Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for implementing transaction layer processing (TLP) hint (TPH) protocols in the context of the peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) base specification. The method allows an endpoint function associated with a PCI Express device to configure a steering tag header in the open systems interconnect (OSI) transaction layer to identify a particular processing resource that the requester desires to target, such as a specific processor or cache location within the execution core. A bit mask may be implemented by the hardware or operating system, for example, by embedding the bit mask in the steering tag header. The bit mask provides administrative oversight of the steering tag header configuration, to thereby mitigate unintended denial of service attacks or cache misses occasioned by aggressive steering tag configuration strategies employed by endpoint functions.

Abstract: Implantable devices, such as stents, having a surface modified with TiNxCy are disclosed.

Abstract: An ohmic contact between an electrode and a semiconductor layer is more stably formed and an electrical contact resistance between them is further reduced. A semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor layer 103 composed of an oxide semiconductor material containing indium, an ohmic electrode 107 provided on the semiconductor layer 103 and having an ohmic contact with the semiconductor layer 103, and an intermediate layer 106 provided between the semiconductor layer 103 and the ohmic electrode 107, wherein the intermediate layer 106 includes a first region 106a whose indium atomic concentration is greater than that of an interior of the semiconductor layer 103 and a second region 106b whose indium atomic concentration is less than that of the first region.

Abstract: A partially implantable hearing assistance system, having: an external unit (10) to be worn at least in part in a user's ear canal (12), a device (14) for capturing audio signals from ambient sound, an audio signal processing unit (16, 18) for generating first intermediate signals from said audio signals, and at least one electroacoustic output transducer (20, 20A) in order to make the user's eardrum (46) vibrate according to the first intermediate signals; and an implantable unit (22, 122) having an input transducer (42) located in the user's middle ear for capturing second intermediate signals from the vibration of the eardrum (46), an actuator (26, 60) for stimulating the user's hearing, and a driver unit (48, 148) for transforming the second intermediate signals into an input signal to the actuator (26, 60).

Abstract: A device manufacturing method and a device manufacturing apparatus in a single wafer processing system with wafers in 0.5 inch size. A large number of sealed-type unit process apparatuses are arranged to form a manufacturing line. The unit process apparatus is portable and processes a single process in the manufacturing process. When the number of a unit of manufacturing is more than the number of the unit process apparatuses, the unit process apparatuses are arranged as a flow shop system, corresponding to the order of processes for the device. When the number of the units is nearly equal to the number of processes, the apparatuses are arranged as a class shop system for classified arrangement at every major division of orders of processes. When the number of the units is far less than the number of processes, the apparatuses are arranged as a multicell shop system.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to droplet actuator systems, devices, and methods. In one embodiment, a microfluidic article of manufacture is provided. The microfluidic article of manufacture includes a first substrate; a second substrate separated from the first substrate to form a droplet operations gap; gap height setting spacers associated with the first and/or second substrate or situated between the first and second substrates; a spring forcing the second substrate against the gap height setting spacers, thereby establishing a substantially uniform gap height between the first and second substrates; and electrodes associated with the first and/or second substrate and configured to conduct droplet operations in the droplet operations gap.

Abstract: The invention relates to a device for closing off an opening formed in a structure, comprising an essentially flat fixed part in which an aperture is defined, and at least one sliding panel which an aperture is defined, and at least one sliding panel which is guided along two rails mounted on one face of said fixed panel, between at least a closed position that closes off said aperture and an open position which uncovers said aperture. At least one of said rails at each of its ends bears a closure end piece to which a first end of a flexible or semi rigid first element is secured, the second end of which element is intended to be secured to said structure.

Abstract: A method and system for extracting a still photo from a video signal includes selecting a center-of-mass frame, and correcting erroneous pixel data in the center-of-mass frame using pixel data from temporally offset frames to produce a corrected frame. A plurality of corrected frames is produced by repeating the process and an optimized still photo is extracted from the plurality of corrected frames.

Abstract: An anaerobic reactor comprising two or more discrete reaction chambers arranged one above the other is disclosed. The reactor may be in the form of a tank separated into discrete chambers by means of solid members, or the reactor may be in the form of separate and stackable chambers. Additionally, the reactor may be a packed bed reactor, a fluidised bed reactor, or a hybrid reactor comprising at least one packed bed reaction chamber and at least one fluidised bed reaction chamber. Use of an anaerobic reactor according to the invention enables an increase in the yield of biogas that can be produced per unit area of land occupied by an anaerobic reactor. A method of producing biogas is also disclosed, the method comprising providing an anaerobic reactor according to the invention, providing input biomass, carrying out anaerobic digestion of the biomass in the reactor, and collecting the biogas produced.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for implementing a lightweight notification (LN) protocol in the PCI Express base specification which allows an endpoint function associated with a PCI Express device to register interest in one or more cachelines in host memory, and to request an LN notification message from the CPU/memory complex when the content of a registered cacheline changes. The LN notification message can be unicast to a single endpoint using ID-based routing, or broadcast to all devices on a given root port. The LN protocol may be implemented in the CPU complex by configuring a queue or other data structure in system memory for LN use. An endpoint registers a notification request by setting the LN bit in a “read” request of an LN configured cacheline.

Abstract: A method for packaging an LED, includes steps: providing a substrate; arranging an LED die on the substrate; forming a photoresist layer on the substrate to cover the LED die; arranging a mask directly on the photoresist layer; exposing the photoresist layer with the mask to a radiation source; removing the mask and the unexposed portion of the photoresist layer formerly sheltered by the mask, thereby leaving the exposed portion of the photoresist layer formerly unsheltered by the mask on the substrate, wherein the remained exposed portion of the photoresist layer surrounds the LED die; spraying fluorescent material toward the LED die surrounded by the remained exposed portion of the photoresist layer; removing the remained exposed portion of the photoresist layer; and finally encapsulating the LED die covered by the fluorescent material.

Abstract: When content, such as premium video or audio, is decoded, the content is stored in protected memory segments. Read access to the protected memory segments from a component not in a frame buffer protected (FBP) mode is blocked by a memory controller. The memory controller also blocks components in the FBP mode from writing to unprotected memory segments. The content may be processed by a processing engine operating in the FBP mode and may only be written back to protected memory segments. The memory segment may later be marked as unprotected if the memory segment is no longer needed. If the content is encrypted in protected memory, the encrypting key associated with the memory segment may be removed. If the content is stored in the clear, the protected memory segments are scrubbed before releasing the segments for use as unprotected memory segments.

Abstract: The present invention includes methods of generating co-products for animal feed and compositions useful as co-products for animal feed derived from biofuel production processes. More specifically, the invention includes co-products for animal feed from at least one process feedstream, such as fatty acids from oil hydrolysis, lipids from evaporation of thin stillage, syrup, distillers grains, distillers grains and solubles, solids from a mash before fermentation, and solids from a whole stillage after fermentation.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are described for generating flags in response to processing data during an execution pipeline cycle of a processor. The processor may include a multiplexer configured generate valid bits for received data according to a designated data size, and a logic unit configured to control the generation of flags based on a shift or rotate operation command, the designated data size and information indicating how many bytes and bits to rotate or shift the data by. A carry flag may be used to extend the amount of bits supported by shift and rotate operations. A sign flag may be used to indicate whether a result is a positive or negative number. An overflow flag may be used to indicate that a data overflow exists, whereby there are not a sufficient number of bits to store the data.

Abstract: A light emitting diode package includes a triangular supporting member, a first substrate and a second substrate adhered on first and second inclined sidewalls the supporting member, respectively, a first LED chip and a second LED chip secured on the first substrate and the second substrate, respectively, and a package layer covering the first LED chip and a second LED chip. The first inclined sidewall and a bottom surface of the supporting member cooperatively form a first angle therebetween, and the second inclined sidewall and the bottom surface cooperatively form a second angle therebetween. The first angle and the second angle each range between 0 degree and 90 degrees. A method for making the light emitting diode package is also provided.

Abstract: When an instruction is executed on an integrated circuit (IC), an activity level and temperature are measured. A relationship between the activity level and temperature is determined, to estimate the temperature from the activity level. The activity level is monitored and is input to a scheduler, which estimates the IC temperature based on the activity level. The scheduler distributes work taking into account the temperature of various IC regions and may include distributing work to the IC region that has a lowest estimated temperature or relatively lower estimated temperature (e.g., lower than the average IC or IC region temperature). When the utilization level of one or more IC regions is high, the scheduler is configured to reduce the clock speed or the voltage of the one or more IC regions, or flag the regions as being unavailable for additional workload.

Abstract: The present invention relates to mutant microorganisms having the ability to produce propanol in high concentration and high yield, and to a method of producing propanol using the same.

Abstract: An LED package includes a substrate, two electrodes, an LED die and a lens. The substrate includes a top surface, a bottom surface, a plurality of side surfaces interconnecting the top surface with the bottom surface, and two opposite notches depressed downward from lateral peripheral portions of the top surface. The two electrodes penetrate through the substrate, and each of the two electrodes is exposed at both the top surface and the bottom surface of the substrate. The LED die is arranged on the substrate and electrically connected to the two electrodes. The lens is arranged on the substrate and covers the LED die. The lens includes a contacting surface adjoining the top surface of the substrate, and two protrusions extending from lateral peripheral portions of the contacting surface and respectively embedded in the two notches.

Abstract: Provided is a beamforming apparatus in a receiver in a mobile communication system. The beamforming apparatus includes a Local Oscillator (LO) signal generator for generating an LO signal; a phase shifter for generating a predetermined number of phase-shifted LO signals with respect to the generated LO signal; a switching network for mapping the phase-shifted LO signals to RF signals received via a plurality of receive paths; and a mixer for mixing the RF signals with the mapped LO signals to down-convert a frequency of the RF signals.

Abstract: When using micro-resonant structures, a resonant structure may be turned on or off (e.g., when a display element is turned on or off in response to a changing image or when a communications switch is turned on or off to send data different data bits). Rather than turning the charged particle beam on and off, the beam may be moved to a position that does not excite the resonant structure, thereby turning off the resonant structure without having to turn off the charged particle beam. In one such embodiment, at least one deflector is placed between a source of charged particles and the resonant structure(s) to be excited. When the resonant structure is to be turned on (i.e., excited), the at least one deflector allows the beam to pass by undeflected. When the resonant structure is to be turned off, the at least one deflector deflects the beam away from the resonant structure by an amount sufficient to prevent the resonant structure from becoming excited.