Abstract: A valve assembly comprising a valve stem, an annular bonnet configured to receive the valve stem, a valve disk coupled to one end of the valve stem, a seal, and an insert. The seal is disposed adjacent the valve disk and has a top surface and a bottom surface. The top surface includes a first pair of sealing ridges extending upwardly therefrom and the bottom surface includes a second pair of sealing ridges extending downwardly therefrom. The insert includes a recess configured to receive the seal that performs a sealing function and a biasing function. The valve assembly can easily be configured to open in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction without resort to adapters or other additional pieces by rotating the bonnet/valve stem sub-assembly 90° relative to the insert.

Abstract: A multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system can transmit on multiple antennas simultaneously and receive on multiple antennas simultaneously. Unfortunately, because a legacy 802.11a/g device is not able to decode multiple data streams, such a legacy device may “stomp” on a MIMO packet by transmitting before the transmission of the MIMO packet is complete. Therefore, MIMO systems and methods are provided herein to allow legacy devices to decode the length of a MIMO packet and to restrain from transmitting during that period. These MIMO systems and methods are optimized for efficient transmission of MIMO packets.

Abstract: Electrical devices having tunable electrical characteristics are provided, such as variable resistors, capacitors and inductors. The tunable electrical characteristics are achieved by placing an appropriate material between substrate layers and by controllably applying a pressure to the material to compress the material or alter the shape of a well in which the material is contained, and thereby alter the electrical characteristics of the electrical device. The composition, shape and dimension of the embedded materials determine how the electrical characteristics of the electrical device are altered upon compression of the embedded material in response to an applied control signal. Generally, as the embedded material is compressed, the material will become more dense and the electrical characteristics of the integrated electrical device is altered.

Abstract: Polysilicon electrical depletion in a polysilicon gate electrode is reduced by depositing the polysilicon under controlled conditions so as to vary the crystal grain size through the thickness of the polysilicon. The resulting CMOS transistor may have two or more depth-wise contiguous regions of respective crystalline grain size, and the selection of grain size may be directed to maximize dopant activation in the polysilicon near the gate dielectric and to tailor the resistance of the polysilicon above that first region and more distant from the gate dielectric. A region of polycrystalline silicon may have a varying grain size as a function of a distance measured from a surface of the dielectric film.

Abstract: A system and method are described for binding together a plurality of wireless data communications channels, whereby an aggregate throughput improvement is realized. A master channel amongst the channels to be bound is compatible with existing standards-based wireless data communications equipment. The master channel serves to perform MAC association and flow control. Aggregate throughput is improved by sending and receiving either multiple sets of separately encoded packets, commonly encoded packets or redundantly encoded packets.

Abstract: A process for forming at least one interface region between two regions of semiconductor material. At least one region of dielectric material comprising nitrogen is formed in the vicinity of at least a portion of a boundary between the two regions of semiconductor material, thereby controlling electrical resistance at the interface.

Abstract: A process of forming a nitride film on a semiconductor substrate including exposing a surface of the substrate to a rapid thermal process to form the nitride film.

Abstract: The present invention provides an apparatus and method of multiple antenna transmitter beamforming of high data rate wideband packetized wireless communication signals, where each of the signals comprises N frequencies, where N is a positive integer. The apparatus, in an exemplary embodiment, includes (1) a transmit beamformer that co-phases and weights the signals for each of the N frequencies across M antennas, thereby generating M co-phased and weighted frequency data and (2) M Inverse Fast Fourier Transform units (IFFTs) that convert the M co-phased and weighted frequency data into M digital outputs, and M transmit antennas transmitting the M co-phased and weighted signals, where M is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

Abstract: The present invention provides an apparatus and method of multiple antenna receiver combining of high data rate wideband packetized wireless communication signals, where the apparatus includes M receive antennas, receiving M high data rate wideband packetized wireless communication signals, where each of the signals includes N frequency bins. The apparatus, in an exemplary embodiment, includes (1) a joint timing recovery units that perform joint coarse signal timing estimation, joint frequency offset estimation, and joint fine timing estimation on each of the signals, (2) M Fast Fourier Transform units (FFTs) that each convert the digital data for each of the M signals into frequency domain information for each of the N received frequencies and that output Q pilots for each of the signals, where Q is a positive integer, and (3) a combiner that weights and combines the outputs of the M FFTs for each of the N received frequencies.

Abstract: Spurs cause significant problems with signal detecting, amplifier gain adjustment, and signal decoding. Various techniques can be used to mitigate the effects of spurs on a received signal. Generally, these techniques work by either canceling or ignoring the spurs. For example, a pilot mask can be used to ignore pilot information in one or more sub-channels. A Viterbi mask can determine the weighting given to bits in a sub-channel based on spur and data rate information. Channel interpolation can compute a pseudo channel estimate for a sub-channel known to have a spur location can be computed by interpolating the channel estimates of adjacent good sub-channels. Filtering of the received signal using a low-pass filter, a growing box filter, or a low-pass filter with self-correlation can be used to cancel a spur.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for cache coherency states is disclosed. In one embodiment, a cache accessible across two interfaces, an inner interface and an outer interface, may have a joint cache coherency state. The joint cache coherency state may have a first state for the inner interface and a second state for the outer interface, where the second state has higher privilege than the first state. In one embodiment this may promote speculative invalidation. In other embodiments this may reduce snoop transactions on the inner interface.

Abstract: Macrolide compounds produced by culturing Saccharopolyspora species LW107129 (NRRL 30141) have insecticidal and acaricidal activity and are useful intermediates for preparing spinosyn analogs.

Abstract: A multi-dimensional beamforming device that performs consecutive one-dimensional operations. For example, beamsteering for a two-dimensional array can be include a projection of a beam onto each of the respective axes of the array. In such a device, a first beamforming processing element is used to form multiple beams for each array output along a given row. In a preferred embodiment, sequential output vectors from the first processing element are then applied to a transposing or corner turning memory and the data are reformatted such that all elements on a given column of the array are applied to a second beam forming processing element.

Abstract: A tool chest organizer having detachable pockets variously arrangeable for a particular set of tools required by a user. An optional clear cover is attachable to the organizer. An attachable shelf unit provides a work space and has fasteners for securing tools.

Abstract: A process for forming at least one interface region between two regions of semiconductor material. At least one region of dielectric material comprising nitrogen is formed in the vicinity of at least a portion of a boundary between the two regions of semiconductor material, thereby controlling electrical resistance at the interface.

Abstract: A scheduled advertising method and system for printing marketing messages on a point of sale (POS) printer uses new POS printer capabilities with existing computer database and networking capabilities to implement a functional and economic marketing message scheduling and delivery system to retail end points. Providing dynamic marketing messaging capabilities on transaction receipts in a multi-lane retail POS environment, which includes a POS retail server and multiple host terminals with receipt printers in a multilane check-out configuration, is accomplished using various levels of scheduling services and databases which associate a schedule with each marketing message. The system operates within the existing retail POS environment, so it does not require a separate hardware system.

Abstract: A process for forming at least one interface region between two regions of semiconductor material. At least one region of dielectric material comprising nitrogen is formed in the vicinity of at least a portion of a boundary between the two regions of semiconductor material, thereby controlling electrical resistance at the interface.

Abstract: A tool chest organizer having detachable pockets variously arrangeable for a particular set of tools required by a user. An optional clear cover is attachable to the organizer. An attachable shelf unit provides a work space and has fasteners for securing tools.

Abstract: An electrochemical storage cell or battery including as at least one electrode at least one electrically conductive polymer, the polymer being poly(1,4-bis(2-thienyl)-3-fluorophenylene), poly(1,4-bis(2-thienyl)-2,5-difluorophenylene), poly(1,4-bis(2-thienyl)-2,3,5,6-tetrafluorophenylene), or poly(1,4-bis(2-thienyl)-benzene). These polymeric electrodes have remarkably high charge capacities, and excellent cycling efficiency. The provision of these polymeric electrodes further permits the electrochemical storage cell to be substantially free of metal components, thereby improving handling of the storage cell and obviating safety and environmental concerns associated with alternative secondary battery technology.

Abstract: An ultrasound imaging system includes a scan conversion process for converting ultrasound data into a standard display format conversion and can be performed on a personal computer by programming the computer to convert data from polar coordinates to Cartesian coordinates suitable for display on a computer monitor. The data is provided from scan head enclosure that houses an array of ultrasonic transducers and the circuitry associated therewith, including pulse synchronizer circuitry used in the transmit mode for transmission of ultrasonic pulses and beam forming circuitry used in the receive mode to dynamically focus reflected ultrasonic signals returning from the region of interest being imaged.