A directional bridge for measuring propagated signals to and from a source device to a load device where both the source device and load device are in signal communication with the directional bridge is disclosed. The directional bridge may include a first bridge circuit network and a first sensing element in signal communication with the first bridge circuit network. The first sensing element may produce a first measured signal that is proportional to the propagated signals.

With the advent of electronic equipment, radio frequency ("RF"), microwave, and millimeter wave circuits are common. As telecommunication systems continue to advance, there is a constant need to increase the bandwidth, speed, efficiency, and miniaturization of new telecommunication devices while constantly increasing the quality of the telecommunication devices and reducing the manufacturing costs.
Typically, telecommunication devices, and electronic equipment in general, include numerous types of electronic components and circuits including directional couplers and directional bridges. Generally, directional couplers and directional bridges are electronic devices utilized in RF, microwave, and millimeter wave signal routing for isolating, separating or combining signals. Typically, directional couplers are utilized as impedance bridges for microwave and millimeter wave measurements and for power monitoring.
Directional couplers and directional bridges (generally known as "directional circuits") are usually three-port or four-port devices/circuits that have a signal input port (from a source) and a signal output port (to a load) and at least one coupled port whose output is proportional to either the incident wave (from the source) or the reflected wave (from the load). It is appreciated by those skilled in the art that it is common practice in RF, microwave, and millimeter wave engineering to consider an electrical signal in an electronic circuit/device as the sum of an incident and a reflected traveling wave to and from a source and load, respectively, relative to a characteristic impedance Z0 of the electronic circuit/device (typically about 50 ohms). A directional circuit generally separates a transmitted signal into the detection circuit or coupled port based on the direction of the signal propagation. There are many uses for these directional circuits including network analysis and monitoring the output signal levels of a traveling wave incident on a load.
At present, there are numerous approaches to implementing a directional circuit. One example is to implement a directional coupler as a device that has a physical length over which two transmission lines couple together electromagnetically or that utilizes the phase shift along a length of transmission line. Another example approach (known as a directional bridge) may utilize lumped elements that may include transformers and resistors.
In FIGS. 1 and 2, an example of an implementation of known directional couplers 100 is shown. The directional coupler 100 may include three ports such as a signal input port ("port A 102"), a signal output port ("port B 104"), and at least one coupled port ("port C 106"). The directional coupler 100 may be in signal communication with a signal source 108 via signal source impedance ("Zsource") 110, and a load having a load impedance ("Zload") 112. As an example of operation, the directional coupler 100 may be utilized to unequally split the signal 114 flowing in from the load at port B 104 while simultaneously fully passing the signal 116 flowing in from the opposite direction from the source 108 into port A 102. Ideally the signal 114 flowing in from the load at port B 104 will pass to the coupled port C 106 and appear as coupled signal 118. Similarly, an input signal 120 at port C 106 would pass to port B 104. However, port A 102 and port C 106 are isolated in that any signal 116 flowing into port A 102 will not appear at port C 106 but will propagate through to port B 104. Additionally, port B 104 is isolated from port A 102 because any signal 114 from port B 104 will flow to port C 106 not port A 102. In FIG. 2, an example of an implementation of the known directional coupler 100 is shown utilizing two transformers T1 and T2 and a resistor R.
Unfortunately, directional couplers have the disadvantage that they are typically too large to be practical for an integrated circuit ("IC") except at very high frequencies because at low frequencies approaching direct current ("DC") they are typically too large to be practical for many electronic instruments. As an example, directional couplers are usually limited by size limitations to low frequency operation of about 10 megahertz ("MHz") in most electronic devices.
Attempts to solve this problem include utilizing directional bridges because directional bridges typically operate at lower frequencies than directional couplers. However, while directional bridge may typically operate in the kilohertz ("KHz") frequency range, they still unfortunately do not operate at low frequencies approaching DC. Additionally, similar to known directional couplers, known directional bridges are not suitable for integration on ICs because directional bridges generally utilize transformers which are difficult to implement with known IC technologies particularly at low frequencies. Moreover, typically broadband instrument grade directional couplers and conventional directional bridges are implemented with expensive precision mechanical parts and assemblies and typically require hand assembly and adjustment.
Therefore, there is a need for a new direction circuit/device capable of operating continuously from DC up to high frequencies in the millimeter wave range while being simple to integrate with known IC technologies.


A method of determining a drilling activity includes receiving a set of measurements at different times. The set of measurements includes a depth of a wellbore, a depth of a drill bit, and a position of a travelling block. The method also includes identifying a connection by determining when the position of the travelling block changes but the depth of the drill bit does not change. The method also includes determining when the depth of the wellbore does not increase between two different connections. The method also includes determining a direction that the drill bit moves between the two connections.

To increase a length of a drill string, the drill string may be disconnected from a drilling device (e.g., a top drive) and gripped by a slips assembly at the surface to support the drill string. With the drill string supported, another segment (referred to as a drill pipe) may be added to the upper end of the drill string to increase the length of the drill string for deeper drilling. After the increased drill string has been reconnected back to the drilling device, the slips assembly may then release the drill string, and a bottom-hole assembly, which is coupled to a lowermost segment of the drill string, may resume drilling. After the bottom-hole assembly advances the length of the wellbore by the length of the additional segment, the drilling process may be stopped, the drill string is again gripped by the slips assembly, disconnected from the drilling device, and another segment added to the drill string. This is repeated over and over to drill deeper and deeper.
Oftentimes, the overall weight carried by the drilling device (called the "hook load") is monitored to determine when the drill string is gripped by the slips assembly. As used herein, "hook load" refers to a total force pulling down on the hook, supporting the drilling device, at the surface. This force includes the weight of the drill string and any downhole tools (e.g., the bottom-hole assembly) coupled to the drill string, reduced by any force that lessens the weight, such as friction along the wellbore wall and buoyant forces caused by the immersion in drilling fluid. The hook load may or may not include the weight of the drilling device. When the hook load decreases by a relatively large amount, the user may determine that the drill string is in the slips assembly. However, occasionally, the hook load measurements include noise (e.g., spikes) that may adversely affect calculations of non-productive time ("NPT"), invisible loss time ("ILT"), and the like.


An oscillator circuit powered by a source voltage generates an oscillating output signal. The oscillating output signal is level shifted and applied to a first input of a multiplexer. A second input of the multiplexer receives the oscillating output signal. The multiplexer selects one of the oscillating output signal and the level shifted oscillating output signal for output as a selected oscillating output signal in response to a select signal. A locked loop circuit generates controls a frequency of the oscillating output signal as a function of the selected oscillating output signal and a reference oscillating signal. The select signal further selects one of a reference voltage and the source voltage of the oscillator circuit as an error amplifier reference voltage for a voltage regulator circuit that generates the first power supply voltage.

Reference is made to FIG. 1 which shows a circuit diagram of a conventional current controlled oscillator (CCO) circuit 10. The CCO circuit 10 includes a ring oscillator 12 formed by an odd number of series-connected inverting delay elements 14(1) to 14(n). An output of one inverting delay element is connected to the input of a next inverting delay element, and a last one of the inverting delay elements 14(n) has its output connected to the input of a first one of the inverting delay elements 14(1). The inverting delay elements 14 are coupled between a source node 18 at a source voltage Vs level and a ground node at a ground voltage level. The level of the source voltage at node 18 is dependent on the threshold voltages of the transistors in the inverting delay elements 14 and the corresponding circuit overdrive. Each inverting delay element 14 provides an amount of delay from input to output which is dependent on a charging current Icharge that is sourced by a current source 30 from a supply voltage Vdd to the source node 18. The oscillation frequency fo of the oscillating output signal 13 (Fout) generated by the ring oscillator is dependent on the amount of delay, and thus the output frequency can be controlled by the charging current Icharge. The oscillation amplitude of the oscillating output signal 13 (Fout) is controlled by the source voltage Vs at node 18.
The magnitude of the charging current Icharge output by the current source 30 is set by a voltage control signal CONT. In an embodiment, a p-channel transistor 32 forms the current source 30, with a source of the transistor 32 connected to the supply voltage Vdd node and a drain of the transistor 32 connected to source the charging current Icharge to the source node 18. The gate of transistor 32 is coupled to receive the voltage control signal CONT. The current source 30 accordingly functions as a voltage-to-current converter circuit. The control signal CONT controls the conductivity of the transistor 32 and hence the magnitude of the charging current Icharge sourced to the source node 18 of the ring oscillator. The voltage magnitude of the control signal CONT is accordingly used to set the oscillation frequency fo of the oscillating output signal 13 Fout.
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a frequency synthesizer circuit 50 of a locked loop operating type such as a frequency locked loop (FFL) or phase locked loop (PLL). The circuit 50 includes a controlled oscillator 52 which, in this implementation, is a CCO circuit 10 of the type shown in FIG. 1. The oscillating output signal 13 Fout from the ring oscillator 12 of the controlled oscillator 52 is level shifted by a level shifter circuit 54 and divided by a frequency divider circuit 56 to generate an oscillating feedback signal 15 (Ffb) having a frequency fo/N where N is the divider value (integer or fraction) of the frequency divider circuit 56. Level shifting is needed in the case of the ring oscillator 12 because the oscillating output signal 13 Fout has an oscillation amplitude at the voltage Vs of the source node 18 and it is required that the oscillating feedback signal 15 Ffb instead have an amplitude at the supply voltage Vdd level of the locked loop circuit 50. A phase-frequency detector circuit 60 compares the phase and frequency fo/N of the oscillating feedback signal 15 Ffb to the phase and frequency fr of an oscillating reference signal 17 Fref to generate an error signal ERR indicative of the determined difference in phase-frequency. The error signal ERR is fed to a charge pump (CP) 62 that outputs an equivalent error voltage Verr that is filtered by a filter circuit 64 (for example, of the low pass filter type) to generate the voltage control signal CONT. The control signal CONT, as discussed above in connection with FIG. 1, is applied to the voltage-to-current converter 66 formed by the current source 30 to generate the charging current Icharge which controls the frequency fo of the oscillating output signal 13 Fout. The feedback loop of the frequency synthesizer circuit 50 functions to control the magnitude of the control signal CONT so that the phase and frequency fo/N of the oscillating feedback signal 15 Ffb, which is derived from the oscillating output signal Fout from the ring oscillator 12, is driven to equal the phase and frequency fr of the oscillating reference signal 17 Fref.
In some implementations, circuitry of the frequency synthesizer circuit 50 may be referenced to two different power supply domains. This is shown in FIG. 3. A first power domain has a positive voltage at the Vdda level (primarily used as the supply for analog circuit blocks, and is thus referred to as the analog supply of the locked loop circuit) and a second power domain has a positive voltage at the Vddb level (primarily used as the supply for digital circuit blocks, and is thus referred to as the digital supply of the locked loop circuit). In a typical implementation, Vddb is less than Vdda, but it will be understood that this is just an example. The phase-frequency detector circuit 60, charge pump 62, filter circuit 64 and voltage-to-current converter 66 are powered from the Vdda level of the first power supply domain. The level shifter circuit 54 and frequency divider circuit 56 are powered from the Vddb level of the second power supply domain. A further level shifting circuit 58 receives the oscillating feedback signal 15 Ffb and the oscillating reference signal 17 Fref and functions to level shift those oscillating signals from the Vddb level of the second power supply domain to the Vdda level of the first power supply domain. The level shifter circuit 54 functions to shift the oscillating output signal 13 Fout from the Vs voltage level to the Vddb level of the second power supply domain.
A power management circuit 80 is provided to generate the voltages of the two different power supply domains. From an input supply voltage Vsupply provided, for example, by an off-chip power supply, a reference voltage generator circuit 82, for example, a bandgap reference voltage generator circuit, is used to generate a reference voltage Vref (that may comprise the bandgap voltage Vbg). A first voltage regulator, for example, a low drop out (LDO) type linear voltage regulator 84, generates the Vdda level positive voltage for the first power supply domain from the supply voltage Vsupply and the reference voltage Vref, where Vref is reference voltage for the error amplifier of the regulator. A second voltage regulator, for example, a high drop out (HDO) type linear voltage regulator 86, generates the Vddb level positive voltage for the second power supply domain from the supply voltage Vsupply and the reference voltage Vref, where Vref is the reference voltage for the error amplifier of the regulator. The ground voltages for the first and second power supply domains may be shared in common or be separate. FIG. 4 shows a basic circuit diagram of a conventional a linear regulator circuit of the type used for the voltage regulators 84 and 86 with error amplifier 70 and power transistor 72 powered from the input supply voltage Vsupply and with an input of the error amplifier coupled to receive the reference voltage Vref. The voltage level of the regulated output voltage Vdda or Vddb is set by the resistive divider 74 in the feedback loop for the error amplifier.
Because of the relatively high oscillation frequency fo of the oscillating output signal fout and the large power consumption needed to generate the signal, the level shifter circuit 54 which functions to shift the frequency signal Fout to the Vddb level second power supply domain must be designed for high speed and high power operation. Thus, the level shifter circuit 54 is a significant consumer of current within the frequency synthesizer circuit 50. As the frequency synthesizer circuit 50 may be a component of a device powered by a battery, there is a need in the art address and reduce current consumption. There is an additional challenge in that the digital circuits, such as the level shifter circuit 54, must meet a certain maximum speed requirement even at a lowest possible supply voltage in the slow process corner and the worst case temperature value.

Frequency synthesizer with dynamically selected level shifting of the oscillating output signal


A blade assembly for attachment to a shaft that is rotatable about an axis on a conduit cleaner. The blade assembly has a hub defining an axis to be coaxial with the rotational axis of a shaft to which the blade is mounted. A cutting blade is attached to the hub so that the cutting blade does not project through the hub axis.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to conduit cleaners of the type employing a rotary cutting blade and, more particularly, to a cutting blade assembly for such a conduit cleaner which has cutting blades positively attached thereto in such a manner as to facilitate assembly and disassembly of the cutting blade assembly.
2. Background Art
Fluid powered conduit cleaners are well known in the art. An exemplary conduit cleaner is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,740,785, to Latall. High pressure water delivered to the Latall unit rotates a cutting blade assembly at the leading portion thereof and simultaneously exhausts angularly in a trailing direction through jets so as to impinge upon a conduit wall. This action causes propulsion of the unit and at the same time breaks up foreign matter within the conduit and scours the conduit wall, as to break loose deposits of fat, paraffin, and the like. A skid assembly guides the entire unit in translation against the conduit.
A typical cutting blade assembly has a hub mounted to a rotary shaft and a cutting blade, in the form of a flexible strip, that is wrapped in a substantially circular pattern. The blade is anchored to the hub by directing the free end of the blade radially through the center of the hub. This has generally been recognized as a preferred way of securely holding the blade in place.
The difficulty with the aforesaid arrangement is that the blade anchoring end obstructs the center of the hub so as to prohibit axial passage through the hub of a fastener, as would permit such a fastener to be accessed from the front of the unit. Instead, the hub is elongated to define an axially extending anchoring portion which accepts a fastener that is directed through aligned radial bores in the hub and shaft. This construction has several drawbacks which designers have, to this stage, been unable to overcome.
First of all, if more than one blade is anchored to the hub in the above manner, the penetrated hub becomes inherently weaker, and thus prone to failure.
A more serious problem is that of accessing the fastener/bolt that is used to attach the hub to the shaft. The bolt resides within a narrow space axially between the cutting blade and the motor housing and skid assembly. By lengthening the hub to facilitate access to this mounting bolt, the overall length of the unit is necessarily increased, which is undesirable. At the same time, this lengthening may weaken the hub which again makes it more prone to failure when subjected to normal operating torques.


A main transformer is arranged such that a load is connected to its secondary winding side. A first error amplifier generates a feedback signal that corresponds to the difference between a detection signal which indicates the electrical state of the load and a predetermined first reference voltage. A current generating resistor is arranged between a current generating transistor and a fixed voltage terminal. A second error amplifier is arranged such that the first input terminal receives the electric potential at a node that connects the current generating transistor and the current generating resistor, a predetermined second reference voltage is input to the second input terminal thereof, and the output terminal thereof is connected to the control terminal of the current generating transistor. An adjustment resistor is arranged between the output terminal of the first error amplifier and a node that connects the current generating transistor and the current generating resistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a load driving circuit configured to convert a DC current into an AC voltage, or to convert a DC voltage into a DC voltage, so as to drive a load.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, liquid crystal TVs, which provide a display having a thin shape and a large size, have been becoming popular as replacements for CRT-based TVs. Liquid crystal displays include multiple cold cathode fluorescent lamps (which will be referred to as "CCFLs" hereafter) or external electrode fluorescent lamps (which will be referred to as "EEFLs" hereafter) arranged on the back face of a liquid crystal panel on which video images are to be displayed, which are used as light-emitting backlights.
For example, a driving circuit for a fluorescent lamp includes an inverter configured to convert a DC input voltage obtained by smoothing a commercial AC voltage into an AC driving signal. The inverter is configured to adjust the driving signal such that the electrical state of the load, e.g., the current that flows through the load approaches a target value that corresponds to the desired luminance level.


A power supply unit includes a first power supply configured to supply electric power to a load using electric power supplied from an external power source; a second power supply configured to store the electric power supplied from the external power source and supply the stored electric power to the load; a no-power detecting unit configured to monitor a voltage of the external power source and detect no electric power from the external power source; and an output switching unit configured to switch the electric power to be supplied to the load to the electric power supplied from the second power supply when the no-power detecting unit detects no electric power. A first setting value that is a target output voltage of the first power supply is larger than a second setting value that is a target output voltage of the second power supply.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power supply unit and an image forming apparatus including the power supply unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus using an electrophotography process, such as copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, or a multifunction machine including these functions, includes a photosensitive element which is an image carrier, an image forming unit that includes a charging unit, an exposing unit, a developing unit, a transferring unit, and the like arranged around the photosensitive element, and a fixing unit (also referred to as a "fixing device") for fixing a toner image transferred to a transfer sheet by the transferring unit. A fixing roller including a heater (fixing heater) is provided in the fixing unit, and a heater control device that controls supply of electric power to the fixing heater is also provided in order to maintain a surface temperature (fixing temperature) of the fixing roller to a target temperature.
In recent years, with multi-function of such an image forming apparatus, the structure thereof has also become complex and maximum power consumption tends to increase.
Further, the amount of power supplied (fed) to a fixing heater tends to increase in order to decrease a standby period of an operator and factors associated with an image forming apparatus itself such as a standby period before a fixing unit starts or a temporary halt of an operation due to a decrease in a fixing temperature during printing or copying.
On the other hand, since there is an upper limit power that can be supplied from a commercial power supply, when only a first power supply (main power supply) that supplies power from the commercial power supply is used, power consumption may exceed the maximum power consumption. Thus, an image forming apparatus that uses a second power supply (auxiliary power supply) that includes an electric storage device and a power supply circuit that uses electric power of the electric storage device as a power source and supplies electric power to a system by switching the first and second power supplies is already known.
However, in such an image forming apparatus, there is a possibility that an abnormality occurs in the output from the first power supply due to an overvoltage or an overcurrent, a voltage variation, and the like during a recovery (power failure recovery) from a power-cut state due to a power failure. In this case, there is a problem in that switching from the output (power supply) of the second power supply to the output of the first power supply is not properly performed, and a normal recovery is not realized.
Thus, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-148581 discloses a technique in which in order to prevent deterioration of an image forming unit when a power failure occurs during printing, charged electric power of an auxiliary power supply (second power supply) used as a power supplying unit for supplying electric power to a fixing heater is supplied to an image forming unit to continue an image forming process during a power failure so that respective units are not damaged even when the supply of electric power from a main power supply is cut.
However, according to the disclosure of Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-148581, the configuration of the second power supply is not clear, and a voltage variation when switching of the output of the power supply occurs during startup or operations of the system is not taken into consideration. Thus, it is difficult to solve the problem that when an abnormality occurs in the output of the first power supply during a power failure recovery, switching from the output of the second power supply to the output of the first power supply is not properly performed, and a recovery is not properly realized.
Therefore, there is a need to allow a recovery to be realized properly without causing an abnormality in the output of a power supply even when a power failure occurs.

Power supply unit and image forming apparatus


For image recording/reproduction in a monitoring system, a monitoring image signal as inputted is converted into a plurality of time-serial digitized monitoring image frames to be stored temporarily in a first storage area. From the plurality of digitized monitoring image frames stored in the first storage area, a plurality of monitoring image frames relevant to at least one type of concerned event for monitoring are extracted to be stored in a second storage area. A monitored event database having a data structure comprised of elements each containing information concerning a storing location of relevant monitoring image frame in the second storage area and information concerning attributes of the relevant monitoring image frame for each of the monitoring image frames stored in the second storage area is generated to be stored in a third storage area. In response to a perusal request issued by user by using a WEB browser and sent via a network, the monitored event database is searched for acquiring a storing location of plural monitoring image frames relevant to the perusal request in the second storage area to thereby select from the second storage area a plurality of monitoring image frames relevant to the perusal request. The selected plural monitoring image frames are converted into HTML data to be sent to a display device connected via a network to be displayed on a display device in a two-dimensional layout or in the form of time-serial animation.

The present invention relates generally to an image recording/playback apparatus which is designed for use in a system for monitoring various events taking place in a place concerned by making use of movie techniques. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with an improvement of the image recording/playback apparatus which makes it possible to survey and/or retrieve a monitoring picture or image recorded over an extended period within a short time on the order of one several-tenth of the recording period. Further, the present invention is concerned with a image recording/playback method and a recording medium which stores the method in the form of a program executable with a computer.
In a place such as supermarket, convenience store, elevator hall or the like which is frequented by a large number of persons and which is difficult to be surveyed by a person in charge of management or watching, a monitoring camera is installed for the purpose of preventing accidents and/or crimes in advance. In this conjunction, the monitoring system for monitoring the places such as mentioned above by viewing the moving images or pictures taken by such monitoring camera can generally be classified into two types, i.e., a system which necessitates a constant survey of collected images picked up by the monitoring cameras by a person at a center station (hereinafter referred to as the online-type monitoring system) and a system in which pictures or images taken by the monitoring camera are stored accumulatively for allowing survey and inspection thereof later as occasion requires, e.g. upon commitment of offense or crime (hereinafter this type of monitoring system will be referred to as a storage-type monitoring system). The storage-type monitoring system involves scarcely personnel expenses when compared with the online-type monitoring system. For this reason, the former is adopted widely in practical applications. At this juncture, it is noted that in the storage-type monitoring system, a time-lapse video recorder is primarily employed for storing and playback the pictures or images as picked up by the monitoring camera.
With the time-lapse video recorder, such a video recorder is meant which is modified on the basis of a conventional video recorder such that the time interval for recording the images at a rate of thirty frames per second is increased to an interval on the order of several frames per second for recording only sparsely. Thus, with the time-lapse video recorder based on the conventional video recorder, it is possible to perform the recording over a period of about 180 hours (about eight days) by recording at the rate of one frame per second by using a tape medium capable of recording over 120 minutes with the conventional video recorder. Of course, by increasing the frame interval, recording can be performed over a further extended period which will however be accompanied with dropout of image of some object under monitoring, to a disadvantage. For this reason, the recording interval which exceeds one second or so is not adopted in practical applications. Further, it is conceivable to use a tape medium which can ensure a recording duration which exceeds 120 minutes or so. However, in consideration of durability (or possibility of breakage) of the tape medium, the tape which allows recording over 120 minutes or so is usually employed. Such being the circumstances, the longest recording time duration of the time-lapse video recorder based on the conventional video recorder is approximately 180 hours.
Image recording is performed starting from the leading end of the tape toward the trailing end thereof. Upon reaching the trailing end of the tape in the image recording operation, tape rewinding operation is automatically put into effect, whereon overwriting operation is performed, starting again from the leading end of the tape. In this manner, a series of images can be stored ordinarily over a time span of 180 hours or so at maximum. For perusing or surveying the images as recorded, substantially same method as that for the conventional video recorder can be resorted to. However, when the images recorded by the time-lapse video recorder based on the video recorder are to be reproduced straightforwardly in a same manner as the picture recorded by the conventional video recorder, the playback speed may amount to be thirtyfold.
Accordingly, the time-lapse video recorder is ordinarily provided with a mechanism for allowing the recorded images to be reproduced at a rate of several frames per second.
Among the time-lapse video recorders, there has been developed such a recorder in which a digital recording on a hard disk is adopted. With the time-lapse video recorder which is based on the VHS video recorder, the recording head may be damaged because recording/stop operations are mechanically repeated. Besides, the tape medium is likely to become degraded, incurring deterioration of quality of the reproduced images. These problems can certainly be solved by the digital recorder mentioned above. Parenthetically, the digital recorder is generally termed the digital time-lapse video recorder distinctively from the time-lapse video recorder based on the conventional VHS video recorder.
As will now be appreciated from the foregoing, monitoring images can be stored over an extended time period with the time-lapse video recorder. However, the time-lapse video recorder suffers serious problems with regard to the image reproduction for the survey or perusal. Firstly, it has to be pointed out that several times as long as the recording time of the recording medium (120 minutes in the case of the video tape) will be taken for observing thoroughly all the images or pictures recorded during the extended period of for 180 hours. Secondly, effectiveness of search and/or perusing (or surveying) operations is extremely poor because of disordered states of the objects concerned with images of significance and insignificance being recorded concurrently and alternately. In the present state of the art, reproduction is performed simply from the leading end of the tape while observing the images only rumblingly, which will often result in failure to notice the image of interest or concern, to a great disadvantage.
As is apparent from the above, the perusal of the images recorded accumulatively with the time-lapse video recorder imposes a great burden on the user because of necessity for concentrative observation of the images over a much extended time period.
At this juncture, it should be added that as an approach for solving the problems mentioned above, there has already been proposed such a monitoring system in which an infrared sensor such as a man-sensor is combined with the time-lapse video recorder. However, such system suffers many drawbacks. Firstly, with the time-lapse video recorder based on the VHS video recorder, mechanical portion for effectuating the recording/stop operations will be damaged at a relatively high failure rate because of frequent on/off operations. Secondly, reliability can not be ensured in respect to the effective coverage range of the sensor and the sensitivity thereof. Thirdly, high cost will be involved in retrofitting the monitoring system. For these reasons, combination of the sensor with the time-lapse video recorder is seldom adopted in the practical applications, leaving the aforementioned problems unsolved.
The fundamental problem of the conventional time elapse video recorder can be found in that the image data as inputted to the recorder are simply recorded on a time serial basis without performing any classification of the data. In this conjunction, let""s suppose a case where a person monitors a certain place as to occurrence of some event. In that case, he or she will take notes of the events such as, for example, coming-in/out of persons, positional changes of equipment or the like for classification and orderly arrangement with a view to facilitating the search or retrieval of the events as recorded. Further, upon perusal or survey, only the images of concern (e.g. images showing features of incomers or intruders, destruction of equipment or facilities, theft of something valuable) will first be checked briefly and thereafter examined in detail without haste. Contrivance of this sort will become more important as the time taken for the monitoring increases.
It goes without saying that even in the monitoring system in which the time-lapse video recorder is employed as the image recording/playback apparatus, capability of orderly arrangement, classification and selection of the images which would be performed if the images are handled by a person, as mentioned above, can contribute considerably to reduction of the time taken for the search while alleviating significantly the burden imposed mentally on the user.
As will be understood from the foregoing, the conventional image recording/playback apparatus typified by the time-lapse video recorder suffers drawbacks in respect to the storage of images with classification and orderly arrangement and the surveying facility which allows the user to search the image of concern without any appreciable difficulty.
In the light of the state of the art described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording/playback apparatus for a monitoring system which apparatus can perform recording and reproduction of monitoring images very effectively and conveniently for the user.
More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording apparatus, a monitoring system and a monitoring method which can detect various events occurring in a place subjected to the monitoring and store the images with classification and orderly arrangement in dependence on the types or species of the events while presenting an interface capable of reducing significantly the time taken for the user to survey or peruse the images.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a recording medium which stores the monitoring method in the form of a program or programs executable by a computer.
In view of the above and other objects which will become apparent as the description proceeds, there is provided according to an aspect of the present invention an image recording/playback apparatus for a monitoring system which apparatus includes a unit for inputting and digitizing images on a time-serial basis, an input image displaying unit for displaying the image being inputted currently, a monitored event detecting unit for detecting a monitored event from the image as inputted, an image recording decision unit for deciding whether the image as inputted is to be stored or not on the basis of the event as detected, an image storing unit for storing an image which is decided to be recorded by the image recording decision unit, a monitored event storing unit for recording a storage location of the image as stored and the monitored event information as detected, an image selecting/disposing unit for searching the event information which meets user""s perusal demand and selecting the images for perusal to thereby lay out the event(s) together with the information thereof, and a monitoring information display unit for displaying one or a plurality of the images and/or the event information as laid out.
As the recording medium for the image storing unit and the monitored event storing unit mentioned above, a hard disk, a DVD-RAM or a random access memory of flash-memory type may be employed.
Further, the monitored event detecting unit mentioned above may be implemented by resorting to a scheme which is disclosed, for example, in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,692 titled xe2x80x9cMOVING OBJECT DETECTING APPARATUSxe2x80x9d. According to this method, presence/absence of change of the background structure, presence/absence of change of illumination, presence/absence of a moving object and the like are detected, respectively, as monitored events on the basis of difference degree between the images inputted upon sampling and an image recorded in the past. Further, a region of flesh color is detected. Additionally, decision is made as to whether or not a face candidate area or field exists in the scene in which a moving object is found. On the basis of the results of the detection and the decision mentioned above, monitored event such as xe2x80x9cpresence of a person whose face is presented most closely to the monitoring cameraxe2x80x9d is detected.
In a preferred mode for carrying out the invention, the aforementioned image recording decision unit may be so designed as to decide whether or not the recording is to be performed in consideration of the latest monitored event, species/histories of the events already detected, difference between the time point at which the immediately preceding image was recorded and the current time point, residual capacities of the media employed in the various storage units, minimum time duration for storage as designated by the user.
Further, the monitored event storing means mentioned previously may preferably be so designed as to store characteristic quantities concerning the monitored event(s) such as the location where the image is to be stored in the image storing unit, date/time of occurrence and termination of the event, position of the event within the image frame, a camera identifier (or identifier of the place being monitored) in the case where decision is made that image recording is to be performed for the event(s).
In another preferred mode for carrying out the present invention, the image selecting/disposing unit may be so designed as to search or retrieve the monitored event information in accordance with the user""s survey request such as, for example, xe2x80x9ca list of detected face imagesxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9ca list of events occurred within given one hourxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cdisplay in animation the images recorded for a given monitored eventxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9ca list of changes of installations at a place being monitoredxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cdistribution of monitored events in one dayxe2x80x9d and the like, to thereby generate a screen image for a display unit by selectively disposing the appropriate images in a manner easy for viewing by the user. Parenthetically, rules/algorithms concerning the objects for search or retrieval and the image/layouts for each of the screen images may previously be incorporated as firmware in the apparatus.
In yet another preferred mode for carrying out the present invention, there may be provided additionally a unit for establishing synchronism among a plurality of images being displayed or monitored event information in accordance with surveying operation performed by the user.
By virtue of the arrangement mentioned above, an interface which enables display of plural images in association with one another can be realized, whereby the monitored event information as well as the images can be presented to the user very efficiently and multilaterally.
The above and other objects, features and attendant advantages of the present invention will more easily be understood by reading the following description of the preferred embodiments thereof taken, only by way of example, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, being appreciated that many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the techniques disclosed herein.

Image recording/reproducing apparatus in monitor system


A cross head mounted at an end portion of an extruder for extruding a parison between a pair of elements of a metallic mold and a filling nozzle lifting apparatus having a filling nozzle are provided in parallel, and opening and closing of the metallic mold by a mold clamping apparatus, back and forth movement of the mold clamping apparatus between a parison receiving position and a filling position by a metallic mold feeding apparatus, upward and downward movement of the filling nozzle and back and forth movement of a parison cutter of a parison cutting apparatus are electrically operated. Further, a metallic mold body of the metallic mold is formed from a ventilation material, through which air in the metallic mold is sucked by vacuum to expand the parison. Furthermore, a clean air box is constructed so that it can accommodate the filling nozzle, and clean air is jetted from a jetting hole provided in a lower wall of the clean air box so that a clean air atmosphere may be provided above the metallic mold.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a simultaneous filling blow molding method and apparatus, and more particularly to a simultaneous filling blow molding method and apparatus which prevents pollution to a molded article arising from invasion of foreign substances and eliminates germs from the molded article.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a medicine or food is filled into a hollow article molded by a blow molding apparatus, prevention of pollution to and elimination of germs from the inside of the hollow article must be achieved. One of conventionally known blow molding methods and apparatus of the type mentioned is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication Application No. Heisei 7-35089 and is described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.
As shown in FIG. 1, a parison molding nozzle 71 which opens downwardly is provided on a cross head 70 attached to an end portion of an extruder (not shown). A metallic mold 74 held on a movable frame 72 by means of a holding plate 73 is opened and closed by a driving cylinder (not shown) incorporated in the movable frame 72. The movable frame 72 is supported on a frame 76 by means of a pair of link arms 75. A connection block 77 is provided projectingly on the rear face of the movable frame 72, and a driving cylinder 78 is disposed between the connection block 77 and the frame 76. As the driving cylinder 78 is expanded and contracted, the movable frame 72 can be moved back and forth between a parison receiving position (solid line in FIG. 1) in which the metallic mold 74 is positioned just below the cross head 70 and a blow position (imaginary line in FIG. 1) in which the metal mold 74 is positioned just below blow cylinders 79 which will be hereinafter described.
As seen from FIG. 2, each of the blow cylinders 79 is formed from a fixed casing 80 and a movable rod 81, and an air mandrel 82 is connected to an end of the rod 81. The blow cylinder 79 can drive the rod 81 and the air mandrel 82 upwardly and downwardly by an air pressure or a hydraulic pressure, and the air mandrel 82 can jet clean air from an end thereof when an air source is connected to the air mandrel 82. An accommodating case 84 is mounted on the lower face of a horizontal base 83 to which the blow cylinders 79 are attached. The accommodating case 84 has a fully enclosed structure except that it has, in a bottom wall thereof, round holes 84a for passing the rods 81 and the air mandrels 82 therethrough. Air pipes 87 for supplying clean air are accommodated in the accommodating case 84, and the accommodating case 84 is normally filled with clean air. It is to be noted that the accommodating case 84 can accommodate the entire of the air mandrels 82 when the air mandrels 82 is moved upwardly.
As shown in FIG. 3, seal dies 85 are provided between the lower face of the accommodating case 84 and the upper face of the metallic mold 74 and are opened or closed by a cylinder not shown to seal an upper end portion of a parison.
Operation of the blow molding apparatus is described below.
When parisons 86 are extruded to a fixed length from the parison molding nozzles 71, the metallic mold 74 is closed, and the parisons 86 is cut by cutter apparatus not shown provided on the cross head 70. Then, the movable frame 72 is moved to the blow position. Then, if the blow cylinders 79 are expanded there, then the ends of the blow cylinders 79 are inserted into the parisons 86 in the metallic mold 74 (imaginary line in FIG. 2), and therefore, the parisons 86 can be blow molded by blowing clean air into the parisons 86. It is to be noted that, as seen in FIG. 3, before the air mandrel 82 is moved upwardly, the seal dies 85 stand by at a position a little above the level of the upper face of the metallic mold 74 at which they hold the air mandrels 82 therebetween, and if the air mandrels 82 are moved upwardly, then the seal dies 85 are closed to mold and seal upper end portions of the parisons 86. Thereafter, if the metallic mold 74 is opened and the seal dies 85 are opened, then such hollow articles each having such a cap element as shown in FIG. 4 are discharged downwardly. By thereafter repeating similar operations, hollow articles can be produced successively. In the operations described above, the air mandrels 82 are cleaned by clean air supplied from the air pipes 87 while they remain accommodated in the accommodating case 84.
Since the blow molding method and apparatus described in the prior art is constructed in such a manner as described above, it has the following subjects.
(a) After a hollow article wherein an opening of a vessel body is temporarily closed up with a cap element is molded, it is transported to a filling apparatus provided separately. Then, by the filling apparatus, only the outside of the hollow article is sterilized and the upper end is unsealed, and then filling and sealing are performed. Where the blow molding apparatus and the filling apparatus are formed separately from each other in this manner, temporary sealing, unsealing, filling and capping steps are required to produce a filled up hollow article. Consequently, the process is complicated, and a sterilizing operation must be performed in each of the steps.
(b) In a process wherein the metallic mold is moved back and forth in an inclined direction between the parison receiving position just below the cross head and the blow position in which the metallic mold is positioned just below the blow cylinder, there is the possibility that some foreign substances may be admitted into the inside of the parison.
(c) Since the ends of the air mandrels are inserted into parisons in the metallic mold and air from the air source is blown into the parisons to blow mold the parisons, there is the possibility that some foreign substances may be admitted into the insides of the parisons from the air source or a pipe system.
(d) The risk that, if hydraulic operating fluid leaks from the driving cylinders, hydraulic units or the pipe system used for the movement of the metallic mold, for the opening and closing of the metallic mold or for the upward and downward movement of the air mandrels, then hollow articles may be polluted or mist of the hydraulic operating fluid may enter the insides of the parisons or otherwise the inner faces of the hollow articles may be polluted is always present. Particularly, if hydraulic operating fluid leaks from the driving cylinders for the air mandrels, then since hollow articles are present below the driving cylinders, there is the possibility that the hydraulic operating fluid may enter the hollow articles via the air mandrels.
(e) Where the cutter of each of the cutter apparatus for cutting a parison is an electrothermal hot cutter, there is the possibility that the parison (plastic) may be molted by the heated cutter until volatile gas or fine carbonized particles of the plastic are scattered into the air and the inside of the parison is polluted with them.
(f) Since a filling cylinder which sucks and discharges a fixed amount of liquid is usually used for filling of liquid by a filling apparatus, the liquid is likely to stay in the inside of the filling cylinder and so forth and cleaning or sterilization of it cannot be performed readily.

Simultaneous filling blow molding method and apparatus


A belt clamping pressure setting device includes: a belt clamping pressure setting unit that sets a belt clamping pressure of a continuously variable transmission that includes an input-side pulley, an output-side pulley, and a belt running between the input-side pulley and the out-side pulley; an input revolution detection sensor that detects a number of input revolutions of the input-side pulley; an output revolution detection sensor that detects a number of output revolutions of the output-side pulley; an input torque detection unit that detects an input torque to the input-side pulley; a reference clamping pressure computing unit that computes a reference clamping pressure, based on the number of input revolutions detected by the input revolution detection sensor, the number of output revolutions detected by the output revolution detection sensor, and the input torque detected by the input torque detection unit; and a belt clamping pressure computing unit that computes the belt clamping pressure to be set by the belt clamping pressure setting unit based on the reference clamping pressure and a correction value computed in accordance with the number of input revolutions detected by the input revolution detection sensor or a torque fluctuation frequency obtained from the number of input revolutions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and a method for setting belt clamping pressure, and, more particularly, to a belt clamping pressure setting device and method, by which belt clamping pressure is set for a continuously variable transmission (CVT).
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been proposed a CVT hydraulic control device by which clutch pressure for forward and reverse motion can be set in accordance with engine torque in a CVT (for example, refer to the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 4-357336).
The CVT hydraulic control device judges whether the engine torque has changed or not, and, when it has changed, it judges whether the changed amount is equal to or larger than a predetermined value or not. When the amount is equal to or larger than the predetermined value, a correction amount, by which clutch pressure corresponding to the changed amount is set, for a duty ratio of an electromagnetic valve, is calculated according to a formula (3) disclosed in JP-A No. 4-357336. Then, deterioration in the response of duty control time to torque fluctuations is prevented by directly adding the correction amount to the duty ratio for hydraulic pressure.
The above-described CVT hydraulic control device controls pressure for clamping the CVT belt (belt clamping pressure) so that the pressure is increased at any time when the torque fluctuations are equal to or larger than a predetermined value, regardless of the values of the torque fluctuations, that is, the number of input revolutions of the CVT.
However, there is actually a case in which the belt clamping pressure is sufficient, even if the torque fluctuations are equal to or larger than the predetermined value. Therefore, there has been a problem that there is increased pumping loss in the CVT hydraulic control when the belt clamping pressure is forced to be increased under circumstances in which the torque fluctuations are equal to or larger than the predetermined value, and as a result, the fuel consumption is caused to be lowered.

Device and method for setting belt clamping pressure


There is provided a connector inspection system. A connector housing to be inspected includes reference flat surfaces formed by straight extending in an insertion direction of a connecting terminal in a top side outer peripheral region of a terminal receiving part so as not to overlap with a mounting range of a packing attachment surface, and an inspection jig includes guide flat surfaces for slidably making surface contact with the reference flat surfaces in the case of inserting a detecting pin into a hole for inspection of the connector housing, and a position and a direction of insertion of the inspection jig into the connector housing are regulated by sliding contact between the reference flat surfaces and the guide flat surfaces.

FIGS. 10 to 12 show a conventional connector inspection system for detecting whether or not an attachment state of a connecting terminal in a connector housing is proper.
A connector inspection system 1 shown herein is disclosed in JP-A-7-296931, and includes a connector housing 3 to be inspected, and an inspection jig 5 attached to the front end side of the connector housing 3 as shown in FIG. 10.
The connector housing 3 includes a terminal receiving part 11 having a terminal receiving chamber 9 to which a connecting terminal 7 is inserted and attached, lance retraction space 13 mounted inside the terminal receiving part 11 adjacently to the terminal receiving chamber 9, a lance 15 for locking the connecting terminal 7 in which proper insertion into the terminal receiving chamber 9 is completed, a hole 17 for inspection, and a lock mechanism 18 for being joined to the other connector.
The lance 15 includes an elastic piece 15a extending along an insertion direction of the connecting terminal 7 in one side of the terminal receiving chamber 9, and a locking protrusion 15b protruding from a free end of the elastic piece 15a inside the terminal receiving chamber 9.
This lance 15 retracts in the lance retraction space 13 by elastic displacement by interference with the connecting terminal 7 during insertion of the connecting terminal 7 as shown in FIG. 12. Then, at the time of completing the insertion of the connecting terminal 7, the lance 15 returns from the lance retraction space 13 to the side of the terminal receiving chamber 9 by an elastic restoring force of the elastic piece 15a, and locks the connecting terminal 7.
The hole 17 for inspection extends through a front end wall of the terminal receiving part 11 along the insertion direction of the connecting terminal 7 and communicates with the lance retraction space 13 as shown in FIG. 11.
The inspection jig 5 includes plural detecting pins 19 capable of being inserted into the hole 17 for inspection, and a jig body 21 for supporting the plural detecting pins 19 in correspondence with an arrangement pitch of the hole 17 for inspection in the terminal receiving part 11 as shown in FIG. 10.
When the insertion of the connecting terminal 7 into the terminal receiving chamber 9 is incomplete (during the insertion) in the case of the connector inspection system 1 described above, the lance 15 is depressed to the side of the lance retraction space 13 by the connecting terminal 7 as shown in FIG. 12.
When the detecting pin 19 is inserted into the hole 17 for inspection in a state of the incomplete insertion of the connecting terminal 7 thus, during the insertion of the detecting pin 19, the top of the detecting pin 19 collides with the lance 15 and a length of the insertion of the detecting pin 19 into the hole 17 for inspection does not reach a prescribed length.
That is, the connector inspection system 1 described above detects whether or not an attachment state of the connecting terminal 7 in the connector housing 3 is proper by deciding whether or not the length of the insertion of the detecting pin 19 into the hole 17 for inspection reaches the prescribed length.
As the inspection jig 5 used in such a connector inspection system 1, an inspection jig which can perform a continuity test of the connecting terminal 7 and has a probe 23 for making contact with the connecting terminal 7 when the length of the insertion of the detecting pin 19 into the hole 17 for inspection reaches the prescribed length as shown in FIG. 13 is also proposed.
JP-A-7-296931 is discussed as a conventional art.