A method for making a piezoelectric element including a piezoelectric film formed on a substrate by a gas deposition technique includes the steps of ejecting ultra-fine particles of a piezoelectric material having a perovskite structure from an ejecting device toward the substrate, and applying an electric field to the ultra-fine particles traveling to the substrate. The substrate may be composed of a metal or a resin.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for making a piezoelectric element, and more particularly, to a method for making a piezoelectric element using a gas deposition technique.
2. Description of the Related Art
Piezoelectric elements have the piezoelectric effect in which an electric field is generated by strain and the reverse piezoelectric effect in which strain is caused by the application of an electric field. As the piezoelectric material, lead zirconate titanate (hereinafter abbreviated as "PZT") to which various trace metals, such as strontium and barium, are added is mainly used. Conventionally, piezoelectric elements are produced by a method including mixing of raw material powders, compression, sintering, machining, application of an electrode material, and polarizing treatment to impart piezoelectric properties.
With the recent miniaturization of devices, it is becoming necessary to mount piezoelectric elements on thinner, smaller spots. Since oxide-based piezoelectric materials, such as PZT, are brittle, there is a limit to a decrease in the thickness of the piezoelectric elements produced using such piezoelectric materials. It is difficult to decrease the thickness to about 0.1 mm or less. In the high-frequency bands, the loss from adhesives must also be taken into consideration. Therefore, in order to prepare piezoelectric films for producing thinner piezoelectric elements without including a bonding step, various film deposition methods, such as gas deposition techniques, hydrothermal synthesis, and sol-gel processes, have been invented, and piezoelectric elements using the piezoelectric films prepared by these methods have been manufactured by way of trial. Among these methods, in view of forming so-called "thick films" of several micrometers to several tens of micrometers, gas deposition techniques are receiving attention.
An apparatus for producing piezoelectric elements using a gas deposition technique includes at least an ultra-fine particle-floating chamber, a film-forming chamber, and a transport pipe. The gas deposition technique is a dry method for forming films, in which ultra-fine particles generated or prepared in the ultra-fine particle-floating chamber are introduced into the film-forming chamber through the transport pipe by a carrier gas, such as an inert gas, and are sprayed at a high speed from a nozzle to directly draw a pattern.
Ultra-fine particles may be, for example, generated in the ultra-fine particle-floating chamber by heating and vaporizing the raw materials in an inert gas using arc heating, resistance heating, or the like. Alternatively, ultra-fine particles of PZT or the like prepared in advance may be used. Ultra-fine particles with an average particle size of 0.1 to 1 μm are usually used. The ultra-fine particles are used, for example, in a dry method for forming films, in which a carrier gas containing the ultra-fine particles or the ultra-fine particles placed in the ultra-fine particle-floating chamber and floated by a carrier gas are introduced into the film-forming chamber through the transport pipe, for example, using a differential pressure between the pressure in the ultra-fine particle-floating chamber and the pressure in the film-forming chamber. By spraying from the nozzle at a high speed, a pattern is directly drawn on a substrate or the like.
The gas deposition technique is characterized in that the film deposition rate is higher and film deposition temperature is lower compared with sol-gel processes or hydrothermal synthesis. Since ultra-fine particles have smaller particle sizes than those of ordinary fine particles, they have very large specific surface areas and become highly active. The ultra-fine particles are bonded with each other by collision energy with the substrate, and thereby a piezoelectric film is formed. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-285063 (patent document 1), No. 11-334066 (patent document 2), No. 11-330577 (patent document 3), and No. 2001-152360 (patent document 4) disclose methods for making piezoelectric elements, in which piezoelectric films are formed by gas deposition techniques, electrodes are applied to the films, and then polarizing treatment is performed.
A mechanism in which PZT exhibits piezoelectric properties will be briefly described below. In the crystal structure (perovskite structure) of PZT, there is a misalignment in the center of mass between the positively charged and negatively charged ions. The misalignment results in an electric dipole. PZT has spontaneous polarization and exhibits piezoelectric properties.
In the PZT grains, domains with sizes of 0.2 to 0.4 μm are formed, and each domain has a spontaneously polarized electric dipole and has piezoelectric properties. In the conventional process of forming a PZT piezoelectric film, a polycrystalline sintered compact is produced. Since the crystal axes of the individual crystal grains are randomly aligned, the spontaneous polarizations of the domains in the individual crystal grains are also randomly oriented. Therefore, the electric dipoles of the individual domains cancel each other out overall, and the piezoelectric properties of the sintered compact disappear. In order to impart piezoelectric properties to the sintered compact, it is necessary to carry out a step of aligning the orientations of the spontaneous polarizations of the individual domains (polarizing step).
Polarizing conditions in the polarizing step vary depending on the compositions of PZT. In general, an electric field of 1 to 5 kV/mm is applied for 30 minutes to 1 hour at 100° C. to 150° C. In the polarizing step, by applying the electric field under the conditions described above, the electric dipoles in the domains of the individual crystal grains are aligned in a certain direction. Since the sintered compact is polycrystalline, and the individual crystal grains physically stick to the adjacent crystal grains, the crystal grains are gradually deformed by applying heat over a certain period of time so that the orientations of the electric dipoles of the individual crystal grains are displaced.
Accordingly, in the methods for producing piezoelectric elements which include polarizing treatment, various steps, such as heating, voltage application, and cleaning, are required, and also, since strain is caused due to the alignment of the electric dipoles, dimensional accuracy is degraded.
Hydrothermal synthesis is known as a film deposition method without including polarizing treatment. However, due to the drawbacks, such as low deposition rate and residual solvent, it has been confirmed that hydrothermal synthesis is not suitable for forming piezoelectric thick films.


A communication system comprises a control station and a number of remote stations connected to the control station by a multi-conductor harness. The control station houses a computer and supplies the remote stations with electrical power, as well as communicating bidirectionally with the remote stations, via the harness. At each remote station, a sensor or other functional module is plugged into an interface. Communication circuitry receives data from and sends data to the control station. The remote station includes an identification device for storing a first code allocated to the remote station by the central computer which identifies the relative location of the remote station, as well as a second code generated at the remote station which identifies the function of the sensor or other functional module.

This invention relates to a communication system comprising a control station and a plurality of remote stations connected to the control station by a harness.
In mines and other working environments the need exists for information from a variety of different types of sensors and monitoring devices to be transmitted to a central control station where the data can be processed and acted upon. For example, in a mine, large numbers of gas and/or fire sensors may be connected to a control station, which analyses the data transmitted from each sensor and raises an alarm if necessary. Other sensors and monitoring devices may be provided to monitor water level, temperature, to identify vehicles and personnel and to transmit operating information directly from sophisticated machinery such as coal cutters. Two way communication between the control station and remote sensors, monitoring devices and machinery may be required.
In a large mine, there may be more than ten thousand personnel underground at one time. It is a mammoth task to co-ordinate the various technical operations taking place in such a mine from the central control station. Typically, voice communication channels are used by the underground personnel to request authorisation for the moving or replacement of sensors and other equipment. This requires operators at the control station to make a decision and to inform the underground personnel accordingly, and then to update a record at the control station.
Usually, a map is available at the control station on which the location of each sensor or monitoring device and its function are indicated. However, it will be appreciated that in an extensive mine or similar working environment, the creation and ongoing updating of such a map is a very time consuming process.


An injection molding device for fabricating a part, the device including an injection mold, the mold being formed of a support and a countermold that are distinct and that define between them a mold cavity presenting a first shape; and at least one injection device for injecting a fluid material into the mold cavity; the device including deformation elements configured to modify the shape of the mold cavity into a second shape distinct from the first shape.

The invention relates to the field of fabricating injection molded parts. More precisely, the invention relates to an injection molding device and method for fabricating a part that make it possible to avoid potential deformation of the part relative to its expected nominal shape as can occur during solidification (e.g. polymerization) and as observed on extracting the part from the mold.
Existing injection molding methods include in particular the resin transfer molding (RTM) method in which a mold comprises two half-shells that, when placed one against the other, confine a mold cavity. A fiber preform is inserted into the cavity between the two half-molds and then resin is injected into the cavity. The resin is polymerized while keeping the two half-shells closed. Depending on the desired rate of production, polymerization may be performed at ambient temperature or by heating. Such a method can be used to make parts:                that are bodies of revolution, e.g. for fabricating gas turbine fan casings for aeroengines; and        parts that are flat, e.g. for fabricating rotor blades.
The use of such a method is particularly advantageous since it makes it possible to obtain parts of overall weight that is less than the same parts would have if they were made of a metal material, while still presenting mechanical strength that is at least equivalent, if not better.
Nevertheless, such parts can also be made using other presently-known injection molding methods, such as plastic injection molding, or indeed molding metal in the context of foundry applications.
Whatever the molding method used, when the part is extracted from the mold, it can happen that it is observed to be deformed compared with its theoretical nominal shape. Thus, by way of example, the following might be observed:                for a body of revolution, such as a fan casing, there can be a defect relative to the desired circular shape, which is presented in the form of ovalization of the part on being extracted from the mold;        for a part that is flat, such as a rotor blade, on being extracted from the mold, there may be a departure from the expected angle of twist, e.g. a reduction in the value of the angle of twist, in other words the blade is warped.
Such defects may be explained in particular by the fact that residual stresses apply to the part during its fabrication in the mold (e.g.: polymerization gradient, winding tension for a part made of composite material), which residual stresses are released when the part is extracted from the mold, thereby leading to deformation of the extracted part.
Generally, such defects are relatively constant and reproducible when using identical fabrication parameters.
Thus, in order to mitigate the problem of deformation in an injection molded part, one common solution consists in making a compensation mold having a mold cavity of a shape that does not correspond to the nominal shape of the part but rather a shape in which the deformation is taken into account so as to obtain, in the end, a part that has its nominal shape after the part has been extracted from the mold.
For example, in order to counter ovalization of a part that is expected to be circular when extracted, a compensation mold may be made in such a manner as to present a mold cavity that is ovalized in a direction perpendicular to a predetermined direction of ovalization that can be expected when the part is extracted from a mold having a cavity that is circular. While in the compensation mold the molded part thus presents a profile that is oval, prior to taking on a circular profile of the expected shape on being extracted.
Nevertheless, making a compensation mold of this type remains an operation that is complex and expensive. For example, the composite materials used for making mechanical parts present properties that depend on numerous factors (e.g.: three-dimensional weaving, winding tension, injection parameters, and polymerization parameters) that cannot always be completely determined from a theoretical point of view by the manufacturers of such parts.
It is thus often not possible to determine the shape of a compensation mold by calculation. Thus, in practice, making a compensation mold is the result of iterative testing, which leads to making a succession of several intermediate molds until the proper shape for compensation is determined empirically.
At present, using such a solution is found not only to be expensive, but also time consuming for producing molded parts.

Device and a method for fabricating a part by injection molding


A satellite system operates at altitudes between 100 and 350 km relying on vehicles including a self-sustaining ion engine to counteract atmospheric drag to maintain near-constant orbit dynamics. The system operates at altitudes that are substantially lower than traditional satellites, reducing size, weight and cost of the vehicles and their constituent subsystems such as optical imagers, radars, and radio links. The system can include a large number of lower cost, mass, and altitude vehicles, enabling revisit times substantially shorter than previous satellite systems. The vehicles spend their orbit at low altitude, high atmospheric density conditions that have heretofore been virtually impossible to consider for stable orbits. Short revisit times at low altitudes enable near-real time imaging at high resolution and low cost. At such altitudes, the system has no impact on space junk issues of traditional LEO orbits, and is self-cleaning in that space junk or disabled craft will de-orbit.

Satellites are used in many aspects of modern life, including earth observation and reconnaissance, telecommunications, navigation (e.g., global positions systems, or "GPS"), environmental measurements and monitoring and many other functions. A key advantage of satellites is that they remain in orbit due to their high velocity that creates an outward centripetal force equal to gravity's inward force. Therefore, once in orbit, they stay there typically for years or decades. See, for example, FIG. 8, which graphically illustrates a best and worst case curve for expected lifetime of orbiting vehicles as a function of altitude. Depending on the angle of the orbit, a satellite will be able to observe a large fraction of the earth's surface at some point in time.
A key parameter for satellites used for earth observation is the relationship between altitude, orbital angle, and constellation size. At higher altitudes, the satellite will be able to observe a larger percentage of the earth's surface, however the orbital time will be longer and the instrument package required to effectively cover a larger area at a longer range will be larger and more complex, on the other hand, a longer orbital time means that the satellite will appear to be in view of a given point on the earth for a longer period and the number of satellites required to keep all of the earth in view all of the time decreases. In order for one satellite to cover the entire surface of the earth, sun synchronous polar orbits are frequently used.
Satellite orbital heights are typically categorized in three broad segments: low earth orbit (LEO), medium earth orbit (MEO) and geostationary earth orbit (GEO). The general uses and characteristics of these orbits are shown in Table I and represent generally accepted usage of the terms LEO, MEO and GEO. Satellites can orbit at any altitude above the atmosphere, and the gaps in altitude shown in Table 1, such as between LEO and MEO, are also used, if less regularly. It is also common that satellites may orbit in eccentric, non-circular orbits, thereby passing through a range of altitudes in a given orbit.
TABLE ITypical characteristics of common orbits.LEO  400-6.9-7.8Earth observation,Random orbits, 3-10 Y 2,000sensing, ISS, lifetime, space junk telecomissue, little radiationconstellationsMEO15,000-3.5GPS, GLONASS,Highest radiation (Van20,000Earth observationAllen Belt), equatorial topolar orbitsGEO42,0003.1Sat TV, high BWCan remain above sametelecom, weatherspot on Earth, typicallysatellitesequatorial orbits
For imaging, the power requirements of the digital optical package and downlink grows roughly in accordance with a square law for the same delivered image resolution. GEO satellites are far too high for a practical optical observation package. LEO, on the other hand, allows for reasonable optical size and power and is protected from space radiation. Most earth imaging satellites operate at lower altitudes, roughly at the altitude of the international space station (ISS) (400 km) or higher, up to about 2,000 km. At these altitudes, the size and power requirements of the imaging package are much lower for the same resolution relative to a geostationary orbit, the earth's magnetic field shields the satellite from most damaging space radiation, and the atmosphere is sufficiently thin that orbital decay is not a major problem. However, the satellite will only be in view of a given section of the earth's surface for a few minutes, and at lower altitudes, line of sight communication may only be possible for a minute or less. This requires a large constellation satellites or accepting a lower "revisit" rate for a given point on the Earth's surface.
Altitudes lower than the international space station (ISS) have the advantage that the imaging package can again, be substantially reduced in size, weight, and power consumption, which in theory allows for much lower cost satellites. However, atmospheric drag becomes a major consideration for orbits below the orbit of the ISS—even the ISS requires regular "boosting" to keep its orbit from decaying rapidly, and orbital decay issues grow exponentially below ISS altitudes. The assignee of the present invention has addressed this issue with a novel low drag orbital vehicle and constellation design described in co-pending application Ser.No. 15/868,794, entitled "System For Producing Remote Sensing Data From Near Earth Orbit," to Thomas E. Schwartzentruber and Ronald E. Reedy, and co-pending application Ser. No. 62/616,325, entitled "Atomic Oxygen-Resistant, ZLow Drag Coatings And Materials," to Timothy Minton and Thomas E. Schwartzentruber. This enables Near Earth Orbiters, NEOs, a term we use to describe the system and its constituent vehicles (i.e., a "NEO satellite system", "NEO vehicle" or a "NEO satellite") operating in stable orbits at 100-350 km. Therefore, it is a purpose of this invention to describe a satellite system based on orbital vehicles operating in stable Earth orbits at altitudes well below traditional satellites, specifically between approximately 100 and 300 km.
The availability of a low drag, low cost, high endurance (multi-year missions) satellite suitable for altitudes under 300 km allows for the use of imaging equipment that is low cost and low power yet achieves resolutions that are currently only available from much more expensive, higher altitude satellites and much higher revisit rates because the constellation can be large for the same cost. There remains, however, the problem of retrieving the high revisit rate, high-resolution data collected by a large constellation of NEO satellites. Smaller constellations at higher orbits solve this problem either because the downlinks are relatively lower data rates per downlink (voice calls), or using very high bandwidth, but expensive earth stations. Higher orbits also imply long revisit times—for a single satellite, the revisit time may be measured in days. At sub 300 km orbits, the orbital window for a downlink to a given station is too small to tolerate a small number of earth stations with the power available in a small satellite. Furthermore, in order to fully take advantage of the high revisit rates possible in a large NEO constellation, the downlink must be sufficiently robust to allow for near real time download of data, with latency on the order of seconds or at most, a few minutes. In the event that a downlink is not immediately available, the processor can buffer the captured data for later transmission when a receiving station is within range. Consequently, the ground station network must in some respects mirror the satellite network, with a large number of ground stations to ensure that a given satellite can be continuously pushing its image data down. Achieving low power consumption for a given bandwidth is also essential, since the small satellite profile required to achieve a low per satellite cost has a correspondingly small surface area available for solar panels to generate power for the downlink and antennas to provide the antenna gain.
The combination of these factors means that there is a need for a low cost, low power, high data rate satellite downlink system that meets the mission payload requirements for a small orbital vehicle under 300 km that still has a camera resolution on the order of 1 meter, coupled with a corresponding robust network of ground stations to match the capacity of the satellites and reduce the delay time in retrieving a high resolution image of a given point on the earth to sub one hour times.

Radio frequency data downlink for a high revisit rate, near earth orbit satellite system


A vehicle steering system includes a higher-level ECU and a lower-level ECU. The lower-level ECU includes a steered angle limit setter, and steered angle limiters. The steered angle limit setter sets an allowable upper limit to a target inner and outer wheel steered angle difference responsive to the absolute value of a target outer steered angle. The steered angle limit setter calculates a limit to the absolute value of a target inner steered angle. The steered angle limit setter subsequently sets this limit for one of the steered angle limiters that is fed the target inner steered angle in the present calculation cycle. The limiter, which is fed the target inner steered angle, limits the absolute value of the target inner steered angle so that the absolute value of the target inner steered angle is equal to or below the limit, and outputs the resulting value.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to vehicle steering systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a vehicle steering system which includes right and left steering operation mechanisms to respectively steer right and left steered wheels, and in which a steering member to be operated in steering a vehicle in a desired direction is mechanically coupled to neither of the right and left steering operation mechanisms, and the right and left steering operation mechanisms are respectively driven by right and left steering motors.
2. Description of the Related Art
The effectiveness of a "steer-by-wire" system is now being valued highly. A steer-by-wire system implements an advanced drive assisting function as typified by automatic driving and has no intermediate shaft so as to increase layout flexibility of an engine room. To further increase engine room layout flexibility, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-174160 (JP 2008-174160 A) and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2015-20586 (JP 2015-20586 A) each disclose a right and left independent steering system for controlling right and left steered wheels by individual steering actuators without using any steering gear device including a rack-and-pinion mechanism.
A steer-by-wire system that employs the concept of the right and left independent steering system may perform steering control using a control system including a higher-level control device to calculate target steered angles for right and left steered wheels, and a lower-level control device to control steering actuators. The lower-level control device of such a control system receives the target steered angles for the right and left steered wheels from the higher-level control device, and controls the steering actuators on the basis of the target steered angles associated thereto. Unfortunately, a malfunction in the higher-level control device of such a control system, such as a breakdown or communication failure, may cause the higher-level control device to supply an inappropriate target steered angle to the lower-level control device.


A motor vehicle seat having massage units positioned therein and controllable by each user including neck, back and seat. Each massage unit is comprised of a housing having rotational and vibratory members therein that when energized extend beyond the housing in an operative position. When powered off the rotational and vibratory members retract into the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to massage devices and, more specifically, to a motor vehicle seat having massage units positioned therein and controllable by each user including neck, back and seat. Each massage unit is comprised of a housing having rotational and vibratory members therein that when energized extend beyond the housing in an operative position. When powered off the rotational and vibratory members retract into the housing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other massage devices designed for seating. Typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 2,921,578 issued to Rabhan on Jan. 19, 1960.
Another patent was issued to Sugai, et al. on Dec. 27, 1983 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,448. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,158 was issued to Yamazaki, et al. on Aug. 14, 1984 and still yet another was issued on Apr. 25, 2000 to Sleichter, III as U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,880.
Another patent was issued to Linzalone on May 30, 2000 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,339. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,630 was issued to Cutler, et al. on Apr. 23, 2002. Another was issued to Sleichter, III et al. on Jan. 27, 2004 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,682,494 and still yet another was issued on Jul. 19, 2005 to Knelson, et al. as U.S. Pat. No. 6,918,884.
Another patent was issued to Fader on Mar. 4, 1959 as U.K. Patent No. GB809,734. Yet another German Patent No. DE4116836 was issued to Ball on Nov. 26, 1992. Another was issued to Wohlrab on Aug. 22, 1996 as German Patent No. DE 19505445 and still yet another was issued on Jul. 24, 1997 to Joachim as German Patent No. DE19700342.
Another patent was issued to Schwarz on Nov. 16, 2000 as German Patent No. DE19930759. Yet another Japan Patent No. JP2003285676 was issued to Tsukagami on Oct. 7, 2004. Another was issued to Takeda, et al. on Jan. 22, 2004 as Japan Patent No. JP2004016287 and still yet another was issued on Nov. 30, 2005 to Hitoshi Omron Healthcare as European Patent Application No. EP1600136.


A fluorine rubber composition used for the surface layer material of a fixing member to fix a toner transferred onto a recording material comprises fluorine rubber having a polymerization degree based on vinylidene fluoride. The fixing member includes a base material, and a surface layer material disposed on the surface of the base material, and the surface layer material contains fluorine rubber having a polymerization degree base on vinylidene fluoride. Preferably, the fluorine rubber composition contains a reinforcing agent, antacid, vulcanizing agent, vulcanization accelerator, spherical filler, and solvent. Preferably, the fixing member has numerous fine convex portions on its surface. Accordingly, the amount of the toner adhering to the surface of the fixing member is reduced. Thus, generation of offset trouble can be reliably prevented for a long period of time. As a result, the durability of the fixing member will be improved.

The present invention relates to a fluorine rubber composition used in an image picture forming apparatus, a fixing member, a fixing device, a fixing method, and a method of manufacturing the fixing device.
In an image picture forming apparatus, a toner transferred onto a recording material such as paper or the like is fixed by a fixing device installed in the apparatus.
FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a conventional fixing device. The fixing device which serves to fix a toner 13 transferred onto a recording material 12 comprises a fixing roller 201 being a fixing member, a press roller 102 opposing to the fixing roller 201, and a web 104 impregnated with silicone oil as a lubricant to prevent sticking of toner T to surface layer 203 of the fixing roller 201. The fixing roller 201 and the press roller 102 are formed by coating a core bar 105 with an elastic body 106. A heater 107 as a heat source is disposed in the core bar 105 of the fixing roller 201.
Recording material 12 such as paper or the like with a picture image formed thereon by transferring the toner 13 is caught between the fixing roller 201 and the press roller 102, and is heated and pressed, then the toner 13 is fixed on the recording material 12.
However, the toner 13 increases in viscosity due to the heat. Accordingly, as shown in the partly enlarged view of FIG. 3 showing a state of picture image fixation in a conventional fixing device, a part of the toner 13 on the recording material 12 adheres to the surface of the fixing roller 201. As a result, when the next recording material 12 advances toward the fixing roller 201 heated, the toner 13, increasing in viscosity and adhering to the fixing roller 201, is partially transferred onto the next recording material 12. This process is generally called offset, and frequent generation of offset means the termination of the life of the fixing device.
In order to prevent generation of such offset, in the prior art, the toner is fixed by heat and pressure of the fixing roller 201 and the press roller 102 while applying a lubricant such as silicone oil to the fixing roller 201. There are some different methods of lubricant application to the fixing roller 201. For examples, as shown in FIG. 6, a lubricant is applied to the fixing roller 201 by contacting the web 104 with the fixing roller 201. The web 104 is pressed against the fixing roller 201 by a web pressing roller 108 and is taken up onto a web take-up roller 110 from a web feed roller 109 at a predetermined speed.
However, in a conventional fixing device, the surface layer 203 of the fixing roller 201 is formed of silicone rubber, fluorine rubber or the like. Since the fixing roller 201 is heated, the surface layer 203 of the fixing roller 201 is deteriorated due to the heat. Further, in use of the fixing roller 201 for a long period of time, the surface layer 203 becomes worn and scratched due to sticking of paper and dust. In case the surface layer 203 is worn or scratched, the toner 13 will stick to the surface layer 203 of the fixing roller 201 despite that the surface layer 203 is coated with a lubricant. That is, there are not a few chances of generation of offset even when the surface layer 203 is coated with a lubricant.
A fixing device capable of preventing such offset is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 4-319980. The fixing device disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 4-319980 comprises a fixing roller and a roller polishing means to polish the fixing roller surface. The fixing roller used is a single-layer roller formed of methyl or methylvinyl type silicone rubber, and the silicone oil used is methylphenyl type silicone oil.
In such fixing roller, the fixing roller surface is always refreshed since the fixing roller surface is polished by the roller polishing means. As a result, generation of offset can be prevented. Also, since a single-layer roller formed of silicone rubber is employed, polishing the fixing roller surface does not cause the under layer material to be exposed, thereby improving the durability.
However, in such prior art fixing device, the optimum conditions for roller polishing vary with various factors such as grain sizes of polishing material, grain shapes, its contents in silicone oil, abutment pressures to the fixing roller of cleaning web as a roller polishing means, abutment areas, fiber density of web, and material quality of roller rubbers. Accordingly, it is difficult to find and maintain optimum values in relation to a number of these factors. Further, as the fixing roller surface is polished, the roller will be reduced in diameter through use for a long period of time. Consequently, the above-mentioned factors at their optimum values are influenced, gradually going wrong.
The present invention is intended to improve the durability of the fixing member, preventing generation of offset reliably for a long period of time by lessening the amount of toner sticking to the fixing member surface without polishing the fixing member surface of a roller or the like.
A fluorine rubber composition of the present invention, used for the surface layer material of a fixing member to fix a toner transferred onto a recording material, comprises:
(a) fluorine rubber having a polymerization degree based on vinylidene fluoride; and
(b) at least one selected from the group consisting of a reinforcing agent, an antacid, a vulcanizing agent, a vulcanization accelerator, a spherical filler, and an organic solvent.
A fixing member of the present invention for fixing a toner transferred onto a recording material comprises:
a base material and
a surface layer material disposed on the base material,
wherein the surface layer material contains fluorine rubber having a polymerization degree based on vinylidene fluoride.
A fixing device of the present invention for fixing a toner transferred onto the surface of a recording material comprises:
a fixing roller;
a press roller disposed opposing the fixing roller; and
a web to apply a lubricant to the surface of the fixing roller,
wherein the fixing roller comprises a base material and a surface layer material disposed on the surface of the base material;
the surface layer material contains fluorine rubber having a polymerization degree based on vinylidene fluoride; and
a recording material having the toner transferred thereon passes between the fixing roller and the press roller while being pressed by the fixing roller and the press roller so that the surface layer material comes in contact with the toner, and thereby, the toner is fixed on the recording material.
A fixing method of the present invention comprises:
(a) a step of transferring a toner onto the surface of a recording material:
(b) a step of passing the recording material, having the toner transferred thereon, between a fixing roller and a press roller, under pressures applied by the fixing roller and the press roller,
wherein the fixing roller comprises a base material and a surface layer material disposed on the surface of the base material;
the recording material passes between the rollers in a manner such that the toner is positioned at the fixing roller side;
the surface layer material contains fluorine rubber having a polymerization degree based on vinylidene fluoride; and
(c) a step of fixing the toner, pressed by the fixing roller and the press roller, on the surface of the recording material.
A method of manufacturing a fixing device of the present invention for fixing a toner transferred onto the surface of a recording material comprises the steps of:
(a) manufacturing a fixing roller; and
(b) manufacturing a press roller,
wherein the step of manufacturing the fixing roller comprises the steps of:
(1) manufacturing a paint;
wherein the step of manufacturing the paint includes a step of mixing and dispersing fluorine rubber having a polymerization degree based on vinylidene fluoride, a vulcanizing agent, and a solvent;
(2) applying the paint onto the surface of a base material having a spherical shape; and
(3) drying and hardening the paint applied to the surface of the base material to form a surface layer material.
Preferably, the fluorine rubber contains at least one copolymer selected from the group consisting of a copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene, vinylidene fluoride and hexafluoropropylene; a copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene, vinylidene fluoride and propylene; and a copolymer of vinylidene fluoride and hexafluoropropylene.
By the above configuration, the amount of toner sticking to the surface of a fixing member is reduced. Accordingly, generation of offset can be reliably prevented for a long period of time. Further, the durability of the fixing member will be improved.

Fluorine rubber composition, fixing member, fixing device, fixing method, and method of manufacturing fixing device

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


To make it easy to specify a terminal (wireless communication device) connected to an access point (wireless connection device) by performing display corresponding to the access point to which the terminal is connected. A wireless connection device reads, from a storage unit, specified information for designating a display mode for specifying a connection of the wireless connection device itself, performs wireless communications with a wireless communication device, and notifies the wireless communication device of the specified information read from the storage unit. On the other hand, the wireless communication device performs the wireless communications with the wireless connection device, receives the specified information from the wireless connection device, and conducts the display in the display mode designated in the specified information.

The present invention relates to a technology of specifying a base station to which a wireless terminal is connected.
IEEE802.11 defines standards for networks utilizing radio waves and infrared-rays as transmission paths.
For example, a so-called wireless LAN is known, wherein each terminal connects to the access point functioning as a bridge and a switch by use of the radio waves having a predetermined frequency band (2.4 GHz band, 5 GHz band, etc), and wireless communications can be performed via the access point.
Over the recent years, this type of wireless LAN has widely spread owing to improvement of performance, a decrease in price, etc of the access point and a device such as a wireless LAN interface, which configure the wireless LAN.
Further, technologies disclosed in, e.g., the following Patent documents 1-3 are given as the prior arts related to the invention of the present application.    [Patent document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-217814    [Patent document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-088424    [Patent document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-134663

Wireless connection device and wireless communication device


A solder-bearing lead adapted to be soldered to a conductive surface comprising an elongated body portion having a solder- bearing portion, a terminal portion, and a middle portion disposed between said solder-bearing portion and said terminal portion. The solder-bearing portion carries a solder mass either on a pair of projections extending from one edge of said body portion and forming a gap therebetween dimensioned to receive a solder mass, or on the opposed faces of said solderbearing portion. A region of the middle portion is twisted so that the solder-bearing portion lies in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the terminal portion. The solder-bearing lead can be used as an edge clip for mounting a substrate such as a printed circuit board, or as a surfacemounted lead for a substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to solder-bearing contacts and leads for attachment to contact pads on substrates such as electronic circuit boards, chip carriers, or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the electronic equipment industry, it is known to provide leads for connection to contact pads of printed circuit boards and other substrates by soldering the leads thereto. See, e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,728,305 and 4,597,628. However, as the electronic industry continues to move toward greater miniaturization, the size and spacing between the contact pads has accordingly been reduced. This requires a correspending reduction in the size and spacing of the leads which are tc be connected to contact pads.
However, in attempting to reduce the spacing between leads, it is also important to provide sufficient spacing to prevent inadvertent contact or arcing between adjacent leads.
The objective of size/space reduction of the leads must be achieved without sacrificing accuracy in manufacture of the leads. It is also desirable to provide rapid assembly of multiple leads. Prior construction and manufacturing processes of leads have been unable to achieve effectively the required reduced size and spacing.
Thus, the need exists for effectively applicable leads of reduced size and spacing to accommodate the current reduction in the size and spacing of contact pads of substrates, but sufficiently spaced to prevent arcing. The need also exists for a method of manufacturing such leads without sacrificing accuracy.


A picked-up image editing apparatus comprises a memory which stores a mixture of multimedia data with processing disable information and multimedia data without processing disable information, an image pick-up device which picks-up an image of an object as one of a still picture and a motion picture, an image data producing unit which produces image data based on an image picked-up by the image pick-up device, a combining instruction issuing unit which issues a combining instruction to combine the produced image data with the multimedia data stored in the memory, and an output content storing unit which, when the multimedia data targeted to be combined has processing disable information, stores only output contents based on a processing result.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable wireless communication terminal having a function for transmitting/receiving multimedia data; a picked-up image editing apparatus; and a picked-up image editing method. In particular, the present invention relates to a portable wireless communication terminal and a picked-up image editing apparatus and method having a function for combining and/or processing a downloaded image together with a picked-up image.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there has been a portable telephone (a type of portable wireless communication terminal) having a digital camera incorporated therein such that data picked-up by using this incorporated camera can be transmitted to be attached to E-mail and the data can be received and displayed.
Further, there exists a portable telephone comprising a function capable of processing picked-up data and capable of freely setting a motion picture, animation, sound (melody) or the like downloaded over a content provider as a call arrival image as is the case with a variety of multimedia data.
The thus downloaded data is often inhibited from being duplicated or processed, and information with copyright protection is added to the data in advance. However, a general user has few opportunities of recognizing them. Therefore, when an attempt is made to freely combine and/or process picked-up images, there are many cases in which such combining and/or processing are/is restricted or inhibited.
In addition, the image picked-up by the above-described portable telephone with the camera function and another image with copyright obtained by downloading it can be displayed to be combined with each other. However, the thus combined image cannot be transmitted. Therefore, after the combined image has been temporarily held in the portable telephone, when an attempt is made to transmit it via E-mail, the combined image is not displayed, and cannot be transmitted. At this time, the general user cannot understand why the combined image is not displayed and cannot be transmitted. In such a case, there has been a problem that the user has a trouble with operation, and the usability of the portable telephone is very poor.

Portable wireless communication terminal, picked-up image editing apparatus, and picked-up image editing method


In preferred embodiments, an adaptive equalization circuit including at least two equalization filters (each for equalizing a signal transmitted over a multi-channel serial link) and control circuitry for generating an equalization control signal for use by all the filters. The control circuitry generates the control signal in response to an equalized signal produced by one of the filters, and asserts the control signal to all the filters. Preferably, one filter generates an equalized fixed pattern signal in response to a fixed pattern signal (e.g., a clock signal), each other filter equalizes a data signal, and the control circuitry generates the control signal in response to the equalized fixed pattern signal. In other embodiments, the invention is an adaptive equalization circuit including an equalization filter and circuitry for generating a control signal for the filter in response to a signal indicative of a predetermined fixed pattern, a receiver including an adaptive equalization circuit, a system including such a receiver, and a method for adaptive equalization of signals received over a multi-channel serial link.

The term "transmitter" is used herein in a broad sense to denote any device capable of transmitting data over a serial link, and optionally also capable of performing additional functions which can include encoding and/or encrypting the data to be transmitted. The term "receiver" is used herein in a broad sense to denote any device capable of receiving data that has been transmitted over a serial link, and optionally also capable of performing additional functions, which can include decoding and/or decryption of the received data, and other operations related to decoding, reception, or decryption of the received data. For example, the term receiver can denote a transceiver that performs the functions of a transmitter as well as the functions of a receiver.
The expression "serial link" is used herein to denote a serial link (having any number of channels) or a channel of a serial link, where the term "channel" of a serial link denotes a portion of the link that is employed to transmit data in serial fashion (e.g., a conductor or conductor pair between a transmitter and receiver over which data are transmitted serially, either differentially or in single-ended fashion).
The term "stream" of data, as used herein, denotes that all the data are of the same type and is transmitted with the same clock frequency. In some cases, a channel of a serial link is employed to transmit one stream of data. In other cases, a channel of a serial link is employed to transmit more than one stream of data.
There are various, well-known serial links for transmitting video data and other data. One conventional serial link is known as a transition minimized differential signaling interface ("TMDS" link). This link is used primarily for high-speed transmission of video data from a set-top box to a television, and also for high-speed transmission of video data from a host processor (e.g., a personal computer) to a monitor. Among the characteristics of a TMDS link are the following:
1. video data are encoded and then transmitted as encoded words (each 8-bit word of digital video data is converted to an encoded 10-bit word before transmission);
2. the encoded video data and a video clock signal are transmitted as differential signals (the video clock and encoded video data are transmitted as differential signals over conductor pairs without the presence of a ground line); and
3. three conductor pairs are employed to transmit the encoded video, and a fourth conductor pair is employed to transmit the video clock signal.
Another serial link is the "High Definition Multimedia Interface" interface ("HDMI" link) developed Silicon Image, Inc., Matsushita Electric, Royal Philips Electronics, Sony Corporation, Thomson Multimedia, Toshiba Corporation, and Hitachi.
Another serial link is the "Digital Video Interface" ("DVI" link) adopted by the Digital Display Working Group. It has been proposed to use the cryptographic protocol known as the "High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection" ("HDCP") protocol to encrypt digital video data to be transmitted over a DVI link, and to decrypt the encrypted video data at the DVI receiver. A DVI link can be implemented to include two TMDS links (which share a common conductor pair for transmitting a video clock signal) or one TMDS link, as well as additional control lines between the transmitter and receiver. We shall describe a DVI link (that includes one TMDS link) with reference to FIG. 1. The DVI link of FIG. 1 includes transmitter 1, receiver 3, and the following conductors between the transmitter and receiver: four conductor pairs (Channel 0, Channel 1, and Channel 2 for video data, and Channel C for a video clock signal), Display Data Channel ("DDC") lines for bidirectional communication between the transmitter and a monitor associated with the receiver in accordance with the conventional Display Data Channel standard (the Video Electronics Standard Association's "Display Data Channel Standard," Version 2, Rev. 0, dated Apr. 9, 1996), a Hot Plug Detect (HPD) line (on which the monitor transmits a signal that enables a processor associated with the transmitter to identify the monitor's presence), Analog lines (for transmitting analog video to the receiver), and Power lines (for providing DC power to the receiver and a monitor associated with the receiver). The Display Data Channel standard specifies a protocol for bidirectional communication between a transmitter and a monitor associated with a receiver, including transmission by the monitor of Extended Display Identification ("EDID") data that specifies various characteristics of the monitor, and transmission by the transmitter of control signals for the monitor. Transmitter 1 includes three identical encoder/serializer units (units 2, 4, and 5) and additional circuitry (not shown). Receiver 3 includes three identical recovery/decoder units (units 8, 10, and 12) and inter-channel alignment circuitry 14 connected as shown, and additional circuitry (not shown).
As shown in FIG. 1, circuit 2 encodes the data to be transmitted over Channel 0, and serializes the encoded bits. Similarly, circuit 4 encodes the data to be transmitted over Channel 1 (and serializes the encoded bits), and circuit 6 encodes the data to be transmitted over Channel 2 (and serializes the encoded bits). Each of circuits 2, 4, and 6 responds to a control signal (an active high binary control signal referred to as a "data enable" or "DE" signal) by selectively encoding either digital video words (in response to DE having a high value) or a control or synchronization signal pair (in response to DE having a low value). Each of encoders 2, 4, and 6 receives a different pair of control or synchronization signals: encoder 2 receives horizontal and vertical synchronization signals (HSYNC and VSYNC); encoder 4 receives control bits CTL0 and CTL1; and encoder 6 receives control bits CTL2 and CTL3. Thus, each of encoders 2, 4, and 6 generates in-band words indicative of video data (in response to DE having a high value), encoder 2 generates out-of-band words indicative of the values of HSYNC and VSYNC (in response to DE having a low value), encoder 4 generates out-of-band words indicative of the values of CTL0 and CTL1 (in response to DE having a low value), and encoder 6 generates out-of-band words indicative of the values of CTL2 and CTL3 (in response to DE having a low value). In response to DE having a low value, each of encoders 4 and 6 generates one of four specific out-of-band words indicative of the values 00, 01, 10, or 11, respectively, of control bits CTL0 and CTL1 (or CTL2 and CTL3).
In operation of the FIG. 1 system, a cable comprising connectors 20 and 21 and conductors 22 is connected between transmitter 1 and receiver 3. Conductors 22 include a conductor pair for transmitting serialized data over Channel 0 from encoder 2 to decoder 8, a conductor pair for transmitting serialized data over Channel 1 from encoder 4 to decoder 10, a conductor pair for transmitting serialized data over Channel 2 from encoder 6 to decoder 12, and a conductor pair for transmitting a video clock over Channel C from transmitter 1 to receiver 3. Conductors 22 also include wires for the DDC channel (which can be used for bidirectional I2C communication between transmitter 1 and receiver 3), a Hot Plug Detect (HPD) line, "Analog" lines for analog video transmission from transmitter 1 to receiver 3, and "Power" lines for provision of power from transmitter 1 to a receiver 3.
In the FIG. 1 system, the frequency of the video clock signal transmitted over Channel C is typically one-tenth the bit rate at which data transmission occurs over each of the data channels (Channels 0, 1, and 2), in the sense that ten data bits are transmitted over each data channel during each video clock period. This can be accomplished by employing nine delay cells in the transmitter to generate nine multiphase delayed versions of the video clock, and using the nine delayed versions of the video clock (each having a different phase) together with the video clock itself to transmit data over each of Channels 0, 1, and 2, at a rate of ten bits per video clock period.
Other serial links include the set of serial links known as Low Voltage Differential Signaling ("LVDS") links (e.g., "LDI," the LVDS Display Interface), each of which satisfies the TIA/EIA-644 standard or the IEEE-1596.3 standard, ethernet links, fiberchannel links, serial ATA links used by disk drives, and others.
During high-speed serial data transmission over a link (a cable and/or connectors and/or PCB traces), the link itself introduces losses and dispersion which reduce the signal quality at the receiver end. As the frequency of the transmitted signal and/or the transmission distance increases, the distortion due to frequency dependent delay and attenuation increases, increasing the chance of false detection of signals received and in some cases making the eye at the receiver almost unusable.
Transmission of signals indicative of data (e.g., video or audio data) to a receiver over a serial link degrades the data, for example by introducing time delay error (sometimes referred to as jitter) to the data. In effect, a link applies a filter to the signals during propagation over the link. The filter (to be referred to herein as a "cable filter," although the link may consist of or include PCB traces) can cause inter-symbol interference (ISI).
Equalization is the application of an inverted version of a cable filter to signals received after propagation over a link. The function of an equalization filter (sometimes referred to as an "equalizer") is to compensate for, and preferably cancel, the cable filter.
Adaptive equalization has been used to restore signal integrity by compensating for the frequency dependent attenuation that occurs during high speed serial data transmission. However, circuitry for performing the attenuation estimation needed for adaptive equalization has been complex and difficult to implement. This is especially true in the case of circuitry for estimating the attenuation of data transmitted over each of two or more channels of multi-channel serial link, in order to perform adaptive equalization of the data transmitted over each channel.
Various methods have been developed for adaptive equalization. However, equalization circuitry in a receiver cannot easily determine the optimum equalization filter to apply to a received signal unless the receiver knows what the transmitted signal looked like. Without a stable algorithm, adaptive equalization can converge into local minimization or can oscillate, depending on the data pattern itself.

Method and circuit for adaptive equalization of multiple signals in response to a control signal generated from one of the equalized signals


An airflow door for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. The airflow door has a first material and a second material. The first material and the second material are temperature responsive materials that change shape at different temperatures such that at a first temperature the first material and the second material are shaped to provide the airflow door with a first configuration, and at a second temperature the first material and the second material are shaped to provide the airflow door with a second configuration that is different from the first configuration.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure, which is not necessarily prior art.
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems include various doors for directing airflow. With current HVAC systems, the doors are operated by motors, cams, linkages, or any combination thereof, which can be time consuming to assemble and install, costly, and subject to failure on rare occasions. While such doors are suitable for their intended use, they are subject to improvement. For example, air mode doors that are easier to assemble and install, more cost effective, and less likely to experience failure would be desirable. The present disclosure includes air mode doors that provide for such advantages, as well as numerous others as explained herein and as one skilled in the art will recognize.


A solder apparatus includes a platform, an operating mechanism, a solder member, a heater, and a control box module. The control box module includes a temperature controller and a temperature sensor. The temperature controller defines a predetermined temperature. The temperature sensor is capable of measuring the temperature of the solder member. The temperature controller has the heater heat the solder member when the measured temperature of the solder member is lower than or equal to the predetermined temperature, and has the heater stop heating the solder member, when the measured temperature of the solder member is higher than the predetermined temperature.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a solder apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Usually, a thermocouple is adhered to a CPU by glue, for measuring a working temperature of the CPU. However, in a typical adhesion method, the CPU may be damaged, because a high temperature of a solder head that is used to solder the thermocouple onto the CPU. Therefore, there is room for improvement in the art.


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method of processing received signal using a massive MIMO base station (BS). The BS comprises a radio unit (RU), a distributed unit (DU) and an interface. The method comprises receiving a plurality of signals corresponding to the plurality of antennas, said signals comprises at least one of data signals, demodulation reference signals (DMRS) and sounding reference signals (SRS). The RU or DU performs a grouping operation on a subset of the plurality of signals corresponding to a subset of antennas to generate signal groups. The RU performs a first stage filtering on the signals associated with each group using group specific filters to obtain group specific filtered signals. The DU performs a second stage filtering on the group specific filtered signals to obtain second stage filtered signals.

FIG. 1 shows a traditional Radio Access Networks (RAN) architecture, typically deployed as a co-located architecture. As shown in FIG. 1, the RAN architecture includes Base station (BS), backhaul and core. The BS comprises remote radio head (RRH)/radio unit (RU) and base band unit (BBU). The RU comprises amplifiers, filters and an analog frontend components of a transceiver, and the BBU with the baseband modem were typically co-located either at the top or bottom of the cellular tower. When located at the bottom of the tower, RF cables from the antenna feeds at the top of the tower were used to connect to the units at the bottom of the tower. These methods typically had significant losses due to these RF cables and warranted special solutions.
FIG. 2 shows a centralized RAN architecture, wherein common public radio interface (CPRI), a protocol for IQ data transmission is used between the RRH and BBU via optical fiber. This architecture allowed the BBU unit to be located at a distant location from the cell tower in which case the CPRI cables had to be long such as few kilometers (kms) to support a centralized deployment
A centralized RAN deployment further evolved to support a cloud-RAN deployment, which allowed the BBU to coordinate radio units across multiple sites, better coordinate interference across multiple sites and improve overall network throughput. The front haul (FH) was supported initially supported by CPRI. However, it was soon realized that CPRI has too much overhead and lot of bandwidth wastage even during idle times. Quickly, this was replaced by eCPRI standard (enhanced CPRI) which supports Ethernet based IP packet flows only when traffic is present, which is not point-to-point like CPRI. This architecture also allowed for the BBUs to be virtualized to be able to support on-demand services.
A cloud-RAN architecture evolved which could support more splits. The BBU itself is split into a real-time distributed unit (DU) and a non-real-time control unit (CU), where a single DU can source multiple RUs and a single CU can source multiple DUs. However, there is not a single place where the split between RU, DU and CU can be done in the entire protocol stack of a wireless network such as 4G and 5G.
FIG. 3 shows block diagram of possible splits using the various components of a wireless stack. Depending on the splits between the CU-DU and DU-RU, the bandwidth and latency requirements change in the entire design. This problem especially aggravates with the introduction of the massive MIMO solutions to enhance capacity and coverage. FIG. 4 shows DU-RU split with 5 potential split points. The bandwidth requirements on the DU-RU interface change from a mere 100 Mbps at split 6 to 250 Gbps at split 8 when multiple antennas, higher order modulations and 100 MHz bandwidth systems are considered. Hence, this requires a careful analysis and design of the entire wireless system.
The split is also commonly referred to as the low-PHY and high-PHY split. The low PRY is the portion closer to the radio and the high PHY is the one closer to the baseband. The low PHY portion is typically referred to as the RU and the high PRY portion as the DU. The high PHY does the baseband processing at bit level including FEC, and modulation mapping. The output of this is passed to a precoder module. The precoding module can be either in low-PHY or the high-PHY depending on the split used. Depending on where the precoding module is present the two nodes i.e., the DU and RU may have to communicate with each other the precoding vectors for the DL MIMO operation. Similarly, in the uplink the beamforming on the received vectors can be performed either in the high PHY or the low-PHY portions. Depending on where the split is and what operations are performed in each block, the DU-RU or the low-PRY and high-PHY blocks exchange information necessary for precoding and beamforming operations via the interface. If the beamforming is done in low-PHY, then the high-PHY must in advance send these beamforming vectors to the low-PHY which can be based on some reference signals. However, the low-PHY itself can design its own beamforming vectors then there is no need for any message exchange. The low-PHY then sends the beamformed received signals to the high PHY for further processing.
Modern designs have baseband and RF units split out in the form of distributed unit (DU) and radio unit (RU). The DU handles the baseband processing part and the RU handles the radio part including antennas, filters, ADCs and DACs. The output of the RUs is fed to the DUs for further processing. The DU and RU communicate with each other and typically the RU acts as a slave to the master DU. The DU may in turn communicate to the CU (central unit) which can house the scheduler in some designs or the DU itself may house the scheduler. The control from DU to RU may be sent via ORAN messages which includes the control plane and user plane messages among others.
Another RAN architecture that supports a vertical split along the various protocol layers and horizontal splits within a protocol layer to support control plane and user plane traffic separation is proposed by the ORAN alliance. This alliance narrowed down to split, between DU-RU and split 2 between CU and DU. They allow 2 variants of the devices in the 7.2 split based on where digital beamforming is performed. This architecture depends on the deployments chosen by a telecom operator. To support this deployment, eCPRI protocol is used and has been created various types of messages.
To accommodate this split, new interfaces defined as control plane, user plane, synchronization plane and management plane are defined. The CUS Plane is at least one of Control, User and Synchronization Plane which is configured to:                Covers real-time control-plane communications between the DU and RU        Covers user plane traffic in DL and UL between DU and RU        Covers synchronization of the RU generally sources from the DU        Uses Ethernet transport and eCPRI/IEEE 1914.3 radio application transport
M-Plane: Management Plane                Covers management of the Radio Unit (RU) as governed by the DU        Provides all non-real-time control of the RU (Real time control uses the C-Plane)        Uses Ethernet (UDP/IP) transport
Different blocks such as modulation, scrambling, precoding, rate matching and the reverse operations for the uplink are split between the DU and RU as per the split option.
Depending on the number of the antennas at the RU side which is connected to the antennas, the DU can send beamforming vectors to the RU. The RU can apply beamforming vectors by itself as well. The DU-RU can exchange their capabilities at the startup. There is a S-plane based synchronization via PTP module on both sides and the grand-master clock to which the nodes synchronize. Based on the timeline, messages are exchanged. The messages between DU and RU can be compressed and sent to save BW. This is called IQ compression. Then the other node has to decompress before using the information. The messages are exchanged both DL and UL directions. In either case DU is the master and RU will be the slave.
A single user (SU)/multi user (MU) multiple input multiple output (MIMO) in uplink, a single user may employ multiple transmit antennas and transmit either single or multiple layers. The multiple layers mean multiple modulation data streams that are transmitted simultaneously. Such multi-layer transmission increases the total data rate per user when the channel conditions are favorable to allow reliable decoding of each layer.
In Single-layer SU-MIMO, single layer transmission is preferable under low SINR conditions while multiple layer transmission is desirable when SINR is high. The multiple antennas available at the BS will be used to coherently combine the signal outputs of the receiver antennas. Such receiver is commonly referred to as Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC) or matched-filter receiver. In some implementations, the interference that arises from the transmissions of users located in other cells can be mitigated/reduced by using interference suppression receivers such as IRC. These conventional receivers rely on an estimate of the CSI and an estimate of the noise and interference covariance matrix (NICM). Such estimates of CSI and NICM are generally acquired by using the reference signals that are transmitted along with the data. The proposed embodiments are applicable for 4G LTE and 5G NR cellular systems and the like.
In 5G NR, a slot typically comprises data/control information carrying OFDM symbols as well as reference signals that are also known as DMRS. The number of DMRS symbols are typically configurable. Two DMRS symbols configurations are common and even 3 symbol DMRS transmission is permitted by the 5G specifications. The duration of a slot is a function of subcarrier width and other system requirements. A slot of 0.5 ms duration with 30 KHz subcarrier spacing with a bandwidth of up to 100 MHz is commonly used in deployment scenarios. The carrier frequency is a configurable parameter. The specification supports FR1 frequencies in the sub 6 GHz range and use of above 6 GHz is designated as FR2. FIG. 5 shows a Frame structure for 5G NR. FIG. 6 shows a representation of a slot structure with SS block reference signals in a particular location as per the band, numerology, etc.
FIG. 7 shows an example DMRS configurations to support multiple layers in a slot. As shown in FIG. 7, which is an example DMRS configurations for 5G NR system in a slot. The DMRS can be configured in multiple locations in slots. The frequency domain tones are loaded based on the number of layers supported by the user in SU-MIMO and the number of users in MU-MIMO situation.
Common channels like SSB are beam formed using a common beam. User specific signals such as PDCCH, PDSCH, DMRS can be sent using user specific beams in the downlink. There are other channels such as CSI-RS, which may be sent in broadcast or user specific manner based on the configurations. The common beams can be sector beams or pre-defined beams or dynamically configured based on user locations among others.
FIG. 8 shows a block diagram representation of Multi-layer SU-MIMO. In Multi-layer SU-MIMO, the UE is allowed to transmit multiple layers only when the channel between the user and the BS is such that mutual interference between the layers can be eliminated at the receiver by use of receivers with user interference suppression ability. Examples of such receivers include IRC, MMSE, and MMSE-IRC, and non-linear receivers etc. When transmitting multiple layers, it uses a DMRS structure that facilitates estimation of CSI corresponding to each layer at the BS. The multiple layer DMRS configurations are shown previously. The multiple layer DMRS can be configured on different odd and even tones or on the same tones using CDM method. Depending on the same, the receiver must do the channel estimation.
FIG. 9 shows a block diagram representation of Multi-user MIMO. The Multi-user MIMO refers to a method where multiple users communicate with the BS simultaneously on the same time-frequency resource. Each user may use a single layer or multiple layers. In scenarios where the BS has a large number of antennas, it is possible to eliminate both the self-interference that arises due to the use of multiple layers by a given user and inter-user interference that is caused by the transmission of signals by multiple users at the same time. Examples of such receivers include IRC, MMSE, and MMSE-IRC, and non-linear receivers etc. that are specifically tailored for MU MIMO operation.
In current systems that use up to 8-antennas at the receiver the existing receiver techniques are capable of supporting SU or MU MIMO. However, when the number of receiver antennas becomes very large, use of standard receivers results in either very computational complexity or in some cases sub-optimal performance. There is a need to develop receivers with low-implementation complexity and high performance.
One embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a receiver processing in massive MIMO UL. Signals are received at the antenna array on NRx (for example 64) antennas. Depending on the number of ADCs/RF chains available in the receiver, the digital processing is performed in the base station. When 64 RF chains are available, the DU will have to send the baseband I/Q samples corresponding to the all the received signals to RU. The amount of fiber bandwidth (BW) required to send such large number of baseband I/Q samples becomes so high that the cost of the DU-RU interface becomes a limiting factor.
Therefore, there is a need for RU to condense the 64 antennas data into a lesser number before the I/Q samples of the condensed information is sent back to the DU. When the number of streams to be sent to DU is less than 64, then there are multiple ways to do this. However, an intelligent approach is required to ensure that the overall system performance is maximized. Some common approaches available to condense 64 antennas data into "L" streams are:                Down-select L out of 64 streams        Combine or add the 64/L antennas data akin to equal gain combining        DFT weights are applied on a subset of 64/L antennas and combines these signals to obtain "L" streams        Intelligently select or combine using groups of antennas using various signal processing methods and send the resulting data to the DU
For the above process, some of these combinations may be done in analog domain and some in digital domain. Alternatively, combining may be implemented in time domain or frequency domain. In case of frequency domain processing, the RU must at least perform the CP removal and FFT operations on the incoming streams of data.
A condensing process is also referred as the filtering process interchangeably may be identified by the RU itself or be indicated by the DU. Once the filtered signals at RU are sent to DU, the DU may filter them again for further processing. That is, the L streams in DU may be further filtered/processed using linear or non-linear processing to recover the actual necessary data streams which can be anywhere from 1 to L Conventional MMSE type equalizers process all 64 received streams into a single effective stream by maximizing the signal power interference and minimizing the noise-plus-interference.
The main challenge in condensing is to make sure that when received signals are mapped to streams, data and reference signal characteristics are not distorted to the extent that jeopardizes the data reception quality. Alternatively, the condensing is performed to ensure that the receiver system performance is maximized. This can be done by constructively combining data and reference signals and mitigating intra-cell (or other-cell) and inter-cell (or self) interference.

Method of signal processing by a massive MIMO base station receiver


Abnormally long r(CUG)n repeat expansion is believed to be the major cause of Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) because it binds to muscleblind-like 1 (MBNL 1) protein which regulates RNA splicing, leading to the mis-splicing of more than 100 pre-mRNAs. The rational design of oligomers with alternating bisamidine and melamine structure resulted in good binding affinity to the RNA target because of a multivalent effect. The oligomers also showed excellent activity in disrupting nuclear foci, reversing the mis-splicing of IR minigene, and sabotaging the toxic RNA biosynthesis. Excellent activity in Drosophila based DM1 models was also observed for the oligomers, rescuing the climbing ability of the flies upon oral treatment.

Multivalencey is an established and effective strategy for the development of potent, selective-binding ligands. The advantage of multivalent ligands arises from the thermodynamic and kinetic advantages of the properly-aligned multiple copies of receptor-binding moieties over their monomer analogue, via different mechanisms such as steric stabilization, receptor clustering, chelate effect, and concentration effect. The improvements in ligand affinity and selectivity toward its target rely much on the alignment of ligand copies, and a "fit" is usually necessary for maximizing the multivalent effect. For example, dimeric ligand can be viewed as an extremely simplified version of multivalent ligand, and fine tuning on the linkage between two binding motifs is typically necessary even in this simplified situation. Most commonly, ligands can be post-installed onto a polymer or a surface, which usually gives statistical distribution of the ligands on their vectors. Although the construction of multivalent ligands usually grants huge benefits, even if the linkage and topology between the binding moieties are not intentionally adjusted, fine adjustments to the way of ligand assembly is an attractive approach for multivalent ligands of higher activity.
Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is one of the many incurable trinucleotide repeat expansion diseases (TREDS). An RNA gain-of-function model for DM1 involves the rCUGexp transcript binding and sequestering a protein named muscleblind-like 1 (MBNL1), which is the key splicing regulator involved in the splicing of many pre-mRNAs.
Accordingly, there is a need for a small molecule approach to alleviate the sequestration of MBNL1 and the symptoms that arise from DM1.

Multivalent ligand for myotonic dystrophy

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois


An arrangement is disclosed for controlling the web in a press section of a paper of board machine wherein the press section includes a press nip and two fabrics arranged to travel through it. In addition, the press section includes a suction roll with a suction apparatus fitted after the press nip. The suction apparatus includes at least one suction case, which is arranged in a closing throat and/or an opening throat formed by one of the fabrics and the suction roll. The suction case is also arranged before and/or after the suction roll in the edge of the fabric in order to create a suction effect in a narrow edge area of the web.

In the press section of a web-formation machine, such as a paper or board machine, a great deal of water is removed from the web. The water is removed using a press nip formed from two rolls. Usually the web is led to the press nip between two fabrics. After the press nip, the web is guided onwards in the web-forming machine, supported by a fabric.
Before the press section or the press nip, the edges of the web are evened, usually by water cutting. In addition, the edge parts of the fabric become dirty more rapidly than the rest of the fabric. The previous processing of the web also make the edges different to the rest of the web while the edge parts also stretch. Thus, the edges of the web tend to adhere to the first fabric, even though the rest of the web is guided to another fabric after the press nip using the vacuum effect of a suction roll. Usually the edges of the web detach from the fabric after a delay, which further stretches the edges and causes flutter in the web. The flutter is also increased by the low tension in the web and the airflow caused by the fabrics. In addition, centrifugal force in the area of the suction roll further increases the stretching of the edges. The stretched and even creased edges of the web must be cut off later, which reduces production efficiency. In the worst case, the irregular edges of the web may even cause the web to break during transfer, or during processing in the paper or board machine. The irregular and stretched edges are a major problem particularly when coating the web.
Attempts have been made to eliminate the problem described by increasing the vacuum in the suction roll and altering the tension of the fabrics. Different kinds of fabric have also been tried. Despite these attempts, the problem still persists, or at least it appears soon after changing a new fabric. In practice, increasing the level of vacuum in the suction roll has little effect, as the vacuum effect only extends to the very surface of the fabric. Thus it is nearly impossible to use a suction roll to pull an edge that has already separated back onto the surface of the fabric. The problem is exacerbated when the velocity of the web is increased.
European patent application number 1101864 discloses an arrangement in the press section of a paper machine. The core invention relates to a felt guide roll transfer in transferring the web from the press felt to the next press felt after a suction roll. In the second embodiment of the invention, a suction box is disclosed between the press nip and the suction roll, which is intended to prevent the re-wetting of the press felts, and thus the web, after the press nip.
The suction box presented is long. In that case, the production of a vacuum in the full-width suction box consumes much energy. Due to friction, the large suction box also acts as a brake on the press felt and wears it rapidly. The suction box has a low controlling effect on the web, as there is an obvious discontinuity point in the vacuum effect in the machine direction, due to the mutual positioning of the suction box and the suction roll. It is also difficult to set a large suction box in the correct position while its support requires large structures in an otherwise cramped position.

Arrangement for controlling the web in a press section of a paper or board machine


A system, apparatus, and method is disclosed for receiving user input at a client device, interpreting the user input to identify a selection of at least one of a plurality of web interaction modes, producing a corresponding client request based in part on the user input and the web interaction mode; and sending the client request to a server via a network.

Wireless communication devices are becoming increasingly prevalent for personal communication needs. These devices include, for example, cellular telephones, alphanumeric pagers, "palmtop" computers, personal information managers (PIMS), and other small, primarily handheld communication and computing devices. Wireless communication devices have matured considerably in their features and now support not only basic point-to-point communication functions like telephone calling, but more advanced communications functions, such as electronic mail, facsimile receipt and transmission, Internet access and browsing of the World Wide Web, and the like.
Generally, conventional wireless communication devices have software that manages various handset functions and the telecommunications connection to the base station. The software that manages all the telephony functions is typically referred to as the telephone stack. The software that manages the output and input, such as key presses and screen display, is referred to as the user interface or Man-Machine-Interface or "MMI.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,317,781 discloses a markup language based man-machine interface. The man-machine interface provides a user interface for the various telecommunications functionality of the wireless communication device, including dialing telephone numbers, answering telephone calls, creating messages, sending messages, receiving messages, and establishing configuration settings, which are defined in a well-known markup language, such as HTML, and accessed through a browser program executed by the wireless communication device. This feature enables direct access to Internet and World Wide web content, such as web pages, to be directly integrated with telecommunication functions of the device, and allows web content to be seamlessly integrated with other types of data, because all data presented to the user via the user interface is presented via markup language-based pages. Such a markup language based man-machine interface enables users directly to interact with an Internet application.
However, unlike conventional desktop or notebook computers, wireless communication devices have a very limited input capability. Desktop or notebook computers have cursor based pointing devices, such as computer mouse, trackballs, joysticks, and the like, and full keyboards. This enables navigation of Web content by clicking and dragging of scroll bars, clicking of hypertext links, and keyboard tabbing between fields of forms, such as HTML forms. In contrast, wireless communication devices have a very limited input capability, typically up and down keys, and one to three soft keys. Thus, even with a markup language based man-machine interface, users of wireless communication devices are unable to interact with an Internet application using conventional technology. Although some forms of speech recognition exist in the prior art, there is no prior art system to realize multi-modal web interaction, which will enable users to perform web interaction over a wireless network in a variety of ways.

Multi-modal web interaction over wireless network


A preparation control for suppressing fluctuation of an output torque of the engine at the time of executing switching operation from the whole cylinder operation to the partial cylinder operation is executed when having made a switching request from the whole cylinder operation to the partial cylinder operation. The target switching time executing the switching operation is calculated in accordance with the valve operation phase after the preparation time is completed. The cylinder deactivation mechanism is controlled such that the switching operation is executed at the target switching time. The target switching time is set in accordance with the valve operation phase at the timing in which the abnormal noises are not generated.

In Japanese Patent application Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-337182, there is shown a control device of an internal combustion engine which is provided with the above mentioned cylinder deactivation mechanism and valve operation phase variable mechanism for changing an operation phase of an intake valve. According to this control device, transient control for gradually changing from the valve operation phase for the whole cylinder operation to the valve operation phase for the partial cylinder operation is executed at the time of being shifted from the whole cylinder operation to the partial cylinder operation. According to this transient control, it is set that a transition speed of the valve operation phase decreases as a difference between an engine output torque at the time of operating the whole cylinders and the engine output torque at the time of operating the part of cylinders increases.

Control method of internal combustion engine


A flow monitoring system can have a plurality of sensors located at monitoring locations along a tubing string inserted into an injector well of a secondary recovery operation. The sensors are configured to monitor a measurable property of fluids flowing in a bore of the tubing string or in an annulus formed between the tubing string and injector bore to determine the presence of said injected fluids at each sensor. At least two fluids having different values of the measurable property are injected into the injector well in an alternating manner and at a known injection rate. The flow rates of the fluids out of various injection zones of the injection well can be calculated using the arrival times and the known injection flow rates of the fluids, cross-sectional area of the fluid conduit(s) through which the fluids travel, and distances between the sensors or between surface and the sensors.

Only a portion of the hydrocarbons contained in a hydrocarbon reservoir can be produced by primary recovery methods, such as by allowing the hydrocarbons to be produced to surface via the pressures initially present in the reservoir or with pump jacks and other artificial lift devices. When hydrocarbon production has slowed or is no longer economical using primary recovery methods, it is common for producers to employ enhanced or secondary recovery methods, such as fluid flooding, to further extract additional hydrocarbons from the reservoir.
Fluid flooding involves injecting a liquid or gas, such as water or CO2, into one or more injector wells near one or more producer wells from which hydrocarbons are to be produced. The fluid exits the injector well into the reservoir through injection zones located at about the strata of the hydrocarbon reservoir from which hydrocarbons are to be extracted. The injection zones can be portions of the well having perforations in the well casing, or some other means of permitting fluid communication between the wellbore and the reservoir. Fluid introduced into the hydrocarbon reservoir displaces hydrocarbons therein towards the producer well, thereby permitting more hydrocarbons to be produced therefrom than with primary recovery methods alone.
During fluid flooding operations, it is desirable to have a uniform flood front emanating from the injector well towards the producer well, such that hydrocarbons are displaced generally evenly towards to the producer well, and the flood front is about parallel with the injector and producer wells. An uneven flood front can result in the premature breakthrough of fluid at the producer well, channeling of water around hydrocarbon-bearing zones of the reservoir, or other undesirable effects. Due to the heterogenous composition and structure of hydrocarbon reservoirs, it is difficult to achieve a uniform flood front, as the injected fluid tends to flow through areas of the reservoir having higher permeability as it migrates towards the production well. Measurements can be taken to determine the flow of fluid at the various injection zones of the injector well. In some fluid flood operations, adjustments can be made at the injector well to produce a more uniform flood front in response to flow measurements, such as by plugging, closing, or otherwise blocking the injection zones of the injector well which deliver an excessive amount of water therethrough. However, determining the flow rate of fluid through the various injection zones of the injector well can be challenging. Further, the adjustment of the fluid flow rate through the injection zones can be cumbersome and time-consuming, potentially requiring the withdrawal of wellbore tubing from the injector well, and the actuation of downhole flow control devices of the injector well using mechanical actuation tools run into the well. Moreover, the successful actuation of the flow control devices to achieve the desired flow rates may be difficult to confirm, especially in cases where the flow control devices can be adjusted by degrees as opposed to simple open-close binary operation.
Distributed temperature sensing (DTS) systems are known to have been implemented along injector or producer wells to detect temperature differentials indicative of the arrival of an injected fluid at the plurality of injection zones. However, by the time fluid reaches the depth of the reservoir, it is generally substantially at ambient temperature, rendering the detection of temperature differentials difficult and ineffective for determining the arrival of injected fluid.
It is also known to position flow meters, commonly known as "spinners", adjacent to the injection zones of the injector well. The spinners comprise rotors configured to be driven by fluid flowing out of the injector wells and generate an electrical signal proportional to the rate of rotation caused by the flow rate of fluid thereby. However, such devices lose effectiveness in low-permeability reservoirs where high rates of fluid flow are not practical.
Another known method of measuring fluid flow is to isolate the injection zones of the injector well and test fluid flow therethrough individually by mixing a tracer into the injected fluid and measuring the volume of tracer-containing fluid produced from the producer well. However, such methods may not be indicative of the fluid flowing actually through a perforated zone during normal fluid injection operations, as isolating the injection zones can potentially change the local processes and stresses in the wellbores and reservoir, and thus change the flow behaviour. Additionally, it can take weeks for the tracer-containing fluid to reach the producer well, and therefore such a method is time consuming and delays the ability of an operator to react to flow conditions in the wellbore.
There is a need for a system and method of obtaining information regarding fluid flow through the injection zones of an injector well in a reliable, efficient, and timely manner that can be used to determine fluid flow at the plurality of injection points along a wellbore, and particularly in reservoirs of varying permeability. Additionally, there is a need for a system and method to adjust fluid flow in response to the acquired fluid flow information.

System and method for monitoring and controlling fluid flow