A cathode for an electron tube includes a layer of a electron emitting substance containing alkaline earth metal oxides containing 0.01--20.0 wt % of both a lanthanum compound and a magnesium compound or a lanthanum-magnesium compound disposed on a base metal including nickel as a major component and tungsten as a minor component. The tungsten prevents embrittlement and ensures a continuing supply of fill barium in the electron-emitting substance. The cathode enjoys full interchangeability with the conventional oxide cathode and a 15-30% longer life span.

The present invention relates to a cathode for an electron tube and, more particularly, to a thermal electron emitting cathode having an enhanced life span for use in an electron tube such as a cathode-ray tube or image pickup tube.
In general, referring to FIG. 1 the cathode comprises a disk-like base metal 2, a cylindrical sleeve 3 which is fitted to the bottom surface of the base metal 2 for support and provided with a heater 4 located inside the sleeve for heating the cathode, and an electron-emitting material layer 1 coating the upper surface of the base metal 2.
Here, the electron-emitting material layer 1 is generally an alkaline earth metal oxide having barium oxide as a major component, preferably, a ternary metal oxide expressed as (Ba,Sr,Ca)O.
Such an electron emitting material layer 1 is formed as follows. First, a solution is prepared by dissolving a mixed powder of barium carbonate, strontium carbonate and calcium carbonate in an organic solvent such as nitrocellulose or the like, and then a carbonate salt coating is formed by spraying or electrolytically depositing the prepared solution on a base metal of a cathode used in an electron tube. Afterwards, the carbonate salt coating layer is heated to 1000.degree. C. by heater 4 in a vacuum during which the carbonate salt is converted to an oxide, e.g. barium carbonate is converted to barium oxide. Such a cathode is called an "oxide cathode" because the carbonate salt is converted to an oxide in the vacuum process by the high temperature. EQU BaCO.sub.3 .fwdarw.BaO+CO.sub.2 .uparw. (1)
During cathode operation, the barium oxide reacts with a reducing agent, Si or Mg, contained in the base metal at the interface where the base metal and the layer of the electron-emitting substance contact, to form free barium as shown in the following formulas. EQU BaO+Mg.fwdarw.MgO+Ba.uparw. (2) EQU BaO+Si.fwdarw.Ba.sub.2 SiO.sub.4 +2Ba.uparw. (3)
The the free Ba contributes to electron emission. Furthermore, MgO, Ba.sub.2 SiO.sub.4 or the like are formed in the interface between the electron-emitting substance and the base metal, and serve as a barrier called an "intermediate layer," to prevent the Mg or Si from diffusing. Accordingly, the intermediate layer inhibits the generation of free Ba. Consequently, the intermediate layer contributes to shortening the life span of the cathode. There is another disadvantage in that the high resistance of the intermediate layer prevents the flow of current for emitting electrons and thus limits current density.
Along with popular trends toward higher definition and larger screens for televisions and other devices using cathode-ray tubes, there has been an increasing need for cathodes with high current densities and longer life spans. However, conventional oxide cathodes are not capable of satisfying this need due to the aforementioned disadvantages with respect to performance and life span.
An impregnated cathode is known for its high current density and long life span, but the manufacturing process therefor is complex and its operating temperature is over 1100.degree. C., that is, about 300.degree. C. or 400.degree. C. higher than that of oxide cathodes. Accordingly, since it is required that the cathode be made of a material with a much higher melting point which is expensive, its practical use is impeded.
Thus, a great deal of research has gone into lengthening the life span of a conventional oxide cathode with a high degree of practicality. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,593 owned by Mitsubishi discloses a technique for improving the life span of a cathode by dispersing a rare-earth metal oxide such as Sc.sub.2 O.sub.3 or Y.sub.2 O.sub.3 into a conventional ternary carbonate. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,131 discloses including Eu.sub.2 O.sub.3 in an electron-emitting substance to lengthen cathode life span.
The cathodes containing rare-earth metals have enhanced life spans because the rare-earth metal inhibits an intermediate layer from being formed and free Ba from being evaporated. However, the amount of electron emission of the cathode tends to drop off suddenly after a certain period of operation time because the rare-earth metal accelerates sintering of oxides at the operating temperature of the cathode. Thus, the oxide is charred hardened, which results in a decrease of reaction sites for the reducing agent, reducing the quality of emitted electrons. Moreover, because the cathodes have poor cut off drift characteristics and do not have complete interchangeability with a conventional oxide cathode during the manufacturing process, a cathode activation process for ensuring a steady and abundant emission of thermal electrons is required.


An exercise apparatus with both a mat rotating means operated by an electric motor and a foot support means to allow a user reclining on a mat to hang his/her body upside down from the foot support means or to do exercises, such as sit-ups, without help from another person. In the exercise apparatus of the present invention, the leg assembly includes movable and immovable legs, in which the movable leg is closed towards the immovable leg to close the leg assembly in an effort to increase space efficiency of the apparatus. The exercise apparatus also has a locking means for causing the leg assembly in a closed state to be maintained in a stable position, and a plurality of rollers mounted to an outside portion of either leg of the leg assembly to cause a user to easily move the heavy exercise apparatus when necessary.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to exercise apparatuses and, more particularly, to an exercise apparatus with both a mat rotating means operated by an electric motor and a foot support means to allow a user reclining on a mat to hang his/her body upside down from the foot support means or to do exercises, such as sit-ups, without help from another person.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention has been studied and invented, based on U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,560 (herein below, referred to simply as "No. '560") that was filed by the inventor of the present invention, entitled "exercise device".
The construction of the exercise device of No. '560 is shown in FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings.
The exercise device of No. '560 includes a base frame 20 with both a first leg 21 and a second leg 22 serving as a support base to support the exercise device on a support surface as shown in FIG. 1. The exercise device further includes: a mat 1 on which a user lies reclined; a mat frame 2 rotatably mounted to an upper end of the base frame 20, with the mat 1 supported by the mat frame 2; a mat rotating means 4 having a motor to rotate the mat frame 2; and a bearing unit 7 rotatably coupled to the mat frame 2. Furthermore, a length-adjustable extension member 8 is mounted to a longitudinal end of the mat frame 2, with a foot support means 10 mounted to a free end of the extension member 8 to support the feet and ankles of the user reclining on the mat 1.
The foot support means 10 includes: a pair of footholds 11 mounted to the free end of the extension member 8 while extending laterally horizontally in opposite directions to support the weight of the user reclining on the mat 1; and a pair of calf support bars 12 mounted to the extension member 8 at a position near the free end of the member 8 while extending laterally and horizontally in opposite directions to support the calves of the user's legs. The foot support means 10 further includes: a pair of ankle holders 13 which is rotatably coupled to the free end of the extension member 8 by means of a swinging bar 14; and an ankle holder rotating means 15 which rotates the ankle holders 13 towards the calf support bars 12 so as to support the ankles of the user. The ankle holder rotating means 15 is installed in the footholds 11.
The mat rotating means 4 and the ankle holder rotating means 15 are provided with a first reversible motor 5 and a second reversible motor (not shown), respectively. A reduction gear assembly 6 is provided in the mat rotating means 4 to reduce the output speed of the first reversible motor 5. The ankle holder rotating means 15 has a reduction gear assembly (not shown) in the same manner as that described for the gear assembly 6 of the mat rotating means 4. Thus, the rotating forces of the first and second motors are transmitted to a rotating member 3 of the mat frame 2 and the rotating bar 14 of the ankle holder 13, respectively, through the reduction gear assemblies, and thus, both the mat frame 2 and the ankle holders 13 rotate.
In the meantime, two switches S1 and S2 are provided on the upper portion of the outer surface of a casing that covers the mat rotating means 4. Of the two switches, the first switch S1 controls operation of the first motor 5 provided in the mat rotating means 4, and thereby controls the inclination angle of the mat 1. Furthermore, the second switch S2 controls operation of the second motor (not shown) provided in the ankle holder rotating means 15, and thereby controls the rotating angle of the ankle holders 13. Thus, when using the above-mentioned exercise device, the user lying reclined on the mat 1 easily controls the inclination angle of the mat 1 by manipulating the switches. Furthermore, the user stops the motor of the mat rotating means 4 when the mat 1 is placed at a desired inclination angle. After the mat 1 is stopped at the inclination angle, the user does desired exercises, such as sit-ups, on the mat 1. In the drawing, the reference numeral 9 denotes a handgrip that extends from the rotating member 3 of the mat frame 2.
The above-mentioned exercise device is advantageous in that a user conveniently controls operation of the device. However, the exercise device is problematic in that the base frame 20 including the first and second legs 21 and 22 has a fixed structure which does not allow the legs 21 and 22 to be closed or disassembled, although the legs 21 and 22 firmly fixed to each other can stably support the device on a support surface. Thus, the exercise device must occupy a substantial predetermined space even when the device is not in use, thus reducing space efficiency.
Furthermore, to move the exercise device, two or more persons must handle the heavy device at the same time.
Another disadvantage of the above-mentioned exercise device is that the device does not have any means for manually rotating the mat frame when interruption of electric power occurs while the device is in use. Thus, if the power gives out while the user's body is hanging upside down from the foot support means, the mat frame cannot return to its horizontal position, sometimes causing safety hazards.


A bar feeder for a machine tool, comprising a first guide and first pushing member for feeding bars in alignment with a spindle of the machine. A second bar guide and a second pushing member are laterally arranged to the first pushing member. A drive slidably moves the pushing members in a feeding direction of the bars. The first pushing member and second pushing member conjointly with the second bar guide are reciprocally alignable with the first guide. A programmable control unit (PLC) sequentially actuates the pushing members in an aligned condition with the first guide to forward a bar and insert it in a spindle maintaining an inoperative condition of the machine, and to forward by steps the bar along the spindle at each working cycle of the machine.

Automatic bar feeders for mono-spindle and multi-spindle machine tools are generally known, comprising pushers which operate to insert and move each bar forwards by steps along a bar guide means axially aligned with a spindle of the machine tool. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,612,298, 3,955,687, and 4,407,176 are some examples of devices for feeding elongated bars on mono-spindle and multi-spindle turning machines.
Nevertheless bar feeders having single or double pusher, of the known type, have considerable disadvantages which depend on their structure and on the functional organisation of the feeder itself. In particular the use of a single acting pushing member require feeding device of considerable length furtherly involving long time for returning the pushing member and to reintroduce a new bar in the spindle of the machine.
In order to reduce the longitudinal dimensions of the feeder, EP-A- 26370 suggests the use of a double pushing device in which first and second pushing members are provided on a same carriage slidable on a guide rod parallelly arranged to guide channel axially aligned to a guide tube. The first pushing member during forwards stroke of the carriage operate to partially introduce a bar into the guide tube, while entraining the second pushing member on the same bar, then the carriage with both pushing members is retracted to dispose their second pushing member in alignment with the bar to furtherly introduce the latter during a second active stroke of the entraining carriage to feed the bar into the spindle of a machine.
Although said feeding device allows to substantially reduce the length of the same feeder, nevertheless it require long time consuming for returning the carriage to the starting position to activate the second pushing member of the device; the time lost for returning the carriage with the second pushing member therefore reduces the productivity of the machine.
In order to reduce noise and to improve bar charging operations in mono-spindle machines, U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,185 suggest the use of a carriage axially aligned to the spindle of the machine, to act as first pushing member to partially forward bars in the same working machine; a second pushing member is provided to move the bars in the final portion of its forward stroke, nevertheless both the pushers and the means for guiding the bars are structured and driven to move a bar forwards by steps along the spindle, at each working cycle, while the machine tool is in operation. Consequently, when the first pusher has completed its forward stroke, after the bar has been partially machined, the machine tool has to be stopped, the first pusher has to be replaced by the second one with the machine at a standstill and subsequently actuated to move the remaining part of the bar forwards by steps once again after the machine has been again started to operate.
In bar feeders with double pusher of the known type, it is therefore necessary to stop the machine to replace the pushing members, with consequent waste of time and productivity; furthermore in machine tools operating at extremely high speeds, stopping may cause impact and damage to the spindle and to the working tools.
Therefore, the scope of the present invention is to provide an automatic bar feeding device for machine tools, having double pushing device of the kind mentioned above, suitable designed for avoiding the above mentioned disadvantages.
A further scope of present invention is to provide a double-pusher bar feeding device which substantially allows to reduce the loading time of the bars, and devisable for use in mono-spindle and multi-spindle working machines.
The above mentioned scopes are accomplished by means of an automatic bar feeder complying with the characteristic features of the main claim.

Double-pusher bar feeder for machine tools


Methods and apparatus are provided for determining the threshold position of one or more latches employed for decision-feedback equalization. A threshold position of a latch employed by a decision-feedback equalizer is determined by constraining input data such that the input data only contains transitions from a first binary value; obtaining a plurality of samples of a single-sided data eye associated with the constrained input data; and determining a threshold position of the latch based on the samples. The constrained input data can comprise (i) transitions from a binary value of 1 to a binary value of 0 or 1; or (ii) transitions from a binary value of 0 to a binary value of 0 or 1. The size of the single-sided data eye can be obtained by analyzing a histogram associated with the single-sided data eye to identify a region having a constant hit count.

Digital communication receivers must sample an analog waveform and then reliably detect the sampled data. Signals arriving at a receiver are typically corrupted by intersymbol interference (ISI), crosstalk, echo, and other noise. In order to compensate for such channel distortions, communication receivers often employ well-known equalization techniques. For example, zero equalization or decision-feedback equalization (DFE) techniques (or both) are often employed. Such equalization techniques are widely-used for removing intersymbol interference and to improve the noise margin. See, for example, R. Gitlin et al., Digital Communication Principles, (Plenum Press, 1992) and E. A. Lee and D. G. Messerschmitt, Digital Communications, (Kluwer Academic Press, 1988), each incorporated by reference herein. Generally, zero equalization techniques equalize the pre-cursors of the channel impulse response and decision-feedback equalization equalizes the post cursors of the channel impulse response.
In one typical DFE implementation, a received signal is sampled and compared to one or more thresholds to generate the detected data. A DFE correction is applied in a feedback fashion to produce a DFE corrected signal. The addition/subtraction, however, is considered to be a computationally expensive operation. Thus, a variation of the classical DFE technique, often referred to as Spatial DFE, eliminates the analog adder operation by sampling the received signal using two (or more) vertical slicers that are offset from the common mode voltage. The two slicers are positioned based on the results of a well-known Least Mean Square (LMS) algorithm. One slicer is used for transitions from a binary value of 0 and the second slicer is used for transitions from a binary value of 1. The value of the previous detected bit is used to determine which slicer to use for detection of the current bit. For a more detailed discussion of Spatial DFE techniques, see, for example, Yang and Wu, "High-Performance Adaptive Decision Feedback Equalizer Based on Predictive Parallel Branch Slicer Scheme," IEEE Signal Processing Systems 2002, 121-26 (2002), incorporated by reference herein. The offset position of the vertical slicers has been determined by evaluating an error term for a known receive data stream and adjusting the offset position using the well-known Least Mean Square algorithm. Such techniques, however, have been found to be unstable in a fixed point highly quantized signal environment and require excessive time to converge.
A communication channel typically exhibits a low pass effect on a transmitted signal. Conventional channel compensation techniques attempt to open the received data eye that has been band limited by the low pass channel response. Thus, the various frequency content of the signal will suffer different attenuation at the output of the channel. Generally, the higher frequency components of a transmitted signal are impaired more than the lower frequency components. While existing channel compensation techniques effectively compensate for channel distortions, they suffer from a number of limitations, which if overcome, could further improve the reliability of data detection in the presence of channel distortions.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/414,522, filed Apr. 28, 2006, entitled "Method And Apparatus For Determining A Position Of A latch Employed For Decision-Feedback Equalization," discloses techniques for determining a position of a latch employed by a decision-feedback equalizer. The offset position is determined by obtaining a plurality of samples of a data eye associated with a signal, where the data eye is comprised of a plurality of trajectories for transitions out of a given binary state. An amplitude of at least two of the trajectories is determined based on the samples; and a position of a latch is determined based on the determined amplitudes. The initial position of the latch can be placed, for example, approximately in the middle of the determined amplitudes for at least two of the trajectories. The initial position of the latch can be optionally skewed by a predefined amount to improve the noise margin.
A need exists for improved methods and apparatus for determining the position of one or more latches employed for decision-feedback equalization. A further need exists for methods and apparatus for determining the position for one or more DFE latches based on an evaluation of the incoming data eye.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for determining latch position for decision-feedback equalization using single-sided eye


The exercise helmet of the present invention includes an outer shell which would preferably be constructed of a sturdy plastic, and an inner shell which would function as an impact absorbing liner. Support plates are provided at the sides of the helmet to support shafts which extend outwardly from the support plates. Weighted plates may be placed on the shafts to provide resistance for exercise when the helmet is worn. A yoke accessory is provided for attachment to a cable of a conventional weight machine, for providing resistance instead of the weighted plates. An adjustable chin strap is provided for securing the helmet more securely to a wearer's head, and for increasing the exercise effect on facial muscles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to exercise equipment, particularly for exercising the neck and facial muscles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several devices have been invented which assist in providing exercise for neck muscles. Some of these devices also provide some benefit for the facial muscles. None have been developed which provide the versatility, customized fit, safety and sturdy construction of the present invention.


A power supply stacked output port structure installed on a power output end of a power supply to integrate and output transformed DC power of a circuit board in the power supply. The structure includes a base output port which contains a first connector and a second connector that are arranged in a juxtaposed manner. A stacked output port is provided and horizontally located above the base output port that has at least a third connector. The third connector is electrically connected to the circuit board of the power supply through transmission lines. The stacked output port structure thus formed can increase the number of external equipment to be connected. The transmission lines used on the third connector can achieve more stable electric connection.

In response to constant changes of Internet applications and multimedia functions, computer technologies also advance continuously. These days hardware such as hard disk drives, optical disk drives and disc burners have become the fundamental facilities for users or server providers. Power supply also has to provide a greater amount of output power to meet the growing demands. The basic power of 250 W in the past is not enough now. Nowadays, 450 W, 500 W or even 600 W is required to support all the computer hardware being used.
R.O.C patent No. M260929 discloses a power supply with power output ports on the rear end. The composite output ports include at least one AC power input end and one or more DC output port on a power supply host. Each DC power output port is coupled with a connector which has a plurality of power supply and signal terminals and at least one first conductive wire set connecting to the DC power output port. The conductive wire has a complementary connector on one end to be connected to the connector of the DC power output port. Another end has an output connector which has a pin number different from the complementary connector on the other end. There is at least one second conductive wire set corresponding and connecting to another DC power output port. One end of the conductive wire has another complementary connector to be connected to the connector of the DC power output port and another end has one or more output connector.
However, when the aforesaid patent has the connector serving for output purpose, due to the power supply adopted the commonly used 1 U specification has a maximum width of 100 mm and installation width of 92 mm for the connector, and the interval of the connector output pins is 2.54 mm, the maximum number of installable connector pins is 36. Converted to power (take 6 A for each common output pin as an example), the power supply can only output about 400 W. As the present requirement of power supply needs at least 500 W, the conventional techniques cannot meet this requirement. Hence how to increase power without changing the power supply specifications is a urgent issue remained to be resolved in the industry.

Power supply stacked output port structure


An exposure apparatus for exposing a substrate to light from a light source via a reticle. The exposure apparatus includes an optical system configured to expose the substrate to light from the light source via the reticle, and has a first optical element, a motor configured to move the first optical element, a first housing accommodating at least the first optical element and the motor, a second housing accommodated in the first housing, accommodating at least a part of the motor, and configured to isolate the part of the motor from the first optical element, a first exhaust system configured to exhaust a first space between the first housing and the second housing, and a second exhaust system configured to exhaust a second space in the second housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an exposure apparatus. In particular, the invention relates to an exposure apparatus used for exposing an object to be processed (substrate), such as a single crystal substrate for a semiconductor device or a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display (LCD). The present invention is suitable, for example, for an exposure apparatus using a light beam having a wavelength not longer than 200 nm.
2. Related Background Art
There is an increasing demand for miniaturization of a semiconductor element installed in an electronic device in order to respond to recent requests for reduction in size and thickness of the electronic device. Up to now, a projection exposure apparatus has been used in a lithography (printing) process for manufacturing a semiconductor element, the apparatus projecting and transferring a circuit pattern drawn on a reticle or mask (in this application, the two terms are interchangeably used) onto a wafer, etc., by using a projection optical system.
A resolution (minimum transferable size) R of a projection exposure apparatus is represented by the following expression using a wavelength λ of a light source and a numerical aperture (NA) of a projection optical system:R=k1×λ/NA where k1 represents a process constant defined by a development process, etc.
Accordingly, the shorter the wavelength, the higher the resolution. Based on this, in recent years, an exposure light source has shifted from a conventional extra-high pressure mercury lamp (g line (wavelength: about 436 nm) or i line (wavelength: about 365 nm)) to a KrF excimer laser (wavelength: about 248 nm) or an ArF excimer laser (wavelength: about 193 nm) having a shorter wavelength than conventional ones. Further, an F2 laser (wavelength: about 157 nm) is coming into practical use.
Also, there arises a need to improve a throughput (the number of wafers to be processed per unit time) in a projection exposure apparatus. Since an exposure time for each object to be processed needs to be shortened in order to improve the throughput, an illumination of exposure light, i.e., an exposure amount, in which each object to be processed is irradiated with light per unit time, needs to be increased.
However, an exposure light beam having a shorter wavelength (for example, a light beam having a wavelength in a vacuum ultraviolet region) is absorbed in a larger amount in oxygen or an impurity (water vapor, carbon dioxide, organic material, or halide; also referred to as a contaminant) existing in an atmosphere in an optical path of the exposure light (reduction in transmissivity), resulting in reduction in throughput as well as in exposure light amount of the object to be processed. In general, as the wavelength of the light beam shortens, photon energy gradually increases, causing a photochemical reaction between the contaminant and oxygen. If a product (ammonium sulfate or silicon dioxide) generated by the photochemical reaction adheres to an optical element, the surface of the optical element is fogged, leading to not only a further reduction in exposure light amount, but also, deterioration in imaging performance.
To that end, in a projection exposure apparatus employing a KrF excimer laser or an ArF excimer laser as a light source, optical elements arranged in an optical path are accommodated in a space purged with inert gas in order to avoid reduction in transmissivity due to the absorption of a light beam by oxygen, etc., in an atmosphere in an optical path, or reduction in an exposure light amount and deterioration in imaging performance due to adherence of the product generated by the photochemical reaction to the surface of the optical elements. Also, the purged space is made free of any substance having a gas-producing property, which prevents a contaminant from being generated (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H06-029179, for example).
FIG. 9 is a schematic sectional view showing a main structural part of a conventional exposure apparatus 1000. Referring to FIG. 9, the exposure apparatus 1000 includes a lens unit 1200 provided inside a housing 1100, constituting an optical system. An exposure light EL from a light source 1400 is guided to the outside of the housing 1100 through seal glasses 1300a and 1300b. A pipe 1500a for supplying an inert gas and a pipe 1500b for exhausting the air in the housing are provided inside the housing 1100, for example. The inside of the housing 1100 is purged with the inert gas.
The exposure apparatus 1000 includes a rotating member 1700 having a plurality of filters 1600a and 1600b for adjusting a light amount of the exposure light EL, and a motor 1800 for driving the rotating member 1700, inside the housing 1100. The motor 1800 is disposed onto a motor holder 1820 fixed to the housing 1100 through a flange 1810. Note that a motor wiring 1830 is connected to a control unit or a power supply unit through an air-tight connector (not shown).
If the motor 1800 has a gas-producing property, an exhaust gas EG adheres to the lens unit 1200 due to a photochemical reaction, leading to deterioration in imaging performance, as well as a reduction in exposure light amount.
However, with a structure of the aforementioned conventional exposure apparatus, it becomes more difficult to sufficiently suppress a reduction in throughput and deterioration in imaging performance due to contamination of an optical element, as the wavelength of the exposure light becomes shortened. Although the motor is configured so as to minimize the exhaust gas production as mentioned above, it is impossible to use undesirable materials to maintain performance of the motor. For example, a solder or resin is used for a stator or a coil wire wound inside the stator, or other such internal members. Even if materials having a low gas-producing property are basically selected, however, an adhesive, grease, or the like, is used therefor, as well. As a result, as photon energy of the exposure light increases, a photochemical reaction is activated, so that an exhaust gas in a trace amount, which otherwise might cause no photochemical reaction, turns into a contaminant.
The exhaust gas discharged from the motor is known to contain moisture. In particular, a light beam of an F2 laser is largely absorbed by moisture or oxygen. Hence, it is necessary to keep a water and an oxygen content in an optical path at an extremely low level. However, the structure of the conventional exposure apparatus requires a long time to reach such a water or an oxygen content so as to satisfy a required optical performance. This is supposedly because it takes much time to purge with an inert gas the air having intruded and accumulated in the inside of the motor or in minute gaps of a lens holding mechanism or other such mechanisms. Alternatively, this is supposedly triggered by moisture in an exhaust gas discharged from the motor. In addition, for example, if the optical element is fogged, an exposure apparatus needs to be open (canceling the purge with the inert gas) for replacing the optical element; at this time, moisture in the air may be mixed thereinto, so the apparatus should be stopped until the water or moisture content reaches such a level so as to satisfy the required exposure performance again, leading to a reduction in throughput.

Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method


Apparatus for forming a lesion in body tissue includes a probe having an active region with an electrode for contacting tissue to be treated, and an inactive region including an insulative sleeve around a portion of the electrode. The temperature of the inactive region is monitored using a temperature sensor. A controller supplies radio frequency energy to the electrode and samples signals from the temperature sensor. By performing a calculation using the sampled signals and a predetermined inactive region threshold temperature, and by adjusting the supplied radio frequency power, the inactive region of the probe can be maintained at or below an inactive region maximum temperature while the controller continues to supply radio frequency energy to the electrode. The probe has a second temperature sensor, mounted at a distal end of the electrode, the controller being configured to reduce the supplied radio frequency power when the electrode temperature reaches a predetermined maximum electrode temperature.

It is well known in the field of electrosurgery that there are two distinct tissue effects which can be achieved using radio frequency (RF) energy, depending on the temperature to which the tissue is raised. The first is the removal of tissue by vaporisation, in which the electrode or electrodes are subjected to relatively high temperatures (typically over 1000° C.). The second is the production of tissue necrosis without the removal of tissue in situ, and it is to this second type of system to which the present invention is directed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,021 discloses a typical example of this type of treatment, in which a probe including a tissue treatment electrode is placed in contact with body tissue, and an RF signal is supplied to the probe such that the electrode heats the tissue causing cell necrosis and forming a lesion. The lesion is subsequently absorbed by the body with the result that tissue shrinkage is seen to occur. This type of treatment has been successfully performed for a number of years, and is known as "Somnoplasty".
It is well known that to produce a lesion the temperature of the tissue should be kept below 100° C. Temperatures above 100° C. are known to cause charring and desiccation of the tissue (which can be undesirable as the desiccated tissue is unable to absorb any further RF energy). The prior art teaches that temperatures in the range of 80° C. to 100° C. are typical for this type of apparatus. Examples of prior art patents teaching temperatures in this range are U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,657, U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,266, U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,644, U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,682 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,745. As can be seen from these and any many other prior art documents, the instruction to maintain the temperature below 100° C. is well established. For example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,266 it is stated "any non-uniform hot spots must be monitored to prevent runaway flash heating to the boiling point of 100° C." U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,745 states "The maximum temperature condition T.sub.MAX lies within a range of temperatures which are high enough to provide deep and wide lesions (typically between about 90° C. and 98° C.), but which are safely below about 100° C., at which tissue desiccation or tissue boiling is known to occur." As can be seen, the direction to maintain the probe temperature below 100° C. is seen as an essential requirement for successful lesion generation.
The problem with this requirement to maintain the probe temperature below 100° C. is that this can lead to a relatively slow process, requiring anything up to several minutes of treatment time in order to generate the lesion. Unless the control of the energy delivered to the probe is exceptional, the safest way to ensure that the probe temperature does not under any circumstances exceed 100° C. is to drive the device such that its normal operating is well below 100° C. Many devices operate at temperatures of between 80° C. and 85° C. (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,266 for example), which can lead to even longer treatment times.
Another reason that many prior art lesion generation devices operate at relatively lower temperatures is the concern that the insulation covering the probe electrode will heat up to an unacceptable extent. Even though the insulation is often set back from the tip of the electrode, any attempt to drive the probe at a level capable of causing relatively fast lesion generation runs the risk that the temperature of the insulation will rise also. If the insulation rises to a temperature at which it, in addition to the electrode, is capable of causing tissue-altering effects, tissue which is not intended to be altered may become affected. It is for this reason that some existing lesion-generating devices measure the temperature of the insulation and cause power to the device to be disconnected if the insulation temperature reaches a predetermined cut-out temperature.
The problem with this type of cut-out arrangement is that, although it does guard against inadvertent tissue damage, the cut-out feature may be frequently triggered. This leads the users and designers of such equipment to operate it at much lower power levels so as to ensure that the equipment operates well under the temperatures needed to cause a cut-out. The result is once again a relatively slow lesion. The present invention seeks to provide a lesion generation system which can produce effective lesions using considerably reduced treatment times, while attempting to mitigate the risk of insulation overheating and consequent tissue damage.


Disclosed is a method, system, and computer program product for implementing efficient access to stream data. The present approach implements a stream reader that supports either reading the entire layout (e.g., loading the contents of the user-specified top cell and all its progeny) into memory, or just a portion of it (e.g., loading only the contents of the user-specified top cell and its progeny that overlapped a user-specified bounding box). Some approaches provide a mechanism to implement parallelized or multithreaded reads of the stream data.

An integrated circuit (IC) has a large number of electronic components, such as transistors, logic gates, diodes, and wires that are fabricated by forming layers of different materials and of different geometric shapes on various regions of a silicon wafer.
Many phases of physical design may be performed with computer aided design (CAD) tools or electronic design automation (EDA) systems. To design an integrated circuit, a designer first creates high level behavior descriptions of the IC device using a high-level hardware design language. An EDA system typically receives the high level behavior descriptions of the IC device and translates this high-level design language into netlists of various levels of abstraction using a computer synthesis process. A netlist describes interconnections of nodes and components on the chip and includes information of circuit primitives, such as for example, transistors and diodes, their sizes and interconnections. An integrated circuit designer may use a set of layout EDA application programs to create a physical design of the IC from the logical design. The layout EDA application uses geometric shapes of different materials to create the various electrical components on an integrated circuit and to represent electronic and circuit IC components as geometric objects with varying shapes and sizes. The geometric information about the placement of the nodes and components onto the chip may be determined by a placement process and a routing process. The placement process is a process for placing electronic components or circuit blocks on the chip and the routing process is the process for creating interconnections between the blocks and components according to the specified netlist. After an integrated circuit designer has created an initial integrated circuit layout, the designer then verifies and optimizes the integrated circuit layout using a set of EDA testing and analysis tools. Verification may include, for example, design rule checking to verify compliance with rules established for various IC parameters.
The electronic design data is often stored in a "stream" format, which is a database file format that serially stores information about the different components and objects that are in the electronic design. GDSII ("Graphic Data System II") is a common stream format that has become a standard file format for storing layout information for electronic designs, which is structured as a binary file comprising geometric shapes, labels, and other information about the layout in hierarchical form. The data from the stream format, stream file or stream data (collectively referred to herein as either "stream file" or "stream data"), can be used to reconstruct all or part of the artwork to be used in sharing layouts, transferring artwork between different tools, or creating photomasks. Another common stream format for holding electronic designs is the OASIS ("Open Artwork System Interchange Standard") format, which is a binary format that provides an instruction set used to represent and express cell and chip level physical and mask layout data. The data within these stream-based formats is generally represented and organized on a cell-by-cell basis, with hierarchical references to other cells.
EDA tools often need to access the electronic design data that is stored in the stream-based formats. For example the process of performing design verification, modification, or review will require the ability to read the data that is stored in the GDSII or OASIS files. Many EDA tools implement data access by utilizing reading modules or tools that access and populate database structures with the contents of the stream files. An example database that can be used to hold this data is the OpenAccess database, the specifications of which are available from the Silicon Integration Initiative at www.si2.org. Once the database has been populated with the detailed design information, the EDA tool can then perform detailed analysis or visualization using the information in the database. Conventional tools that provide the functionality of reading data from the stream files typically operate very inefficiently. In part, this is because of the time that is required to perform conversion operations and to read the stream data into memory. Moreover, because of the sequential nature of the data for cells in a stream file, it is very difficult to parallelize the operations to read that data.

Method and system for implementing a stream reader for EDA tools


An animal litter comprised of a liquid absorbent aggregate impregnated with a litmus agent for indicating a urinary tract infection in felines.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an animal litter in which a liquid absorbent aggregate acts as a carrier of an agent for detecting urinary infection in felines and other related species.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
Because of the growing number of domestic animals, particularly felines, used as house pets, there is an increasing need for a simple means to inform the pet owner of the presence of urinary infections so that curative steps can be taken to avoid serious illness in the animal.
To the extent I am aware, the only procedure available today for detecting urinary infection in felines is to take the animal to a veterinarian who makes an appropriate test. The test usually involves the taking of a urine sample and testing it for the presence of infection. Felines are not always cooperative in the sample gathering procedure and therefore there is a need for a simple technique for determining the presence of urinary infection that avoids the need for obtaining urine samples.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an animal litter that is impregnated with an agent for indicating the presence of infection.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an animal litter containing an agent sensitive to the alkalinity of feline urine to indicate a measure of urinary infection.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an animal litter that enables a pet owner to immediately determine the presence of a urinary infection without the need to take the animal to a veterinarian.

Animal litter having the property of detecting urinary infection in felines


A data copyright management apparatus for handling data copyrights, and data of digital cash and video conference system is provided. The data copyright management apparatus comprises a CPU, ROM, EEPROM, and RAM. The ROM, EEPROM, and RAM are connected to the CPU bus, and a system bus of a device which utilizes the data can be connected to the CPU bus. A data copyright management system program, crypt algorithm, and user information are stored in the ROM, and a first public-key, a first private-key, a second public-key, a second private-key, a first secret-key, a second secret-key, and copyright information are stored in the EEPROM. The data copyright management apparatus may be configured in the form of a monolithic or hybrid IC, a thin IC card, PC card, insertion board, and further, may be incorporated in a computer, television set, set-top box, digital video tape recorder, digital video disk recorder, digital audio tape apparatus, or personal digital assistants, and the like.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for displaying, storing, copying, editing or transferring digital data, and protecting digital data copyrights.
2. Background Art
In the information-oriented society of today, database systems are becoming wide spread in which it is possible to use various types of data which were stored independently in each computer in the past, by connecting computers via communication lines.
In such a database system, the information handled up to this point has been conventionally coded information that can be processed by a computer, and that contains a relatively small amount of information and monochrome binary data, such as facsimile information at most. It has not been possible to handle data containing a relatively large amount of information, such as data for natural pictures or animation.
With the rapid progress of digital processing technique for various electric signals, a technique is under development for digital processing of picture signals other than binary data, which had been handled only as analog signals in the past.
By digitizing the picture signal, it is possible to handle a picture signal, e.g., a television signal, by a computer. The technology of a "multimedia system" is an emerging technology of the future capable of simultaneously handling the data handled by computers and digitized picture data.
Because picture data contains an overwhelmingly large amount of information compared with character data and audio data, it is difficult to store or transfer or process the picture data by computer. For this reason, techniques for compressing or expanding picture data have been developed. Further, several standards for compression/expansion of picture data have been established. For example, the following standards have been established as common standards: JPEG (Joint Photographic image coding Experts Group) standards for still pictures, H.261 standards for video conferences, MPEG1 (Moving Picture image coding Experts Group 1) standards for picture accumulation, and MPEG2 standards for current television broadcasting and high definition television broadcasting. By using these new techniques, it is now possible to transmit digital picture data in real time.
For analog data, which has been widely used in the past, the control of copyrights during processing has not been an important issue because the quality of the analog data deteriorates each time the data is stored, copied, edited, or transferred. The editing of a copyrighted work produced according to the above operation has not been a large problem. However, the quality of digital data does not deteriorate when the data is repeatedly stored, copied, edited, or transferred. Therefore, the management and control of copyrights during processing of digital data is an important issue.
Up to now, there has been no adequate method for management and control of copyrights for digital data. They have been managed and controlled merely by copyright law or by contracts. In copyright law, only compensation for digital sound or picture recording devices has been prescribed.
It is possible not only to refer to the content of a database, but also to effectively utilize the data obtained from the database by storing, copying, or editing the data, and also transferring the edited data to the database with the edited data registered as new data. Further, it is possible to transfer edited data to other persons via a communication link or by a proper recording medium.
In a conventional database system, only character data is handled. However, in multimedia systems, sound data and picture data originally generated as analog data, are digitized and used as part of the database in addition to the other data in the database such as character data.
Under such circumstances, it is an important question to determine how to handle copyrights of the data in the database. However, there are no means in the prior art for copyright management and control of such actions as copying, editing, transferring, etc. of data.
Although data from "software with advertisement" or "free software" is generally available free of charge, it is copyrighted and its use may be restricted by the copyright depending on the way it is used.
The inventors of the present invention proposed a system for copyright management, wherein a permit key is obtained from a key control center via a public telephone line in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 46419/1994 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 141004/1994. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 132916/1994 by the same inventors also discusses an apparatus for copyright management. Furthermore, the same inventors proposed a system for managing a copyright of digital data in Japanese Patent Application No. 64889/1994 (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/416,037) and Japanese Patent Application No. 237673/1994 (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/536,747).
In these systems and apparatus, one who wants to view and listen to encrypted programs requests viewing from a control center via a communications line by using a communication device. The control center sends a permit key to the requester, performs charging and collects a fee.
After receiving the permit key, the requester sends the permit key to a receiver by using an on-line or off-line means. The receiver then decrypts the encrypted programs using the permit key.
The system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 64889/1994 (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/416,037) uses a program and copyright information for managing the copyright, in addition to the permit key, so that the copyright for display (including sound processes), storage, copying, editing, or transferring of the digital data in the database system, including real-time transmission of a digital picture, can be managed. The program for managing the copyright watches and manages to prevent a user from using the digital data outside the conditions of the user's request or permission.
Japanese Patent Application No. 64889/1994 (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/416,037) further discloses that data is supplied in encrypted form from a database, decrypted by a copyright management program when displayed or edited, and encrypted again when it is stored, copied or transferred. Also, the copyright management program, being encrypted, is decrypted by a permit key. The copyright management program thus decrypted performs encryption and decryption of copyright data, and when data is utilized other than for storage and display, copyright information including information about the user, being stored as a history in addition to the original copyright information, is disclosed.
A general description of cryptography is provided below. Cryptography includes a secret-key cryptosystem and a public-key cryptosystem.
The secret-key cryptosystem is a cryptosystem using the same crypt key for encryption and decryption. While this cryptosystem requires only a short time for encryption or decryption, if the secret-key is found, the cryptogram may be cryptanalyzed.
The public-key cryptosystem is a cryptosystem in which a key for encryption is open to the public as a public-key, and a key for decryption is not open to the public. The key for encryption is referred to as a public-key and the key for decryption is referred to as a private-key. To use this cryptosystem, it is necessary that the party transmitting information encrypts the information with the public-key of the party receiving the information. The party receiving the information decrypts the information with a private-key not open to the public. While this cryptosystem requires a relatively long time for encryption or decryption, the private-key cannot easily be found, and it is very difficult to cryptanalyze the cryptogram.
In cryptography, a case of encrypting a plaintext M with a crypt key K to obtain a cryptogram C is expressed as EQU C=E(K, M)
and a case of decrypting the cryptogram C with the crypt key K to obtain the plaintext M is expressed as EQU M=D(K, C).
The cryptosystem used for the present invention uses a secret-key cryptosystem in which the same secret-key Ks is used for encryption and decryption, and a public-key cryptosystem in which a public-key Kb is used for encryption of plaintext data and a private-key Kv is used for decryption of a cryptogram.
FIG. 1 shows a structure of the data copyright management system disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application No. 237673/1994, (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/536,747) in which the apparatus for data copyright management system of the present invention can be used.
In this system, encrypted data is supplied via two-way communication in accordance with a request from the primary user 4.
This system uses the secret-key cryptosystem and the public-key cryptosystem as a cryptosystem.
It will be obvious that this system can be applied when using a satellite broadcast, ground wave broadcast, CATV broadcast or a recording medium other than a database as the data supply means provided with advertisement requiring no charge or encryption.
In this system, reference numeral 1 represents a database, 4 represents a primary user terminal, 5 represents a secondary user terminal, 6 represents a tertiary user terminal, and 7 represents an n-order user terminal. Also, reference numeral 3 represents a copyright management center, 8-10 represent a secondary copyright data, tertiary copyright data, and n-order copyright data, respectively, stored at the copyright management center 3. Reference numeral 2 represents a communication network such as a public telephone line offered by a communication enterprise or a CATV line offered by a cable television enterprise.
In the above arrangement, the database 1, primary user terminal 4, secondary user terminal 5, tertiary user terminal 6, n-order user terminal 7, and copyright management center 3 are connected to the communication network 2. They can also be connected each other.
In FIG. 1, a path shown by a broken line represents a path for encrypted data. A path shown by a solid line represents a path of requests from each user terminal. A path shown by a one-dot chain line represents a path through which a crypt key and authorization information corresponding to a utilization request for data are transferred. A path shown by a two-dot chain line represents a path through which copyright information is transferred from the database or from one data element to a next-order data element within the copyright management center.
Each user who uses this system has previously been entered in the database system and has been provided with database utilization software. The database utilization software includes a program for decrypting an encrypted copyright management program in addition to normal communication software such as data communications protocols.
To use the database 1, a primary user prepares primary-user authentication data Au1, a first public-key Kb1, a first private-key Kv1 corresponding to the first public-key Kb1, a second public-key Kb2, and a second private-key Kv2 corresponding to the second public-key Kb2. The primary user accesses the database 1 from the primary user terminal 4 via the communication network 2.
The database 1, receiving the primary-user authentication data Au1, first public-key Kb1 and second public-key Kb2 from the primary user, confirms the primary-user authentication data Au1 and transfers the confirmed primary-user authentication data Au1 to the copyright management center 3 as the primary user information Iu1.
The database 1 prepares two secret-keys, first secret-key Ks1 and second secret-key Ks2. The second secret-key Ks2 is transferred to the copyright management center 3.
As the result of the above transfer, a permit key corresponding to primary utilization, the primary user information Iu1, original copyright information Ic0 and the second secret-key Ks2 are stored in the copyright management center 3. In this case, the original copyright information Ic0 is used for copyright royalties distribution.
When a primary user who desires data utilization accesses the database 1 from the primary user terminal 4, a data menu is transferred to him. In this case, information for charges may be displayed together with the data menu.
When the data menu is transferred, the primary user retrieves the data menu and selects the data M. In this case, the original copyright information Ic0 of the selected data M is transmitted to the copyright management center 3. The primary user selects permit key Kp1 corresponding to the required form of the usage such as viewing, storing, copying, editing and transferring of data. Permit key Kp1 is also transmitted to the copyright management center 3.
Because viewing and storing of data are the minimum required forms of use for the primary user, these forms of use may be excluded from the choices, thus offering only copying, editing and transferring as choices.
The original data M0 is read out of the database 1 in accordance with a request of the primary user. The read original data M0 is encrypted by the first secret-key Ks1: EQU Cm0ks1=E(Ks1, M0).
The encrypted data Cm0ks1 is provided with the unencrypted original copyright information Ic0.
The first secret-key Ks1 is encrypted by the first public-key Kb1 and the second secret-key Ks2 is encrypted by the second public-key Kb2: EQU Cks1kb1=E(Kb1, Ks1) EQU Cks2kb2=E(Kb2, Ks2).
While the copyright management program P is also encrypted by the second secret-key Ks2: EQU Cpks2=E(Ks2, P),
the copyright management program P may not always be encrypted by the second secret-key Ks2 but it may be encrypted by any other proper crypt key.
The encrypted original data Cm0ks1, encrypted copyright management program Cpks2, and two encrypted secret-keys Cks1kb1 and Cks2kb2 are transferred to the primary user terminal 4 via the communication network 2 and charged, if necessary.
It is possible to store the encrypted copyright management program Cpks2 in means such as in a ROM in the user terminal 4 instead of supplying it from the database 1.
The primary user receiving the encrypted original data Cm0ks1, two encrypted secret-keys Cks1kb1 and Cks2kb2, and encrypted copyright management program Cpks2 from the database 1 decrypts the encrypted first secret-key Cks1kb1 with the database utilization software using the first private-key Kv1 corresponding to the first public-key Kb1: EQU Ks1=D(Kv1, Cks1kb1),
and decrypts the encrypted second secret-key Cks2kb2 using the second private-key Kv2 corresponding to the second public-key Kb2: EQU Ks2=D(Kv2, Cks2kb2).
The primary user decrypts the encrypted copyright management program Cpks2 using the decrypted second secret-key Ks2: EQU P=D(Ks2, Cpks2).
Finally, the primary user decrypts the encrypted data Cm0ks1 by the decrypted copyright management program P using the decrypted first secret-key Ks1: EQU M0=D(Ks1, Cm0ks1)
and uses the decrypted original data M0 directly or data M1 as edited.
As described above, the first private-key Kv1 and second private-key Kv2 are crypt keys prepared by the primary user but not open to others. Therefore, even if a third party obtains the data M, it is impossible to use the encrypted data M by decrypting it.
Thereafter, to store, copy, or transfer the data M as the original data M0 or the edited data M1, it is encrypted and decrypted using the second secret-key Ks2: EQU Cmks2=E(Ks2, M) EQU M =D(Ks2, Cmks2).
The decrypted second secret-key Ks2 is thereafter used as a crypt key for encrypting/decrypting data when storing, copying, or transferring the data.
The first private-key Kv1 and second private-key Kv2, the first secret-key Ks1 and second secret-key Ks2, the data M, the copyright management program P, the original copyright information Ic0 and copyright information Ic1, containing information about the primary user and the editing date and time, are stored in the primary user terminal 4.
Further protection is provided by attaching the copyright information Ic1 to the data as copyright information label, and adding the digital signature.
The encrypted data Cmks2 is encrypted to be distributed. Since the copyright information label provides a clue to obtain the second secret-key Ks2 which is the key for decryption, the second secret key Ks2 cannot be obtained in the case where the copyright information label is removed from the encrypted data Cmks2.
When the encrypted data Cmks2 is stored in the primary user terminal 4, the second secret-key Ks2 is stored in the terminal 4. However, when the encrypted data Cmks2 is not stored in the primary user terminal 4 but is copied to the recording medium 11 or transferred to the secondary user terminal 5 via the communication network 2, the second secret-key Ks2 is disused in order to disable subsequent utilization of the data in the primary user terminal 4.
In this case, it is possible to set a limitation for repetitions of copying or transferring of the data so that the second secret-key Ks2 is not disused within limited repetitions of copying and transferring of the data.
The primary user who is going to copy the data M to the external recording medium 11 or transmit the data M via the communication network 2 must prepare the second secret-key Ks2 to encrypt the data M by this second secret-key Ks2 before copying or transmitting the data: EQU Cmks2=E(Ks2, M).
The unencrypted original copyright information Ic0 and primary-user copyright information Ic1 are added to the encrypted data Cmks2.
Before using a database, a secondary user, similar to the primary user, prepares authentication data Au2 for authenticating the secondary user, a third public-key Kb3, a third private-key Kv3 corresponding to the third public-key Kb3, a fourth public-key Kb4, and a fourth private-key Kv4 corresponding to the fourth public-key Kb4.
The secondary user who desires secondary utilization of the copied or transferred encrypted data Cmks2 must designate the original data name or number to the copyright management center 3 in order to request secondary utilization from the secondary user terminal 5 via the communication network 2. In this time, the secondary user also transfers the third public-key Kb3 and the fourth public-key Kb4, as well as the secondary user authentication data Au2, original copyright information Ic0 and primary user copyright information Ic1.
The copyright management center 3 receiving the secondary utilization request from the secondary user confirms the secondary-user authentication data Au2, and transfers confirmed secondary-user authentication data Au2 to the tertiary copyright data 9 as secondary user information.
When the secondary copyright information Ic1 of the primary user is transferred, the secondary copyright information Ic1 is provided to the secondary copyright data 8, and then, secondary copyright data 8 recognizes the secondary copyright information Ic1 to be transferred to the tertiary copyright data 9.
The secondary user selects permit key Kp2 corresponding to the form of data usage such as viewing, storing, copying, editing and transferring of data. Permit key Kp2 corresponding to the selected usage is sent to the tertiary copyright data 9.
Because viewing and storing of data are the minimum required forms of use for the secondary user, these forms of use may be excluded from the choices, offering only copying, editing and transferring as the choices.
The secondary copyright data 8 prepares a third secret-key Ks3. The prepared third secret-key Ks3 is transferred to and stored in the tertiary copyright data 9.
As the result of the above transfer, the permit key Kp2, primary user copyright information Ic1, primary user information Iu1, original copyright information Ic0, secondary user information Iu2, and third secret-key Ks3 are stored in the tertiary copyright data 9. The permit key Kp2, primary user copyright information Ic1, and primary user information Iu1 are used for copyright royalties distribution.
Hereafter similarly, permit key Kpn corresponding to n-order usage, copyright information for secondary exploitation right Icn-1 of (n-1)-order user, primary user information Iu1, original copyright information Ic0, n-order user information Iun, and n-th secret-key Ksn are stored in n-order copyright data 10.
The permit key Kp2, primary user information Iu1, original copyright information Ic0 and second secret-key Ks2 are read out of the secondary copyright data 8. The original copyright information Ic0 is used for copyright royalties distribution.
The read second secret-key Ks2 and third secret-key Ks3 are encrypted by the third public-key Kb3 and fourth public-key Kb4 of the secondary user respectively: EQU Cks2kb3=E(Kb3, Ks2) EQU Cks3kb4=E(Kb4, Ks3).
The copyright management program P is encrypted by the third secret-key Ks3: EQU Cpks3=E(Ks3, P).
The encrypted copyright management program Cpks3, encrypted second secret-key Cks2kb3, and encrypted third secret-key Cks3kb4 are transferred to the secondary user terminal 5 via the communication network 2. In this case, charging is performed, if necessary.
The secondary user, receiving two encrypted secret-keys, Cks2kb3 and Cks3kb4, and the encrypted copyright management program Cpks3 from the secondary copyright data 8, and using the database utilization software decrypts the encrypted second secret-key Cks2kb3 by the third private-key Kv3, and decrypts the encrypted third secret-key Cks3kb4 by the fourth private-key Kv4 corresponding to the fourth public-key Kb4: EQU Ks2=D(Kv3, Cks2kb3) EQU Ks3=D(Kv4, Cks3kb4).
The encrypted copyright management program Cpks3 is decrypted by the decrypted third secret-key Ks3: EQU P=D(Ks3, Cpks3).
Then, the encrypted data Cmks2 is decrypted for use by the decrypted second secret-key Ks2 using decrypted c opyright management program P: EQU M=D(Ks2, Cmks2).
As described above, the third private-key Kv3 and the fourth private-key Kv4 are prepared by the secondary user but not opened to others. Therefore, even if a third party obtains the encrypted data Cmks2, it is impossible to use the data by decrypting it.
Each user who uses the above-mentioned system must have previously been entered in the database system, and when entered in the system is provided with database software.
Because the software includes not only normal communication software, such as a data communication protocols but also a program for decrypting a copyright management program by a first crypt-key, protection is necessary.
A first crypt-key K1, a second crypt-key K2, and a copyright management program P are transferred to each user in order to use data M. Each user keeps these keys and the program.
Further, the copyright information label, the user information, the public-key and private-key in the public-key cryptosystem and the program containing the algorithm for generating the secret-key are stored when needed.
For storing them, the simplest means to use is a flexible disk. However, the flexible disk is easy to lose or alter.
A hard disk drive is also subject to loss or alteration of data, though it is more stable than the flexible disk.
Recently, use of an IC card has spread in which an IC element is sealed in a card-like package. Particularly, standardization of a PC card with a microprocessor sealed inside has developed for PCMCIA cards and JEIDA cards.
The data copyright management apparatus proposed by the present inventors in the Japanese Patent Application No. 237673/1994 (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/536,747) is described in FIG. 2.
The data copyright management unit 15 is configured as a computer system comprising a microprocessor (CPU) 16, a local bus 17 of CPU 16, read only memory (ROM) 18 connected to local bus 17, and write/read memory (RAM) 19, and wherein the local bus 17 is connected to system bus 22 of the microprocessor 21 of the user terminal 20.
Further, a communication unit (COMM) 23 which receives data from an external database and transfers data to the external database; a CD-ROM drive (CDRD) 24 which reads data provided by CD-ROM; a flexible disk drive (FDD) 25 which copies received or edited data to a flexible disk drive to provide the outside with such data, and a hard disc drive (HDD) 26 which stores data are connected to the system bus 22 in the user terminal 20.
As is typical, ROM and RAM or the like are connected to the system bus 22 of the user terminal. However, this is not shown in the figure.
Fixed information, such as software and user data, for utilizing the database is stored in ROM 18 of the data copyright management unit 15. A crypt-key and the copyright management program provided from the key control center or copyright management center are stored in RAM 19.
The process of decryption and re-encryption are performed by the data copyright management unit 15, only the results of which are transferred to the user terminal 20 via the local bus 17 and the system bus 21 of the user terminal.
The data copyright management unit 15 is implemented as monolithic IC, hybrid IC, an expansion board, an IC card, or a PC card.

Apparatus for data copyright management system


A film component having a) a haloelastomer with halogenated monomers, polyorganosiloxane monomers, or both halogenated and polyorganosiloxane monomers, and b) a doped metal oxide, preferably antimony doped tin oxide, dispersed therein, wherein the film component is useful as components in xerographic processes.

The present invention relates generally to an imaging apparatus and film components thereof, for use in electrostatographic, including digital, apparatuses. The film components herein are useful for many purposes including layers for fixing films, bias transfer films, intermediate transfer films, transfix films, and the like. More specifically, the present invention relates to film components comprising a haloelastomer and a doped metal oxide conductive filler in order to impart a desired resistivity wherein, in embodiments, the resistivity is stable to changes in the environment, such as changes in relative humidity and temperature. In specific embodiments, the doped metal oxide conductive filler is an antimony doped tin oxide filler. The film components of the present invention may be useful in components used in xerographic machines, especially color machines.
In a typical electrostatographic reproducing apparatus, a light image of an original to be copied is recorded in the form of an electrostatic latent image upon a photosensitive member and the latent image is subsequently rendered visible by the application of electroscopic thermoplastic resin particles which are commonly referred to as toner. The visible toner image is then in a loose powdered form and can be easily disturbed or destroyed. The toner image is usually fixed or fused upon a support which may be the photosensitive member itself or other support sheet such as plain paper.
In many of the components useful in the xerographic process, it is desirable to be able to tailor the resistivity of layers of components for proper and efficient workability. In addition, it is desirable that the resistivity of the components remain relatively constant and that the resistivity not be sensitive to changes in the environment, such as changes in temperature and/or relative humidity. Therefore, it is desirable that the resistivity of layers useful in xerographic components be controlled.
Attempts at controlling the conductivity of layers, especially outer layers, of components, have been accomplished by, for example, adding conductive fillers such as ionic additives to the surface layer of the components. However, to some extent, there are problems associated with the use of these additives. In particular, undissolved particles frequently bloom or migrate to the surface of a polymer and cause an imperfection in the polymer. This leads to a nonuniform resistivity, which in turn, leads to poor antistatic properties and poor mechanical strength for layers using the filled polymers. The ionic additives on surface layers may interfere with toner release and affect toner offset when the filled polymers are used as layers for intermediate transfer members, fuser members, bias transfer members, transfix members, and the like. The higher temperatures of the fusing process also increase the mobility of the ionic components and increase depletion rates. Furthermore, bubbles appear in the conductive polymer, some of which can only be seen with the aid of a microscope, others of which are large enough to be observed with the naked eye. These bubbles provide the same kind of difficulty as the undissolved particles in the polymer namely, poor or nonuniform electrical properties and poor mechanical properties.
In addition, the ionic additives themselves are sensitive to changes in temperature, humidity, operating time and applied field. These sensitivities often limit the resistivity range. For example, the resistivity usually decreases by up to two orders of magnitude or more as the humidity increases from 20% to 80% relative humidity. This effect limits the operational or process latitude.
Moreover, ion transfer can also occur in these systems. The transfer of ions will lead to contamination problems, which in turn, can reduce the life of the machine. Ion transfer also increases the resistivity of the polymer member after repetitive use. This can limit the process and operational latitude and eventually the ion-filled polymer component will be unusable.
Use of carbon black as a conductive filler has also been disclosed. Carbon black has been the chosen additive for imparting conductive properties in electrostatographic films. Carbon black is relatively inexpensive and very efficient in that a relatively small percentage can impart a high degree of conductivity. However, in practice with this material, it difficult and sometimes impossible to fabricate products with the desired level of conductivity. Further, films filled with carbon black have a tendency to contaminate their surroundings with black, conductive debris. In particular, the carbon black can cause undesirable black marks on the copied or printed substrates. Carbon black particles can also impart other specific adverse effects. Such carbon dispersions are difficult to prepare due to carbon agglomeration, and the resulting layers may deform due to random hard carbon agglomerate formation sites as well as non-uniform electrical properties. This can lead to an adverse change in the conformability of the layer.
Many doped metal oxides offer significant advantages in both color and transparency when compared to carbon black. They are, however, relatively expensive and usually require higher dosages to achieve comparable levels of conductivity. In addition, dispersion of metal oxides can lead to short comings in surface roughness and particle size.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,751 discloses that a polyurethane with antimony doped tin oxide filler may be used as the outer protective layer of a photoreceptor. The patent also discloses that the outer layer may be comprised of a fluoroplastic binder resin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,435 discloses an electrophotographic light-sensitive member comprising a conductive support, a photoconductive layer and a protective outer layer, wherein the protective outer layer may be comprised of a binder of, for example, fluorocarbon or polyurethane, and a filler, such as, for example, antimony doped tin oxide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,955 discloses the use of antimony doped tin oxide in polyurethane or polyimide as an adhesive in a photoreceptor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,635,327 discloses a photoreceptor having a surface layer comprised of a dried and/or cured product under a reduced pressure of an inorganic or organic high molecular weight material and a conductive metal oxide dispersed therein. The high molecular weight resin is disclosed as, for example, fluororesin, polyurethane or polyimide, and the conductive filler is disclosed as, for example, antimony doped tin oxide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,905 discloses an intermediate toner transfer member comprising a substrate and an outer layer comprised of a fluoropolymer polymerized from a plurality of monomers, at least one monomer being an olefin having only carbon atoms and hydrogen atoms, and at least one monomer being fluorinated. The outer layer may include conductive particles such as antimony doped tin oxide.
Therefore, a need remains for film components for use in electrostatographic machines, wherein the film components possess the desired resistivity without the drawbacks of lack of transparency of the film which may adversely affect its use in color products, especially color imaging systems. Further, a need remains for conductive films having conductive fillers which impart the desired resistivity without compromising surface roughness. Moreover, a need exists for films in which the resistivity thereof is uniform and is relatively unaffected by changes in environmental conditions such as changes in humidity, temperature, and the like.

Haloelastomer and doped metal oxide film component


A portable combined clamp and bit guide assembly guides a bit, turned by a power driver, into the exact center between the opposing faces of the clamp. The clamp is designed to hold workpieces having substantially parallel edges and a substantially linear centerline on their upper surfaces, and provides a drill path perpendicular to that centerline. An optional incline adapter supports the clamp and bit guide at an angle to the workpiece, while also aiding in support of the workpiece itself. The entire assembly may be carried in a single case with a power driver and bits.

This invention has to do with the art of cutting by the use of a rotating, axially-moving tool, such as a drill, the art of work holders, and the art of geometrical instruments.
Drilling a straight hole through a precise spot in a workpiece at a precise angle requires careful and rigid positioning of the drill bit and the workpiece. A hand-held power driver drills holes quickly, but the entry point of the bit and the bit direction may meander. A common solution, where it can be used, is a drill press. In a drill press, the spinning chuck assembly is held and moved along a single, usually vertical, axis through bearings that are fixed in a heavy mount. A drill or other bit is mounted in the chuck and is advanced downward into the work by a rack that can move only up and down. Before drilling, the workpiece is carefully positioned beneath the bit and held or clamped in place so that the bit will enter the work precisely where desired and advance through the work in a precise direction relative to the workpiece. The location and direction of the drilling is usually measured and marked in advance on the workpiece so that it may be seen clearly by the operator.
Over many years, various levels of sophistication have been added to the drill press concept, usually to improve speed and efficiency as well as precision in manufacturing operations. These include devices for automated positioning of the work and the employment of multiple cutters moving along multiple axes. Milling machines, for example, have been developed which permit machining coordinates to be entered from digitally-rendered drawings, and the cutters and the workpiece are moved automatically relative to one another along a computed set of coordinates by mechanical positioners until all surfaces and holes are properly cut into the workpiece.
No such sophisticated device is economically available to hand driver users. One simple device, however, for improving the precision of a hand drill is U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,926 to Wilcox, Jr. It describes a guide for a hand drill incorporated into a vise. A tube, with an internal diameter sized to slip fit around a particular drill bit, is positioned by hinged arms over a point centered between the faces of the vise. The vise holds the workpiece, and the tube limits the amount of meandering the bit can do as it is pushed downward into the workpiece.
Geometrical instruments are a separate class of art in which physical representations of geometric entities (points, lines, planes, and solids) are employed to define other geometric entities. (For example, two straightedges may be laid across each other to define a point.) U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,105 to Work exemplifies this type of device. It describes a mechanical device for finding the center of an elongate workpiece having a flat upper surface and straight, but not necessarily parallel, sides. Two straight arms with tracks within them are aligned with the sides of the workpiece. Cross arms which intersect at their centers have ends that ride in the tracks. The intersection of the cross arms will always lie centered between the sides of the workpiece. At that intersection is a scribing pin to mark a point equidistant between the sides of the workpiece.
The above mentioned patent to Wilcox, Jr., combines the art of geometrical instruments with those of cutting and work holding. It allows the user to drill a fairly precisely located hole through the center of a workpiece held by a vise, but being incorporated into the vise, it does not adequately provide for portability. It also relies on a cylindrical drill guide, a tube having a diameter matched to the drill bit being used with it. Such a guide allows some play in the position of the drill bit tip and the angle of drilling. Moreover, a separate drill guide must be used with each different size of drill bit, and such guides may not be used with bits that have an end diameter larger than the shank.
There is also a need for a device, capable of holding both the work and the driver, which will also permit precise drilling at an angle other than vertical.
Another need not met by the prior art is to provide a precise guide for a portable power driver that can be moved around on a large surface with little effort.

Power driver bit self-centering and positioning apparatus


The present invention relates to apparatus and a method for imaging and heating body tissues with one probe, through use of a magnetic resonance imaging radio frequency source. The device may also be configured with a thermocouple to provide temperature-controlled heat therapy with sufficient image definition to control that therapy.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) apparatus is used in the medical field for diagnosis. Any object which is to be imaged by MRI apparatus must be placed within a spatially varying magnetic field and then subjected to a perturbation pulse of radio frequency (RF) radiation. An MRI imaging coil then detects the resulting nuclear magnetic resonance spectra which are combined to give cross-sectional images. When a patient is being "imaged" for medical diagnosis, a large electromagnetic coil which completely surrounds the patient is normally used. A separate imaging coil may be used on the skin surface of the patient to obtain improved resolution of the magnetic resonance image. In some MRI devices, one external coil is used for both excitation and reception, the two functions of the coil being interleaved in time.
Imaging tissues deep within the body with this system has two problems. First, the depth of the sample that can be imaged is approximately equal to the width of the imaging coil so the greater the depth to be imaged, the larger the imaging coil must be. Second, the signal-to-noise ratio will decrease with increased depth of the image so the resolution and image definition will also decrease with increased depth of the image. As a result, the resolution provided by conventional external imaging coils is not sufficient for controlling a therapy procedure. These problems can be overcome to a large degree by using an imaging coil that is placed within the body of the patient. With the imaging coil within the patient, it can be placed adjacent to the tissues of interest such that depth is no longer a limiting factor. The resolution and image definition for these tissues with an internal imaging coil will be much greater than that obtained with an external imaging coil.
A probe which provides the imaging from within the body is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,972 to Berke (the Berke patent). The Berke probe includes an imaging coil which may be tuned to an emission frequency of interest. The external processor for this probe may also excite the coil to radiate a localized perturbation field prior to obtaining the emission data of interest. The Berke probe is limited, however, to diagnostic functions and cannot perform any therapy functions.
Hyperthermia therapy can be accomplished using probes or applicators such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,812 to Eschel, et al. (the Eschel applicator). The Eschel applicator can be used for hyperthermia treatment by insertion into body cavities. The applicator includes a microwave antenna which generates radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic radiation for heating the body tissue. The Eschel applicator has no capability for imaging or locating the applicator within the patient's body.
One way to locate the applicator is through use of the catheter and probe disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,429 to Eschel, et al. (the Eschel probe). The Eschel probe includes a diode for detection of the peak of the microwave field generated by the Eschel applicator. The Eschel applicator is then positioned until the peak is detected by the Eschel probe. The Eschel probe also contains thermocouples for measuring the heat produced by the Eschel applicator during the therapy. Therefore, to provide the hyperthermia therapy at the proper location requires use of both the Eschel applicator and the Eschel probe. No imaging of the surrounding tissues is achieved through use of these two devices.
A therapy device such as the Eschel applicator could also be used in conjunction with an alternative method of imaging for use in controlling the therapy procedure. Such alternatives include direct visual feedback (e.g., intraoperative cauterization), x-ray fluoroscopy, or ultrasound.
Accordingly, prior to the development of the present invention, no single device was capable of imaging the tissues for control of the therapy procedure, locating the therapy device in the correct location, and delivering the therapy. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a probe which is capable of imaging tissues from within the body with sufficient resolution to control heat therapy, and which is capable of delivering the heat therapy. It is a further object to provide a probe with the capability for temperature monitoring of the heat therapy. It is an advantage of this invention that imaging and heat therapy can be performed using only the magnetic resonance imaging radio frequency source such that no independent RF source is required.

Method and apparatus for magnetic resonance imaging and heating tissues


An aircraft designed with three wings located on either side of the fuselage. The forward wing has a downward angle with a curved top and bottom surface. The upper wing is located towards the rear of the aircraft and above the forward wing. The lower wing is located below the upper wing and slightly forward. It is also located to the rear and below of the forward wing. The outer ends of all three wings come into contact at one point. The forward wing uses the Coanda effect to increase the airflow across the top surface of the bottom wing. The aircraft can be designed so that it is large enough to carry people and/or cargo, or to be small enough to be flown as a toy aircraft. The like design can use any type of aircraft engine commonly used today. One embodiment of the aircraft has two turbines, shaft-coupled to a power source, located on either side of the forward end of the fuselage. Each engine has part of its thrust diverted through and directed by a plenum disposed internal of the coanda toward both sides of the fuselage so that an equal amount of thrust flows through the duct and over the wings on either side of the fuselage. This ensures equal lift on the coanda and both wings on either side of the fuselage in the event that one engine malfunctions.

It is common knowledge that air pressure at a point on the surface of a moving object is a function of the velocity with which air streams over the surface at that point. Indeed, this principle is the basis for aircraft design; that is, it is common practice to shape the wings of an aircraft so that the velocity of air streaming over the top surface of each wing is greater than the velocity of air streaming over the bottom surface of the wing. This velocity differential, achieved by the contour of the wing, results in a pressure differential across the wing so that a net force, lift, is exerted on the wing to support the aircraft in flight.
Traditional modern day aircraft typically have a single wing located on either side of the fuselage of the aircraft. The airflow over these wings provides the lift required to raise the aircraft off of the ground. There is typically a tail located at the aft end of the fuselage with a vertical member and two horizontal members, one located on each side of the vertical member. The tail provides stability for the aircraft in flight. Also, the tail and the leading and trailing edge of the wing typically contain the control surfaces which are used to maneuver and turn the aircraft.
The present inventor has two prior patents relating to wing designs which diverge from the typical modern aircraft design. U.S. Pat. No. 4,568,042 ("the '042 patent") issued on Feb. 4, 1986 discloses an aircraft having a fuselage provided with an internal duct extending longitudinally therethrough to provide an internal wing for the craft, the internal duct having the forward end open for receiving an air stream therethrough and the aft end thereof open for discharge of the air stream therefrom, the internal contour of the duct being alterable in accordance with required operational conditions for the flight of the craft, and a plurality of control flaps and/or vanes provided at the aft end of the duct for providing operational controls for the craft in the manner of a more conventional external wing craft.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,300 ("the '300 patent") issued on Apr. 1, 1986 discloses how lift for an aircraft is provided by forming a longitudinal lifting duct therethrough, said lifting duct having a substantially planar roof and a longitudinally cambered floor. When the aircraft is driven forwardly, a stream of air enters and passes through the lifting duct and the contouring of the floor of the lifting duct give rise to a pressure gradient in the air stream which result in a higher pressure on the roof of the lifting duct than on the floor thereof so that the pressure difference provides lift for the aircraft.
The drawback to the aircraft design found in the '042 and '300 patents is that the aircraft had little wing span. This in turn meant that the aircraft had less desirable gliding range in the event of loss of power.
The present invention also provides a structurally much stronger wing configuration than a traditional aircraft wing design with a single wing protruding transverse to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage.