostatic discharge protection devices shared between a plurality of contact pads on the device. In addition, each contact pad is coupled to its own individual protection device. Together, the individual protection devices and the stack establish a trip point for shunting a charge from the contact pads in the event that any of the pads reach a voltage potential greater than the trip point. In doing so, the stack protects internal operations circuits from damage. At the same time, the shared stack conserves die space.

It is well known to those skilled in the art that, during handling and testing of circuit devices, electrostatic charges can be applied to the contact pads of such a device. These charges may be subsequently discharged through the device, thereby causing damage. One solution known in the prior art for preventing damage from these electrostatic discharge (ESD) events is to connect protection devices, such as p-n junction diodes, between each contact pad and its corresponding operations circuit. Typically, one such diode leads to a voltage source V.sub.cc and another leads to ground. In the event a sufficient charge builds up on a contact pad, one of the two diodes will activate and direct the charge away from the operations circuit. Further, the activation of the diodes will be based on their threshold voltage (V.sub.t). For example, a positive charge will be diverted towards the voltage source V.sub.cc when the contact pad's potential exceeds one V.sub.t above V.sub.cc. Alternatively, a negative charge will be diverted toward ground when the contact pad's potential is one V.sub.t below ground.
Occasionally, it is desirable to drive an operations circuit at voltages beyond the one V.sub.t parameters. Those of ordinary skill in the art know that the trip point for shunting charges can be changed by adding diodes to the configuration described above. Nevertheless, based on prior art teachings, changing the trip point for several operations circuits would require adding diodes for each contact pad. Unfortunately, these diodes, as well as other ESD protection devices, require a significant amount of die space. Thus, it would be desirable to provide ESD protection, while at the same time allowing for the alteration of the trip point without the space requirements necessary in the prior art.

Device and method for electrostatic discharge protection of a circuit device


A method includes receiving a plurality of mapping electro-cardiogram (ECG) signals from respective mapping electrodes coupled to a surface of a heart of a patient. Multiple reference ECG signals are received from respective reference electrodes coupled to the patient. The multiple reference ECG signals are jointly processed, so as to produce a single timing reference indicative of cardiac cycle timing of the heart. The single timing reference is applied to the mapping ECG signals.

Electrophysiological (EP) cardiac mapping is a diagnostic medical procedure for identifying locations of cardiac dysfunction within a heart. Time-varying electro-cardiogram (ECG) signals are received by electrodes contacting points along the surface of a patient's heart. The signals are processed and different metrics regarding cardiac functions are computed from the processed (ECG) signals, which are then spatially mapped onto an image of the heart. The map is then outputted for a medical professional to analyze.
The analysis of cardiac signals sometimes involves synchronizing to the timing of the ECG signals. For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2013/0123652, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method for analyzing signals, including sensing a time-varying intra-cardiac potential signal and finding a fit of the time-varying intra-cardiac potential signal to a predefined oscillating waveform. The method further includes estimating an annotation time of the signal responsive to the fit.

Determination of reference annotation time from multi-channel electro-cardiogram signals


Apparatus for providing an admixture of first and second fluids has a first body having opposite ends, a chamber between such opposite ends, an inlet for first fluid into that chamber, and an aperture for the admixture at an end of that chamber. That apparatus also includes a second body having an inlet aperture for second fluid spaced from the first body, an outlet aperture spaced inside the chamber from the aperture for the admixture, and a fluid flow channel decreasing in cross-sectional area from the inlet aperture spaced from the first body to the outlet aperture inside the chamber between opposite ends of the first body. Such first and second bodies jointly comprise a flange structure at the first body and between the inlet and outlet apertures of the second body. An admixture flow channel increases in cross-sectional area away from the aperture at the end of the chamber.

Venturi and other fluid admixing system and their utility are well known in various fields.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved venturi and other fluid mixing systems for use in agriculture, fluid fuel combustion and other fields where liquid or gaseous chemicals, liquid or gaseous fuels or other fluids are entrained in a stream of water, air or other gaseous or liquid primary fluid.
A related object of the invention is to provide improved venturi or other fluid admixing systems for combustible gas and air in such applications as gas-fired water and other heaters.


A serial transmission controller, a serial transmission decoder and a serial transmission method thereof are disclosed. First, a current address and an access address are compared to select one of a plurality of transmission address modes as an access address mode and then to produce corresponding address information. The transmission address modes use different bits to transmit the address information respectively. According to the access address mode, an access command is selected from a serial command set. Finally, the access command and the address information are transmitted to a serial interface serially. After the access command is encoded to different length of bits, the encoded access command is transmitted to the serial interface so as to reduce the transmission bits and improve the transmission efficiency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data transmission controller and decoder and a data transmission method thereof, and more particularly to a serial transmission controller and decoder and a serial transmission method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, the access interface of memory device such as the flash memory uses an address and data bus having a parallel transmission interface. However, this type of interface requires a large number of leads and a higher chip packaging cost. Therefore, to reduce the number of leads, a serial transmission interface, for example, a serial peripheral interface (SPI) is widely adopted.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the data transmission pathways of a conventional serial peripheral interface. As shown in FIG. 1, the main control terminal 150 and the SPI flash memory 100 (the controlled terminal) transmit information to each other through the serial transmission interface. The serial transmission interface includes the SPI controller 160 of the main control terminal 150 and the SPI controller 110 of the SPI flash memory. The SPI controller 160 and the SPI controller 110 communicate with each other through the serial clock signal SCK, the enable signal CE_B and the external data. The SPI controller 110 and the flash memory 120 inside the SPI flash memory 100 communicate with each other through the address data, the internal data, the enable signal CE_B, the write-enable signal WE_B and the read-enable signal OE_B.
FIG. 2 is a clock diagram of the data transmission in FIG. 1. The SPI interface in FIG. 1 uses four leads (that is, the DI, DO, SCK and CE leads) to carry out synchronous serial communication. The CE lead transmits the enable signal CE-B. The DI and DO leads are used to transmit data into and out of the flash memory respectively. The SCK lead is used to transmit a clock signal so as to synchronize the data transmission of the flash memory. In the rising edge of the serial clock signal (SCK), data is latched into the flash memory. In the falling edge of the serial clock signal (SCK), data is transmitted from the flash memory. Because the data is transmitted in serially, the flash memory with this SPI interface needs fewer leads.
However, the current serial transmission interface (SPI) uses a fixed field length to transmit different control commands and address information. Moreover, different control commands are used to transmit related data bits. Thus, if the data read-out addresses are discontinuous, command and address bits must be re-submitted. Hence, the transmission efficiency is low so that the conventional SPI can hardly provide the bandwidth requirement of current high-speed systems.

Serial transmission controller, serial transmission decoder and serial transmission method thereof