Author: claimsbot

1-2. (Canceled).
3. A semiconductor integrated circuit, comprising:
a shielded wire line; and
a shielding wire line provided along only a portion of an entire extent of the shielded wire line.
4. The semiconductor integrated circuit as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a driver that transmits a signal to the shielded wire line, wherein the portion of the entire extent of the shielded wire line along which the shielding wire line is provided is a portion on a side of the driver.
5-6. (Canceled).

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method of recording information onto a recording medium having at least one recording track divided into logic blocks;
wherein a predetermined part of the recording medium is reserved as a spare recording area;
wherein the information file to be recorded is divided into data packets; and
wherein a file writing session comprises the steps of:
a) receiving a data packet to be recorded into a buffer and recording said a data packet in a block of the recording medium (2) in a block writing session;
b) examining whether said block is a defective block (45*);
c) storing said data packet in an auxiliary memory (20) that has faster access times than the buffer in an auxiliary writing session if said block appears to be a defective block (45*);
d) repeating the steps (a) through (c) for all the data packets in the information file;
e) subsequently, in a substitute writing session, copying the data packets stored in the auxiliary memory (20) to said spare recording area (3) of the recording medium (2).
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step (e) directly follows the step (d).
3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of information files are recorded on the recording medium (2), the steps (a) through (d) being carried out for each file, after which the substitute writing session of the step (e) is carried out for all the files.
4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the substitute writing session of the step (c) is carried out in response to the receipt of a command to remove the recording medium (2) from the recording apparatus (1) or in response to the receipt of a command to turnoff the recording apparatus (1).
5. A method of reading information from a recording medium (2), comprising the following steps:
a) copying the data packets stored in the spare recording area (3) of the recording medium (2), including the bookkeeping data (M (B)), to an auxiliary memory (20) in a preparatory session;
b) examining whether the block address of a block to be read from the recording medium appears in a substitution table comprising bookkeeping data (M (B));
c) reading the data in the block to be read (45) if in the step (b) said block address (B) is found not to appear in said substitution table, and supplying the data thus read to an output (21), but if in the step (b) said block address (B) is found to appear in said substitution table, reading substitute data from the section having the start address (M (B)) in said auxiliary memory (20) and presenting the read substitute data to the output (21);
d) repeating the steps (b)\u2013(c) for all the blocks of a file (f).
6. A recording apparatus for recording information on a recording medium having at least one recording track divided into logic blocks, comprising:
a control unit having at input for receiving an information signal to be recorded into a buffer;
write means for writing on the recording medium;
auxiliary memory means having faster access times than the buffer being associated with the control unit;
wherein the control unit is adapted to record a data packet in a block of the recording medium or, if said block is found to be a defective block, to store said data packet in a section of the auxiliary memory; and
wherein the control unit is adapted to copy any data packets stored in the auxiliary memory to a predetermined spare recording area of the recording medium when all the data packets of an information file have been recorded.
7. A recording apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the control unit (10) is adapted to store each data packet recorded in a block of the recording medium (2) also in the buffer, and to copy said data packet from the buffer to the auxiliary memory if the relevant block is found to be a defective block.
8. A recording apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the control unit (10) is adapted to also store bookkeeping data (M(B)) in the auxiliary memory (20), which bookkeeping data defines a relationship between block numbers (B) of defective blocks (45*) and start addresses (M) of sections in the auxiliary memory (20) where data packets have been stored temporarily.
9. A recording apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the control unit (10) is adapted to copy (16) any data packets stored in the auxiliary memory (20) to the predetermined spare recording area (3) of the recording medium (2) only when a command is received to enable ejection of or to eject the recording medium (2), or when a command is received to turn off the apparatus (1).
10. A read apparatus for reading information from a recording medium (2) having at least one recording track divided into logic blocks (45) and having a spare recording area (3), comprising:
a control unit (10) having an output (21) for outputting an information signal read (Q);
read means (4) for reading the recording medium (2);
auxiliary memory means (20) associated with the control unit (10);
wherein the control unit (10) is adapted to initially copy data packets, including bookkeeping data (M(B)), stored in the spare recording area (3) of the recording medium (2) to the auxiliary memory (20);
wherein the control unit (10) is adapted to examine whether the block address (B) of a block to be read from the recording medium (2) appears in a substitution table comprising the bookkeeping data (M(B));
wherein the control unit (10) is further adapted to read the data from a block (45) and supply (18) said data to the output (18) if a block address (B) of said block does not appear in said substitution table, and to read substitute data from the section having start address (M(B)) from said auxiliary memory (20) and supply (19) said substitute data to the output (21) if the block address (B) is found to appear in said substitution table.
11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein a plurality of information files are read from on the recording medium.
12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein a substitute reading session is carried out in response to the receipt of a command to remove the recording medium from the read apparatus.
13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the spare recording area contains substitute recordings of data packets which correspond to defective blocks on the recording medium, as well as a table (M (B)) of bookkeeping data.
14. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the recording medium is a tape, and said spare recording area of the tape being situated at the beginning of the tape.
15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the control unit is adapted to read each data packet recorded in a block of the recording medium and also place the packet into a buffer and to copy said data packet from the buffer to the auxiliary memory means if the block is found to be a defective block.
16. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the control unit is adapted to also store bookkeeping data (M(B)) in the auxiliary memory means, which bookkeeping data defines a relationship between block numbers of defective blocks and start addresses of sections in the auxiliary memory where data packets have been stored.

1-7. (canceled)
8. A steel for cold forgingnitriding, having a chemical composition comprising, by mass percent, C, 0.01 to 0.15%, Si: 0.35% or less, Mn: 0.10 to 0.90%, P: 0.030% or less, S: 0.030% or less, Cr: 0.50 to 2.0%, V: 0.10 to 0.50%, Al: 0.01 to 0.10%, N: 0.0080% or less, and O: 0.0030% or less, with the balance being Fe and impurities, and further the Fn1 expressed by the formula (1) is 160 or less, the Fn2 expressed by the formula (2) is 20 to 80, the Fn3 expressed by the formula (3) is 160 or more, and the Fn4 expressed by the formula (4) is 90 to 170;
Fn1=399\xd7C+26\xd7Si+123\xd7Mn+30\xd7Cr+32\xd7Mo+19\xd7V\u2003\u2003(1),
Fn2=(669.3\xd7logeC\u22121959.6\xd7logeN\u22126983.3)\xd7(0.067\xd7Mo+0.147\xd7V)\u2003\u2003(2),
Fn3=140\xd7Cr+125\xd7Al+235\xd7V\u2003\u2003(3),
Fn4=511\xd7C+33\xd7Mn+56\xd7Cu+15\xd7Ni+36\xd7Cr+5\xd7Mo+134\xd7V\u2003\u2003(4);
wherein each symbol C, Si, Mn, Cr, Mo, V, N, Al, Cu and Ni in the above formulas (1) to (4) represents the content by mass percent of the element concerned.
9. A steel for cold forgingnitriding, having a chemical composition comprising, by mass percent, C, 0.01 to 0.15%, Si: 0.35% or less, Mn: 0.10 to 0.90%, P: 0.030% or less, S: 0.030% or less, Cr: 0.50 to 2.0%, V: 0.10 to 0.50%, Al: 0.01 to 0.10%, N: 0.0080% or less, O: 0.0030% or less, and one or more elements selected from the groups (a) to (d) listed below, with the balance being Fe and impurities, and further the Fn1 expressed by the formula (1) is 160 or less, the Fn2 expressed by the formula (2) is 20 to 80, the Fn3 expressed by the formula (3) is 160 or more, and the Fn4 expressed by the formula (4) is 90 to 170;
Fn1=399\xd7C+26\xd7Si+123\xd7Mn+30\xd7Cr+32\xd7Mo+19\xd7V\u2003\u2003(1),
Fn2=(669.3\xd7logeC\u22121959.6\xd7logeN\u22126983.3)\xd7(0.067\xd7Mo+0.147\xd7V)\u2003\u2003(2),
Fn3=140\xd7Cr+125\xd7Al+235\xd7V\u2003\u2003(3),
Fn4=511\xd7C+33\xd7Mn+56\xd7Cu+15\xd7Ni+36\xd7Cr+5\xd7Mo+134\xd7V\u2003\u2003(4);
wherein each symbol C, Si, Mn, Cr, Mo, V, N, Al, Cu and Ni in the above formulas (1) to (4) represents the content by mass percent of the element concerned;
(a) Mo: 0.50% or less,
(b) One or more selected from Cu: 0.50% or less and Ni: 0.50% or less,
(c) One or more selected from Ti: 0.20% or less, Nb: 0.10% or less, and Zr: 0.10% or less,
(d) One or more selected from Pb: 0.50% or less, Ca: 0.010% or less, Bi: 0.30% or less, Te: 0.30% or less, Se: 0.30% or less, and Sb: 0.30% or less.
10. A steel material for cold forgingnitriding having a chemical composition according to claim 8, wherein the microstructure thereof is a ferritic-pearlitic structure, a ferritic-bainitic structure, or a ferritic-pearlitic-bainitic structure, and the area fraction of ferrite is 70% or more, and further the content of V in precipitates determined by the extraction residue analysis is 0.10% or less.
11. A steel material for cold forgingnitriding having a chemical composition according to claim 9, wherein the microstructure thereof is a ferritic-pearlitic structure, a ferritic-bainitic structure, or a ferritic-pearlitic-bainitic structure, and the area fraction of ferrite is 70% or more, and further the content of V in precipitates determined by the extraction residue analysis is 0.10% or less.
12. A cold-forgednitrided component having a chemical composition according to claim 8, wherein the core hardness thereof is 220 or more in Vickers hardness, the surface hardness thereof is 650 or more in Vickers hardness, and the effective case depth thereof is 0.20 mm or more.
13. A cold-forgednitrided component having a chemical composition according to claim 9, wherein the core hardness thereof is 220 or more in Vickers hardness, the surface hardness thereof is 650 or more in Vickers hardness, and the effective case depth thereof is 0.20 mm or more.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. An apparatus for processing an image of an image signal projected through a digital camera lens, the apparatus comprising:
an image sensor module for transforming an optical signal projected through the digital camera lens into an electric signal, to generate and output an image signal;
a light receiving module for detecting a light source, wherein the light receiving module is disposed close to the image sensor module;
a light source characteristic detector for detecting a frequency of the light source detected by the light receiving module;
a white balance controller for controlling a white balance of the image signal output from the image sensor module;
a color corrector for removing interferences of red, green, and blue channels of the image signal output from the white balance controller;
a gamma corrector for performing a gamma correction for the image signal output from the color corrector; and
an auto color adjustment controller for identifying a kind of light source based on the frequency of the light source from the light source characteristic detector, and controlling a white balance gain of the image signal from the gamma corrector based on the kind of the light source.
2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light receiving module and the light source characteristic detector are disposed within the image sensor module.
3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light receiving module comprises:
a log amplifier connected in parallel to a variable gain amplifier; and
one or more switches that are controlled such that one or more of a first path in which a signal moves from a light receiving element through the variable gain amplifier and a second path in which the signal moves from the light receiving element through the log amplifier, are connected to an output end.
4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the light receiving module further comprises an illumination intensity measuring instrument connected to the second path to measure an outside illumination intensity.
5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the light source characteristic detector comprises:
a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) processor for performing an FFT on a signal output from the light receiving module; and
a log transformer for performing a log transform on a value output from the FFT processor.
6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the light source characteristic detector comprises:
two or more band pass filters for receiving a signal output from the light receiving module and passing a frequency of a predetermined band corresponding to the frequency of the light source;
two or more rectifier circuits for rectifying an output of the band pass filter, wherein each of the two or more rectifier circuits are connected to a respective one of the two or more band pass filters;
a high frequency filter for receiving the signal output from the light receiving module and passing a signal of a predetermined high frequency band;
a peak detection circuit for detecting a peak value of a signal output from the high frequency filter; and
three or more analog-digital transformers for transforming analog signals output from the two or more rectifier circuits and the peak detection circuit into digital signals.
7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the light source characteristic detector further comprises:
an FFT processor for performing an FFT on the signal output from the light receiving module; and
a log transformer for performing a log transform on a value output from the FFT processor.
8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the peak detection circuit comprises:
a peak detector for detecting a peak value of the signal output from the high frequency filter; and
an auto reset switch for resetting the peak detector in each predetermined cycle.
9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the light source characteristic detector comprises:
two or more band pass filters for receiving a signal output from the light receiving module and passing a frequency of a predetermined band corresponding to the frequency of the light source;
two or more peak detection circuits for detecting a peak value of an output value of the two or more band pass filters, wherein each of the two or more peak detection circuits is connected to a respective one of the two or more band pass filters;
a high frequency filter for receiving a signal output from the light receiving module and passing a signal of a predetermined high frequency band;
a sample and hold circuit for maintaining an output value from the high frequency filter by a unit of a predetermined cycle; and
three or more analog-digital transformers for transforming analog signals output from the two or more peak detection circuits and the sample and hold circuit into digital signals.
10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the light source characteristic detector further comprises:
an FFT processor for performing an FFT on the signal output from the light receiving module; and
a log transformer for performing a log transform of a value output from the FFT processor.
11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein each of the two or more peak detection circuits comprises:
a peak detector for detecting a peak value of the output value of the band pass filter; and
an auto reset switch for resetting the peak detector in each predetermined cycle.
12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a lens shading corrector for receiving an input of a correction value of a lens shading from the auto color adjustment controller and processing the lens shading.
13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
a color information analyzer for analyzing color information including a relationship between hue and saturation, a relationship between hue and chromaticity, a relationship between saturation and chromaticity, and a distribution chart of gray pixels;
wherein the auto color adjustment controller determines whether the white balance is adapted by using the color information.
14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
a flicker controller for receiving an input of the frequency of the light source output through the light source characteristic detector, and controlling such that a charge accumulation time of the image sensor corresponds to the frequency of the light source or a multiple of the frequency of the light source.
15. A method for processing an image of an image signal projected through a digital camera lens, the method comprising the steps of:
identifying a frequency characteristic of a light source to detect a kind of the light source;
detecting a first saturation value of an input image;
setting a predetermined first threshold according to the kind of the light source;
comparing the predetermined first threshold with the first saturation value;
performing an auto white balance by estimating a white color included in the input image and setting a white balance gain value in order to correct the estimated white color, when the saturation value is less than the predetermined first threshold; and
performing the auto white balance by applying a predetermined default gain according to the light source, when the saturation value is greater than or equal to the predetermined first threshold.
16. The method as claimed in claim 15, further comprising:
determining whether the light source has been changed;
detecting a kind of the changed light source in response to the change of the light source; and
receiving the input image and performing the auto white balance by estimating the white color included in the input image.
17. The method as claimed in claim 16, further comprising:
initializing a count value to a number of images before receiving the input image;
renewing the count value after performing the auto white balance;
determining whether the renewed count value is larger than a predetermined second threshold; and
receiving the input image and performing the auto white balance by estimating the white color included in the input image, when the renewed count value is less than or equal to the predetermined second threshold.
18. The method as claimed in claim 15, further comprising:
determining whether the light source has been changed;
detecting a kind of the changed light source in response to the change of the light source;
receiving the input image;
setting a maximum value and a minimum value of a gain boundary in order to process the auto white balance;
estimating the white color included in the input image and identifying a gain value of the auto white balance in order to correct the estimated white color;
determining whether the gain value of the white balance exists within a range of the gain boundary for processing the auto white balance;
performing the auto white balance by estimating the white color included in the image when the gain value of the white balance exists within the range of the gain boundary for processing the auto white balance; and
performing an auto white balance halt of performing the auto white balance by using a predetermined variable when the gain value of the white balance does not exist within the range of the gain boundary for processing the auto white balance.
19. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein performing of the auto white balance comprises:
estimating the white color included in the image;
setting the gain value of the white balance in order to correct the estimated white color; and
storing the gain value of the white balance as a predetermined variable.
20. The method as claimed in claim 15, further comprising reflecting a lens shading in consideration of the kind of the light source before the auto white balance is performed.