Abstract: A chemical process to formulate conductive ink with low sintering temperature for inkjet printing is described and shown. The application of fabricated flexible conductive film on lithium ion batteries is also described. This chemical method and composition can remove the oxidation on metallic nanoparticle surface during ink fabrication and sintering processes. Etched metallic ions in the conductive ink are reduced and particles bridged while annealing printed patterns to achieve low temperature sintering at about 350° C. The chemical process can be applied on nickel materials that are excellent current collectors for lithium ion batteries due to high chemical stability especially at high charging-discharging potential of less than 3 Volts. Thermal decomposition and chemical reduction of silver salts are two methods disclosed for particle-free silver ink. Surfactant additive further make silver film more uniform and easier to be sintered.

Abstract: A method comprising: providing a protected item of software to a device, wherein the protected item of software is in a scripted language or an interpreted language or source code, wherein the protected item of software, when executed by the device, is arranged to perform a security-related operation for the device, wherein the security-related operation is implemented, at least in part, by at least one protected portion of code in the protected item of software, wherein the at least one protected portion of code is arranged so that (a) the at least one protected portion of code has resistance against a white-box attack and/or (b) the at least one protected portion of code may only be executed on one or more predetermined devices.

Abstract: A method comprising: carrying out optimization of an item of software in a first intermediate representation; carrying out protection of the item of software in a second intermediate representation different to the first intermediate representation.

Abstract: A method of processing data according to a first predetermined function, the method comprising: receiving an encoded amount of data, wherein the encoded amount of data is an amount of data that has been encoded using an error control code; and processing the encoded amount of data using a second predetermined function to generate an output; wherein the second redetermined function corresponds to the first redetermined function in that the result of processing, with the second predetermined function, a quantity of data encoded using the error control code equals the result of encoding with the error control code the result of processing the quantity of data with the first predetermined function.

Abstract: Inkjet-printable formulations of cathode materials, such as lithium phosphates with olivine structure such as but not limited to LiFePO4 are disclosed. The ink is formulated using an environmentally friendly process, which uses water as the solvent for the cathode's binder.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a method for indicating client signal fail in an optical transport network, including: adding CSF indication bits to an Optical Channel Payload Unit k (OPUk) or/and OPUk-Xv multiframe to indicate whether a client signal is failed; detecting the CSF indication bits of a PSI in the received OPUk or/and OPUk-Xv multiframe, and when the number of continuously detected CSF indications exceeds a preset threshold, indicating to perform a link protection switch. The present invention also discloses an apparatus for implementing the above method. The present invention can avoid the case of APS fail due to the too long CSF time delay; the indication method is simple and the implementation is convenient; and a plurality of CSF indications are used in the multiframe, thus the indication is more flexible.

Abstract: Attacks by computer viruses, worm programs, and other hostile software (‘malware’), have become very serious problems for computer systems connected to large communication networks such as the Internet. One potential defence against such attacks is to employ diversity—that is, making each copy of the attacked software different. However, existing diversity techniques do not offer sufficient levels of protection. The invention provides an effective diversity solution by applying tamper resistant software (TRS) encoding techniques, to the communications that take place between software components, with corresponding changes to the code handling those communications. These communications may include, for example, data passed between software routines via parameters or mutually accessible variables, light-weight messages, signals and semaphores passed between threads, and messages passed between software processes. Effective TRS encoding techniques include data-flow encoding and mass-data encoding techniques.

Abstract: Attacks by computer viruses, worm programs, and other hostile software (‘malware’), have become very serious problems for computer systems connected to large communication networks such as the Internet. One potential defence against such attacks is to employ diversity—that is, making each copy of the attacked software different. However, existing diversity techniques do not offer sufficient levels of protection. The invention provides an effective diversity solution by applying tamper resistant software (TRS) encoding techniques, to the communications that take place between software components, with corresponding changes to the code handling those communications. These communications may include, for example, data passed between software routines via parameters or mutually accessible variables, light-weight messages, signals and semaphores passed between threads, and messages passed between software processes. Effective TRS encoding techniques include data-flow encoding and mass-data encoding techniques.

Abstract: An amplifier is provided that includes an output portion that sources and sinks current associated with an output load and an amplification portion that is biased by a relatively small bias current with respect to an output current of the amplifier. The amplification portion provides an amplified output signal to the output portion. The amplifier further comprises at least one impedance component coupled between the output portion and the amplification portion to alter at least one pole associated with the amplifier to mitigate instability of the amplifier related to the relatively small bias current.

Abstract: Various apparatuses, methods and systems for protecting a driver from electrostatic discharge are disclosed herein. For example, some exemplary embodiments provide a driver, including a buffer, a leakage path blocking transistor connected to an output of the buffer, and an output driver connected to an output of the leakage path blocking transistor. Current from the output driver to the buffer is substantially blocked by the leakage path blocking transistor.

Abstract: Various apparatuses, methods and systems for protecting a driver from electrostatic discharge are disclosed herein. For example, some exemplary embodiments provide a driver, including a buffer, a leakage path blocking transistor connected to an output of the buffer, and an output driver connected to an output of the leakage path blocking transistor. Current from the output driver to the buffer is substantially blocked by the leakage path blocking transistor.

Abstract: An amplifier is provided that includes an output portion that sources and sinks current associated with an output load and an amplification portion that is biased by a relatively small bias current with respect to an output current of the amplifier. The amplification portion provides an amplified output signal to the output portion. The amplifier further comprises at least one impedance component coupled between the output portion and the amplification portion to alter at least one pole associated with the amplifier to mitigate instability of the amplifier related to the relatively small bias current.

Abstract: A chemical mechanical polishing slurry for Ta barrier layer is disclosed, which comprises abrasive particles A, abrasive particles B larger in size than abrasive particles A, a triazole compound, an organic acid and a carrier. By using the chemical mechanical polishing slurry according to the present invention, the defects, scratches, contaminants and other residues can be reduced significantly, and the polishing selectivity between the barrier layer and the oxide layer can be adjusted by using particles of different sizes, so that the difficulty of adjusting the removing rates of two substrates separately is overcome. Furthermore, both the local corrosion and the general corrosion during the metal polishing process are avoided, and thus the yield rate of the desired products is promoted.

Abstract: If a user loses his password or pass phrase required for a computer or communication system, he must have some way of obtaining a new one. Typically, new passwords are provided to users manually, by another human, an approach that is expensive and insecure. The invention provides an automated solution which allows recovery of secure access. The invention does this by complementary encryption of the user's pass phrase and responses to personal questions, the reference responses being encrypted with the pass phrase and the pass phrase being encrypted with the reference responses. When a user loses his pass phrase, he can provide answers to the personal questions and the system will recover both the reference responses and the pass phrase, so the account can be re-initialized by entering a new pass phrase. The invention also allows “approximate matching”, so biometric data can be used for identification.

Abstract: A method for controlling an arc welding equipment (21) used in a welding operation and adjustable by varying at least one welding parameter value, comprising the steps of determining said at least one welding parameter while using a theoretical model (24) of the welding process associated with the welding operation, and controlling the operation of the welding equipment and the welding process associated therewith by using said at least one welding parameter for adjusting the welding equipment and a device comprising an arc welding equipment (21) used in a welding operation and adjustable by varying at least one welding parameter and an arrangement (22) for controlling the operation of the arc welding equipment, said control arrangement including a means (23) adapted to determine the value of said at least one welding parameter while using a theoretical model (24) of the welding process, and a member (25) adapted to control the operation of the welding equipment and the welding process associated therewith by

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to computer software, and more specifically, to a method and system of making computer software resistant to tampering and reverse-engineering. “Tampering” occurs when an attacker makes unauthorized changes to a computer software program such as overcoming password access, copy protection or timeout algorithms. Broadly speaking, the method of the invention is to increase the tamper-resistance and obscurity of computer software code by transforming the data flow of the computer software so that the observable operation is dissociated from the intent of the original software code. This way, the attacker can not understand and decode the data flow by observing the execution of the code. A number of techniques for performing the invention are given, including encoding software arguments using polynomials, prime number residues, converting variables to new sets of boolean variables, and defining variables on a new n-dimensional vector space.

Abstract: Attacks by computer viruses, worm programs, and other hostile software (‘malware’), have become very serious problems for computer systems connected to large communication networks such as the Internet. One potential defence against such attacks is to employ diversity—that is, making each copy of the attacked software different. However, existing diversity techniques do not offer sufficient levels of protection. The invention provides an effective diversity solution by applying tamper resistant software (TRS) encoding techniques, to the communications that take place between software components, with corresponding changes to the code handling those communications. These communications may include, for example, data passed between software routines via parameters or mutually accessible variables, light-weight messages, signals and semaphores passed between threads, and messages passed between software processes.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and system of making computer software resistant to tampering and reverse-engineering. “Tampering” refers to making unauthorized changes to software, such as bypassing password checks, which are of benefit to the tamperer or of detriment to the provider or vendor of the software. Thus, tampering does not denote arbitrary destructive changes, such as causing the software to fail completely. Broadly speaking, the method of the invention is to increase the tamper-resistance and obscurity of software so that the observable operation of the transformed software is dissociated from the intent of the original code, and so that the functionality of the software is extremely fragile when modified: any modification will, with high probability, produce persistently nonsensical behaviour. These effects are achieved by converting the control-flow of the software into data-driven form, and increasing the complexity of the control-flow by orders of magnitude.

Abstract: If a user loses his password or pass phrase required for a computer or communication system, he must have some way of obtaining a new one. Typically, new passwords are provided to users manually, by another human, an approach that is expensive and insecure. The invention provides an automated solution which allows recovery of secure access. The invention does this by complementary encryption of the user's pass phrase and responses to personal questions, the reference responses being encrypted with the pass phrase and the pass phrase being encrypted with the reference responses. When a user loses his pass phrase, he can provide answers to the personal questions and the system will recover both the reference responses and the pass phrase, so the account can be re-initialized by entering a new pass phrase. The invention also allows “approximate matching”, so biometric data can be used for identification.

Abstract: With the present invention, a Multiple Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) tunnel is extended from the ingress router to the ingress customer interface, and from the egress router to the egress customer interface, by means of stitching. Stitching is used to provide customers with virtual leased lines between two interfaces by extending MPLS tunnels from a router to a customer interface. Also, with the present invention tunnels can be “stitched” together between two domains. More specifically, the present invention provides customers with virtual leased lines between two routing domains (i.e., between two Autonomous Systems) by connecting two separate MPLS tunnels across the interface between the domains.