For an automatic transmission for a vehicle such as an automobile having a first friction engaging means such as a clutch which is switched over between engagement and disengagement between two adjacent speed stages such as the third speed stage and the fourth speed stage and a second friction engaging mechanism such as a brake which is engaged at two spaced apart jumping apart speed stages such as the fourth speed stage under D range and the second speed stage under S range, a hydraulic control device switches over such two friction engaging means by a first shift valve for three speed stages such as the fourth, third and second speed stages with a help of second shift valve for switching over the second speed stage and the third speed stage. A drain port of the first shift valve is supplied with a hydraulic pressure from an S port of a manual shift valve through the second shift valve.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydraulic control device for an automatic transmission for a vehicle such as an automobile, and more particularly, to a hydraulic control device for such an automatic transmission having two parallelly arranged input clutches which are selectively engaged or disengaged in providing a plurality of speed stages.
2. Descriptions of the Prior Art
The hydraulically operated automatic transmission for a vehicle such as an automobile generally includes a hydraulically operated input clutch which is sometimes called a forward clutch and which, when engaged, connects the speed stage shifting gear mechanism of the transmission to a rotational power input member therefor which is generally a rotational output member of the fluid torque converter forming an power inlet portion of the automatic transmission. Such a forward clutch is engaged to provide all forward speed stages available by the transmission by a hydraulic pressure supplied thereto under the control of the manual shift valve when it is shifted to any one of forward drive ranges such as the so-called D range, S range, and L range. The manually operated shift valve generally never fails to provide a hydraulic pressure to the forward clutch when it is shifted to either one of the forward drive ranges. Therefore, it is generally improbable that the vehicle equipped with such a hydraulically operated automatic transmission is disabled to drive forward due to non engagement of the forward clutch.
In Japanese Patent Application No. 62-195471 filed on Aug. 5, 1987 and laid open to public on Feb. 13, 1989, two of the inventors of the present invention have proposed an automatic transmission for a vehicle such as an automobile in which a speed stage shifting mechanism includes two parallel arranged input clutches and is adapted so that a first one of the two input clutches is engaged when it provides a first speed stage, a second speed stage and a third speed stage, whereas a second one of the two input clutches is engaged when it provides the third speed stage and a fourth speed stage. Therefore, with regard to the two input clutches there exist three conditions for forward driving of the vehicle that the first clutch only is engaged, the first and the second clutch are both engaged, and the second clutch only is engaged. In other words, the switching over of the two clutches is not an alternative selection. In order to operate such a transmission mechanism automatically, provided that the clutches are of a hydraulically operable type, normally at least two automatically operable hydraulic pressure switching over valves would be required.
On the other hand, when a certain friction engaging means such as a brake incorporated in the automatic transmission is adapted to be engaged in a certain speed stage such as the fourth speed stage under a certain vehicle operating condition such as normal engine driving and further to be engaged in another speed stage different more than one speed stage from said certain speed stage such as the second speed stage under another vehicle operating condition such as engine braking, the switching over of supply and exhaust of hydraulic pressure to and from said certain friction engaging means would not be available by a certain shift valve which switches over speed stages between said certain speed stage such as the fourth speed stage and a speed stage directly adjacent said certain speed stage such as the third speed stage or another certain valve which switches over speed stages between said another speed stage such as the second speed stage and a speed stage directly adjacent said another speed stage such as the third speed stage.

Hydraulic control device for automatic transmission for vehicle having friction engaging means operative in two jumping apart speed stages


A rotor for permanent magnet synchronous machines with a reduction in the stray flux transmitted through the rotor shaft includes substantially ring-shaped punched sheet metal plates with a central opening for receiving the rotor shaft, and a plurality of recesses arranged in the circumferential direction, wherein at least two permanent magnets can be inserted in each of the recesses. A corresponding intermediate sheet metal segment is arranged or can be arranged in each of the recesses between the permanent magnets. At least one of the recesses is shaped so as to form an air gap between the surface of the intermediate sheet metal segment that is oriented radially inwardly towards the center and an edge of the recess that is oriented radially outwardly from the center, when the permanent magnets are inserted radially towards the outside. The air gap aids in attenuating the stray flux.

This application claims the priority of German Patent Application Serial No. 101 53 750.6, filed Oct. 31, 2001, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a rotor for an electric machine, in particular a permanent magnet (PM) synchronous machine. More particularly, the present invention relates to a punched sheet metal unit for electrical machines with a substantially ring-shaped punched metal plate, which has its center an opening for receiving a shaft, and a plurality of recesses arranged along the periphery of the metal plate, wherein one or more corresponding permanent magnets can be inserted in the recesses.
The permanent magnets in a rotor of asynchronous machines excited with permanent magnets are embedded radially in the rotor iron. The permanent magnets can be arranged in a flux concentration arrangement and magnetized alternatingly with different tangential magnetization directions. A rotor of this type is described in EP 0 803 962 A1. The punched sheet metal packet of the rotor described therein has an opening for receiving a holding element in the form of a hollow cylinder. This holding element secures the permanent magnets in the gaps of the sheet metal packet and should be made of a non-magnetic material to avoid stray flux. The sheet metal packet is held with screws between two coupling flanges to ensure its stability. The bolts and/or screws extend through both coupling flanges as well as through the sheet metal packet.
Rotors with permanent magnets implemented in a flux-concentrating design have a fundamental problem in that stray flux "PHgr"s can propagate through the shaft. The stray flux "PHgr"s can be reduced by employing non-magnetic materials, air gaps or easily saturable, thin soft-magnetic junction elements between the permanent magnet and the shaft. However, such arrangements disadvantageously either use expensive materials and have a complex design, or still exhibit a residual, potentially significant stray flux.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved rotor for a permanent magnet synchronous machine to obviate prior art shortcomings and to minimize the stray flux transmitted through the shaft while retaining a simple design of the sheet metal packet.
According to one aspect of the invention, a punched sheet metal unit for electrical machines with a substantially ring-shaped punched metal plate has in its center an opening for receiving a shaft, and a plurality of recesses arranged in the circumferential direction, wherein at least two permanent magnets can be inserted in each of the recesses. A corresponding intermediate sheet metal segment is arranged or can be arranged in each of the recesses between the permanent magnets. At least one of the recesses is shaped so as to form an air gap between the surface of the intermediate sheet metal segment that is oriented radially inwardly towards the center and an edge of the recess that is oriented radially outwardly from the center, when the permanent magnets are inserted radially towards the outside.
According to another aspect of the invention, a punched sheet metal module includes a plurality of connected punched sheet metal units sequentially arranged in an axial direction, with the punched sheet metal units including a substantially ring-shaped punched metal plate having a central opening adapted to receive a shaft, a plurality of recesses formed in the metal plate and arranged in a circumferential direction of the metal plate, each of said recesses adapted to receive at least two permanent magnets, and an intermediate sheet metal segment arranged between the at least two permanent magnets. The intermediate sheet metal segment has a peripheral edge and an inward edge facing the opening, wherein an air gap is formed between the inward edge of the intermediate sheet metal segment and an edge of the recess proximate to the opening when the at least two permanent magnets are inserted in such a way as to contact the respective recesses.
Embodiments of the invention may include one or more of the following features. The air gap in at least one of the recesses can abut surfaces of the at least two permanent magnets that are oriented towards the opening. The intermediate sheet metal segments can be connected in a peripheral region of the punched sheet metal and also formed as one piece with the punched sheet metal. Additionally employed separation sheet metal segments which can be formed as one piece with the punched sheet metal can be provided to separate the recesses from each other. The separation sheet metal segments can be connected with adjacent intermediate sheet metal segments in a peripheral region of the punched metal plate.
Advantageously, at least one of the recesses can be open at a peripheral edge of the metal plate and at least one of the separation sheet metal segments can have at least one tangentially arranged nose formed proximate to the peripheral edge of the metal plate, wherein the nose can hold at least one of the permanent magnets disposed in a recess. The permanent magnets can also be held in place by providing the intermediate sheet metal segments on their inward edges with tangentially formed noses. Alternatively, to prevent the intermediate sheet metal segments and/or the permanent magnets from being ejected by the centrifugal force, at least one holding element can be disposed in a corresponding recess and configured to hold the at least two permanent magnets in the recess in a predetermined position. The holding element can be secured by providing mounting recesses in the inward edge of the intermediate sheet metal segment and in the edge of the recess proximate to the opening, wherein the mounting recesses can engage with the holding element. To minimize the stray flux, the holding element can be made of a non-magnetic material, such as aluminum, an aluminum alloy, brass, non-magnetic stainless steel and plastics.
The punched sheet metal units of the punched sheet metal module can be connected with each other by one or more bolts extending through the punched sheet metal units, an/or by impregnating, potting and/or gluing.

Rotor for a permanent magnet synchronous machine


A slatted bed base having an outer frame as well as a reclining surface which surface comprises at least two parts and is arranged at the outer frame, wherein at least one part is configured as a pivotable part, which is pivotable around a pivot axis relative to the outer frame by an adjustment unit from a flat position into at least one adjusted position, wherein the adjustment unit is pivotable relative to the outer frame about a first pivot point and relative to the pivotable part about a second pivot point. In order to provide a slatted bed base that can be produced in a particularly cost-efficient manner and at the same time has a compact construction mode as well as a low construction height, the first pivot point for arranging the adjustment unit relative to the outer frame is arranged between the pivot axis of the pivotable part and the second pivot point of the adjustment unit.

The invention relates to a slatted bed base having                an outer frame as well as        a reclining surface which comprises at least two parts and which is arranged on the outer frame, wherein        at least one part is configured as a pivotable part that can be pivoted around a pivot axis relative to the outer frame from a flat position into at least one adjusted position by means of an adjustment unit, wherein        the adjustment unit can be pivoted relative to the outer frame about a first pivot point and relative to the pivotable about a second pivot point.
Slatted bed bases of the above type are known in various configurations from the prior art. Slatted bed bases of such type are used in the private sector, particularly in combination with a bed stead as well as a mattress, but also in the medical sector as well as in the nursing care sector for hospital beds, care beds and senior care beds.
The pivotable arrangement of at least one part of the reclining surface allows adjusting the shape of the bed to the needs of the user. This finds application when adjusting into a desired sleeping position, e.g. by elevating a leg section, as well as when changing from the sleeping position into a sitting position of the user, for example.
In particular, it is known from the prior art to use an adjustment unit for pivoting at least part of the reclining surface, wherein one end of the adjustment unit is arranged opposite the outer frame of the slatted bed base and the other end is arranged at the pivotable part.
However, the slatted bed bases known from the prior art have the disadvantage that on the one hand a powerful and thus expensive adjustment unit is needed due to unfavorable geometric conditions and on the other hand, the slatted bed base has a great construction height particularly because of the adjustment unit. Furthermore, it is not possible to operate the slatted bed bases known from the prior art on an even base, respectively lying on the floor, since the adjustment units installed therein at the side of the outer frame opposite the reclining surface, which side is usually facing the floor, are arranged thereon in a protruding manner.


A set expansion system is described herein that uses general-purpose web data to expand a set of seed entities. The system includes a simple yet effective quality metric to measure the expanded set, and includes two iterative thresholding processes to rank candidate entities. The system models web data sources and integrates relevance and coherence measurements to evaluate potential set candidates using an iterative process. The system uses general-purpose web data that is not specific to the given seeds. The system defines quality of the result set as the sum of two component scores: the relevance of a set of entities that measures their similarity with the given seeds, and the coherence of the set of entities produced which is how closely the entities in the set are related to each other. Based on this quality measure, the system develops a class of iterative set expansion processes.

Set expansion refers to the practical problem of expanding a small set of "seed" entities, into a more complete set by discovering other entities that also belong to the same "concept set". Here a "concept set" can be any collection of entities that conceptually form a set that people have in mind, and "seeds" are the instances of entities in the set. As an example, a person wanting to discover all camera brand names may give a small number of well-known brand names like "Canon" and "Nikon" as seeds; the set expansion techniques would leverage the given data sources to discover other camera brands, such as "Leica", "Pentax" and "Olympus" that are also camera brands.
Set expansion systems are of practical importance and can be used in various applications. For instance, web search engines may use the set expansion tools to create a comprehensive entity repository (for, say, brand names of each product category), in order to deliver better results to entity-oriented queries. As another example, the task of named entity recognition can also leverage the results generated by set expansion tools.
Many efforts have been made over the years to develop high-quality set expansion systems. The most relevant efforts include Google Sets, which employs proprietary algorithms to do set expansions. However, due to its proprietary nature, algorithms and data sources behind Google Sets are not publicly available for future research endeavors. Another prominent line of work is the Set Expander for Any Language (SEAL) system, which adopts a two-phase strategy that first builds customized text wrappers based on the input seeds in order to extract candidate entities from web pages in a precise manner. The SEAL system then uses a graph-based random walk to rank candidates entities based on their closeness to the seeds on the graph. While this customized data extraction/ranking process can produce results with high quality, the necessary online data extraction can be costly and time-consuming.
There is a substantial amount of data on the web, but present set expansion techniques work poorly with noisy web data. Two readily available forms of general web data sources are Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) lists extracted from web pages by web crawls (henceforth referred to as web lists) and web search query logs (query logs). Such general-purpose web data can be highly useful for set expansion tasks: they are very diverse in nature, with rich information that covers most domains of interest. In addition, since these general data are not domain/seed specific, they can be pre-processed and optimized for efficiency purposes.
However, these general web data can be inherently noisy. Random walk or other similarity measures alone may not be sufficient to distinguish true results from the noises, especially when the number of seeds is limited. Random walk based ranking techniques used in previous work perform poorly on general-purpose web lists and query logs and produce results with low precision/recall. Partly because of that, previous approaches use seed-specific and page-specific wrappers to reduce the candidate set to a smaller and much cleaner subset over which the random walk based ranking techniques work reasonably well. However, this additional data extraction process is at the cost of overall architectural complexity and system responsiveness.


A circuit includes an input terminal, a first transistor, a second transistor, a comparator, a voltage reference circuit, and a control circuit. The first transistor includes a first terminal coupled to the input terminal. The second transistor includes a first terminal coupled to the input terminal. The comparator includes a first terminal coupled to the input terminal. The voltage reference circuit is coupled to a second terminal of the comparator. The control circuit includes an input, a first output, and a second output. The input is coupled to an output of the comparator. The first output is coupled to a second terminal of the first transistor. The second output is coupled to a second terminal of the second transistor.

In electronic circuits that provide power to operate a load circuit, it is desirable to detect an open load condition (e.g., a condition in which no load circuit is connected to the electronic circuit). More generally, the open load condition is defined as a condition in which the output current of the electronic circuit is less than a predetermined minimum current. The predetermined minimum current may be much smaller than a typical load current.


Systems and methods for modeling a three-dimensional protein structure are disclosed. The method includes receiving a primary amino acid sequence of a three-dimensional protein, translating the primary amino acid sequence to a first vector, determining a per-residue conformation index for each amino acid residue in the primary amino acid sequence, determining a vector set for each amino acid residue in the primary amino acid sequence, and using the per-residue interaction vector set to generate a multi-dimensional matrix for the three-dimensional protein structure. The first vector includes a unique numerical descriptor value corresponding to each amino acid residue in the primary amino acid sequence. The vector set includes a plurality per-residue interaction factors corresponding to a plurality of conformation indexes for that amino acid residue.

Biological processes are fundamentally realized at the atomic and molecular level. With few exceptions they are carried out by proteins. A protein is a biopolymer in which anywhere from about fifty to several thousand amino acids may be connected together by peptide bonds, typically in a linear sequence that is referred to as the primary structure of a protein. Under physiological conditions, each protein spontaneously folds into a unique three-dimensional structure, known as the tertiary structure of a protein. Shorter domains of regularly folded sequences (alpha helices, beta sheets, and reverse turns) form the secondary structure of a protein. Contemporary science is teeming with protein studies and derived technologies. For example, the biotechnology industry is dominated by proteins and has swollen to a conservatively estimated 2% of the US GDP. The largest contributors are biologics ($91B), crops and seeds ($128B), and biofuels, enzymes, biomaterials, and biochemical industrial products (>$105B). Despite this tremendous success, the biotechnology growth rate is significantly inhibited because its foundational molecular sciences lack a theory that qualitatively and quantitatively rationalizes—in tangible and direct terms—the relationship between primary sequence and protein structure and function. The native conformation of a protein, the tertiary structure, is closely related to its biological function. Hence, the prediction of protein conformation is not only of theoretical interest but is also of great importance for various applications and studies such as design of drugs, protein mutation studies, protein folding and engineering, or the like.
Consequently, such applications have grown to rely heavily on intelligent guesswork made possible by genomics, proteomics, informatics, and powerful experimental tools for mutagenesis and structure determination. Traditionally, methods of characterizing protein energetics rely heavily on all-atom computations informed by quantum mechanics. In the all-atom approach, the conformational energy is described as a mathematical function of geometrical variables inside the protein. However, such algorithms are computationally demanding and have been unable to provide qualitative guidelines, intuitive understanding, or energy-based (rather than informatics-based) predictive tools. Instead, the most computational models rely on large numbers of weak interactions to describe protein energetics. The difficulty may correspond to identifying governing principles of protein behavior due to obscuring details not yet clarified or may be intrinsic to all-atom calculations. For example, one challenge of folding a protein, through computer modeling and simulations using quantum mechanics, lies in finding the global minimum of the protein conformational energy landscape. There is sufficient experimental and theoretical evidence that the folded structure, or the native state, corresponds to a region close to the global energy minimum.
Thus, there is a need for improved and/or complementary analysis tools for understanding, predicting, and designing protein and/or peptide behavior, intra- and inter-protein interactions, and the three-dimensional structure of proteins based on the primary amino acid sequence.

Systems and methods for modeling a protein parameter for understanding protein interactions and generating an energy map

RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY


An arrangement for sealing functional unit interfaces includes a functional unit, an interface, and a sealing element. The interface has a first main surface, a second main surface, and an opening. The second main surface has a clamping section enclosing the opening. The functional unit has a front face with a counter-clamping section opposite the clamping section. The sealing element has a sealing body and a support element at least partially arranged within the sealing body. The sealing body has a first section clamped between the clamping section and the counter-clamping section. The opening is closed by a second section of sealing body, which is at least partially arranged between the opening and the front face. The support element is partially arranged in the first section and partially in the second section of the sealing body. The support element and the sealing body consist of different materials.

Functional unit interfaces provide at least one partition which at least partially separates a first space area and a second space area of a vehicle interior. A function unit being arranged in the second space area of a vehicle may be connected for their operation via lines with components disposed in first space area. Thus, the functional unit interface provides an opening through which at least one line extends.
In order to separate the first space area and the second space area fluidically, a molded sealing is arranged between the functional unit interface and the functional unit. A part of such a molded sealing is at least partially clamped by a clamping force between a clamping section of the functional unit interfaces and a counter-clamping section of the function unit. A lack of seal compression may lead to air or water leaks between the first space area and the second space area.
These types of molded seals for sealing around functional units, which may comprise an expansions valve or a heater pipe, typically are made of foam or rubber material. Evaporator frame seals are known which are enhanced with a rubber overmold. These molded seals have a low stiffness resulting in a sufficient seal compression in the vicinity of the limitation contour of the opening, but in an insufficient seal compression in the central area of the opening where a sufficient sealing is required and critical for a reliable operation.

Arrangement for sealing functional unit interfaces


A system and apparatus utilizes a source of coherent light located at the focal point of reflecting surfaces oriented to develop parallel beams of light extending over a given area with adjacent sides made to include arrays of light detectors scanned sequentially in a direction away from the source of light so as to detect the shadow cast by an object relative to the reflected light. Alternatively, a photodetector is positioned at the focal point of the reflectors to receive light emitted by individual ones of emitters. Reflecting surfaces are contemplated which simulate a parabolic shape.

Opto-matrix frames have been developed which utilize rows of light sources such as phototransmitters and light detectors such as photoreceptors in X and Y arrays to effectively cover a given area with light beams which, when broken by the insertion of a stylus such as a finger, provide an electronic signal or signals useful to indicate X-Y location of the stylus. Such frames have found widespread use in touch input or touch screen entry devices wherein the frames are fitted over the information display devices of computers and the like. U.S Pat. No. 4,267,443 titled "Photoelectric Input Apparatus" issued May 12, 1981 to Carroll et al. relates to the use of an opto-frame. Large opto-frames have also been conceived for providing security or safety in order to alarm or arrest the movement of machinery so as to prevent entry in unauthorized areas as for example, by the hand of an operator of a punch press relative to the closure of dies in the press.
As a general rule, the cost and complexity of opto-frames has heretofore been proportionate to the number of phototransmitters and photoreceptors employed which number is proportionate to the size of the area to be covered and the resolution desired. As a general rule, the closer together physically the light elements are, the higher the resolution or the ability to distinguish coordinate locations of a stylus or finger or the like penetrating the light beam array. Also as a generalization, the largest part of the cost of opto-frames is for the photoreceptor and phototransmitter devices and associated drive circuits.
With this understanding as background, it is an object of the present invention to reduce the cost of opto-frames by reducing the number of phototransmitters from that heretofore utilized. It is a further object of the invention to reduce the complexity and cost of opto-frames and other area scanning optical systems for detection and coordinate location purposes by substituting reflecting means for numbers of phototransmitters as heretofore employed. It is still a further object of the invention to reduce the numbers of phototransmitters and photoreceptors in applications of light beam area coverage wherein the presence of a stylus or other element breaking such beam must be detected It is a final object to provide a novel technique of reflecting light for a variety of purposes.


A submerged plasma generator includes: a reactor inside of which a flow path, through which a working fluid passes, is formed along a lengthwise direction; and a dielectric insert which is disposed in the flow path so as to define the flow path into one space and the other space, and has formed therein a through-hole to generate micro-nano bubbles by cavitation in the working fluid fed into the one space of the flow path, and includes, a metallic catalyst which undergoes friction with the working fluid flowing through the through-hole and releases electric charges of the same polarity to the micro-nano bubbles to collapse the micro-nano bubbles and generate plasma; in which the other space of the flow path in which the working fluid ionized by exposure to the plasma travels is formed in an oval structure.

Plasma refers to a gaseous state which is separated into electrons (e−) with negative charges and ions (A+: hydrogen atom nuclei) with positive charges at an ultra-high temperature. Further, the plasma also refers to a gas in which particles with electricity are gathered. The plasma has a very high charge separation degree, but is electrically neutral because the number of negative charges and the number of positive charges are totally the same. When a high energy is applied to a gas in a molecular state, the gas is separated into electrons and atomic nuclei at tens of thousands of ° C. to become a plasma state.
In other words, when an energy is applied to a solid, the solid becomes liquid and gas and then when a high energy is applied to the gaseous state again, the gas becomes an ionized state in which the outermost electron (e−) orbiting around the atomic nucleus deviates from the orbit (ionization energy) at tens of thousands of ° C. At this time, the gas becomes a substance in the other dimension in which a gas property of the molecular state is lost. The plasma is also referred to as a fourth substance state. In the ionized state, an atom A has a following structural formula.A atom⇔A++e−
The plasma is electrically neutral in a state in which the outermost electron orbiting around the atomic nucleus is dissociated so that positive ions and negative ions coexist. The plasmas are good electrical conductors.
Further, in the ionized state of the substance, energy is released by returning to its original stable state over the time. Typical plasma observed in the natural phenomenon is lightning and the aurora in the Arctic region and ion layers in the atmosphere are in the plasma state.
The plasma is a state in which the atomic nucleus and electrons are separated and is generated by applying a lot of heat to gaseous atom so that all atoms in the hot sun which is 15 million° C. or higher are in the plasma state.
The plasma may be the most common state in the universe. However, in order to use the plasma in everyday life, the plasma needs to be artificially produced. Efforts to artificially generate and commercialize plasma have been steadily promoted for a long time.
The plasma may be generated by applying heat or by applying a high electric field or a magnetic field to induce collision of electrons. Commonly, the plasma is generated using electrical methods such as direct current, an ultra-high frequency, and an electron beam and then needs to be maintained using the magnetic field and the like.
However, a technique of generating plasma with a high density through gas, which has been used in the related art is hard to be progressed to use the plasma as an energy because a material which has an input energy higher than an output energy or withstands an ultra-high temperature state which can confine the plasma has not been developed.
Further, the plasma is an energy source which is directly used for industrial purpose, but according to the plasma generating method of the related art, a contradiction that the plasma is generated using a lot of electricity and the electricity acquired thereby is used as an energy source is repeated so that there is a serious problem in that the efficiency of the energy usage is degraded.

Submerged plasma generator and application comprising same


A spin-roll formed one-piece field core shell formed from a blank disc of sheet metal. The one-piece field core has an outer annular ring integral to and encircling a center axis of the disc and extending from a bottom external surface in a direction that is perpendicular to the bottom surface of the disc and parallel to the center axis of the disc. The core has an inner annular ring integral to and encircling a center axis of the disc, the inner annular axis is spaced radially inward from the outer annular ring and extends from the bottom external surface in a direction that is perpendicular to the bottom surface of the disc and parallel to the center axis of the disc. The one-piece field core also contains a mounting flange that encircles a center axis of the disc and extends in a perpendicular direction to a top external surface of the disc and parallel to the center axis of the disc. The mounting flange includes a bore that extends from the top of the mounting flange to the bottom external surface of the disc.

This invention relates generally to a field core shell typically part of a field core assembly used on an electromagnetic clutch of the type found in automotive air conditioning systems to drive a compressor, and more particularly, to a one-piece field core shell and method of shaping the one-piece field core shell by spin-roll forming.
A typical electromagnetic clutch contains an annular electromagnet coil that fits into a wire winding pod section in the field core shell of a field core assembly.
Field core shells have traditionally been manufactured using a two-piece construction. As shown in FIGS. 1A-C, a press formed top angled piece is attached to a press formed annular bottom piece that contains inner and outer rings used to hold the wire windings of the electromagnetic coil. As illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,385, incorporated by reference, an integral blind tubular rivet is used to hold the top angled piece to the bottom piece, forming the completed assembly. This assembly is illustrated in cross-section in FIG. 1C.
Forming a field core shell from a two-piece construction described above and as shown in FIG. 1C is a time consuming and costly process. The cost of manufacturing two separate components that comprise the shell and the cost of assembling those components, may be reduced by forming a one-piece shell.
References in the automotive art that disclose spin-roll forming products from a single piece of metal include U.S. Pat. No. 4,388,817, U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,786, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,129. Each of these patents discloses a method of forming an automotive wheel from a single piece of metal wherein, during the wheel-forming process, a peripheral portion of the metal preform is split radially to form two annular split portions, which are then formed into different portions of the wheel rim.
The present invention relates to manufacturing a one-piece field core shell by using spin-roll forming methods. A one-piece field core shell that may be used in a field core assembly such as those found on an electromagnetic clutch of the type found in automotive air conditioning systems.
In accordance with one aspect, the present invention provides for a field core shell made from a single piece of metal typically, a solid circular disk, by a spin-roll forming process. The spin-roll forming process displaces metal from a flat portion (e.g., a flat plate of metal sheet) in a radial and axial direction to produce the one-piece field core shell.
In accordance with another aspect, the present invention provides a spin-roll formed one-piece field core shell that is formed from a disc having top and bottom external surfaces. The core shell has an outer annular ring integral to and encircling a center axis of the disc and extending from the bottom external surface in a direction that is perpendicular to the bottom surface of the disc and parallel to the center axis of the disc. The core shell has an inner annular ring integral to and encircling a center axis of the disc, with the inner annular axis spaced radially inward from the outer annular ring and extending from the bottom external surface in a direction that is perpendicular to the bottom surface of the disc and parallel to the center axis of the disc. The core shell also has a mounting flange integral to the disc, with having a bore extending from the mounting flange to the bottom external surface of the disc.
In accordance with yet another aspect, the present invention provides a method of forming the one-piece field core shell. In the method, a shaping roller is pressed against a side of a spinning annular disc of sheet metal. The shaping roller is moved progressively radially inwardly against the side of the rotating disc which displaces a portion of metal in the form of an axially extending annular wave. The so displaced metal is pressed by an axially moving shaping roller against different mandrels to form a mounting flange and two annular rings opposite the mounting flange to complete the integral one-piece component.
A feature of the invention is to provide a field core shell that is made from a one-piece construction that is less costly and time consuming to manufacture than the current construction.


The present invention relates to a method and mobile terminal for transmitting data on uplink within a mobile communication system. Further the invention relates to a network entity for allocating uplink resources to such a mobile terminal. When a user equipment is transmitting uplink (UL) data according to allocated resources, it has to indicate the transport format of the current data transmission to Node B by means of UL control signaling. To propose a scheduling scheme which reduces the overhead of uplink control signaling, a method is proposed that achieves a significant reduction of the UL control signaling overhead by considering characteristics of an orthogonal radio access scheme used for evolved UTRA uplink scheme and using differential signaling of the transport format information. Although the invention is particularly suitable for uplink transmissions in an orthogonal single-carrier radio access scheme, it is not restricted to this particular embodiment.

A common technique for error detection and correction in packet transmission systems over unreliable channels is called Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ). Hybrid ARQ is a combination of Forward Error Correction (FEC) and ARQ.
If an FEC encoded packet is transmitted and the receiver fails to decode the packet correctly, wherein errors are usually checked by a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC), the receiver requests a retransmission of the packet. Generally, and throughout this document, the transmission of additional information is called "retransmission (of a packet)", although this retransmission does not necessarily mean a transmission of the same encoded information, but could also mean the transmission of any information belonging to the packet (e.g. additional redundancy information).
Depending on the information (generally code-bits/symbols), of which the transmission is composed of, and depending on how the receiver processes the information, the following hybrid ARQ schemes are defined:    Type I: If the receiver fails to decode a packet correctly, the information of the encoded packet is discarded and a retransmission is requested. This implies that all transmissions are decoded separately. Generally, retransmissions contain identical information (code-bits/symbols) to the initial transmission.    Type II: If the receiver fails to decode a packet correctly, a retransmission is requested, where the receiver stores the information of the (erroneously received) encoded packet as soft information (soft-bits/symbols). This implies that a soft-buffer is required at the receiver. Retransmissions can be composed out of identical, partly identical or non-identical information (code-bits/symbols) according to the same packet as earlier transmissions. When receiving a retransmission, the receiver combines the stored information from the soft-buffer and the currently received information and tries to decode the packet based on the combined information. The receiver can also try to decode the transmission individually, however, generally performance increases when combining transmissions. The combining of transmissions refers to so-called soft-combining, where multiple received code-bits/symbols are likelihood combined and solely received code-bits/symbols are code combined. Common methods for soft-combining are Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) of received modulation symbols and log-likelihood-ratio (LLR) combining, wherein LLR combining only works for code-bits.            Type II schemes are more sophisticated than Type I schemes, since the probability for correct reception of a packet increases with receive retransmissions. This increase comes at the cost of a required hybrid ARQ soft-buffer at the receiver. This scheme can be used to perform dynamic link adaptation by controlling the amount of information to be retransmitted. E.g. if the receiver detects that decoding has been "almost" successful, it can request only a small piece of information for the next retransmission, that is, a smaller number of code-bits/symbols than in previous transmission, to be transmitted. In this case it might happen that it is even theoretically not possible to decode the packet correctly by only considering this retransmission by itself (non-self-decodable retransmissions).            Type III: This is a subset of Type II with the restriction that each transmission must be self-decodable.
A new feature, the so called FDD Enhanced Uplink Dedicated Channel (E-DCH), which is also referred to as High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), was introduced in 3GPP Release 6 (3rd Generation Partnership Project; available at http://www.3gpp.org) with the goal to improve uplink data transmission by reducing delays, increasing uplink capacity as well as uplink coverage particularly for packet data services.
Due to the rapid growth of IP-based applications there is a need for the design of a high-speed wireless data packet communication system. E-DCH aims at improving the performance of dedicated uplink (UL) transport channels. Several new techniques have been introduced in order to meet the requirements for E-DCH, as for instance is described in the Technical Specification 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 TS25.309, FDD Enhanced Uplink; Overall Description; Stage 2 (Release 6) V.6.3.0:                Node B controlled scheduling        fast HARQ protocol        shorter Transmission Time Interval (TTI)
Node B controlled scheduling allows for a fast allocation of resources among users in the cell, which results in a better control of the uplink interference. This in turn improves the uplink coverage and cell throughput. The introduction of an HARQ protocol allows for rapid retransmissions of erroneously received data packets, thereby reducing delays caused by higher layer retransmissions. The introduction of a shorter Transmission Time Interval (TTI) allows for a further significant reduction of the overall delay and hence improves the quality of service experienced by the end user, as this is described in: Janne Peisa, Hannes Ekström, Hans Hannu, Stefan Parkvall, End-to-End Performance of WCDMA Enhanced Uplink, VTC Spring 2005, Stockholm, Sweden.
Node B controlled scheduling is one of the technical features for E-DCH which is foreseen to enable more efficient use of the uplink resource in order to provide a higher cell throughput in the uplink and to increase the coverage. The term "Node B controlled scheduling" denotes the possibility for the Node B to control, within the limits set by the RNC, the uplink resource, E-DPDCH/DPCCH power ratio, which a User Equipment (UE) may use for uplink transmissions on the E-DCH. The Node B controlled scheduling is based on uplink and downlink control signaling together with a set of rules on how the UE shall behave with respect to this signaling.
In the downlink, a resource indication, the so called Scheduling Grant, is required to indicate to the UE the maximum amount of uplink resources it may use. When issuing Scheduling Grants, the Node B may use Quality of Service (QoS)-related information provided by the Serving Radio Network Controller (SRNC) and from the UE in the Scheduling Requests.
Scheduling grants are signaled in the downlink in order to indicate the maximum resource the UE may use for uplink transmissions. The grants affect only the selection of a suitable transport format for the transmission on the E-DCH (E-TFC selection), they do not influence the TFC selection for legacy DCH channels.
There are two types of scheduling grants which are used for the Node B controlled scheduling: absolute grants and relative grants.
The absolute grants provide an absolute limitation of the maximum amount of UL resources the UE may use for uplink transmissions; they are used to rapidly change the allocated UL resources. Relative grants are transmitted every TTI. They are used to adapt the allocated UL resource, indicated by absolute grants, by smaller adjustments. The relative grant indicates the UE to increase or decrease the previously allowed maximum UL resource by one step.
Absolute grants are only signaled from the E-DCH serving cell. Relative grants can be signaled from the serving cell as well as from a non-serving cell. The E-DCH serving cell denotes the entity, which actively allocates UL resources to UEs controlled by this serving cell, whereas a non-serving cell can only limit the allocated UL resources, set by the serving cell. Each UE has only one serving cell.
Absolute grants contain the identity (E-RNTI) of the UE (or group of UEs) for which the grant is intended, the maximum power ratio the UE is allowed to use, and a flag which indicates whether the absolute grant is valid for only one HARQ process or for all HARQ processes. As already mentioned, absolute grants can be valid for a single UE, which is referred to in the following as dedicated grants, or for a group (all) of UEs, which is in the following referred to as common grant. Up to two identities (E-RNTI), a primary and a secondary, can be allocated to a UE at a time.
Relative grants can be sent, as already mentioned before, from a serving cell as well as from a non-serving cell.
A relative grant signaled from the serving cell could indicate one of the three values "UP", "HOLD" and "DOWN". "UP" respectively "DOWN" indicates the increase/decrease of the previously maximum used UL resource (maximum power ratio) by one step. Relative grants from a non-serving cell can either signal a "HOLD" or "DOWN" command to the UE. As mentioned before, relative grants from non serving cells can only limit the UE allowed UL resources set by the serving cell (overload indicator), but not increase.
In order to enable Node B to make an efficient scheduling, which considers also the QoS requirements of a service mapped on the E-DCH, UE provides the Node B with information by means of rate request signaling.
There are two kinds of rate request signaling in the uplink, the so called "happy bit", which is a rate-request related flag on the E-DPCCH and the scheduling information (SI), which is sent in-band on the E-DCH.
From a system point of view, the one-bit rate request is likely to be used by the serving cell to make small adjustments in the resource allocation, for example by using relative grants. Scheduling information is instead likely to be used in making longer term scheduling decisions, which would be reflected in the transmission of an absolute grant. Details on the two rate request signaling methods are provided in the following.
As mentioned before, the scheduling information should provide Node B information on the UE status in order to allow for an efficient scheduling. The SI is included in the MAC-e PDU. The information is sent periodically to Node B in order to allow for keeping track of the UE status. The scheduling information comprises following information fields:                Logical channel ID of the highest priority data in the scheduling information        UE buffer occupancy (in Bytes):        Informs about the buffer status for the highest priority logical channel with data in buffer and the total buffer status.        Power status information:        The power status indicates the ratio of the maximum UE transmission power and the corresponding DPCCH code power.
Identifying the logical channel by the logical channel ID from which the highest priority data originates would enable the Node B to determine the QoS requirements, e.g. power offset of the corresponding MAC-d flow, logical channel priority or GBR attribute, of this particular channel. This would in turn enable the Node to determine the grant needed to transmit the data in the UE buffer, making a more precise grant allocation possible. In addition to the highest priority data buffer status, it is beneficial for the Node B to have some information on the total buffer status. This would help in making more long-term resource allocation decisions.
In order for the serving Node B to be able to allocate uplink resources effectively, it needs to know up to what power each UE is able to support. This information could be conveyed in the form of a "power headroom" measurement, indicating how much power the UE has left over on top of that used for the DPCCH. The power status report could also be used for the triggering of a TTI reconfiguration, switching between 2 ms and 10 ms TTI and vice versa. As already mentioned before Scheduling information is sent from the UE in order to allow Node B to send a Serving Grant. In the case where the UE has no Serving Grant available and it has scheduled data to send on a logical channel the UE shall send Scheduling Information to the Node B in order to request for a Serving Grant. In case UE has a already a Serving Grant, it should send Scheduling Information to the Node B periodically in order to keep Node B up-to-date of its data/power status. This enables Node B to update the Serving Grant accordingly.
As already explained above the happy bit denotes a one-bit rate request related flag, which is sent on the E-DPCCH. The "happy bit" indicates whether it is happy or unhappy with the current Serving Grant (SG).
The UE shall indicate that it is "unhappy", if all the following criteria are met:                UE is transmitting as much scheduled data as allowed by the current Serving Grant; and        UE has Power available to send at higher data rates (E-TFCs) and        Total buffer status would require more than X TTIs with the current Grants (where X is configurable).
Otherwise, the UE shall indicate that it is "happy".
There are two types of data transmissions for Enhanced Uplink, scheduled and non-scheduled transmissions. For scheduled data transmissions UE needs a valid scheduling grant before transmitting data on E-DCH. The usual procedure implies that UE sends a rate request to the serving Node B, by means of either scheduling information or happy bit, and upon reception of the rate request, serving Node B will allocate uplink resources by means of scheduling grants, i.e. absolute and relative grants, to the UE. In case of non-scheduled data transmission, the UE is allowed to send E-DCH data at any time, up to a configured number of bits, without receiving any scheduling command from the Node B. Thus, signaling overhead and scheduling delay are minimized. The resource for non-scheduled transmission is given by the SRNC in terms of a maximum number of bits that can be included in a MAC-e PDU, and is called non-scheduled grant. A non-scheduled grant is defined per MAC-d flow. Logical channels mapped on a non-scheduled MAC-d flow can only transmit up to the non-scheduled grant configured for that MAC-d flow. The Node B is informed about non-scheduled grants via Node B Application Part (NBAP) signaling, the UE via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. There is a set of rules defining the handling of non-scheduled and scheduled data flows, which will be explained in detail in the following.
The UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) can restrict a non-scheduled MAC-d flow to use only a limited number of HARQ processes in case of 2 ms TTI. For non-scheduled grants Node B has always to reserve the configured resources, i.e. maximum number of bits. In order to limit the amount of resources Node B has to reserve permanently, which might be fairly significant especially for the 2 ms TTI case, UTRAN (SRNC) can disable certain HARQ processes for non-scheduled MAC-d flows. The allocation of HARQ processes for non-scheduled MAC-d flows is configured via RRC signaling. The corresponding signaling is shown in the following Table 1 [from Technical Specification 3GPP TS 25.331 V6.8.0 (2005-12)].
TABLE 1MAC-d flow information in TS25.331 for HSUPAType andInformation Element/Group nameNeedreferenceSemantics descriptionE-DCH MAC-d flow identityMandatoryE-DCHPresentMAC-d flowidentity10.3.5.7eE-DCH MAC-d flow power offsetOptionalIntegerOnly allowed to be absent when already(0 . . . 6)defined for this E-DCH MAC-d flow; unitis dB.E-DCH MAC-d flow maximumOptionalIntegerOnly allowed to be absent when alreadynumber of retransmissions(0 . . . 15)defined for this E-DCH MAC-d flowE-DCH MAC-d flow multiplexing listOptionalBitstringIndicates, if this is the first MAC-d flow for(maxE-which PDU's are placed in the MAC-eDCHMACdFlow)PDU, the other MAC-d flows from whichMAC-d PDU's are allowed to be includedin the same MAC-e PDU.Bit 0 is for MAC-d flow 0, Bit 1 for MAC-dflow 1, . . .Value '1' for a bit means multiplexing isallowed.CHOICE transmission grant typeOptionalOnly allowed to be absent when alreadydefined for this E-DCH MAC-d flow>Non-scheduled transmissiongrant info>>Max MAC-e PDU contentsMandatoryIntegersizePresent(1 . . . 19982)>>2 ms non-scheduledMandatoryBitstring (8)MAC-d PDU's for this MAC-d flow aretransmission grant HARQDefaultonly allowed to be transmitted in thoseprocess allocationprocesses for which the bit is set to "1".Bit 0 corresponds to HARQ process 0, bit1 corresponds to HARQ process 1, . . .Default value is: transmission in all HARQprocesses is allowed.>Scheduled transmission grantNULLinfo
Further, UTRAN can reserve some HARQ processes for non-scheduled transmission (i.e. scheduled data cannot be sent using these processes, they are considered disabled) in case of 2 ms TTI.
Moreover, multiple non-scheduled MAC-d flows may be configured in parallel by the SRNC. The UE is then allowed to transmit non-scheduled transmissions up to the sum of the non-scheduled grant if multiplexed in the same TTI.
Scheduled grants will be considered on top of non-scheduled transmissions.
Finally, logical channels mapped on a non-scheduled MAC-d flow cannot transmit data using a Scheduling Grant
As can be seen from the rules defined above, the resource allocation from UTRAN side is separated between scheduled and non-scheduled grants. Also within the UE the allocation of resources to logical channels is done in accordance to scheduled and non-scheduled grants. Logical channels will be served in the order of their priorities until the non-scheduled grants and scheduled grants are exhausted, or the maximum transmit power is reached.
In parallel to the Enhanced Dedicated Physical Data Channel (E-DPDCH) used to carry the E-DCH transport channel (data bits), the Enhanced Dedicated Physical Control Channel (E-DPCCH) is always transmitted simultaneously. E-DPCCH is a physical channel used to transmit control information associated with the E-DCH.
The information fields on the E-DPCCH are:
                Retransmission Sequence Number (RSN) [2 bit]        "Happy Bit" [1 bit]        Enhanced Transport Format Combination Identifier (E-TFCI) [7 bit]
The RSN field provides some HARQ related information like redundancy version and New Data Indicator. The Happy Bit is a one-bit rate request flag, as already mentioned above. The E-TFCI field indicates the data rate (coding format) used for the current transmission on E-DPDCH.
Third-generation mobile systems (3G) based on WCDMA radio-access technology are being deployed on a broad scale all around the world. A first step in enhancing or evolving this technology entails introducing High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and an enhanced uplink, also referred to as High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), giving a radio-access technology that is highly competitive.
However, knowing that user and operator requirements and expectations will continue to evolve, the 3GPP has begun considering the next major step or evolution of the 3G standard to ensure the long-term competitiveness of 3G. The 3GPP recently launched a Study Item "Evolved UTRA and UTRAN". The study will investigate means of achieving major leaps in performance in order to improve service provisioning and reduce user and operator costs. It is generally assumed that there will be a convergence toward the use of Internet Protocols (IP), and all future services will be carried on top of IP. Therefore, the focus of the evolution is on enhancements to the packet-switched (PS) domain.
The main objectives of the evolution are to further improve service provisioning and reduce user and operator costs as already mentioned. More specifically, some key performance and capability targets for the long-term evolution are:                Significantly higher data rates compared to HSDPA and HSUPA: envisioned target peak data rates of more than 100 Mbps over the downlink and 50 Mbps over the uplink        Improved coverage: high data rates with wide-area coverage        Significantly reduced latency in the user plane in the interest of improving the performance of higher layer protocols (for example, TCP) as well as reducing the delay associated with control plane procedures (for instance, session setup); and        Greater system capacity: threefold capacity compared to current standards.
Further, another key requirement of the long-term evolution is to allow for a smooth migration to these technologies.
The uplink (UL) access scheme according to the long-term evolution will be described in the following. For uplink transmission, power-efficient user-terminal transmission is necessary to maximize coverage. Single-carrier transmission combined with FDMA with dynamic bandwidth allocation has been chosen as the evolved UTRA uplink transmission scheme. The main reason for the preference for single-carrier transmission is the lower peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), compared to multi-carrier signals (OFDMA), and the corresponding improved power-amplifier efficiency and assumed improved coverage (higher data rates for a given terminal peak power). During each time interval, Node B assigns users a unique time/frequency resource for transmitting user data thereby ensuring intra-cell orthogonality. An orthogonal access in the uplink promises increased spectral efficiency by eliminating intra-cell interference. Interference due to multipath propagation is handled at the base station (Node B), aided by insertion of a cyclic prefix in the transmitted signal.
The basic physical resource used for data transmission consists of a frequency resource of size BWgrant during one time interval, e.g. a sub-frame of 0.5 ms, onto which coded information bits are mapped. It should be noted that a sub-frame, also referred to as transmission time interval (TTI), is the smallest time interval for user data transmission. It is however possible to assign a frequency resource BWgrant over a longer time period than one TTI to a user by concatenation of sub-frames.
The frequency resource can either be in a localized or distributed spectrum as illustrated in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4.
As can be seen from FIG. 3, localized single-carrier is characterized by the transmitted signal having a continuous spectrum that occupies a part of the total available spectrum. Different symbol rates (corresponding to different data rates) of the transmitted signal imply different bandwidths of a localized single-carrier signal.
On the other hand, as can be seen from FIG. 4, distributed single-carrier is characterized by the transmitted signal having a non-continuous ("comb-shaped") spectrum that is distributed over system bandwidth. Note that, although the distributed single-carrier signal is distributed over the system bandwidth, the total amount of occupied spectrum is, in essence, the same as that of localized single-carrier. Furthermore, for higher/lower symbol rate, the number of "comb-fingers" is increased/reduced, while the "bandwidth" of each "comb finger" remains the same.
At first glance, the spectrum in FIG. 4 may give the impression of a multi-carrier signal where each comb-finger corresponds to a "sub-carer". However, from the time-domain signal-generation of a distributed single-carrier signal, it should be clear that what is being generated is a true single-carrier signal with a corresponding low peak-to-average power ratio. The key difference between a distributed single-carrier signal vs. a multi-carrier signal, such as e.g. OFDM, is that, in the former case, each "sub-carrier" or "comb finger" does not carry a single modulation symbol. Instead each "comb-finger" carries information about all modulation symbol. This creates a dependency between the different comb-fingers that leads to the low-PAPR characteristics. It is the same dependency between the "comb fingers" that leads to a need for equalization unless the channel is frequency-non-selective over the entire transmission bandwidth. In contrast thereto, for OFDM equalization is not needed as long as the channel is frequency-non-selective over the sub-carrier bandwidth.
Distributed transmission can provide a larger frequency diversity gain than localized transmission, while localized transmission more easily allows for channel-dependent scheduling. Note that in many cases the scheduling decision may decide to give the whole bandwidth to a single UE to achieve high data rates.
The uplink scheme should allow for both scheduled (Node B controlled) access and contention-based access. In case of scheduled access the UE is dynamically allocated a certain frequency resource for a certain time (i.e. a time/frequency resource) for uplink data transmission.
However, some time/frequency resources can be allocated for contention-based access. Within these time/frequency resources, UEs can transmit without first being scheduled.
For the scheduled access, the Node B scheduler assigns a user a unique frequency/time resource for uplink data transmission. More specifically, the scheduler determines which UE(s) is (are) allowed to transmit, which physical channel resources (frequency) may be used, for how long the resources may be used (number of sub-frames) and which transport format (Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS)+transport block size) is to be used by the mobile terminal for transmission.
The allocation information is signaled to the UE via a scheduling grant, sent on the downlink control channel. For simplicity reasons, this channel is called LTE_HS_SCCH in the following. A scheduling grant message contains at least information on which part of the frequency band the UE is allowed to use, whether localized or distributed spectrum should be used, the validity period of the grant, and the maximum data rate. The shortest validity period is one sub-frame. Additional information may also be included in the grant message, depending on the selected scheme.
Uplink data transmissions are only allowed to use the time-frequency resources assigned to the UE through the scheduling grant. If the UE does not have a valid grant, it is not allowed to transmit any uplink data. Unlike in HSUPA, where each UE is always allocated a dedicated channel, there is only one uplink data channel shared by multiple users (UL SCH) for data transmissions. Furthermore, there is only one mode of operation for the uplink data access in LTE, the above described scheduled access, i.e. unlike in HSUPA where both scheduled and autonomous transmissions are possible.
To request resources, the UE transmits a resource request message to the Node B. This resource request message could for example contain information on the amount of data to transmit, the power status of the UE and some Quality of Services (QoS) related information. This information, which will be referred to as scheduling information, allows Node B to make an appropriate resource allocation.
Resource requests are transmitted using the contention-based access compared to the above described scheduled access. However, if the UE already has a valid grant, e.g., if a data transmission is ongoing, the resource requests updates can be transmitted using the granted resources, e.g., as part of MAC headers or MAC control PDU. Contention-based access can be seen as a special case of the normal scheduled access, where Node B assigns a physical resource to one user. In case of contention-based access a physical resource (sub-carriers) is assigned/shared to multiple UEs for uplink transmission. The allocation for the contention-based channel, also referred to as random access channel, is for example signaled on a broadcast channel, so that all UEs in a cell have access to this area.
FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary allocation for contention-based access. The bandwidth of the random access channel depends on the estimated number of simultaneous accessing users and on the size of the messages transmitted on the channel. In the figure the Random access channel is allocated in a TDM fashion, one out of X sub-frames is reserved for contention-based access over the entire frequency band. However, it is also possible to allocate only part of the total Bandwidth band for random access in a distributed spectrum, in order to benefit further from frequency diversity.
Since the access is not scheduled, there is a probability, that multiple UEs access the random access channel simultaneously, leading to collisions. UE-specific scrambling and processing gain can be used in order to separate the various transmissions. The contention-based access should be only used for requesting resources in case UE has no valid grant assigned or for the initial access (going from idle to connected mode).
Channel-dependent scheduling should be also supported by the uplink-scheduling scheme in LTE. However, since there is no uplink transmission from non-scheduled UEs, same is not straightforward.
Node B needs to know the users uplink channel status before allocating resources by means of a channel-dependent scheduling algorithm. Therefore it was considered that UE transmits pilot bits, which are known at the receiver side, prior to the data transmission to support channel-dependent scheduling. Node B can consider the measured C/I of the pilots bits for the resource allocation.
The Node B controlled scheduled access is based on uplink and downlink control signaling together with a specified UE behavior with respect to the control signaling.
In the downlink, a resource allocation message is transmitted from Node B to the UE indicating the physical resources (time/frequency resource) assigned to this user. As already mentioned above, this allocation message, also referred to as scheduling grant, contains information on the identification of the user the resource allocation is addressed to, the reserved physical resource (time/frequency resource), some information on the maximum data rate, modulation and coding scheme and also probably some HARQ related information (redundancy version).
In the uplink, UE sends a scheduling request to the Node B when data for uplink transmission is available in the buffer. The scheduling request message contains information on the UE status, e.g. buffer status, QoS related information, power headroom information. This in turn allows Node B to make an appropriate allocation of resources considering also QoS requirements of the data to be transmitted.
In parallel to the actual uplink data transmission, UE signals data related control signaling, providing information on the current data transmission similar to the E-DPCCH signaling in Rel6 (HSUPA). This control signaling contains information on the chosen transport format (TFCI), which is used for decoding the data transmission at Node B, and some HARQ related information, e.g. Redundancy version, HARQ process ID and NDI. The exact information depends obviously on the adopted HARQ protocol. For example in a synchronous HARQ protocol there is no need to signal the HARQ process ID explicitly.
It should be noted, that the exact scheduling procedure for uplink, e.g. order of signaling message and the detailed format of corresponding scheduling related control messages, has not been decided upon yet.
To ensure orthogonality in the uplink, all UE transmissions must be time aligned at the Node B within the cyclic prefix. This is implemented by the Node B measuring on the received signal and, based on the timing accuracy, transmitting a timing adjustment command to the UE. The timing adjustment command is sent as control information using the downlink SCCH. Note that a UE not actively transmitting may be out-of-sync, which needs to be accounted for in the initial random access. This timing control information commands UE to advance or retract the respective transmit timing. Two alternatives for the timing control commands are currently considered:                Binary timing-control commands implying forward/backward of the transmit timing a certain step size x μs [x to be determined] transmitted with a certain period y μs [y to be determined].        Multi-step timing-control commands being transmitted on the downlink on a per-need basis.
As long as a UE carries out uplink data transmission, the received signal can be used by Node B to estimate the uplink receive timing and thus as a source for the timing-control commands. When there is no data available for uplink, the UE may carry out regular uplink transmissions (uplink synchronization signals) with a certain period, to continue to enable uplink receive-timing estimation and thus retain uplink time alignment. In this way, the UE can immediately restart uplink-orthogonal data transmission without the need for a timing re-alignment phase.
If the UE does not have uplink data to transmit for a longer period, no uplink transmission should be carried out. In that case, uplink time alignment may be lost and restart of data transmission must then be preceded by an explicit timing-re-alignment phase to restore the uplink time alignment.
However, the above described scheduling and controlling schemes implicate several problems and drawbacks that will be outlined in the following. As described above, the E-DPCCH carrying control signaling related to the E-DCH is always transmitted simultaneously to the E-DPDCH. It contains information on the transport format of the current transmission (E-TFCI), which is represented by 7 bits. Since the decoding of the data channel (E-DPDCH) requires the information transmitted on the related control channel (E-DPCCH), the control information needs to be received correctly. Therefore in order to guarantee a reliable transmission, the control channel needs to be transmitted with sufficient power. Since the UE is in most cases power-limited in the uplink there is a general pursuit of reducing the amount of control signaling.
In case of HSUPA, the scheduling grant indicates the maximum power ratio, the UE is allowed to use for transmission of scheduled data. The actual used transport format, e.g. data rate, could however differ significantly from the scheduled maximum value, since E-DCH has also to compete with non-scheduled DCH traffic, which is always highest priority. Furthermore there is also non-scheduled data in HSUPA as already described above. Therefore the transport format for E-DCH transmission selected during E-TFC selection depends on the scheduling grant, other UL traffic (DCH, HS-DPCCH) and finally the power status of the UE.
This in turn makes it unavoidable, that the UE has to signal the absolute value of the used transport format (E-TFCI) of the current data transmission represented by 7 bits.
As already indicated above, also for the uplink scheme in LTE UE is required to signal the used transport format of the uplink data transmission in order to allow for correct decoding of the data packet at Node B.

Overhead reduction of uplink control signaling in a mobile communication system


An improved screed plate having a top surface, a bottom surface, a curved leading edge and a trailing edge adapted for attaching to a screed of a paving machine is disclosed. The improved screed plate comprises a tapered groove extended from the curved leading edge towards the trailing edge along the top surface and terminated in a groove end. The tapered groove is arranged deepest at the curved leading edge and shallowest toward the trailing edge so as to provide flexibility to the screed plate while not reducing screed plate lifetime due to increased wear and tear. The increased screed plate flexibility facilitates crowning and other adjustments that require bending of the screed plate, and allow harder steels to be used than are used in conventional screed plates.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to paving machines for paving a path of limited width. More specifically, the present invention relates to an improved screed plate adapted for attaching to a screed of a paving machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most asphalt pavers are large and intricate machines comprising a tractor unit and a screed unit. The screed unit operates based on the principle of the self-leveling and floating screed. These devices are well known and are used for leveling and consolidating paving materials such as asphalt, concrete and the like. The screed unit includes a replaceable screed plate, constructed of suitable steel, to spread paving material (asphalt, aggregate, concrete, petroleum bitumen and the like) to a proper thickness, and to create a smooth surface after the paving material is applied to the roadway during road construction. The screed also provides the initial compaction of paving materials. The screed plate further must have the capacity to conform to the desired profile of the pavement (e.g. a crowned road). These non-level profiles are required to facilitate water runoff, especially during rainstorms. While a simple crowned profile may suffice in many paving scenarios, urban paving poses additional complications and problems as intersections generally require changes in the simple crowned profile so as to allow for multi-directional rainfall runoff. In order to meet these requirements, a screed plate must bend and deflect to a shape that meets the applicable specifications.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a prior art paving machine 10 with a screed unit 12 attached thereto. The conventional paver operates based on the principle of the self-leveling, floating screed. Here, the screed unit 12 is a free-floating unit that strikes off, compacts, and flattens raw material into a mat surface as the screed 12 is pulled forward by the paving machine 10. The screed unit 12 is attached to the paving machine 10 at only two points, each called a pull point or tow point, one on each side of the paver. The screed unit 12 has two long pull arms to make this connection to the pull point and in operation, pivot arms 14 are disposed between the pull arms and the pull points and provide no vertical support for the screed unit 12. As the paving machine 10 pulls the screed unit 12 into the freshly laid material, it floats on the mix of paving material, moving up or down and naturally seeking the path where the forces acting on the screed unit 12 are in equilibrium and the path of its flat bottom is approximately parallel to the direction of operation of the paver.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of another prior art screed assembly of the paving machine 20. The screed assembly 20 includes a vibrator 21, which causes the paving material to feed more uniformly under the screed assembly 20 and provide some initial compaction to the freshly laid material. The screed assembly 20 further includes a screed heater 23, which prevents the paving material mixtures from sticking to the screed plate 24. The optional attachments such as cutoff shoes/screed extensions 25 may be attached to the screed assembly 20 to vary the paver width.
Various screed plates have been devised for attaching to the screed unit of a paving machine. U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,320 issued to Hanlon on Nov. 22, 1994 provides an improved screed for leveling abrasive paving material on a road surface. The improved screed is highly abrasion-resistant and loses much less heat during shutdown periods than steel screeds because it is formed of a composite that includes a chromium-carbide alloy. The composite is formed of a relatively soft metal that is completely fused to the chromium-carbide alloy. The part of the composite that comes in direct contact with the abrasive paving material is made of highly abrasion-resistant chromium-carbide alloy, which has a Brinell hardness in the range 550 to 600 and a low coefficient of friction. Additionally, the low thermal conductivity of the chromium-carbide alloy permits it to retain more heat during shutdown. The relatively soft metal portion of the composite, which may be low-carbon steel, provides an easy and reliable surface for affixing standard attachment components, such as bolts, to the improved screed, providing an effective means for mounting the improved screed to the paving machine. A curved leading edge of the screed prevents the paving material from welling up on to the relatively soft upper surface of the improved screed. The curved leading edge is formed of the same composite as the rest of the screed. A shortcoming of the improved screed is that although the metal component forming the bottom surface of the screed is extremely hard and durable, in the Brinell range of 550-600, the top surface of the screed is made of softer metal, in the Brinell range of 150-200. Thus, the top surface of the screed is easily subject to maximum wear and tear from the harsh mechanical forces involved.
U.S. Pat Application. No. 20060045624 to Nelson and published on Mar. 2, 2006 provides a screed heating arrangement for a screed assembly that is towed behind a paving machine. The screed heating arrangement includes at least one electric heater bonded to an upper surface of a screed plate. The screed is made up of hardened steel that is actually stronger than the frame assembly that attaches screed to the paving machine. This can lead to warping of the frame assembly.
Other conventional paving machines include a screed plate having a bottom surface made of softer steel. There, the bottom surface that is dragged along the mat will lose smoothness, and rapid and excessive wear will ultimately lead to early replacement of the screed plate. Conventional screed plates typically wear out about 4 to 6 inches forward from the trailing edge. This is due to the standard angle at which the screed contacts the paving material during use, which lifts the front edge of the screed, placing more pressure and wear and tear on the trailing edge.
Typically the conventional soft screed plates cannot be used in the entire work season, since the soft screed plate can bend and conform to assist with crowning. Even though the conventional harder screed plate may last for the entire season, it is typically too hard to bend and conform as described above.
Hence, it can be seen, that there is a need for an improved screed plate with the flexibility of softer steel and durability of harder steel. Further, the improved screed plate is made of high strength steel that will not warp the screed frame assembly as the screed plate is bent to effect proper crowning. Moreover, the improved screed plate would include a tapered groove possessing sufficient depth at a curved leading edge of the screed plate so as to allow improvements in crowning performance by permitting and proper deflection of the hardened steel.
It is thus a first objective of the present invention to provide an improved screed plate with a flexibility of softer steel and durability of harder steel.
It is a second objective of the present invention to provide an improved screed plate of high strength steel that will not warp the screed frame assembly as the screed plate is flexed and inverted to effect proper crowning.
It is a third objective of the present invention to provide an improved screed plate with a tapered groove that possess sufficient depth at a curved leading edge of the screed plate to allow proper deflection of the harder steel.
It is a fourth objective of the present invention to provide an improved screed plate with a tapered groove that changes in depth approximately 0.187 inches over the course of approximately 15 inches of screed width or about 0.0125 inches per inch.
It is a fifth objective of the present invention to provide an improved screed plate with a tapered groove that allows improvements in crowning and deflection of the screed plate to be accomplished even when a relatively hard inflexible material is used for screed plate, such as 500 and 600 Brinell hardness number (BHN) steel.
These and other advantages and features of the present invention are described with specificity so as to make the present invention understandable to one of ordinary skill in the art.


An optical filter, system, and method capable of detecting optical signals in an optical fiber trunk for purposes of diagnostics and control of a wavelength division multiplexing system using optical fiber network. The optical filter is described comprising a predetermined number N of cascaded Mach-Zender circuits having a predetermined transfer function with a predetermined scanning peak, the cascaded Mach-Zender circuits having an optical input and an optical output. In another embodiment, a system is provided which employs the optical filter in which a control circuit coupled to each of the Mach-Zender circuits to shift the scanning peak according to a predetermined criterion. The control circuit advantageously causes a phase shift in the Mach-Zender circuits, thereby allowing the optical filter to scan a predetermined frequency spectrum with a narrow pass band or scanning peak to determine the existence and/or the condition of optical signals within the predetermined frequency spectrum.

Network management in a communications network often requires information relative to the operation of the network. In the case of fiber optic communications networks, it is often desirable to know the precise condition of the optical signals transmitted through an optical fiber to perform channel diagnostics and to control the operation of the network. For example, in an optical fiber used to transmit up to sixteen channels or optical signals, certain information about each optical signal as it is transmitted through the optical fiber is important to ensure that the underlying information of the signal is relayed accurately.
For example, the actual channel presence is an important factor. This is important, for example, to inform a network monitor that a discontinuity has been created that prevents a single channel or multiple channels from being transmitted through the optical fiber. In such a circumstance, a network monitor function may be implemented that routes optical signals around the faulty pathway until the discontinuity is remedied.
Also, the power of each channel is another important factor used to maintain channel equalization. Specifically, the power of the optical signal over a channel may be affected by many different factors inherent in the optical network. In the case of a single fiber, different channels may operate at different power levels a which is undesirable due to the periodical use of optical amplifiers in an optical network and due to other factors. Determining the actual power of the optical signals in an optical fiber for each channel is important in order to determine necessary adjustments in performing channel equalization functions. Other important information may include the noise density across the various channels in an optical fiber as well as any frequency shift experienced by a particular channel.

System and method for optical monitoring


A motor speed control system is disclosed as adapted for the traveling speed control of a transducer on a pivotal support beam driven by a voice coil motor in a rotating disk data storage apparatus. The speed control system includes a speed sensor having a speed sensing coil for electromagnetically generating a motor speed signal representative of the actual traveling speed of the transducer. Since the speed sensing coil is of necessity disposed adjacent the drive coil of the voice coil motor, the motor speed signal contains a noise component due to the mutual induction between the two coils. For the elimination of the noise component from the motor speed signal, which is to be utilized for the feedback speed control of the voice coil motor, a differentiator circuit is provided for deriving a noise suppression signal, which is equivalent to the noise component, from a motor speed control signal representative of the desired traveling speed of the transducer. Both the motor speed signal and the noise suppression signal are directed to a differential amplifier whereby a is noise-free motor speed signal is obtained. A second differential amplifier inputs both this noise-free Motor speed signal and the motor speed control signal for providing an output proportional to the difference therebetween. This output is supplied to a motor driver circuit for driving the voice coil motor accordingly.

My invention relates to a system for sensing the speed of an electric motor such as a voice coil motor, and more specifically to a motor speed sensing system suitable for use in the feedback speed control of a transducer or transducers traveling from track to track in data storage and retrieval systems employing "fixed" or hard magnetic disks as record media, among other applications.
The voice coil motor represents one of the familiar means for positioning a transducer or electromagnetic head with respect to a multiplicity of annular, concentric data storage tracks on a hard magnetic disk. U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,072 to Ono et al., assigned to the assignee of the instant application, discloses a known example of transducer positioning system employing a voice coil motor.
In the above and other transducer positioning systems, the precise control of the traveling speed of the transducer is essential for the minimization of seek time, that is, the time required for transducer travel from a departure track to a destination track. U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,116 to Yasuda et al., also assigned to the assignee of the instant application, teaches the use of an optical encoder for sensing the speed of the voice coil motor. Optical encoders are, however, very expensive. A far less expensive motor speed sensor has therefore been generally employed, that is, that comprising a pair of permanent magnets and a speed sensing coil disposed opposite the magnets for reciprocating movement across their fields.
I object to the electromagnetic speed sensor as heretofore used for transducer position control purposes. The sensor must of necessity be disposed in the immediate proximity of the voice coil motor. This placement of the sensor has made it unavoidable for the speed sensing coil to generate an undesired voltage component for its mutual induction with the motor drive coil, in addition to the desired voltage proportional to the traveling speed of the transducer.
As far as I am aware, no truly satisfactory solution has yet been proposed for the elimination of the noise component from the electromagnetic speed sensor output. Any noise suppression means to be employed to this end must be capable of fully performing the function for which it is intended, but should not be so expensive that the total cost of the electromagnetic speed sensor and the noise suppression means will exceed, or even come close to, the cost of an optical encoder which might be adopted in place of the electromagnetic sensor without noise suppression means.

Motor speed sensing system for magnetic disk apparatus or the like


A coaxial cable connector may include an insulator member including a forward portion, and a rearward portion extending rearwardly from the forward portion. The rearward portion may include a tubular outer conductor support portion for supporting an interior surface of the outer conductor of the end of the coaxial cable. The tubular outer conductor support portion may include a sidewall having a plurality of spaced apart hollow cavities extending therein. These cavities may advantageously provide the impedance matching and may be readily formed during manufacturing of the insulator member, such as by molding, for example. The connector may further include a housing having a forward and rearward ends and a medial portion therebetween, and a back nut threadingly engaging the rearward end of the connector housing. The insulator member may be positioned within the medial portion of the connector housing. A contact may be carried within the bore of the insulator member for connecting to the inner conductor of the end of the coaxial cable.

Coaxial cables are widely used to carry high frequency electrical signals. Coaxial cables enjoy a relatively high bandwidth, low signal losses, are mechanically robust, and are relatively low cost. One particularly advantageous use of a coaxial cable is for connecting electronics at a cellular or wireless base station to an antenna mounted at the top of a nearby antenna tower. For example, the transmitter located in an equipment shelter may be connected to a transmit antenna supported by the antenna tower. Similarly, the receiver is also connected to its associated receiver antenna by a coaxial cable path.
A typical installation includes a relatively large diameter cable extending between the equipment shelter and the top of the antenna tower to thereby reduce signal losses. For example, CommScope, Inc. of Hickory, N.C, and the assignee of the present invention, offers its CellReach® coaxial cable for such applications. The cable includes a smooth wall outer conductor that provides superior performance to other cable types. The smooth outer wall construction also provides additional ease of attaching connector portions to the cable ends in comparison to other coaxial cable types, such as including corrugated outer conductors, for example.
A typical coaxial cable connector for such a coaxial cable includes a tubular housing or body to make electrical connection to the cable outer conductor and a center contact to make electrical connection to the inner conductor of the coaxial cable. The center contact may include a tubular rearward end to receive the inner conductor of the coaxial cable. An insulator assembly supports the center contact concentrically within the housing. The insulator assembly may typically include multiple cooperating parts.
A typical connector may also include a gripping member or ferrule that is positioned onto the end of the outer conductor and adjacent the outer insulating jacket portion of the coaxial cable. The ferrule is axially advanced into the housing as a back nut is tightened onto the rearward end of the housing. One or more O-rings may be provided to environmentally seal the connector to prevent the ingress of water, for example, into the connector.
Representative patents directed to coaxial cable connectors include U.S. Pat. No. 6,396,367 B1 to Rosenberger; U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,609 to Kooiman et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,398 B2 to Henningsen; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,380 B1 to Nelson et al. The entire contents of each of these patents are incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,011,546 to Vaccaro, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference, discloses a connector, having significant advantages over the prior art. The connector includes a housing, a back nut threadingly engaging a rearward end of the connector housing, a ferrule gripping and advancing an end of the coaxial cable into the connector housing as the back nut is tightened, and an insulator member positioned within a medial portion of the connector housing. In addition, the insulator member has a bore extending therethrough and includes a forward portion, a rearward portion, a ring portion connecting the forward and rearward portions together, and a tubular outer conductor support portion extending rearwardly from the rearward portion for supporting an interior surface of the outer conductor of the end of the coaxial cable. The ring portion may have a reduced strength portion defining a crush zone to facilitate movement of the rearward portion toward the forward portion as the back nut is tightened onto the connector housing.
CommScope has made another connector similar to the Vaccaro patent wherein the insulator member 5 is tuned to match impedances between the connector and the cable end. More particularly, as understood with reference to FIG. 1, the prior art insulator member 5 includes a forward portion 7 including a pair of longitudinal passageways therethrough 8a, 8b, for impedance matching. The insulator member 5 also comprises a tubular outer conductor support portion including a sidewall 6 initially formed to a have an inner diameter d1. In subsequent machining steps, two additional enlarged diameters d2, d3 are formed in the sidewall 6 to tune the impedance. In other words, after the initial molding to form the insulator member 5, the two enlarged diameters d2, d3 are created by additional machining steps. These extra manufacturing steps may increase the cost and/or complexity of the manufacturing.

Coaxial connector with insulator member including elongate hollow cavities and associated methods