The invention is concerned with novel hexafluoroisopropanol substituted ether derivatives of formula (I):

Liver-X-Receptors (LXRs) are members of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily. The LXRs are activated by endogenous oxysterols and regulate the transcription of genes controlling multiple metabolic pathways. Two subtypes, LXRalpha and LXRbeta, have been described (Willy et al., Genes Dev. 1995, 9:1033-45; Song et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1994, 91:10809-13). LXRbeta is ubiquitously expressed, while LXRalpha is predominantly expressed in cholesterol metabolizing tissues such as the liver, adipose, intestine and macrophage. The LXRs modulate a variety of physiological responses including regulation of cholesterol absorption, cholesterol elimination (bile acid synthesis), and transport of cholesterol from peripheral tissues via plasma lipoproteins to the liver. The LXRs are also involved in glucose metabolism, cholesterol metabolism in the brain, cell differentiation, and inflammation.
At present, approximately half of all patients with coronary artery disease have low concentrations of plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). The atheroprotective function of HDL was first highlighted almost 25 years ago and stimulated exploration of the genetic and environmental factors that influence HDL-C levels (Miller N E., Lipids 1978,13:914-9). The protective function of HDL derives from its role in a process termed reverse cholesterol transport. HDL mediates the removal of cholesterol from cells in peripheral tissues, including macrophage foam cells in the atherosclerotic lesions of the arterial wall. HDL delivers its cholesterol to the liver and sterol-metabolizing organs for conversion to bile and elimination in feces. Studies have shown that HDL-C levels are predictive of coronary artery disease risk independently of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels (Gordon et al., Am J Med. 1977, 62:707-14).
At present, the estimated age-adjusted prevalence among Americans age 20 and older who have HDL-C of less than 35 mg/dl is 16% (males) and 5.7% (females). A substantial increase of HDL-C is currently achieved by treatment with niacin in various formulations. However, the substantial unfavorable side-effects limit the therapeutic potential of this approach.
It has been observed that as many as 90% of the 14 million diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients in the United States are overweight or obese, and a high proportion of type 2 diabetic patients have abnormal concentrations of lipoproteins. Studies have shown that the prevalence of total cholesterol >240 mg/dl is 37% in diabetic men and 44% in women. The rates for LDL-C >160 mg/dl are 31% and 44%, and for HDL-C <35 mg/dl are 28% and 11%, in diabetic men and women respectively. Diabetes is a disease in which a patient's ability to control glucose levels in blood is decreased because of partial impairment in response to the action of insulin. Type II diabetes (T2D) is also called non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and has been shown to afflict 80-90% of all diabetic patients in developed countries. In T2D, the pancreatic Islets of Langerhans continue to produce insulin. However, the target organs for insulin action, mainly muscle, liver and adipose tissue, exhibit a profound resistance to insulin stimulation. The body continues to compensate by producing unphysiologically high levels of insulin, which ultimately decreases in the later stages of the disease, due to exhaustion and failure of pancreatic insulin-producing capacity. Thus, T2D is a cardiovascular-metabolic syndrome associated with multiple co-morbidities, including insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, hypertension, endothelial dysfunction and inflammatory atherosclerosis.
The first line of treatment for dyslipidemia and diabetes at present generally involves a low-fat and low-glucose diet, exercise and weight loss. However, compliance can be moderate, and as the disease progresses, treatment of the various metabolic deficiencies becomes necessary with lipid-modulating agents such as statins and fibrates for dyslipidemia, and hypoglycemic drugs, e.g. sulfonylureas, metformin, or insulin sensitizers of the thiazolidinedione (TZD) class of PPARγ-agonists, for insulin resistance. Recent studies provide evidence that modulators of LXRs would result in compounds with enhanced therapeutic potential, and as such, modulators of LXRs should improve the plasma lipid profile, and raise HDL-C levels (Lund et al., Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 2003, 23:1169-77). LXRs are also known to control the efflux of cholesterol from the macrophage foam cell of the atherosclerotic lesion, and agonists of LXRs have been shown to be atheroprotective (Joseph and Tontonoz, Curr. Opin. Pharmacol. 2003, 3:192-7). Thus, modulators of LXRs would be effective treatments for the atherosclerotic disease which underlies the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality of stroke and heart disease. Recent observations also suggest that there is an independent LXR mediated effect on insulin-sensitization in addition to its role in atheroprotection (Cao et al., J Biol Chem. 2003, 278:1131-6). Thus LXR modulators can also show superior therapeutic efficacy on HDL-raising and atheroprotection, with additional effects on diabetes, compared to current therapies.
The novel compounds of the present invention have been found to bind to and selectively activate LXR alpha and LXR beta or coactivate LXR alpha and LXR beta. Consequently, cholesterol absorption is reduced, HDL cholesterol is increased, and inflammatory atherosclerosis is reduced. Since multiple facets of combined dyslipidemia and cholesterol homeostasis are addressed by LXR modulators, novel compounds of the present invention have an enhanced therapeutic potential compared to the compounds already known in the art. They can therefore be used in the treatment and prophylaxis of diseases which are modulated by LXR alpha and/or LXR beta agonists. Such diseases include increased lipid and cholesterol levels, particularly low HDL-cholesterol, high LDL-cholesterol, atherosclerotic diseases, diabetes, particularly non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, dyslipidemia, Alzheimer's disease, sepsis, and inflammatory diseases such as colitis, pancreatitis, cholestasis/fibrosis of the liver, psoriasis and other inflammatory diseases of the skin, and diseases that have an inflammatory component such as Alzheimer's disease or impaired/improvable cognitive function. Moreover, the novel compounds of the present invention can be used for treatment and prophylaxis of age-related and inherited (e.g. Stargardt's disease) forms of macular degeneration.
Other compounds that bind to and activate LXR alpha and LXR beta have previously been suggested (e.g.: WO 03/099769). However, there is still a need for new compounds with improved properties. The present invention provides the novel compounds of formula (I) which bind to LXR alpha and/or LXR beta. The compounds of the present invention unexpectedly exhibit improved pharmacological properties compared to the compounds known in the art, concerning e.g. metabolic stability, bioavailability and activity.

Hexafluoroisopropanol substituted ether derivatives

Abstract: wherein R1 to R3 are as defined in the description and in the claims, as well as physiologically acceptable salts and esters thereof. These compounds bind to LXR alpha and LXR beta and can be used as medicaments.


A transponder has a memory, a data processor, a transmit memory and a transmission circuit. The memory stores data. In a transmit mode of the transponder, the data processor is operable in a normal-energy mode and an energy-saving mode. When the data processor is in the normal-energy mode, the data processor retrieves the data from the memory and processes the data, and the processed data is stored in the transmit memory. Thereafter, the data processor is controlled from the normal-energy mode to the energy-saving mode, and the transmission circuit reads out the stored processed data from said transmit memory and transmits the read out stored processed data to a base station. Transponder for transmitting processed data to a base station over large distances and at a high data transfer rate.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a transponder for transmitting processed data to a base station comprising memory means from which data may be read out, and including data processing means which may be brought to a normal-energy operating mode in a transmit mode of the transponder and may be brought to an energy-saving mode in a transmit mode of the transponder, and to which data processing means may be applied data read out from the memory means to process the data and by which data processing means processed data may be delivered, and including transmission means by which the processed data corresponding to the processed data delivered by the data processing means can be transmitted to the base station.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a transponder as defined in the opening paragraph is known, for example, from document EP 0 534 559 A1. This known transponder is not only arranged and suitable for transmitting but also for receiving data. With the known transponder, data read out from the memory means are processed in the data processing means in two transmit modes of the transponder, and processed data are fed to the transmission means for transmitting the processed data to a base station. In a first transmit mode, the data processing means, which are formed by a microcomputer in the known transponder, are brought to a normal-energy mode of operation in which they are driven with a relatively high clock frequency, so that the relatively high processing rate of the data processing means is achieved at which the data processing means, however, have a relatively high energy consumption. In a second transmit mode, the data processing means are brought to an energy-saving mode of operation in which the data processing means are driven with a relatively low clock frequency and therefore have a relatively low energy consumption, as a result of which a relatively large transmission range with the transponder to a base station is achieved. In this manner, a relatively large transmission range is achieved, it is true, but the data transmission of the processed data from the known transponder to a base station is effected at only a low data transfer rate because the data processing means in the energy-saving mode process the data only very slowly, so that, unfortunately, there is a relatively long data transmission period.
It should be noted that in the known transponder there is a third possibility of a transmit mode in which data may be transmitted at a high data transfer rate over a relatively large transmission range, but in which the data processing means formed by the microcomputer are not activated at all, so that data read out from the memory means cannot possibly be processed, for example, be encoded or checksums cannot be added to the data for the purpose of enhancing the data transmission security. In this third transmit mode of the known transponder, only an interface device is activated in lieu of the data processing means with which interface device it is only possible to read data from a memory and apply them to a transmission coil which is additionally necessary for carrying out this third transmit mode and thus represents additional expenditure.


The present invention relates to a chamber for a blood treatment system with at least one space defined by a chamber wall and with at least one blood inlet and with at least one inlet for a further fluid, which are connected with the space, wherein both the at least one blood inlet and the at least one inlet for the further fluid are formed on tube sections which protrude into the space of the chamber, wherein in the operating condition of the chamber the space of the chamber is at least partly filled with blood or with a mixture of blood and the further fluid or some other fluid and wherein at least one, preferably both or a plurality of the tube sections have a length such that the blood inlet and/or the inlet for the further fluid are located below the blood or fluid level in the chamber.

From the prior art it is known to provide a venous drip chamber downstream of the dialyzer of a dialysis machine, which is part of the extracorporeal blood circuit. The function of this venous drip chamber is to ensure a rather bubble-free reinfusion of the patient blood purified in the dialyzer to the patient.
From the prior art it is furthermore known to introduce an infusion solution, such as purified dialysate or a salt solution, into such drip chamber. Such supply can be effected in connection with the so-called predilution before the dialyzer and/or in connection with the so-called postdilution after the dialyzer.
FIG. 4 shows an embodiment known from the prior art in the form of a lid or headpiece of such venous drip chamber, on which a supply port 100 is arranged for the blood purified in the dialyzer.
Reference numeral 200 designates a supply port for said infusion solution.
As can furthermore be taken from FIG. 4, it is known to introduce the blood into the chamber by means of a tube section 30, wherein the tube section 30 includes an inlet 10 through which the blood is introduced into the chamber, as is indicated by the arrow in FIG. 4.
Said infusion solution is introduced by means of the supply port 200, wherein the inlet for the infusion solution is located above the fluid or blood level in the chamber, which is designated with the reference numeral 50. The infusion fluid drips or flows, as marked by the arrow in FIG. 4, onto the surface of the blood or the mixture of blood and the infusion solution.
Such configuration of a drip chamber has the disadvantage that due to the impingement of the infusion solution onto the surface of the fluid or blood present in the chamber the formation of microbubbles may occur, which can lead to an alarm condition being triggered and possibly the treatment being stopped.

Chamber for blood treatment system, use of the chamber, blood tubing system and blood treatment system


A method and system of providing hydraulic pressure during a transition from gas-powered engine operation to electric motor operation in a hybrid electric vehicle. During the transition, main pressure arising from operation of a gas-powered engine with a main pump is matched with auxiliary pressure arising from operation of a battery-powered electric motor with an auxiliary pump. After matching the main and auxiliary pressures, the auxiliary pressure is boosted to an operational pressure in response to a triggering event.

A hybrid electric vehicle alternates between gas-powered engine operation and electric motor operation. The transition from operating the vehicle in a gas-powered mode to operating the vehicle in an electric mode, and vice versa, occurs while the vehicle is being used. Therefore, an effective transition from operation in one mode to another is imperative so that no loss of vehicle function or control occurs during the vehicle operation. For example, when transitioning from gas-powered operation to electric mode operation, care must be taken to ensure that the vehicle's electric mode operation is fully functional before shutting down the vehicle's gas-powered engine.
Currently, however, the potential for ineffective transitioning between operating modes exists. Specifically, problems may occur in transitioning between the use of the gas-powered engine to pump transmission fluid and an auxiliary transmission fluid pump in the electric mode. In an advanced hybrid system truck ("AHS-T") hybrid transmission, an auxiliary pump provides pressurization of transmission fluid when the vehicle is in electric mode. The main pump driven by the gas-powered engine itself provides transmission fluid pressurization when the vehicle is in a gas-powered mode. During the transition from gas-powered engine propulsion to electric propulsion, the auxiliary pump is activated and the gas-powered engine (including the main pump) is allowed to shut down. Unfortunately, conventional hybrid transmissions are susceptible to prematurely shutting down the gas-powered engine before the auxiliary pump is fully operational. Specifically, during cold ambient temperatures or cold transmission fluid temperature conditions, the auxiliary pump is prone to stall during its initial activation stage. When this happens, the vehicle may lose power and control. The consequences of the power failure range from simple inconvenience to unacceptably dangerous. Therefore, systems and methods that ensure a proper transition from gas-powered engine operation to electric motor operation are clearly desirable.

Main pump to auxiliary pump hand-off strategy for maintaining hydraulic pressure in hybrid transmission


Methods and systems are described for communication of data over a communications bus at high speed and high pin efficiency, with good resilience to common mode and other noise. Pin efficiencies of 100% may be achieved even for bus widths of four or fewer wires. Information to be transmitted is encoded as words of a vector signaling code, each word comprising multiple values transmitted as a group over the communications bus. Subsets of the vector signaling code have distinct group characteristics, which are discernable on transmission and are used to facilitate decoding on reception.

In communication systems, information may be transmitted from one physical location to another. Furthermore, it is typically desirable that the transport of this information is reliable, is fast and consumes a minimal amount of resources. One of the most common information transfer mediums is the serial communications link, which may be based on a single wire circuit relative to ground or other common reference, multiple such circuits relative to ground or other common reference, or multiple circuits used in relation to each other. An example of the latter utilizes Differential signaling (DS). Differential signaling operates by sending a signal on one wire and the opposite of that signal on a paired wire; the signal information is represented by the difference between the wires rather than their absolute values relative to ground or other fixed reference.
Differential signaling enhances the recoverability of the original signal at the receiver, over single ended signaling (SES), by cancelling crosstalk and other common-mode noise, but a side benefit of the technique is that the Simultaneous Switching Noise (SSN) transients generated by the two signals together is nearly zero; if both outputs are presented with an identical load, the transmit demand on its power supply will be constant, regardless of the data being sent. Any induced currents produced by terminating the differential lines in the receiver will similarly cancel out, minimizing noise induction into the receiving system.
There are a number of signaling methods that maintain the desirable properties of DS while increasing pin efficiency over DS. Many of these attempts operate on more than two wires simultaneously, using binary signals on each wire, but mapping information in groups of bits. For example, a communication system may, for some k>1, map each k information bits of the set {0,1}k to a set C comprising 2 k code words. Each code word may have the same length and if that length is less than 2 k, the pin efficiency would be greater than 0.5. For example, each component may be conveyed on one of N wires and have coordinates belonging to a set {a, −a} so that each of the N wires carries a binary signal. For simple "repetitive" DS, the DS signals are applied independently to pairs of wires, so number of wires (N) would be 2 k. This mapping (with N<2 k) can provide higher pin efficiency relative to DS. Also, unlike "repetitive" SES, the set C does not contain all possible vectors of the given length.
Vector signaling is a method of signaling. With vector signaling, a plurality of signals on a plurality of wires is considered collectively although each of the plurality of signals may be independent. Each of the collective signals is referred to as a component and the number of plurality of wires is referred to as the "dimension" of the vector. In some embodiments, the signal on one wire is entirely dependent on the signal on another wire, as is the case with DS pairs, so in some cases the dimension of the vector may refer to the number of degrees of freedom of signals on the plurality of wires instead of exactly the number of wires in the plurality of wires.
With binary vector signaling, each component takes on a coordinate value (or "coordinate", for short) that is one of two possible values. As an example, eight SES wires may be considered collectively, with each component/wire taking on one of two values each signal period. A "code word" of this binary vector signaling is one of the possible states of that collective set of components/wires. A "vector signaling code" or "vector signaling vector set" is the collection of valid possible code words for a given vector signaling encoding scheme. Stated mathematically, binary vector signaling maps the information bits of the set {0,1}k for some k>1 to a code, C, comprising 2 k vectors. Each vector may have the same dimension, N, and that dimension (i.e., number of components) may be greater than k but less than 2 k (resulting in a the pin efficiency above 0.5). A "binary vector signaling code" refers to a mapping and/or set of rules to map information bits to binary vectors.
With non-binary vector signaling, each component has a coordinate value that is a selection from a set of more than two possible values. A "non-binary vector signaling code" refers to a mapping and/or set of rules to map information bits to non-binary vectors. Stated mathematically, given an input word size, k>1, given a finite set, S, called the alphabet, of three or more values (possibly corresponding to, or representable by, values that may correspond to physical quantities as explained herein, wherein the values are typically real numbers), and given a vector dimensionality, N, non-binary vector signaling is a mapping between {0,1}k and a vector set, C, where C is a subset of SN. In specific instances, there is no proper subset T of S such that C is a subset of TN, i.e., over the code C, there is at least one component (coordinate position) in which each of the values of finite set S appears. In this case, S may be called the "true alphabet" of the code. For S being a finite set of three values, that means that there will be at least one coordinate position for which at least three code words all have different values. Any suitable subset of a vector signaling code denotes a "subcode" of that code. Such a subcode may be a vector signaling code.
Some vector signaling methods are described in Cronie I, Cronie II, Cronie III, and Cronie IV. For example:                (1) Orthogonal differential vector signaling is described, wherein the code C is obtained as the Hadamard transform images of vectors of length k with coordinates in the set {+1, 1};        (2) Permutation modulation codes are described, wherein the code C is obtained by taking the set of all vectors obtained from all permutations of a fixed vector; and        (3) Sparse signaling codes are described, wherein the code C is the set of all vectors obtained from all permutations of a fixed vector in which many coordinates are zero (or a fixed number).
While non-binary vector signaling methods can provide substantial improvements regarding the tradeoff of pin efficiency, power efficiency and noise resilience as compared to traditional signaling methods, there are some applications wherein additional improvements are possible.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and systems for selection of unions of vector signaling codes for power and pin efficient chip-to-chip communication


A novel organosilane coupling agent is disclosed and its use as an adhesion promoter in mineral-filled unsaturated polymer systems is described. Additionally, use of the organosilane as a primer for various substrates is presented. The coupling agent comprises the reaction product of an isocyanatoalkyl ester of acrylic or methacrylic acid with an aminoorganosilane. The organosilane so formed links the acryloxyalkyl or methacryloxyalkyl functionality to an alkylene, or aminoalkylene, group on the silicon atom through a urea group. Use of the organosilane as a coupling agent in a mineral-filled unsaturated polymer results in superior resistance to moisture, particularly when the polymer is selected from the group of corrosion resistant unsaturated polyesters.

Silane coupling agents have been known to improve the mechanical properties of filled thermosetting and thermoplastic resins since the late 1940's. These low molecular weight compounds are believed to form chemical links between filler particles and polymer molecules, and as such, they must incorporate functional groups capable of reacting with filler and resin alike. Thus, for example, in the modification of unsaturated polymers, or polymerizable monomers, the silane coupling agent typically also contains an unsaturated radical, such as methacrylate, which can graft onto the polymer through a free-radical reaction (e.g., during cure of the resin). The other reactive groups of the silane coupling agent are typically species such as alkoxy or halide groups on silicon, which, when hydrolyzed, can enter into reaction with surface hydroxyl groups of the filler to form a chemical (probably ionic) bond.
Such a silane coupling agent was disclosed by Plueddemann in U.S. Pat. No. 3,258,477, hereby incorporated by reference, and has survived as an industry standard for fiberglass-filled unsaturated polyesters for many years. Plueddemann teaches the use of a silane having the general formula ##STR1## wherein R is H or the methyl radical and X represents the hydrolyzable group referred to above. This silane coupling agent was shown to improve retention of flexural strength of laminates of glass cloth impregnated with an unsaturated polyester resin after exposure to boiling water for two hours. This result was significant in that it is precisely the rapid deterioration of strength, and often electrical properties, after exposure to water that severely limits the utility of polyester composites when coupling agents are not employed.
A similar improvement in resistance to moisture, albeit under relatively mild conditions (water at 50.degree. C./16 hours) was disclosed by Pepe et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,671,562 for a composite of glass beads in phenolformaldehyde resin. Pepe et al. teach a silane coupling agent having a terminal urea radical which is connected to silicon through an organic group. The silicon, in turn, is attached to at least one hydrolyzable group and may also be attached to another silicon through an oxygen linkage to form a siloxane therewith. Remaining free valences on the first silicon atom are bonded to organic groups which may include alkenoyloxyalkyl.
One of the major drawbacks of composites based on traditional polyesters has been the relatively poor resistance to moisture of the base resin. This, in turn, is due to the relative ease of hydrolysis of the ester linkage. In this regard, development of so-called "corrosion resistant" polyesters, such as the isophthalates, teraphthalates and acrylicmodified epoxies, has been a significant advance. These resins offer considerably improved retention of mechanical properties after exposure to moisture, or aqueous acids and bases. For composites based on corrosion resistant resins, exposure to boiling water for two hours is no longer considered an adequate criterion of performance, since the resin itself is capable of much greater resistance to hydrolysis. In order to distinguish performance enhancement imparted by a given coupling agent, a 24-hour residence in boiling water is considered more representative. This is based on the observation that exposure (e.g., 72 hour boiling water) generally does not lead to further strength reduction of a composite containing no coupling agent (i.e., corrosion resistant polyester control).
It has now been found that a silane coupling agent, comprising the reaction product of an isocyanatoalkyl ester with an aminoorganosilane, can impart superior moisture resistance to mineral-filled unsaturated polyesters, as well as other unsaturated resin composites.


The present invention relates to a method for measuring the conditions inside a power boiler wherein a sootblower is used as a measuring probe. The invention also relates to a system for measuring the conditions in a power boiler, comprising a control unit, at least one sensor and a measuring probe placed inside said furnace, wherein said probe is arranged on a soot blower.

In pulp industry, recovery furnaces are used as a chemical reactor and for the production of steam for internal use, for generation of electricity, and for sale. As the recovery furnace operates as a chemical reactor, the combustion conditions differ from those of an ordinary boiler, in that the heating surfaces of the furnace get covered extremely rapidly with combustion deposits, i.e. carryover/slag, dust and/or soot, which decrease the efficiency of the recovery furnace, particularly by reducing heat transfer in the furnace. In addition to soot, the flue gases contain inorganic chemicals, which condense on the heating surfaces of the recovery furnace.
In power boilers the thermal and chemically efficiency is normally depending on the mixture of fuel, combustible gases and the air in the furnace. In larger furnaces, there are local variations of the combustion depending on the location in the boiler. The combustion characteristics can for instance vary considerably between the wall and the middle of the furnace. An increased knowledge of the gas content and flue gas temperature in different furnace zones makes it possible to control the burning conditions to a greater extent in order to obtain an overall high combustion efficiency in the furnace, thus improving the use of heat surfaces and minimizing the emissions from the furnace.
Boiler furnaces require frequent cleaning of the heating surfaces by means of special cleaning apparatus, called sootblowers. Generally, the sootblowing system comprises about 10-80 sootblowers. The sootblowers clean the heating surfaces with high pressure steam, and generally about 2-10% of the steam production of the furnace is used for cleaning the furnace. If the time between successive cleanings in the furnace is too long, the dust-like particles get harder and/or sinter, and the deposits will be harder to remove. Thus, by minimizing the carryover in the furnace it is possible to also minimize the need for sootblowing and/or increase the efficiency of the production.
In order to control the chemical process and combustion process inside the furnace and to keep the sootblowing to a minimum, while at the same time cleaning sufficiently for the furnace to work efficiently, continuous and reliable measurements of the process are needed. However, to achieve the desired results is difficult due to the extreme temperatures and chemical conditions in the furnace and the fact that any sensors provided inside the furnace would themselves have to be cleaned from the soot or sintered dust from the process.
US2006005786 (Habib et al.) discloses a sootblower that is used inside a furnace. In order to control the operation of the sootblower, sensors are used to measure the properties of substances inside a combustion chamber connected to said sootblower. However, the technology does not disclose a method or device for measuring the conditions inside the furnace itself, and therefore does not present a reliable solution to the problem of monitoring or controlling the operation of said furnace.
The Japanese document JP63163124 shows the measuring of radiation energy inside a recovery furnace by providing a radiation thermometer on the wall surface of the furnace. Another method for measurement is shown in JP234185, where an optical fiber is inserted into a furnace to direct light from the process to a spectroscope for performing spectral analyses, and the European patent EP0947625A1 shows a method for measuring the conditions inside a recovery furnace by using a spectrometer for creating a continuous electromagnetic spectrum.
Another method is proposed by WO2004005834 (Schwade et al.), where a number of sensors and cameras are used to measure and monitor the conditions inside a furnace. The sensors are, however, placed inside the furnace itself, and so are themselves subject to the extreme conditions mentioned above. This severely limits the types of sensors that can be used, as well as the data that can be retrieved from them, and does not allow for detailed monitoring and control over the process inside the furnace.
These methods therefore all suffer from the lack of accuracy which arises when sensors are present in the highly chemical environment of the recovery furnace. Sensors mounted on motorized lances that are inserted into the furnace require cooling in order to preserve their ability to operate. They are also expensive due to the need of machinery that handles large probes of lengths around 4-8 m.
Inside the furnace a great amount of opaque flue gas obstructs the view, rendering it impossible to use ordinary measuring instruments to measure anything but the band of flue gas close to the wall of the furnace. Thus, no detailed information of the conditions towards the middle of the furnace can be achieved. Yet measurements must be made continuously during the process in order to control the operation of the furnace and initiate cleaning procedures when needed. The need for more accurate measurements is therefore apparent.

Method for measuring conditions in a power boiler furnace using a sootblower


A driving change control device in a vehicle equipped with an autonomous driving function for performing a driving operation on behalf of a driver and controlling an exchange of the driving operation between the autonomous driving function and the driver includes: a section setting unit that sets a change execution section where a driving change from the autonomous driving function to the driver is performed; and a parameter adjustment unit that changes a travel control parameter referred to by the autonomous driving function in a switching section before the change execution section, to adjust a traveling state of the vehicle to be a state with a driving load lower than a driving load before arrival at the switching section.

In a conventional technique, for example, an autonomous driving support device disclosed in Patent Literature 1 sets an output section before a switching start point where switching from autonomous driving to manual driving is started. In the output section, an actual traveling output of a vehicle is gradually switched from a traveling output requested by autonomous driving to a traveling output requested by a driver. As a result, a traveling speed of the vehicle can be smoothly changed in the switching from autonomous driving to manual driving.
With the autonomous driving function as disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the vehicle can cruise at a relatively high speed or perform following traveling in a state close to a preceding vehicle. However, when a driving change to the driver is performed in a traveling state controlled by the autonomous driving function, the driver has to receive the driving operation in a high driving load state. As a result, even when the smooth switching as described above is performed, the driver is likely to feel anxiety about the reception of the driving operation from the autonomous driving function.

Driving change control device and driving change control method


Dual-frequency receiver for satellite-based positioning, comprising a main measurement channel and a secondary channel for a calculation for correction of ionospheric propagation robust to differential errors linked to the local reception environment of the signals. Each channel comprises a code generator, a carrier phase generator, integrators, phase and code discriminators, a code phase numerically-controlled oscillator, a carrier phase numerically-controlled oscillator, carrier phase loop matched filtering means, and code phase loop matched filtering means. The receiver further including:                means for determining the respective phase errors in the main and secondary channels comprising means of interspectral correlation of the signals of the main and secondary channels already correlated by the local code, after frequency compensation of the relative Doppler shifts of the signals; and        respective feedback loops for the code and carrier phase errors in the main and secondary channels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the improvement of robustness in relation to multipaths of a dual-frequency receiver for satellite-based positioning.
2. Description of the Related Art
The measurements of pseudo-distances and of signal phases of a global navigation satellite system, or GNSS for "Global Navigation Satellite System" in English, for location and attitude measurement purposes, may be marred by large errors, if the propagation environment modifies the assumption of direct rectilinear trajectory between the satellites and the receiver.
This may, for example, be the case upon multiple reflections of the signals (multipaths) or upon maskings or obscurations (blade modulation in the case of installation on a helicopter).
Modern receivers generally integrate specific processing procedures, also called discriminators, for a correlation function so as to decrease the impact of the effects of the multipaths on the measurement of time received (by improving the code discriminator of the code tracking loops or DLL for "Delay Lock Loop" in English), but these processing procedures have a restricted domain of effectiveness (for example according to the delay of the paths) and entail only a small improvement in the carrier phase errors. Moreover, the extensions of the GPS system and the new GNSS systems base the monitoring of the integrity of the signals essentially on the coherence of the measurements of pseudo-distances and not on the measurements of the carrier phases.
Now, the phase of GNSS signals is increasingly becoming used for high-precision location (RTK for "Real Time Kinematic" in English) and attitude measurement applications with multiple antennas.
Known advanced schemes for reducing multipath errors in pseudo-distances, make use of the shape of the correlation function, such as the Double-Delta, MEDLL, or narrow-correlator schemes.
However, these schemes remain linked to propagation models (specular reflection, triangular correlation function, etc).

Dual frequency receiver for satellite based positioning and associated method of reception


A mold used in a manufacturing process of a rotor of an electric motor, the rotor including a rotor core with a plurality of magnet-retaining apertures and a plurality of permanent magnets individually retained in the magnet-retaining apertures of the rotor core, for pouring a resinous material into gaps defined between the magnet-retaining apertures and the permanent magnets. The mold includes a cavity for accommodating the rotor core at a predetermined position, with the rotor core receiving the permanent magnets individually in the magnet-retaining apertures; and a deformation inhibiting surface provided in the cavity and coming into at least local contact with an outer circumferential surface of the rotor core, during a period when the resinous material is poured into the gaps, to inhibit the bulging deformation of the outer circumferential surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mold used for manufacturing a rotor of an electric motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a rotor of an electric motor having a permanent-magnet field system (e.g., a synchronous motor), it is known that a plurality of permanent magnets are mounted in an embedded manner at predetermined positions in a cylindrical rotor core formed by stacking or laminating magnetic sheets such as silicon steel plates. The rotor of this type is typically manufactured by preliminarily forming a plurality of magnet-retaining apertures (typically, axially-extending through holes) in a predetermined circumferentially-distributed arrangement about a rotor shaft, each aperture having a profile substantially corresponding to a profile of each permanent magnet; inserting respectively the plurality of permanent magnets into the magnet-retaining apertures; and fixing each permanent magnet by an adhesive or an impregnant.
In the above-described conventional method for manufacturing a rotor, in the case where the adhesive is used for fixing the magnets, relatively complicated manual operations, such as the application of the adhesive to the permanent magnets, the removal of the surplus adhesive leaking from the magnet-retaining apertures, and the like, may be required. Also, in the case where the impregnant is used for fixing the magnets, relatively large-scale equipment tends to be required for an immersion process for immersing the rotor core in the impregnant, a heating process for solidifying the impregnant, etc., and thus the number of manufacturing steps tends to increase. On the other hand, it is also known that, as a rotor manufacturing method capable of resolving the above inconveniences, the rotor core is previously fabricated so that predetermined gaps are formed between respective magnet-retaining apertures and respective permanent magnets, and a resinous material is locally pored into the gaps and solidified therein, so as to fix the permanent magnets to the rotor core (e.g., see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 5-83892 (JP-A-5-083892)).
In the rotor manufacturing method disclosed in JP-A-5-083892, grooves (i.e., gaps) extending in an axial direction are formed adjacent to and in communication with the respective magnet-retaining apertures of a rotor core, and a molten resinous material is injected into the grooves and solidified therein by an injection molding technique, so as to fix the permanent magnets in the magnet-retaining apertures. In the injection molding process, a mold including a cavity for accommodating the rotor core and an injection molding machine onto which the mold can be installed are provided, and the rotor core receiving the permanent magnets in the respective magnet-retaining apertures is supported firmly and securely in the cavity of the mold. In this state, the resinous material is injected into the grooves of the rotor core under pressure by using the injection molding machine.
In the rotor manufacturing method adopting the injection molding technique set forth in the above-described JP-A-5-083892, by only providing the mold including the cavity for accommodating the rotor core and the injection molding machine onto which the mold can be installed, it is possible to easily and quickly perform a work for fixing the permanent magnets to the respective magnet-retaining apertures of the rotor core and, therefore, advantages are obtained in which complicated manual operations when using an adhesive and large-scale equipment when using an impregnant are eliminated. However, in order to accurately inject the resinous material into the narrow grooves formed between the respective magnet-retaining apertures and the respective permanent magnets, a relatively high injection pressure is required. In this connection, in the rotor core formed by laminating magnetic sheets, when a portion of a material (hereinafter referred to as a marginal portion) defined between each magnet-retaining aperture and the outer circumferential surface of the rotor core becomes much thinner, each magnetic sheet may be deformed at the marginal portion so as to bulge outward due to a high injection pressure in the resinous material. It the rotor core is deformed in a manner as described above, during rotation of a rotor, a magnetic flux passing through the rotor core may be affected to degrade a rotational accuracy and/or the rotor core may come into contact with a stator core to be damaged and, thereby, it is concerned that an operational reliability of an electric motor is deteriorated

Mold used for manufacturing electric motor rotor


For a digital/analog master control desk for audio signals, it is proposed to sum the analog channel signals, possibly while simultaneously processing them. Forming the analog broadcast signal, this sum is added to a further channel signal A.sub.n which is formed of the analog-converted sum of the digital channel signals. A digital signal D.sub.n obtained from the digital-converted sum of the analog channel signals is added to the sum of the digital channel signals, resulting in a digital broadcast signal which has the same modulation content as the analog broadcast signal.

The invention relates to a master control desk for producing broadcast signals wherein a plurality of analog channel signals are summed and a further channel is added to the sum of the plurality of signals to produce an analog broadcast signal. Such a master control desk is described in (brochures entitled "Studer 900 Professionelle Regietechnik PI 3/82 D/E [Studer 900 Professional Control Technique PI 3/82 D/E] published by Studer International AG, Regensdorf, Switzerland.
For digital broadcast signals as they are intended, for example, for satellite radio broadcasts, it is known (as described in a brochure entitled "Neues Digitalstudio fur den WDR" [Novel Digital Studio for the West German Broadcasting System] published by Siemens AG) to process a plurality of incoming digital channel signals by means of digital function units. The digital channel signals originate either directly from digital audio signal sources such as, for example, CD players or DAT recorders, or they are obtained from analog audio signal sources by analog/digital conversion. Such digital master control desks are connected with structural and financial investments which are a multiple of that for analog control desks and require audio engineers to change their operating philosophy unless they want to take the even more expensive step of translating the customary operating philosophy for analog control desks by means of suitable software. Since the development of a broadcast involves different operating philosophies in each broadcast station, such software would have to be developed specifically for each station which would drive expenditures to a level that could no longer be justified.

Hybrid master control desk for analog and digital audio signals


In a scheduling or planning process, a hybrid process is determined representing operation of a system. The hybrid process includes stochastic jumps. An approximate linear program is constructed respective to the hybrid process and a set of control actions for controlling the system. The approximate linear program includes a stochastic jump constraint term representative of stochastic jumps of the hybrid process. The approximate linear program is solved. The system is controlled based on the solved approximate linear program.

The following relates to the planning arts, predictive arts, scheduling arts, and related arts, and will find application in diverse fields such as for example equipment servicing, delivery services, robotic control, financial planning, and other fields entailing hybrid processes that are generally continuous but include occasional discrete events or discontinuities.
Stochastic control problems are relevant to numerous applications entailing modeling or other representation of a process that evolves over time (or with respect to another variable). In the 1960's various exact linear programming solution techniques were developed for such problems. These linear programming methods entail determining a value function indicative of the cost on the process of taking an action, constructing a constraint on the solution in the form of a linear combination, and optimizing the value function subject to the constraint. These exact linear programming solution techniques are computationally intensive and impractical for large state spaces, a problem sometimes referred to as the "curse of dimensionality."
In the 1980's, techniques were developed to obtain linear programming solutions in an approximate manner. These techniques entail representing the value function as a linear combination of basis functions and optimizing the weights or coefficients of the linear combination of basis functions subject to the constraints also represented in terms of the linear combination of basis functions. In effect, the dimensionality is reduced from the number of states in the state space to the number of weights in the lower dimensional weight space. This variation of linear programming is known in the art as approximate linear programming (ALP).
ALP substantially enhances the applicability of linear programming to practical problems. However, ALP, and linear programming in general, has heretofore been applied to continuous processes (possibly represented by discrete time samples) in which the variation with respect to time (or another variable) is continuous and does not include jumps or abrupt transitions.
Adaptation of linear programming to planning, scheduling or to generally continuous processes with occasional discontinuities or abrupt changes would substantially increase the range of target planning and scheduling applications. For example, machine maintenance scheduling involves abrupt discontinuities respective to time generated by machines transitioning between states (e.g., from a working state to a failure state to an "under repair" state back to a working state). Some stock market modeling applications would also benefit from the ability to model rapid stock price transitions caused by discrete events (e.g., corporate announcements, major political events, or so forth) as abrupt jumps or transitions. Such processes which are generally continuous but include occasional jumps, discontinuities, or abrupt changes are sometimes called "hybrid" processes.
Heretofore, linear programming techniques have generally not been used in conjunction with hybrid processes having jumps or discontinuities. Conceptually, existing linear programming techniques involve searching a constrained continuous space to identify a vertex or other extremum corresponding to a constrained optimum value of the value function. It is not readily apparent that such linear programming techniques could be adapted to handle hybrid processes in which the value function has discontinuities within the searched space.

Solving continuous stochastic jump control problems with approximate linear programming


A process gas compressor/gas turbine section including a process gas compressor and a gas turbine which is coupled to the shaft of the process gas compressor in order to drive said compressor is provided. The process gas compressor is designed to compress combustible process gas and is equipped to seal the process gas compressor inner chamber from the atmosphere using a shaft seal which can be sealed with a seal gas and which has at least one leakage line. The leakage line can conduct leakage gas away from the shaft seal and is connected to the air inlet of the gas turbine such that the leakage gas together with the inlet air at the air inlet can be conducted into the gas turbine during the operation of the process gas compressor/gas turbine section.

A process gas compressor has a housing and a rotor which is accommodated in the housing. The rotor has a shaft which is mounted at the longitudinal ends thereof outside the housing. As a result, the shaft passes at the longitudinal ends thereof through the housing, wherein the shaft is sealed there from the housing by a shaft seal. The inside of the process gas compressor is therefore separated from the atmosphere. The construction of the shaft seal is conventionally such that a gas separation is arranged first, followed by an oil separation, as viewed from the inside of the process gas compressor. The inside of the process gas compressor, the process side, is separated from the atmosphere by means of the shaft seal and from the bearing region by means of the oil separation. The shaft seal is constructed, for example, as a gas-lubricated rotating mechanical seal which is designed as a tandem seal.
A tandem seal is constructed from two gas-lubricated rotating mechanical seals which each have a sliding ring, which is fastened to the housing, and a counter ring, which is fastened to the shaft. Each sliding ring is arranged axially directly adjacent to the associated counter ring thereof, forming an axial gap. The rings are arranged in the tandem seal in such a manner that the process side is sealed from a flare pressure by the primary seal. The separation from the atmosphere is brought about with the secondary seal, wherein the secondary seal is additionally provided as redundancy to the primary seal in the event of failure of the primary seal. Seal gas which is used for sealing the axial gaps is introduced between the two counter rings. In order to separate the bearing region, a tertiary seal, for example, which can be constructed, for example, as a labyrinth seal or a carbon ring seal, is provided as the oil separation. The tertiary seal is acted upon with a seal gas, as a result of which the sealing of said tertiary seal is brought about.
Process gas can be used as the seal gas for the primary seal, and air or nitrogen can be used for the secondary seal. During the operation of the process gas compressor, leakage gas occurs because of a leakage of the primary seal and the secondary seal. The leakage gas is a gas mixture consisting of the process gas and the seal gas together with air, wherein the leakage gas is conventionally conducted away to the atmosphere or to a flare. These two variants are problematic for the environment by being associated with undesirable emissions to the surroundings. Although the provision of a system for separating the process gas from the leakage gas and for recycling the process gas into the process provides a remedy, such a system is, however, energy-intensive and is associated with high costs.

Process gas compressor/gas turbine section


A breakable coupling device for coupling together first and second main transmission shafts stationary in translation along a longitudinal axis of rotation of the device comprises a blocking device having a discontinuous first housing and a continuous second housing forming a closed loop; a compression device; at least one drive device connecting the blocking device and the compression device together in rotation about the longitudinal axis below a predetermined torque, wherein the discontinuous first housing is configured to receive the at least one drive device below the predetermined torque; and a shifting device configured to shift the at least one drive device non-reversibly from the discontinuous first housing towards the continuous second housing when the torque exerted on the at least one drive device is greater than the predetermined torque.

It is conventional on an aircraft, and more particularly on a helicopter, to find actuators that are arranged in parallel or in series with flight control linkages. When arranged in parallel, such actuators are commonly referred to as "trim actuators" by the person skilled in the art. Thus, a helicopter may have a trim actuator associated with its longitudinal flight controls, a trim actuator associated with its lateral flight controls, a trim actuator associated with its collective pitch flight control, and a trim actuator associated with its yaw flight controls. Each trim actuator then performs both first and second functions.
The first function improves pilot comfort by enabling the pilot to anchor a given control in a given position. For example, by blocking the collective pitch trim actuator, the pilot no longer needs to hold the collective pitch with the appropriate lever, and can therefore pay attention to other tasks.
The second function of a trim actuator consists in enabling the neutral position of a flight control to be adjusted. Furthermore, if the aircraft is fitted with an autopilot system, the trim actuator can provide information to the autopilot system. A sensor for measuring the position of a mechanical element of a trim actuator can transmit said information to the autopilot system, which can deduce therefrom the position of the associated flight control.
Under such conditions, a trim actuator generally includes a motor for driving an outlet shaft in rotation, which shaft is connected to the associated flight control by a connecting rod. For example, when the motor is actuated by the pilot, the outlet shaft of the trim actuator rotates and moves the flight control. In contrast, when the pilot acts on the flight control, it is the flight control that causes the outlet shaft to rotate and consequently rotates the rotor of the trim actuator motor relative to its stator.
That type of actuator thus satisfies requirements. Nevertheless, it is found that in the event of the motor that forms part of the trim actuator becoming jammed, that inevitably leads to a situation that is catastrophic since the flight control becomes blocked.
It is therefore essential to be able to break the connection between the trim actuator and the associated flight control, should that be necessary. For this purpose, actuator manufacturers provide a breakable pin to act as a "fuse", e.g. between the outlet shaft and the connecting rod connecting it to a flight control. In the event of the actuator jamming, the pilot can act on the flight control and shear the pin. Although satisfactory, that solution requires the pin to be suitably dimensioned so that the force at which it breaks is neither too small nor too great. Furthermore, the pin does not necessarily break in an optimum manner. Consequently, it is possible that the flight controls continue to be impeded by a faulty trim actuator. The presently-existing solution is thus not completely satisfactory.
As a remedy, it might be envisaged to implement a suitable torque limiter in the trim actuator, the torque limiter decoupling the trim actuator motor from the flight control above a determined level of torque. In general, torque limiters comprise first and second plates that are connected together by drive means, e.g. balls. Each of the first and second plates then has a discontinuous housing provided with a plurality of orifices that are distributed equidistantly around a circle.
Below a predetermined torque, each ball is held in place, being inserted firstly in an orifice in the first plate and secondly in an orifice in the second plate. The first plate can thus drive the second plate in rotation via a connection via an obstacle, and vice versa. Above the predetermined torque, each ball leaves its orifice, thereby enabling the torque to be limited at said predetermined value, and subsequently penetrates into the next orifice. Since the balls continuously leave and enter the orifices, it will be understood that this technology is normally not suitable for being transposed into a trim actuator. That would require the pilot to fight continuously in order to work the flight controls in the event of the actuator motor jamming.
Furthermore, document U.S. Pat. No. 2,401,992 describes a device for coupling together first and second main shafts, the device being provided with blocking means, compression means, and drive means. The blocking means comprises a conical inside face provided with a first housing that is discontinuous and a second housing that is continuous.
Above a limit torque, the balls leave the first housing, slide over the conical face of the blocking means, and drop into the second housing. In order to reset that device, it then suffices to implement a simple axial action, since the device is reversible. Under such circumstances, that operation does not guarantee the operator to inspect the device as a safety precaution.

Breakable coupling device, and an associated trim actuator


A vortex generator, designed to bring a medium into a controlled vortex motion, with a hollow inlet section (1) to direct the medium into the vortex generator. The inlet section consists of a rotational symmetric cavity (101) with a curved geometry (108). Furthermore, a vortex chamber (4a; 4b), inside which the vortex motion is to be established, is attached to the inlet section. The inlet section (1) contains at least one spiral-shaped conic channel for di-recting the medium from the rotational symmetric cavity to the vortex chamber. The vortex chamber is either trumpet-shaped (4a) or egg-shaped (4b).

The already established technology of using vortex generators for the purpose of bringing a medium into a vortex motion is achieved in a number of different ways. The most common one is that the medium is forced into motion inside the vortex chamber by the use of guiding rails, which exert pressure. The problem with this approach is that as soon as the guiding rail comes to an end, the pressure also disappears. Another established method is to blow the medium into the vortex chamber tangentially as a homogenous mass with high pressure and high flow. This method generates a rotation of the medium, which is similar to the rotation of a solid body and eventually leads to turbulence. Yet another method is to use a kind of disc, which rotates at a high speed and thus pulls the medium with it. This results in high pressure in the periphery, which causes the structured vortex to quickly break down into turbulence.
Thus difficulties arise in certain cases where it is important to keep the flowing medium in a controlled vortex motion. When it comes to hydrocyclones, for instance, and combustion chambers in jet engines, the technique of blowing the medium into the chamber tangentially as a homogenous mass has been used, but one of the problems with this method is that in this case, flow is interrupted, resulting in turbulence. In a hydrocyclone, this interferes with the centrifugal separation effect and causes particles to be drawn into the accept flow. In jet engines, this causes the mixture of fuel and air to be of inferior quality, which results in a reduction in effectiveness. This also leads to the process requiring more energy and a higher usage of raw materials than if it were possible to control the vortex motion. The use of guiding rails to direct the flow is not efficient enough since the guiding effect disappears as soon as the guiding rail comes to an end. Another problem is that when the flowing medium is blown or forced into the vortex chamber in a homogenous and more or less laminar flow, the vortex does not form a spiral flow pattern, but would in this case also start to rotate in the manner of a solid body to eventually change to a turbulent flow.
An example of an established vortex generator, the purpose of which is to treat drinkable liquids, is described in DE-U-20 218 674.
Another vortex generator, called the Martin Vortex Generator, is marketed under the brand name Wirbelwasser® (www.wirbelwasser.de). The water in this vortex generator moves in a way that is similar to a solid body.


Prior to an execution of a data flow program by a data driven type information processor, array type data is selectively designated as data to be stored in an extended data storing unit or as data to be supplied to an information processor in the form of a data packet during execution of the program based on whether a value of the array type data to be processed in accordance with the program is already defined. As a result, as compared with a conventional system on which array type data are uniformly stored in the extended data storage unit to execute the data flow program, the method of the present invention reduces the number of accesses to the extended data storage unit. The reduction is equivalent to the amount of the array type data supplied as data packets, thereby increasing a data flow program execution processing speed and enhancing an effective use of a memory of the extended data storage unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method of controlling an execution of a data flow program in information processor and an apparatus therefor, and more particularly, to a method of controlling execution of a data flow program for processing array type data and an apparatus therefor.
2. Description of the Background Art
In a conventional von Neuman computer, various instructions are stored as a program in a program memory in advance, and addresses in the program memory are sequentially specified by a program counter so that the instructions are sequentially read out, whereby instructions are executed.
On the other hand, a data driven type information processor is one type of non-vonNeuman computers which do not use the concept of sequential execution of instructions by a program counter. Such data driven type information processor an architecture based on parallel processing of instructions. In the data driven type information processor execution of an instruction is enabled upon collection of data to be operated, and a plurality of instructions are simultaneously driven by data, so that programs are executed in parallel in accordance with a natural flow of the data. As a result, the time required for the operation will be drastically reduced.
FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a data driven type information processor to be applied to a conventional example and one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 14 shows a field structure of a data packet circulating through the data driven type information processor to be applied to a conventional example and an embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 14, a data packet PA includes a destination field F1 for storing destination information including branch information, an instruction field F2 for storing instruction information, a data 1 field F3 and a data 2 field F4 for storing operand data.
With reference to FIG. 13, a data driven type information processor 1 is connected to a data packet generation/supply unit 8. Externally provided to the main body of a processing unit of information processor 1 are an extended data storage unit 2 and an extended program storage unit 7 having a large capacity and a low access rate. The main body of tile processing unit of information processor 1 further includes an input/output control unit 3, a program storage unit 4 having a small capacity and a high access rate for storing a data flow program to be executed, a firing control unit 5 which has a queuing memory 51 and serves for detecting paired data, and an operation unit 6.
Data packet generation/supply unit 8 includes a load packet processing portion 81 for loading a program to be executed or data to be processed in accordance with the program in the information processor prior to execution of the program at information processor 1, and a packet for execution processing portion 82 for supplying data to be processed during program execution to information processor 1. Load packet processing portion 81 loads the program or the data in the form of data packets 20P and 21P to information processor 1, while packet for execution processing portion 82 supplies data to be processed in the form of a data packet 22P to information processor 1. Details of such data packets will be described later.
Extended program storage unit 7 functions as an extended storage device related to a data flow program to be executed by information processor 1. Storage unit 7 receives a data packet PA to carry out initial writing of program data by using the received packet PA at the program loading, and reads the program data by addressing based on destination information in a data packet PA applied from firing control unit 5, stores the read data into a data packet and outputs the data packet to program storage unit 4 when the program is executed.
FIG. 15 shows a structure of the extended data storage unit 2 in block. Extended data storage unit 2 functions as an extended storage device related to data to be processed in accordance with the data flow program at information processor 1. FIG. 16A and 16B show field structures of a data packet for use in accessing extended data storage unit 2. A data packet 10P of FIG. 16A stores an access instruction ACC for accessing the extended data storage unit 2 in a field F2, stores address information AD related to an instruction ACC in a field F3 and stores write data WD to be written in extended data storage unit 2 in a field F4 when the instruction ACC indicates a writing instruction. A data packet 10P' of FIG. 16, which is a data packet for storing resultant data obtained by accessing extended data storage unit 2 by using data packet 10P, stores, when the access instruction ACC in the corresponding data packet 10P indicates data reading from extended data storage unit 2, the read data RD in a field 73.
With reference to FIGS. 15, 16A and 16B, extended data storage unit 2 will be described.
Extended data storage unit 2 includes a memory 21 for storing data, an instruction decoding portion 22, an access portion 23 including an address storage portion 231, and a packet output portion 24. Extended data storage unit 2 receives data packets 20P and 21P as will be described later from input/output control unit 3 and writes (loads) data stored in the received data packets in memory 21 prior to an execution of the program at information processor 1. Storage unit 2 receives data packet 10P from input/output control unit 3, accesses memory 21 based on information in the received data packet and outputs data packet 10P or 10P' storing access resultant data to input/output control unit 3 during the program is executed. More specifically, input/output control unit 3 applies data packet 10P to instruction decoding portion 22. Decoding portion 22 receives the applied data packet 10P and applies the same packet to output portion 24 while decoding an access instruction ACC in field F2 of the received packet. When the access instruction ACC indicates a writing instruction as a result of the decoding, decoding portion 22 instructs access portion 23 on a writing operation and applies the received packet to access portion 23, and conversely, when the instruction ACC indicates a reading instruction, decoding portion 22 instructs access portion 23 on a reading operation and applies the received packet to access portion 23. Access portion 23 receives the data packet applied from decoding portion 22, addresses memory 21 based on address information AD in the received packet in response to an instruction of a writing operation by decoding portion 22 and writes write data WD of the received packet in an addressing area of memory 21. Conversely, in response to an instruction of a reading operation by decoding portion 22, access portion 23 reads data from memory 21 by addressing based on the address information AD in the received packet. Access portion 23 informs packet output portion 24 of the end of access at the completion of the access to memory 21 and applies data read from memory 21. Packet output portion 24, when it is informed of the end of the access by access portion 23 and supplied with the read data, stores the responsively read data as read data RD in the field F3 of data packet 10P applied from decoding portion 22 and outputs the packet as a data packet 10P' to input/Output control unit 3. When the packet output portion is only informed of the end of the access by access portion 23, it outputs data packet 10P applied from decoding portion 22 to input/output control unit 3. Details of address storage portion 231 will be described later.
With reference to FIG. 13, input/output control unit 3 receives a data packet PA applied from the outside (data packet generation/supply unit 8) information processor 1, and from extended data storage unit 2 and operation unit 6 and selectively outputs the received data packet PA to the outside information processor 1, or to extended data storage unit 2 or to program storage unit 4.
FIG. 17 shows a part of the data flow program to be stored in program storage unit 4. Program storage unit 4 stores a data flow program including a plurality of pairs of designation information, instruction information and copy presence/absence informations shown in FIG. 17. Program storage unit 4 receives a data packet PA applied from input/output control unit 3, reads destination information, instruction information, and copy presence/absence information in a subsequent order from the data flow program by addressing based on destination information in the received packet PA, stores the read destination information and instruction information in a destination field F1 and an instruction field F2 of the received packet PA, respectively, and applies the packet PA to firing control unit 5. When the read copy presence/absence information indicates "absence" at this time, a data packet with the contents in destination field F1 and instruction field F2 updated is output to complete a processing. On the other hand, when the read copy presence/absence information indicates "presence", a data packet with the contents of the destination field and the instruction field updated is output, and subsequently stored destination information, instruction information and copy presence/absence information are read out. When the subsequently read out copy presence/absence information indicates "absence", a data packet is output to complete the processing which stores the same data as that of the received data packet in its data 1 field F3 and the currently read out destination information and instruction information in its destination field F1 and its instruction field F2, respectively. If the subsequently read out copy presence/absence information indicates "presence", the same copy processing is further continued.
Program storage unit 4 receives a data packet PA storing program data read out from extended program storage unit 7 and stores tile program data stored in the received packet PA.
FIG. 18 shows a part of the storage contents of queuing memory 51 in firing control unit 5 of FIG. 13. With reference to FIG. 18, queuing memory 51 stores a plurality of queuing operand data. Fizzing control unit 5 sequentially receives data packets PA applied from program storage unit 4, detects two different data packets PA having the same destination information, stores operand data of one of the data packets PA, for example, the contents of data 1 field, in data 2 field of the other data packet and outputs (hereinafter referred to as "firing") said the other data packet PA. More specifically, firing control unit 5 accesses queuing memory 51 by addressing based on destination information in an applied packet PA and if storage of queuing operand data is detected by the accessing, firing control unit 5 stores the queuing operand data in data 2 field F4 of the applied packet PA and outputs the packet PA. If the queuing operand data is not stored, the firing control unit writes operand data of data 1 field F3 of the applied packet PA in a corresponding addressing area of memory 51. As a result, the applied packet PA is to queue an input of a data packet to be paired. Firing control unit 5 performs the above-described firing detection processing if instruction information in the applied packet PA is a 2-operand instruction, while the unit Outputs the applied data packet PA without being operated if the instruction information is a 1-operand instruction.
Operation unit 6 of FIG. 13 receives a data packet PA applied from firing control unit 5, performs an operation processing for operand data stored in the applied packet PA based on instruction information stored in the applied packet PA, stores the operation resultant data in data 1 field or data 2 field of the applied data packet PA and outputs the applied packet
to input/output control unit 3.
In data driven type information processor 1 of FIG. 13, data packets storing a data flow program are applied from data packet generation/supply unit 8 to information processor 1 and stored in program storage unit 4 and extended program storage unit 7 prior to an execution of the data flow program. The applied program data are all stored in extended program storage unit 7, while initial program data, for example, a program data group of initial 1K words, of the applied program data, are also stored in program storage unit 4.
FIGS. 19A to 19C are diagrams showing field structures of a data packet supplied from data packet generation/supply unit 8 to information processor 1. When loading of the program data is completed in a manner as described-above, data to be processed in accordance with the program is loaded in extended data storage unit 2 prior to an execution of the loaded program. At the time of the data loading, data packet generation/supply unit 8 applies data packets 20P and 21P respectively shown in FIGS. 19A and 19B to input/output control unit 3. Data packet generation/supply unit 8 first applies data packet 20P to input/output control unit 3, whereby input/output control unit 3 applies data packet 20P to extended data storage unit 2 in response to the branch information of data packet 20P indicating that the information is destined for data storage unit 2. Instruction decoding portion 22 of extended data storage unit 2 receives a data packet 20P and in response to instruction information in the received packet 20P indicating a load instruction LD, instructs access portion 23 on data loading and applies data packet 20P to access portion 23. Access portion 23 receives data packet 20P and temporarily stores in address storing portion 231 a start address and an end address stored in fields F3 and F4 of packet 20P. The start address and the end address are data for specifying an area on memory 21 where data applied hereafter is to be stored. Data packet generation/supply unit 8 outputs data packet 21P of FIG. 19B subsequent to data packet 20P. Input/output control unit 3 receives data packet 21P and in response to branch information in the received packet 21P indicating that the information is destined for data storage unit 2, applies the received packet 21P to extended data storage unit 2. Instruction decoding portion 22 of extended data storage unit 2 receives the data packet 21P and decodes instruction information in packet 21P as a loading instruction LD to instruct access portion 23 on data loading and apply packet 21P to the portion 23. Access portion 23 writes the contents of field F3 of packet 21P in an area of memory 21 specified by a start address and an end address in address storage portion 231. Successive supply of a plurality of data packets 21P to information processor 1 by data packet generation/supply unit 8 stores a plurality of data in an area of memory 21 specified by a start address and an end address in address storage portion 231, resulting in completion of data loading in information processor 1. Data loading in extended data storage unit 2 may be performed prior to the above-described program loading. The information processor is regardless of the order of loading of the program and the data.
Processing in accordance with the program is executed at the completion of loading the program and the data in data driven type information processor 1. First, data packet generation/supply unit 8 applies a data packet 22P shown in FIG. 19C to information processor 1. A destination field F1 of data packet 22P stores branch information indicating that the packet is destined for program storage unit 4, a field F2 stores an execution instruction EX for executing the program and a field F3 stores data. Input/output control unit 3 receives an applied data packet 22P and provides the received packet 22P to program storage unit 4 based on the branch information in packet 22P. Program storage unit 4 reads out destination information and instruction information in a subsequent order by addressing based on the destination information in the received packet 22P. The read out information are respectively stored in fields F1 and F2 of the received packet 22P and the packet is applied to firing control unit 5. Firing control unit 5 performs a processing for detecting firing as described above. A data packet obtained by a firing detection is applied to operation unit 6. Operation unit 6 performs an operation processing with respect to the applied data packet and outputs a data packet which stores the operation resultant data. Input/output control unit 3 receives a data packet applied from operation unit 6 and outputs the data packet to one of the program storage unit 4, outside information processor 1 or extended data storage unit 2 based on the branch information in the received packet. When the data packet is provided to program storage unit 4, destination information and instruction information in a further subsequent order are to be read out. On the other hand, when the data packet is provided to extended data storage unit 2, such access related to memory 21 as described with reference to FIG. 15 is performed and a data packet storing the access resultant data is selectively output to program storage unit 4 or outside information processor 1 through input/output control unit 3.
As a data packet continues to circulate through input/output control unit 3.fwdarw.program storing unit 4.fwdarw.firing control unit 5.fwdarw.operation unit 6.fwdarw.input/output control unit 3.fwdarw. . . . as described in the foregoing, an operation processing proceeds based on the program and the data stored in program storage unit 4, extended program storage unit 7 and extended data storage unit 2.
Since extended data storage unit 2 has a large capacity but a low access rate in the above-described data driven type information processor, it is preferable to selectively use the storage unit 2 and an internal memory of information processor 1 in order to increase a program's processing rate. For example, data which is frequently accessed is stored in program storage unit 4 or queuing memory 51 both of which have an access rate higher than that of extended data storage unit 2, while data, which is less frequently accessed is stored in extended data storage unit 2. Data stored in extended data storage unit 2 will be referred to as memory data and data flowing as a data packet PA on a transmission path inside the data driven type information processor 1 will be referred to as flow data hereinafter.
Some data processed in accordance with a data flow program are of an array type. An array is a group of data put in an order in one of one-dimensional, two-dimensional, three-dimensional manners and uniquely identified by an English name. The English name is referred to as an array name, one of the data constituting the array is referred to as an array element and an English name for uniquely identifying the element as an array element name. Array type data to be processed in accordance with a data flow program are all processed as memory data. An array to be processed in accordance with the data flow program, for example, a one-dimensional array, will be represented as ar[I] (I=0, 1, 2, 3, . . . n). The array ar[I] indicates that the array name is "ar" and the array element name is "I". The array ar[I] itself is treated as memory data to be stored in memory 21 of extended data storage unit 2, while the array element is treated as flow data. Therefore, by storing a group of data constituting the array ar[I] in memory 21 of storage unit 2 in advance and applying to storage unit 2 a data packet 10P storing the array element name I as address information AD, memory 21 is accessed by addressing based on the array element name I at storage unit 2 to read/write data ar[I]. However, since extended data storage unit 2 is a low-speed access memory, when array type data is used as memory data, a rate of processing the array type data is limited by the access rate of the extended data storage unit 2.
The above-described limitation of the array type data processing rate can be eliminated by treating the array ar[I] itself as flow data similarly to an array element, for which the array ar[I] itself and the array element name should be synchronized with each other. The synchronization is obtained as follows. First, data ar[1], ar[2], . . . ar[n] constituting the array ar[I] are made into data packets PA at data packet generation/supply unit 8 and supplied to data driven type information processor 1. The supplied data packets are applied to firing control unit 5 through input/output control unit 3 and program storage unit 4 to wait for an input of a corresponding array element name I as queuing operand data at queuing memory 51. Thereafter, the program starts to be executed. When a data packet storing an array element name I defined, for example, as 3 in its destination field F1 is applied to firing control unit 5 during the execution, firing is detected to output a data packet storing data ar[3], resulting in synchronization between the array ar[I] itself and the array element name I. It is commonly known that synchronization between data packets PA in a data driven type information processor causes a processing time loss. In other words, a processing time loss is a sum of times for all data ar[1], ar[2] . . . ar[n] constituting the array ar[I] to wait for firing at queuing memory 51 of firing control unit 5.
Another disadvantage is that since all the data ar[1], ar[2], . . . ar[n] constituting the array ar[I] should be made to stand by at queuing memory 51 until an element name I as flow data is defined during the program execution, an extremely large flow graph corresponding to the data flow program is required. Such disadvantage will be described as follows. FIG. 20 is a diagram schematically showing a data flow program development procedure. FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing functions of a compiler related to a conventional data flow program, while FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing functions of a mapper related to the data flow program. FIGS. 23A to 23C are diagrams showing examples of a flow graph obtained by replacing a data flow program for processing array type data. FIGS. 24A to 24D are diagrams showing examples of a data flow program and examples of a flow graph obtained by compiling the program.
As shown in FIG. 20, a data flow program development procedure is made up of a text editor 100, a flow graph compiler 200, a flow graph linker 300 and a mapper 400, functions of which are prepared as software by a work station and the like. First, a data flow program 111 is created through an edition processing by the text editor 100. The data flow program 111 is described based on the C language proposed by the present applicant by using parallel processing language (hereinafter referred to as FGCL: FGCL is an abbreviation of a flow graph C language) with description for data drive added. Flow graph compiler 200, flow graph linker 300 and mapper 400 are processing systems suitable for FGCL. Thorn, the data flow program 111 is subjected to grammatical analysis by flow graph compiler 200 and developed into a plurality of flow graphs having a structure showing data flows on the program in parallel. Flow graph compiler 200 includes a syntax analysis step 201, a flow graph development step 202 and a rank analysis step 203 as shown in FIG. 21. Input data of flow graph compiler 200 is a program 111 described in FGCL. In syntax analysis step 201, the data flow program 111 is applied to see if the description contents of the program 111 match the grammar of FGCL and then in flow graph development step 202, the data flow program 111 is developed into a plurality of flow graphs in parallel in accordance with the contents of the grammar analysis. In rank analysis step 203, the plurality of flow graphs obtained by the development are rearranged to operate in accordance with the order of execution of instructions and the arranged flow graphs are sent to flow graph linker 300. Flow graph linker 300 receives the plurality of flow graphs 211 applied from flow graph compiler 200, groups the flow graphs together into one processable flow graph 311 at information processor 1 and applies the flow graph 311 to mapper 400. Mapper 400 makes the applied flow graph 311 into an object file 411 and an input packet file 412 which are applied to a load packet processing portion 81 and a packet for execution processing portion 82 in data packet generation/supply unit 8 as a target system, respectively. Object file 411 includes a program to be loaded in information processor 1 and initial value data to be loaded in extended data storage unit 2, while input packet file 412 stores information for generating a packet to be applied to information processor 1. Load packet processing portion 81 generates a data packet storing a program and data to be loaded in information processor 1 based on data in object file 411 and packet for execution processing portion 82 generates based on information in input packet file 412, a data packet, for example, to be supplied to information processor 1 while the processor 1 executes the program. Mapper 400 includes step 401 of generating program data to be loaded, a step 402 of generating data to be loaded in storage unit 2 and a step 403 of generating information for use in generating a packet to be supplied to information processor 1 as shown in FIG. 22. In steps 401 to 403, flow graph 311 is input to output object file 411 and input packet file 412. Hereinafter, a flow graph compiler is abbreviated as a compiler.
In compiler 200, the data flow programs shown in FIGS. 24A and 24C, for example, are compiled to be developed into flow graphs of FIGS. 24B and 24D. The two flow graphs are converted by flow graph linker 300 into one flow graph by applying flow graph of FIG. 24D to the part of "funcl" of FIG. 24B.
Compiler 200 complies the array A[I] in the data flow program in a manner as shown in FIGS. 23A to 23C. If an element name I is not defined at a stage of compiling, for example, it is necessary to simultaneously queue data A[1], A[2], . . . A[n] at queuing memory 51. The data A[1], A[2], . . . A[n] are therefore developed in parallel into flow data on the flow graph as shown in FIG. 23A. When the element name I is defined during the execution of the program, the element name I is synchronized (corresponding to sync in FIG. 23A) with data A[I] queuing in memory 51 to detect firing, causing only a data packet storing the data A[I] to flow as flow data. For example, when the element name I is defined as "1" during the execution of the program, only data A[1] selectively flows down the flow graph among the data A[1]-A[n] developed in parallel in the flow graph. In other words, firing is detected by firing control unit 5 of FIG. 13 to output an obtained data packet to operation unit 6.
Conversely, if the element name I is already as defined "3", for example, at a stage of edition of the data flow program 111 by text editor 100, compiler 200 compiles data A[3] in the program 111 as one flow data as shown in FIG. 23C. In other words, the element name I in the data flow program will not be developed into flow data in the flow graph by compiler 200 in this case.
As described in the foregoing, when the element name I is not defined at the time of compiling by compiler 200, all of the supposed data A[1]-A[n] are developed in parallel by the compiler. Therefore, the flow graph obtained by the development (see FIG. 23A) inevitably becomes much larger than the flow graph (see FIG. 23C) obtained by developing the data with the element name already defined at the time of compiling. Thus, if an array is treated as flow data in order to eliminate a limitation in a processing rate as described above, synchronization between an element name and data increases processing time loss and makes the flow graph larger in scale. Therefore, although a processing rate is limited, a program execution controlling method is employed wherein all of array type data are stored in extended data storage unit 2 and treated as memory data.
However, there is a case where an element name I of an array described in the program is already defined at a stage prior to compiling, depending on the contents of a processing expressed by using the data flow program. In other words, there is a case where an element name I is fixed and not be changed during execution of the data flow program. An array whose element name is not changed during execution of the program is hereinafter referred to as a static array and conversely, an array whose element name is changed during an execution of the program is referred to as a dynamic array. For example, such program description as I=3: b=ar[I]: means that an array ar[I] is a static array and its value is already defined as data ar[3] prior to compiling. In such a case, the element name I is data other than memory data and flow data. The compiler can therefore develop the program description into a flow graph as shown in FIG. 23C at the stage of compiling the data flow program including the description. As described in the foregoing, although some arrays to be processed in accordance with a program can be processed as flow data, a conventional method of controlling execution of a data flow program uniformly processes array type data as memory data, resulting in a decrease of a processing rate of information processor 1 more than required and preventing an effective use of a memory.

Method and apparatus for handling array type data in a data driven type information processor


Disclosed is a semiconductor component that includes a semiconductor body, a first emitter region of a first conductivity type in the semiconductor body, a second emitter region of a second conductivity type spaced apart from the first emitter region in a vertical direction of the semiconductor body, a base region of one conductivity type arranged between the first emitter region and the second emitter region, and at least two higher doped regions of the same conductivity type as the base region and arranged in the base region. The at least two higher doped regions are spaced apart from one another in a lateral direction of the semiconductor body and separated from one another only by sections of the base region.

Bipolar power semiconductor components, like power diodes, power IGBTs (insulated gate bipolar transistors), or power thyristors, include a first emitter region of a first conductivity type, a second emitter region of a second conductivity type, and a base or drift region arranged between the first and second emitter regions. The base region is of one of the first and second conductivity types and has a lower doping concentration than the first and second emitter regions. When the component is in its conducting or on-state, charge carriers of the first conductivity type are injected into the base region from the first emitter region, and charge carriers of the second conductivity type are injected into the base region from the second emitter region. These charge carriers form a charge carrier plasma in the base region. This plasma with charge carriers of the first and second conductivity type results in a low resistance of the component in the on-state.
When the component is switched off, i.e. when the component transits from its on-state into its off or non-conducting state these charge carriers that form the charge carrier plasma have to be removed from the base region. In this case, charge carriers of the first conductivity type flow in the direction of the first emitter region, and charge carriers of the second conductivity type flow in the direction of the second emitter region. When the component switches into its off-state, a space charge region starts to propagate in the base region. The generation of this space charge region together with the mobile charges that are extracted out of the plasma region may result in locally increased electric field strength. Dynamic avalanche occurs when the field strength reaches a critical value (ECRIT). Due to this avalanche generation and a positive feedback for carrier generation the current flow may become inhomogeneous.
This current crowding results in a high current density in regions where the electric field strength is locally increased. Since the formation of current filaments usually occurs in a relatively small area, the current flow is also limited to this small area. A high current flow in a small area of the base region may result in a strong heating of those regions in which the breakdown occurs. This may result in a damage or a degradation of the semiconductor component.
There is, therefore, a need to provide a semiconductor component which has an improved dynamic behavior, i.e. an improved behavior when switching from the on-state to the off-state.

Semiconductor component with improved dynamic behavior