The invention relates to a lever aseimatic reflection sheet device, which includes a base, a leverage board and a reflection sheet device. Elastic torque of a first elastic element is provided to force the reflection sheet to touch against the windshield W with the leverage board used as rotation center of the lever, so that the reflection sheet would not be affected by vibration of vehicle dashboard, to thereby improve fastening and supporting stability of the reflection sheet.

a) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a lever aseimatic reflection sheet device and, more particularly, to an aseimatic reflection sheet device used in a vehicle head-up display device, the lever action is applied to improve its aseimatic capacity that it would not be affected by vibration of vehicle dashboard, to thereby improve fastening and supporting stability of the reflection sheet.
b) Description of Prior Art
There are more and more information in vehicle, it is dangerous that drivers usually take their eyes off the road to read information during driving. In order to solve the drawbacks, head-up displays are developed, so that drivers may simultaneously read information and pay attention on the road conditions ahead. Especially the head-up display using concave mirror for imaging, display area may be enlarged and the distance from the displayed image to drivers' eyes is far enough, usually greater than 2 meters. When drivers see the displayed information, focal length of eyes is near drivers' line of sight for watching road conditions, so that drivers may pay attention on the road during reading information, the danger of driving may be reduced significantly.
The virtual imaging is imaged by using a concave mirror, the imaging formula (of concave mirror) is: 1/p+1/q=1/f, wherein f is focal distance, q is object distance, p is image distance. Virtual images may be enlarged in a general magnification, and the distance of virtual image may simultaneously be become farer in the same ratio, between four to six times, thus, readers may be in the best condition. If magnification is too large, readers may feel dizzy easily, so that the distance between the virtual image and drivers' eye may be larger than 2 meters, and the location of image may be in the rear of the reflection sheet with distance larger than 1.2 meters, namely, distance of optical path from display to concave mirror may be larger than 24 cm (if the magnification is five times). Besides, distance of optical path may be increased by reflecting back and forth through mirror surface, but the volume needed by optical path is large, so a space is usually reserved for head-up display device inside the vehicle dashboard.
This method may only be used if the original manufacturer reserves desired space at design time. For the market of installation, the head-up display cannot be installed on the vehicle dashboard because the size is too large with optical path device, even may obstruct drivers' line of sight.
Another solution for optical path device with large size is separating it that the display is fixed on the top of the windshield and the reflection sheet is fixed on vehicle dashboard. However, vehicle dashboards in many vehicles may shock due to rotation of engine or air conditioning compressor, and the reflection sheet fixed on the top may be shocked. Also, the displacement of shocking may be enlarged due to enlarge effect of concave mirror, and displayed image may shocked severely.
In order to solve the problem of the reflection sheet being shocked, the inventor of the present invention refers to the cited references TW publication no. 530961, TW M273183, TW M375372, TW publication no. 576080, TW 1352165, TW M288937, TW M275639 etc., and found that for the problem that the conventional reflection sheet being shocked, the related technical content and applications still have technical bottlenecks.
For the shaking problem of the reflection sheet, although the reflection sheet could be closely against the windshield by elasticity of elastic element to resist inertia of vibration, the effect is limited. Elasticity of the elastic element is not changed, inertia of vibration with different strength is dynamic, thus, the shaking problem could be overcome if elasticity of the elastic element is larger than maximum of inertia of vibration. However, if there is no vibration, elasticity of the elastic element only causes deformation of the reflection sheet, so it is not a good solution.


A recording ink containing a pigment dispersion, a surfactant, a water-dispersible resin, a humectant and water. The pigment dispersion contains a pigment dispersant, which is an anionic surfactant or a nonionic surfactant having an HLB value of 10 to 20. The pigment dispersion also contains a polymer dispersion stabilizer, which is an alpha-olefin/maleic anhydride copolymer expressed by the formula (1) below, where R is an alkyl group having 6 to 25 carbon atoms, and where the mass average molecular weight of the copolymer is 5000 to 20000. An ink cartridge, an inkjet recording method, an inkjet recording apparatus, and an ink recorded matter, each employing the recording ink, are also provided.

Recently, ink-jet printers have become widely used by virtue of lower noise and relatively less running cost, and also color printers printable on regular paper have been actively put into the market. However, it is very difficult for ink-jet printers to satisfy all of common properties such as color reproducibility, endurance, lightfastness, image-drying property, non-feathering or non-bleeding of images, double-face printing and discharge stability, thus inks are selectively employed considering important properties for respective applications.
The inks for ink-jet printers are typically based on water and contain colorants like dyes or pigments and humectants such as glycerin to prevent clogging. The colorants are usually dyes in view of superior color-producing property and stability. However, lightfastness and water resistance of images formed from inks containing dyes are relatively inferior. Specifically, the water resistance of images is unsatisfactory on regular paper, although it may be somewhat improved on dedicated ink-jet recording paper having an ink-absorbing layer.
In order to solve these problems, recently, alternative recording inks have been investigated in which pigments, in place of the dyes, such as organic pigments and carbon black are micronized with surfactants or dispersants and dispersed into media such as water. Patent Literatures 1 and 2, for example, disclose methods for improving ejection stability by way of micronizing organic pigments into a particle diameter of 50 nm or less using specific dispersants. Patent Literature 3 discloses an ink-jet ink using a specific organic pigment and an anionic dispersant.
However, it is impossible to micronize organic pigments into below their primary sizes regardless of any dispersants. Furthermore, it is very difficult to reduce the particle size of organic pigments into 50 nm or less without degrading color tone. Furthermore, in cases where pigment dispersants of lower-molecular weights are employed, there exists a problem that dispersion stability of pigments is inferior, pigments are likely to coagulate with aqueous solvents in inks; in cases where pigment dispersants of lower-molecular weights are employed, the dispersibility is likely to be poor due to higher velocities of pigment dispersions. There exist also a problem that printed matters from these inks are insufficient for scratch resistance and water resistance.
Since ink-jet recording requires stable discharge of ink droplets from a minute nozzle of ink-jet recording heads, it is necessary that the ink is far from solidification due to drying at orifices of the ink-jet recording heads. In cases where inks of dispersed organic pigments are utilized for ink-jet recording, however, dispersion stability of pigments may be degraded under long-term storage in particular, thus the resulting coagulation of pigments may lead to clogging of ejection nozzles of ink-jet recording heads or non-ejection of inks. Especially when the printing is suspended for a long period, nozzle clogging is likely to occur, and the thickened inks may deposit within maintenance devices such as nozzle caps or suction tubes, which possibly hindering the function of maintenance devices. Furthermore, when printing is temporarily suspended or nozzles are stopped for a short period due to blanks or a single blank in printing documents, there often occur problems such as printing failures or intermittent discharge-failures due to distorted-injection direction of ink droplets.
As for the other dispersing methods of organic pigments, so-called surface-modified recording inks are proposed in which pigments are stably dispersed, with no dispersant, by way of modifying the pigment-particle surface into hydrophilic with carboxyl group, carbonyl group, sulfone group, hydroxyl group, and the like. As for black recording inks, for example, so-called surface-modified carbon blacks have been developed in which carbon blacks are stably dispersed, with no dispersant, by way of introducing hydrophilic groups on the carbon surface. In addition, as for inks of color pigments, so-called surface-modified color pigments have been developed in which the color pigments are stably dispersed with no dispersant. However, these surface-modified recording inks typically lack scratch resistance on regular paper or dedicated gloss paper, and represent poor water resistance.
In order solve the problems described above, there is proposed an ink-jet ink containing microcapsules or emulsion where pigment particles are coated with a resin. In accordance with such a proposal, since the pigment particles are coated solidly by the resin, dispersion may be stable for a long period and the ejection stability may be improved; however, it is expensive and difficult to make the dispersion particle diameter into 150 nm or less even pigments with a primary particle diameter 50 nm to 100 nm are coated with the resin.
Patent Literatures 4 and 5 describe a proposal in which a colorant may be provided with a nanometer-particle diameter and a uniform particle size distribution by way of depositing a dye onto the surface of metal oxides and then coating it with an organic compound having an ionic group, and the resulting colorant can be utilized for ink-jet inks. In accordance with this proposal, water resistance may be improved compared to inks utilizing dyes; however, lightfastness tends to be inferior to the inks utilizing dyes, thus the resulting inks are inappropriate for actual use.
As such, in cases where dispersants are utilized for dispersing pigments or pigment surfaces are treated to be hydrophilic, a resin may be added to inks in order to complement the lack of water resistance and scratch resistance; however, it is typically impossible to obtain sufficient water resistance when water-soluble polymers are utilized. For this reason, methods using water-dispersible resins are proposed; however, the water resistance is still insufficient since the printed resin particles on recorded matters may easily disperse into water again.
Recently, composite pigments are proposed in which an organic pigment is coated over inorganic pigment particles. When inorganic pigment particles of about 5 to 50 nm are utilized as a core material, it is possible to obtain a colorant pigment of less than 100 nm even when being coated with an organic pigment (see Patent Literatures 6 and 7). Complex-pigment colorants of 10 to 20 nm are commercially available already. Application of these composite pigment particles to paints or ink-jet inks are also proposed as disclosed in Patent Literatures 8 and 9. However, these composite pigment particles also suffer from the inferior dispersion stability in particular under long-term storage and insufficient water resistance and scratch resistance of printed matters because of containing no fixing resin.
Ink compositions containing resins are also proposed, for example, an ink containing a pigment and a water-dispersible resin dispersed in water as disclosed in Patent Literature 10; an ink containing a pigment dispersed in polymer emulsion dispersion of a water-insoluble resin as disclosed in Patent Literature 11; and an ink using an emulsion having a specific film-forming temperature as disclosed in Patent Literature 12.
In addition, there exist many proposals with respect to addition of polymer dispersants in order to improve fixing ability of the complex pigment particles as disclosed in Patent Literatures 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19. In these proposals, polymer dispersants are expected to enhance the fixing ability. However, these polymer dispersants typically suffer from insufficient water resistance due to their water solubility even though the scratch resistance may be sufficiently improved.
Accordingly, such materials are demanded currently as a pigment dispersion that can exhibit superior pigment-dispersion stability under long-term storage; a recording ink, containing the pigment dispersion, that can represent superior ejection stability without head clogging at printing, that can bring about superior image durability such as water resistance and lightfastness, that can provide high-quality images with superior color tone on not only dedicated recording paper but also regular paper, and that is suited to ink-jet recording; and the related technologies.
As for inks for the ink-jet recording at homes and offices, aqueous inks are typically utilized that are based on water and contain colorants, humectants such as glycerin, wetting agents to control permeability into recording paper, surfactants and other optional additives.
The ink-jet recording of aqueous inks is fixed typically through permeation of the aqueous inks into recording media, therefore, dedicated ink-jet recording paper has been developed that is provided with enhanced absorbability, fixing ability for coloring components on paper surface, and protection ability for the coloring components. However, the dedicated ink-jet recording paper is relatively expensive since its production process involves multiple coating processes after paper making and is inferior to the regular paper in terms of recycle ability because of containing many processing chemicals; as such, sufficient image quality on regular paper is desired currently.
The regular paper represents inferior ink-absorbability and less assistance in ink performances compared to dedicated ink-jet recording paper, therefore, there exist such problems in recording on regular paper as (1) occurrence of feathering, (2) occurrence of bleeding, (3) reduction of density, (4) reduction of color developing property, (5) reduction of water resistance, (6) reduction of light resistance, (7) reduction of gas resistance, (8) reduction of fixing property, (9) show through of ink, and the like. It is important to solve these problems in order to carry out the ink-jet recording on the regular paper.
In recent years, pigments have been often used for ink-jet inks through improvement of pigment-dispersibility and/or micronization of particle diameter. The pigment-dispersibility has been improved through improving self-dispersion stability i.e. imparting hydrophilicity by way of surface modification such as oxidation, sulfonation, or graft polymerization on pigment surface in addition of conventional pigment dispersion using surfactants and/or water-soluble resins. These pigments may improve the above-described (5), (6) and (7); the concentration and coloring property of the modified pigments are inferior to those of dyes, and also the ejection stability, long-term preservability and re-dispersibility of the pigment inks are inferior to those of dye inks. Thus, in cases where pigments are used as colorants, it is important to enhance ink density, color development, and reliability. In order to address these problems, for example, a number of ink-jet recording inks are proposed that contain colored polymer particles, in particular emulsion of polyester or vinyl based polymer particles (see Patent Literature 20, non-Patent Literature 1). These proposals encompass inks containing a colorant-including resin dispersion, in which the colorant is included in a water-insoluble, aqueous dispersible resin. When color organic pigments are used as the colorant, the image density and the color reproducibility under conventional ink formulations on regular paper are superior to those of pigment inks with water-soluble dispersants.
Heretofore, control of ink permeability into the paper has been investigated in order to reduce feathering and bleeding, to enhance printing density and color development and to suppress show through. A super-permeable ink-jet ink is commercially available of which the surface tension is adjusted to below 35 mN/m to enhance permeability into paper. Such inks effectively reduce the bleeding and are easily dried on regular paper, meanwhile there exist such deficiencies as feathering, lower print density and lower print quality. On the other hand, a slow-permeation ink is also commercially available of which the surface tension is adjusted to above 35 mN/m thereby to slow permeation into paper and to hold the ink on surface area of the paper, which may effectively lower feathering, increase print density and color development, and to reduce show through.
However, the lower permeability degrades remarkably the drying ability after printing on the regular paper, thus resulting in deterioration of fixing ability and/or bleeding between colors in cases of multiple-color print. In view of these problems, a complex ink set has been developed and utilized in which a slow-permeation ink and a super-permeable ink are combined to suppress the bleeding between colors thereby to assure image quality. However, in cases of double-sided printing using slow-permeation inks, a period is required to wait ink-drying after printing, which deteriorate productivity of the double-sided printing. A printing apparatus is also commercially available which is equipped with a device to heat paper before and after the printing in order to enhance ink-drying ability (see Patent Literature 21). However, such apparatuses suffer from enlarged and complicated systems and wasteful heating energy due to additional heating devices, which diminish advantages the advantages of ink-jet recording.
Beside these proposals, ink-jet inks have been investigated variously with respect to reliability as well as image quality. Prevention of ink-viscosity increase is demanded to suppress clogging of nozzle heads. For example, Patent Literature 22 discloses that ink-voids can be prevented by way of controlling viscosity-change into below 10 times and diameter-change into below three times comparing after to before condensing concentration of inks two times thereby making pigments suppress the ink-spreading. Such inks, however, hardly produce high quality images on regular paper.
Patent Literature 23 discloses an ink in which residual after evaporating volatile contents in the ink is a liquid and the viscosity of the residual is below 10 times of the initial viscosity. However, the ink is one containing a dye thus also likely to provide poor image-quality regardless of higher reliability.
Patent Literature 24 discloses an ink in which the viscosity-increase is below 600 times comparing after to before water-evaporation at 60° C. However, the ink is also one containing a dye thus the water resistance is still insufficient in spite that reliability as well as durability are intended to increase by addition of water-soluble polymer.
Patent Literature 25 discloses that an ink with a viscosity of 5 to 15 mPa·s is appropriate in order to assure higher quality. This literature disclose that a certain compound may be favorably added to adjust initial-vaporization velocity and to arrange viscosity for reliability; which may suggest a solution to solve items (3) and (4) in terms of those containing pigments. However, this literature includes no description in terms of particle-size stability of pigments, that is, the ink may lack reliability under long-term preservation depending on ejection heads and/or nozzle sizes although it may be reliable after preservation for 24 hours.
As described above, it is necessary to use high-viscosity inks in order to assure high-quality printing under higher velocities, meanwhile it is difficult to assure reliability of high-viscosity inks.
Patent Literatures 10 and 11 disclose addition of water-insoluble resins into pigment inks for improving image quality. Patent Literature 26 discloses that images on regular paper can be improved using an ink in which the ratio of pigments to resin emulsions is 1:0.1 to 1:1 and the average particle diameter of coloring ingredients is 0.3 to 1.2 μm. Such inks containing resin emulsions may suppress feathering through lowering the bleeding, however, are likely to lack reliability as ink-jet inks due to insufficient image density. As for improvement in reliability, Patent Literature 27 discloses an ink in which a water-insoluble is added to the ink and the lowest temperature to form films is 40° C. or more; Patent Literature 28 discloses an ink in which the particle diameter of additional emulsions is no more than 50 nm. However, the reliability of these inks is likely to be still unsatisfactory and the image quality is insufficient still. Patent Literature 29 discloses improvement in printing nonuniformity by use of inks containing a pigment, saccharide or derivatives thereof, polyols containing five or more hydroxyl groups and a resin emulsion. Suck inks tend to exhibit lower permeability into regular paper and are problematic in terms of feathering and/or bleeding, fixing ability and drying period. Patent Literature 30 discloses an ink consisting of a water-dispersible resin and a self-dispersible pigment in which the solid content is 1.0 to 16% by mass and image quality is improved on regular paper. This proposal may lead to higher water resistance compared to those containing dyes; however, image supporting property may be insufficient with respect to marker pens often utilized for regular paper.
Furthermore, many investigations have been made regarding to viscosity increase along with solid-content increase when pigment dispersions and resin emulsions are added to inks. For example, Patent Literatures 29 and 31 disclose ink formulations in which viscosity-increase is not so significant in spite of solid-content increase by way of adding a resin capable of forming micelle aggregates. However, these proposals suffer from lower image quality due to insufficient permeability onto regular paper. The permeability onto paper can be explained through capillary absorption represented by Lucas-Washburn formula; and the higher is the viscosity, the lower surface tension and/or the less contact angle between paper and inks is required to achieve sufficient permeability. Patent Literatures 32 and 33 propose addition of polyvalent alcohol alkylethers into inks of higher solid-contents in order to improve permeability; however, these proposals suffer from lower image quality due to insufficient permeability in cases where the viscosity increases while the solid content increases.
It is publicly known that silicone surfactants and fluorine-containing surfactants can enhance permeability even in a minute amount and their employment has been investigated in the art. For example, Patent Literatures 34 and 35 propose ink-jet inks with fluorine-containing surfactants; Patent Literatures 36 and 37 propose inks with pigment dispersions and fluorine-containing surfactants. Patent Literature 38 also proposes an ink, with a viscosity of no less than 5 mPa·s, including a fluorine-containing surfactant and a polymer emulsion formed from polymer fine particles and water-insoluble or hardly soluble coloring materials. However, these proposals suffer from hue change along with increase of pigment content in inks, thus it is difficult to attain favorable hue at higher pigment contents, and also the water resistance and fixing ability are likely to be insufficient in cases of self-dispersion pigments.    Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 09-263720    Patent Literature 2: JP-A No. 09-263722    Patent Literature 3: JP-A No. 2002-88286    Patent Literature 4: JP-A No. 11-166127    Patent Literature 5: JP-A No. 2001-192582    Patent Literature 6: JP-A No. 2002-146231    Patent Literature 7: JP-A No. 2002-161221    Patent Literature 8: JP-A No. 2003-49096    Patent Literature 9: JP-A No. 2003-55591    Patent Literature 10: Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-B) No. 62-1426    Patent Literature 11: JP-A No. 55-157668    Patent Literature 12: JP-A No. 01-217088    Patent Literature 13: JP-A No. 2003-49096    Patent Literature 14: JP-A No. 2003-105229    Patent Literature 15: JP-A No. 2003-171594    Patent Literature 16: JP-A No. 2003-192938    Patent Literature 17: JP-A No. 2003-327866    Patent Literature 18: JP-A No. 2003-268278    Patent Literature 19: JP-A No. 2003-327880    Patent Literature 20: JP-A No. 2000-191972    Patent Literature 21: JP-A No. 55-69464    Patent Literature 22: JP-A No. 2002-337449    Patent Literature 23: JP-A No. 2000-095983    Patent Literature 24: JP-A No. 09-111166    Patent Literature 25: JP-A No. 2001-262025    Patent Literature 26: JP-A No. 04-332774    Patent Literature 27: Japanese Patent (JP-B) No. 2867491    Patent Literature 28: JP-A No. 04-18462    Patent Literature 29: JP-B No. 3088588    Patent Literature 30: JP-A No. 2004-35718    Patent Literature 31: JP-A No. 2004-99800    Patent Literature 32: JP-A No. 2004-155867    Patent Literature 33: JP-A No. 2004-203903    Patent Literature 34: JP-B No. 2675001    Patent Literature 35: JP-B No. 2667401    Patent Literature 36: JP-A No. 04-211478    Patent Literature 37: JP-A No. 2003-277658    Patent Literature 38: JP-A No. 2003-226827    Non-Patent Literature 1: Applied Expansion of Functional Pigment Technology, by CMC Co., Ltd.

Pigment dispersion, recording ink, ink cartridge, ink-jet recording method and ink-jet recording apparatus


Secret Information is stored in the transmitter and receiver of the keyless entry system. The information includes a resynchronization authorization code. When resynchronization is requested by the user pressing the appropriate key fob button, a random number is generated in the transmitter and sent to the receiver along with the resynchronization authorization code. The receiver tests the authorization code received with its stored code. If the codes match, the receiver substitutes the random number received from the transmitter for its existing stored access code, thereby placing the transmitter and receiver back in synchronization.

The present invention relates generally to keyless entry systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a method for resynchronizing the transmitter/receiver pair when synchronization is lost due to momentary power failure or a low battery condition, or repeated manipulation of the transmitter buttons when the receiver is out of range, for example.
Rolling code authentication is a common form of vehicle entry security. In such a system, a transmitter is provided in the form of a key fob and a receiver is positioned in the vehicle where it is able to receive encoded transmission from the key fob transmitter. Rolling code authentication can be performed by employing a simple linear counter which advances with each key fob command. The receiver in the vehicle is configured to always expect an increasing value and therefore it disallows repeating counter values. Thus to be in sync the transmitter counter should never fall behind the count of the receiver, nor should the transmitter counter be permitted to get too far ahead of the receiver count. More complex authentication using linear shift feedback register (LFSR) technology is also used as a more secure technique for vehicle entry security.
For a number of reasons, a rolling code authentication system can occasionally fall out of synchronization when the counter values of the transmitter are less than that of the receiver or when the transmitter counter values are greater than those of the receiver by a predetermined number. Loss of synchronization can occur when the transmitter is repeatedly cycled (by pressing the key fob buttons) when the receiver is out of range. Loss of synchronization can also occur when battery power is lost.
One way to ensure against loss of synchronization due to battery power loss is to outfit the transmitter with a nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM which can be used to store the rolling values so they will not be lost. Being nonvolatile, the EEPROM will not lose synchronization due to a power interruption (e.g. loose battery connection or battery failure). The EEPROM protects the integrity of the counters when the internal RAM is powered-off.
However, EEPROM devices are comparatively expensive and it would be desirable to eliminate them from the rolling code authentication circuitry. This presents a problem, since without nonvolatile memory, a system would have to rely on RAM (volatile memory) to store counter values. The need to rely on RAM increases the possibility of corrupted counter values, since even temporary loss of power through a loose battery connection or loss of battery charge would break synchronization.
Loss of synchronization due to repeated cycling of the transmitter when the receiver is out of range is a more difficult problem to address even with EEPROM devices, since eventually, the EEPROM device will become full and will thereby loose the ability to re-establish synchronization. For example, an EEPROM device with capacity to hold twenty numbers would loose synchronization on the twenty-first key press of the transmitter fob while out of range of the receiver. In effect, the twenty-first key press would cause the matching number to be lost as the twenty-first number is added.
It would therefore seem desirable to have a panic button function or resynchronization function which the user could invoke to force resynchronization in the event it is lost. Such a function is difficult to provide without sacrificing security, however. Care must be taken to ensure that the resynchronization sequence cannot be easily recorded and mimicked by a thief. If the resynchronization codes are easily mimicked, it would be a simple matter to gain entry to the vehicle by imitating the resynchronization sequence and then supplying the receiver with a known access code, in effect reprogramming the lock to match the key of the thief. Existing technology has not adequately addressed this problem.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a secure method of synchronizing transmitter and receiver in a keyless entry system of the type which uses encrypted access codes to prevent unauthorized access. The method comprises storing secret information data in the transmitter and storing the same secret information data in the receiver. The secret information includes a resychronization authorization code which is common to both transmitter and receiver. Preferably this resynchronization authorization code is preprogrammed into the transmitter and receiver units during manufacture or by the dealer or installer of the keyless entry system. Further in accordance with tile invention there is stored at least a first access code in the transmitter and at least a first access code in the receiver. These access codes serve to permit access if the transmitter and receiver first access codes match. The access codes further serve to prevent access if the transmitter and receiver first access codes do not match.
According to the inventive method, when a resynchronization sequence is initiated (e.g. by pushing a panic button or resynchronization button) a first random number access code is generated at the transmitter. The transmitter then transmits the resynchronization authorization code and the first random number access code to the receiver. In the transmitter, the first random number access code is substituted for the first access code. Meanwhile, in the receiver, the transmitted resynchronization authorization code is compared with the resynchronization authorization code stored in the receiver. If the transmitted resynchronization authorization code and the stored resynchronization authorization code match, a substitution is made whereby the first random number access code is substituted for the first access code in the receiver. In this way, the first access codes of the transmitter and receiver are reset to match one another, thereby synchronizing transmitter and receiver.
For a more complete understanding of the invention, its objects and advantages, reference may be made to the following specification and to the accompanying drawings.

Resynchronizing transmitters to receivers for secure vehicle entry using cryptography or rolling code


An apparatus for facilitating the connection of tubulars using a top drive, the apparatus comprising a supporting member (13) for connection with said top drive, a tool (30) for gripping a tubular and means for allowing substantially horizontal movement therebetween, wherein said means comprises a flexible membrane (18) enclosing a fluid.

This invention relates to an apparatus and method for facilitating the connection of tubulars using a top drive and is, more particularly but not exclusively, intended for facilitating the connection of a section or stand of casing to a string of casing.
In the construction of oil or gas wells it is usually necessary to line the borehole with a string of tubulars known as casing. Because of the length of the casing required, sections or stands of say two or three sections of casing are progressively added to the string as it is lowered into the well from a drilling platform. In particular, when it is desired to add a section or stand of casing the string is usually restrained from falling into the well by applying the slips of a spider located in the floor of the drilling platform. The new section or stand of casing is then moved from a rack to the well centre above the spider. The threaded pin of the section or stand of casing to be connected is then located over the threaded box of the casing in the well and the connection is made up by rotation therebetween. An elevator is then connected to the top of the new section or stand and the whole casing string lifted slightly to enable the slips of the spider to be released. The whole casing string is then lowered until the top of the section is adjacent the spider whereupon the slips of the spider are reapplied, the elevator disconnected and the process repeated.
It is common practice to use a power tong to torque the connection up to a predetermined torque in order to make the connection. The power tong is located on the platform, either on rails, or hung from a derrick on a chain. However, it has recently been proposed to use a top drive for making such connection.
Because of the high costs associated with the construction of oil and gas wells time is critical and it has been observed by the applicants that the time to connect a tubular to a top drive using existing equipment could be reduced.
It has been observed that sections or stands of tubulars are often not as uniform as desired. In particular, the sections or stands of tubulars are often not straight. The top drive is in perfect alignment with the centre of the spider in the platform of an oil or gas rig. However, a section or stand of tubulars located in the spider would not always be in alignment with the top drive.
There is described an apparatus and method for facilitating the connection of tubulars using a top drive in co-pending UK Patent Application No. 98 18363.5, which apparatus comprises a stator attachable to the top drive and a supporting member for supporting a tool wherein means are provided to allow substantially horizontal movement of said supporting member.
The apparatus disclosed therein is bulky, cumbersome and awkward to use. The present invention attempts to reduce these problems.
Accordingly, there is provided an apparatus for facilitating the connection of tubulars using a top drive, the apparatus comprising a supporting member for connection with said top drive, a tool for gripping a tubular and means for allowing substantially horizontal movement therebetween wherein said means comprises a flexible membrane enclosing a fluid.
Other features of the invention are set out in claims 2 to 15.
There is also provided a method for facilitating the connection of tubulars, the method comprising the steps of moving a tool for gripping a tubular substantially in a horizontal plane relative to a supporting member whereupon a flexible membrane located therebetween is deformed.

Apparatus and method for facilitating the connection of tubulars using a top drive


The present invention provides a system and method for distributing inflation gases within an airbag cushion. Such a cushion may have one or more protection zones configured to inflate to protect vehicle occupants. An inflation channel maybe enclosed by one or more of the protection zones, and may be attached to a mounting surface within a protection zone. The inflation channel may be connected to an inflator, and may have a plurality of holes along its length, sized or spaced apart in a manner selected to provide a comparatively even flow rate of inflation gas to all parts of the cushion during inflation. Additionally, the inflation channel may have a gas outlet extension along which the holes are disposed; the gas outlet extension may have a tapered shape configured to collapse under external pressure to prevent backflow of inflation gases into the inflation channel. The inflation channel may be easily manufactured in a number of ways, including extrusion of a polymeric workpiece with a slit along its length. The slit may be intermittently closed to form the gas outlet extension with the holes, without the need for punching or drilling.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicular safety. More specifically, the present invention relates to a novel apparatus and method for distributing inflation gases in a cushion for an inflatable curtain module.
2. The Relevant Technology
The inclusion of inflatable safety restraint devices, or airbags, is now a legal requirement for many new vehicles. Airbags are typically installed in the steering wheel and in the dashboard on the passenger side of a car. In the event of an accident, an accelerometer within the vehicle measures the abnormal deceleration and triggers the ignition of an explosive charge. Expanding gases from the charge fill the airbags, which immediately inflate in front of the driver and passenger to protect them from impact against the windshield. Side impact airbags, known as inflatable curtains, have also been developed in response to the need for similar protection from impacts in a lateral direction, or against the side of the vehicle.
However, despite their enormous lifesaving potential, the effectiveness of side impact airbags has been somewhat limited by the speed with which inflation gases are able to fill the cushion. Side impact cushions are often designed to unfold or unroll downward to inflate beside a person to keep the person from hitting the door or window during lateral impact. Since a vehicle occupant may be leaning forward, reclined in the seat, or at any position between, such cushions are often made somewhat long to ensure that the occupant hits the cushion.
Cushions for inflatable curtains are often inflated by an inflator positioned either fore or aft of the cushion. Consequently, unlike many front impact airbags, a long gas flow path exists between the inflator and the outermost extent of the cushion. The length of the gas flow path is problematic for a number of reasons.
One such reason is that the cushions are unable to inflate rapidly enough to provide optimal protection. Since most airbag systems are unable to detect a collision until impact has begun to occur, the airbag must move from an uninflated, stowed configuration to a fully inflated configuration within a small fraction of a second. The long flow path increases the time required by the inflation gases to traverse the cushion. Thus, the cushion may not obtain a fully inflated state before the vehicle occupant strikes the cushion.
In an attempt to compensate for the longer gas flow path, inflators with a higher xe2x80x9crise rate,xe2x80x9d or rate of pressure increase of expelled gases, and a higher volume of expelled gases, have been used. Unfortunately, when the inflation gases are more highly pressurized, there is a higher danger of damage to the cushion. Highly-pressurized gases produce stresses in the material of the cushion that may tend to rip the cushion material or split the cushion open along the seams, thereby jeopardizing the effectiveness of the cushion.
Furthermore, even when the inflator produces a larger amount of gas, the inflation gas may expand in the portion of the cushion nearest to the inflator, rather than continuing toward the furthest extents of the cushion. As a result, the cushion may not be uniformly inflated in time to shield occupants properly from impact.
Existing airbag configurations developed in an attempt to solve this problem also have some drawbacks. Some are difficult and/or expensive to manufacture, in part due to additional drilling, punching, aligning, fixturing and the like that must be carried out. Some increase the expense of airbag installation because they have parts that must be inserted into a finished cushion prior to installation of the cushion in a vehicle. Others require additional time to reach a steady state after inflation due to backflow and other continued motion of inflation gases within the cushion.
Accordingly, a need exists for an apparatus and method for distributing inflation gases in an inflatable cushion in a comparatively uniform and rapid manner. A need further exists for such an apparatus and method that can be carried out with a minimum of added expense to the manufacture and installation of the cushion. Furthermore, a need exists for such an apparatus and method that is capable of stabilizing the location of inflation gases when the cushion has been fully inflated.
The apparatus and method of the present invention have been developed in response to the present state of the art, and in particular, in response to the problems and needs in the art that have not yet been fully solved by currently available airbag component attachment systems and methods. Thus, it is an overall purpose of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for distributing inflation gas within an airbag cushion with a high degree of inflation speed and uniformity, manufacturing and installation economy, and inflation stability
An inflatable curtain module according to the present invention may have an inflatable cushion configured to activate to shield a vehicle occupant from impact against a lateral surface of the vehicle, such as a door or window. The cushion preferably has at least one protection zone, and may optionally have multiple protection zones, each of which may serve to protect one occupant. Thus, a single cushion may, for example, cover a rear door or surface as well as a front door, so that an occupant of a back seat can be protected as well as an occupant of a front seat. The protection zones may be connected by a connection zone configured to convey tension and inflation gas between the protection zones.
The cushion may have a first membrane and a second membrane, each of which has an interior portion and an outer edge substantially surrounding the interior portion. The first membrane may also have a mounting surface disposed within the interior portion of the first membrane, and running along a portion of the length of the interior portion. The first and second membranes may be attached at the outer edges such that the interior portions face each other to form the one or more protection zones of the cushion. Each protection zone may be divided into a number of chambers, which may, for example, be oriented substantially upright.
The membranes may be attached in a number of different ways, including sewing, RF welding, chemical or adhesive bonding, or the like. The chambers maybe separated from each other through the use of a similar method, or through the use of an entirely different attachment process.
An inflation channel may be disposed along a portion of the length of the cushion, and may be attached to the mounting surface of the first membrane such that the inflation channel is affixed within one or more protection zones of the cushion. The inflation channel may be coupled to receive inflation gas from an inflator by, for example, connecting a gas guide to the inflator and to the inflation channel. The inflation channel may have a plurality of holes disposed along its length, for distributing inflation gases throughout the cushion.
The inflation channel may have a conduit shaped to convey inflation gas. Additionally, the inflation channel may have a mounting flap configured to be affixed to the mounting surface of the first membrane. The inflation channel may operate to receive and dissipate the initial shock of the expanding, heated inflation gas, thereby preventing damage to the membranes of the cushion. Furthermore, the inflation channel may be designed such that inflation gases are able to freely exit the inflation channel through the holes, but are unable to re-enter as freely.
For example, a gas outlet extension may run along the length of the conduit; the gas outlet may have a substantially tapered shape with an enlarged end toward the conduit and a narrow end away from the conduit. The holes may be formed in the narrow end. Consequently, when the pressure within the conduit is greater than the pressure outside the conduit, the enlarged end remains open and in fluid communication with the conduit. However, when the pressure outside the conduit becomes larger than that within the conduit, the gas outlet extension is compressed to close the holes and limit fluid communication between the conduit and the gas outlet extension. Consequently, backflow of inflation gases into the inflation channel may be limited, and the pressure within the cushion may therefore be comparatively stable directly after inflation.
Attachment of the mounting flap to the mounting surface maybe carried out through any of the attachment methods mentioned above. In order to attach the mounting flap through RF welding, the inflation channel may be constructed of a urethane-based material, or may be constructed of a fabric and coated with urethane at the mounting flap. The mounting surface may similarly be coated with a urethane-based material so that the mounting flap can be RF welded to the mounting surface.
The holes may be strategically positioned and sized to control the flow of inflation gases into each portion of the cushion. More specifically, the holes may be sized or spaced apart in a variable fashion so that the cushion inflates substantially uniformly along its length. For example, the holes may be made comparatively smaller toward the point of entry of inflation gas, and may become larger further into the cushion. Thus, gas flow into the portions of the cushion nearest to the inflator is limited by the flow restriction imposed by the smaller holes. Flow into the portions further from the inflator is less restricted to compensate for the fact that inflation gases must travel a greater distance to reach those portions of the cushion.
Alternatively, the holes maybe spaced apart in a variable fashion, so that the holes are comparatively far apart close to the point of entry of the inflation gas, and comparatively close together further from the point of entry. The holes may then be of a uniform size. The existence of a larger number of holes decreases the flow restriction imposed on inflation gases moving into the portions of the cushion that are further from the point of entry.
The inflation channel may be easily manufactured in a number of ways. For example, the inflation channel maybe extruded from a urethane-based material in the desired shape. The gas outlet extension may be formed fully closed, and selectively opened to provide the holes. In the alternative, the inflation channel may be formed form a workpiece with a slit along the length of the workpiece. Sections of the slit may be selected for use as holes; the slit may then be closed by attaching attachment surfaces of the slit exclusively between the selected sections. The inflation channel may also be formed from a fabric, using conventional fabric shaping and/or attachment methods.
Through the system and method of the present invention, a cushion may receive a more uniform airflow, directed comparatively evenly into all parts of the cushion. Furthermore, inflation stress may be absorbed without risking damage to the cushion. Yet further, continued motion of inflation gases after the cushion has been filled may be restricted through the use of a backflow preventative inflation channel shape. Yet further, such benefits, and more besides, may be obtained without adding greatly to the overall manufacturing or installation cost for the inflatable curtain module.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or maybe learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.

Apparatus and method for airbag inflation gas distribution


According to an embodiment, a printing system includes an information processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus connected to the information processing apparatus via a network. The information processing apparatus includes a memory device that stores information on an application program and information on a default print profile in association with each other. The information processing apparatus obtains, where printing is to be executed by the image forming apparatus, from the memory device, the information on the default print profile in association with the application program used to generate printable data.

Typically, an image forming apparatus is capable of printing printable data generated by an application program executable by an information processing apparatus (PC) such as a personal computer connected to the image forming apparatus. In this case, the PC starts a printer driver, and thereby displays a print instruction window. The PC accepts a print profile set by a user by using the print instruction window. Examples of print profiles include "Nin1" print, "black-and-white" print, "duplex" print, and the like. In the "Nin1" print, printable data of a plurality of pages (N pages) is assigned to one sheet and printed. In the "black-and-white" print, a black-and-white image is printed. In the "duplex" print, images are printed on the both sides of a sheet. The PC outputs a print job to the image forming apparatus, the print job including information on the accepted print profile.
Meanwhile, there is known a printing system that charges a user per printing volume of an image forming apparatus. The printing volume is determined on the basis of, for example, the number of printed sheets (number of printing) and print color. In other words, the printing volume depends on the print profile. Further, in general, an arbitrary print profile (for example, 2in1, black-and-white, duplex, etc.) is set by a user as the print profile. For example, where a user wants to print data of 100 pages and where printing is executed on the basis of the print profile "black-and-white, duplex, 2in1", the printing system charges the user of printing on the basis of the printing volume, in which the number of printing is 25 and the print color is black-and-white. Meanwhile, depending on a user, printing may be executed on the basis of another print profile "full-color, simplex, 1in1". In the case of this print profile, the printing system charges the user on the basis of the printing volume, in which the number of printing is 100 and the print color is full-color, whose printing cost is 4 times or more of the printing cost of the print profile "black-and-white, duplex, 2in1".
In other words, even if a manager recommends a user to execute printing on the basis of a low-cost print profile, it depends on a user to set the low-cost print profile. However, when a user is in a hurry and in other cases, the user forgets to set the low-cost print profile. As a result, printing may be executed on the basis of a high-cost print profile. It is difficult for users to always use low-cost print profiles, which is a problem.

Printing system configured to force a predetermined application to use a default print profile


The present invention provides a receiver assembly. The receiver assembly comprises a receiver housing comprising a first housing part and a second housing part. The receiver housing defines an inner space, and the first housing part and the second housing part are movable relative to each other to define an open configuration and a closed configuration. The receiver assembly further comprises an armature extending in a first direction in the inner space, and a diaphragm operationally attached to the armature via a drive pin extending in a second direction, where the first and second directions are different. The drive pin and the armature are formed in one part. A circumferential edge part of the diaphragm is arranged in a joint between the first housing part and the second housing part in the closed configuration.

Traditionally, assembling of receiver assemblies require multiple step including positioning of the drive pin relative to the armature and the diaphragm. This can deform the armature and/or the drive pin. Furthermore, gluing of the drive pin to the armature requires a curing step. During this curing step the drive pin may move.
Additionally, attachment of the diaphragm requires a plurality of cams and/or recesses to keep is in place.
Thus, the assembling includes a series of process steps. Furthermore, assembling of receiver assemblies may result in a high reject rate, as the process steps including gluing, curing, and the like may be associated with a higher error rate due to the very small size of the different elements.

Receiver assembly comprising an armature and a diaphragm


A headset telephone having an in-use indicator for notifying passers-by when the wearer of the headset is carrying on a telephone conversation. In one embodiment of the invention, an in-use indicator comprising a light-emitting diode is disposed on the end of the headset's voice boom, and is illuminated in response to activation of the headset. In another embodiment of the invention, activation of the headset causes a transmitter to transmit a signal to a remote in-use indicator not physically connected to the remainder of the telephone system.

Telephones having headset systems for allowing "hands-free" use are well known, and a great many telephone/headset systems are commercially available. In most cases, the handset, if any, of a telephone which has a headset, is left on-hook during headset use, or taken off-hook and left beside the phone. One problem with headset telephones, however, is that passers-by may be unaware that the user of a headset telephone is carrying on a conversation, and may therefore not afford the headset user the same common courtesies as when a telephone user is holding a telephone handset to his or her ear. On the other hand, passers-by who notice that a headset user is wearing a headset may incorrectly assume that the user is carrying on a telephone conversation, possibly causing the passers-by to take unnecessary steps such as speaking in hushed tones or foregoing face-to-face conversations with the headset wearer, in order to avoid interrupting the non-existent telephone conversation.
Such problems and inconveniences, although usually minor, can detract from the convenience and efficiency of hands-free telephone use.


A traveling environment recognition device capable of accurately recognizing a traveling environment of a vehicle. An occupancy grid map that stores an occupancy probability of each obstacle to traveling of the own vehicle for each cell of the occupancy grid map is generated, and the occupancy probability for each cell is updated according to Bayesian inference. More specifically, for each cell of the occupancy grid map, the occupancy probability calculated from information from a radar device, the occupancy probability calculated from information from a communication device, and the occupancy probability calculated from information from a storage device that stores map data are blended to provide an occupancy probability of the obstacles to traveling of the own vehicle, which leads to more accurate traveling environment recognition.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a traveling environment recognition device that recognizes a traveling environment of a vehicle.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, various traveling control techniques based on a traveling environment of the vehicle (such as a forward situation of the vehicle), such as Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Pre-Crash Safety (PCS), have been put into practical use. The ACC is adapted to keep an inter-vehicle distance preset by an occupant of one's own vehicle between the own vehicle and a preceding vehicle in front of the own vehicle. The Pre-Crash Safety (PCS) is adapted to increase braking force of one's own vehicle in cases where a probability of collision of the own vehicle with an object located on a traveling course of the own vehicle (such as a preceding vehicle and a guardrail) becomes larger than a prescribed value.
To achieve more accurate vehicle traveling control, it is essential to more accurately recognize the traveling environment of the vehicle. The traveling environment of the vehicle can be detected not only through a camera or a radar device or the like, but also through map data. However, since the traveling environment that can be determined through the map data is less accurate than the actual traveling environment that can be detected in real time through the camera or the radar device, the map data cannot be expected to lead to fully accurate vehicle traveling control.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-3253 discloses a road shape acquisition device that can improve accuracy of the map data. This road shape acquisition device generates a gridded link plane associated with a link representing a road on the map, updates a white line existence probability for each grid cell according to a Bayes update expression where the white line is detected by a camera, and acquires an actual road shape from the cells that have a high resultant white line existence probability, which leads to high accuracy of the map data.
However, as described above, since the map data is less accurate than the detection result obtained by the camera or the like, combination of the detection result with the map data (more specifically, the link plane associated with the link) as described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-3253 may lead to a large deviation from an actual spatial position.
In consideration of the foregoing, exemplary embodiments of the present invention are directed to providing a traveling environment recognition device that can accurately recognize a traveling environment of a vehicle.

Traveling environment recognition device


A self-backdriving jackscrew apparatus including a biasing member connected to a screw portion of a jackscrew that exerts backdriving force on the screw to turn the screw in a rotational direction that returns a nut portion of the jackscrew to a home position on the screw.

This invention relates generally to a jackscrew apparatus for actuating a mechanism operably connected to a nut portion of the jackscrew.
Jackscrews are commonly used to actuate mechanisms such as vehicle door latch components and to move other members that, to be moved efficiently, require the mechanical advantage provided by such a system. A typical jackscrew includes a nut that is supported for reciprocal translational motion and against rotational motion. A screw threadedly and drivingly engages the nut to drive the nut in a driven direction along the screw. The nut may be backdriven, i.e., returned to a home position on the screw, by reversing screw rotation.
It""s known for jackscrews to include self-backdriving features that either backdrive or assist in backdriving or moving a jackscrew nut opposite the driven direction to a home position. To accomplish this, it""s known for a self-backdriving jackscrew system to include a spring that""s connected between the jackscrew nut and a stationary structure spaced from the nut in the driven direction. In this position, the spring bears on the nut, resisting nut motion in the driven direction. As the nut moves closer to a distal end of the screw in the driven direction, the spring builds up backdriving force. When driving force is removed from the screw, the pent-up backdriving force of the spring pushes axially on the screw, either causing the nut to return to its home position or aiding a reversible drive motor in returning the nut to its home position.
To function properly, self-backdriving jackscrew systems of this type must have jackscrew nut threads and screw threads of a relatively high pitch, a relatively stiff backdriving spring, and/or a suitable lubricant between the threads of the nut and screw. On their own, or in combination, incorporation of highly pitched threads and a relatively stiff backdriving spring necessitate the selection of a more powerful drive motor than would otherwise be required to operate the jackscrew for a given amount of resistance provided by the member intended to be moved by the jackscrew.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a jackscrew apparatus comprising a backdriving system that provides less resistance to the movement of a jackscrew nut in the driving direction. It would also be desirable for such an apparatus to include a backdriving system that backdrives its jackscrew nut more efficiently and with fewer frictional losses.
The invention is a self-backdriving jackscrew apparatus for returning or reducing resistance to the return of a jackscrew nut to a home position on a jackscrew shaft. The apparatus includes a nut supported for reciprocal translational motion and against rotational motion and having internal helical threads. The apparatus also includes a screw having external helical threads that complement and threadedly engage those of the nut. The screw is supported for rotation about a longitudinal screw axis to drive the nut in a driven direction along the longitudinal screw axis when the screw is rotated in one direction about the screw axis and to backdrive the nut opposite the driven direction when the screw is rotated about the screw axis in a second rotational direction opposite the first rotational direction. A biasing member is connected to the screw and is configured to exert backdriving force on the screw that turns the screw in the second rotational direction about the screw axis.
Therefore, because the biasing member applies backdriving force to the screw rather than axially-directed force to the nut, the biasing member is able to backdrive or assist in backdriving the nut more efficiently and with fewer frictional losses.
The invention also includes a method for returning or reducing resistance to the return of a jackscrew nut to a home position on a jackscrew shaft. According to this method a nut having internal helical threads is supported for reciprocal translational motion and against rotational motion on a screw having external helical threads complementing and threadedly engaging those of the nut. The nut is supported on the screw for rotation in a first rotational direction about a longitudinal screw axis to drive the nut in a driven direction along the longitudinal screw axis when the screw is rotated in one direction about the screw axis and to backdrive the nut opposite the driven direction when the screw is rotated about the screw axis in a second rotational direction opposite the first rotational direction. A biasing member is connected to the screw and is configured to provide backdriving force to rotate the screw in the second rotational direction. The nut is then moved along the screw in the driven direction against the backdriving force of the biasing member by rotating the screw in a first rotational direction. The nut is then released and the backdriving force of the biasing member is allowed to move the nut along the screw opposite the driven direction by causing the nut to rotate in the second rotational direction.


A method and apparatus for updating stored data structures representing network forwarding information used for network route lookup is described. By making sure there is only one level of dependency between data structures storing forwarding information, these data structures may be updated quickly and with minimal overhead.

§1.1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments consistent with the claimed invention concern Internet Protocol ("IP") networks. In particular, embodiments consistent with the claimed invention concern hash-based route lookup methods and apparatus.
§1.2. Background Information
In IP route lookup, a system (such as a router, for example) extracts each incoming packet's destination IP address and performs a longest prefix match with stored routes. Ternary content-addressable memory ("TCAM") based schemes are widely used in midrange routers. (See, e.g., the articles: F. Zane, G. Narlikar and A. Basu, "CoolCAMs: Power-Efficient TCAMs for Forwarding Engines," in Proc. of INFOCOM, Vol. 1, pp. 42-52, (2003); and K. Zheng, C. Hu, H. Lu and B. Liu, "A TCAM-Based Distributed Parallel IP Lookup Scheme and Performance Analysis," IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 863-875 (2006), each of which is incorporated herein by reference.) Unfortunately, however, their high cost and large power consumption make them unattractive for high-end routers such as so-called core routers.
Direct lookup schemes can use standard SRAM or DRAM to store the next hop for each prefix, in a table or multiple tables that are addressed by the prefix. However, such schemes are only effective for short address lookups (e.g., less than 16 bits), and are not practical for longer lookups due to prefix expansion. (See, e.g., the articles: P. Gupta, S. Lin and N. McKeown, "Routing Lookups in Hardware at Memory Access Speeds," in Proc of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies (INFOCOM 1998), Vol. 3, pp. 1240-1247 (March/April 1998); N.-F. Huang and S.-M. Zhao, "A Novel IP-Routing Lookup Scheme and Hardware Architecture for Multigigabit Switching Routers," IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Comm., Vol. 17, No. 6, pp. 1093-1104 (June 1999); N.-F. Huang, S.-M. Zhao, J.-Y. Pan and C.-A. Su, "A Fast IP Routing Lookup Scheme for Gigabit Switching Routers," in Proc of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies (INFOCOM 1999), Vol. 3, pp. 1429-1436, (March 1999); and V. Srinivasan and G. Varghese, "Fast Address Lookups using Controlled Prefix Expansion," ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 1-40, (1999), each of which is incorporated herein by reference.)
To avoid the prohibitively large memory requirements of direct lookup schemes due to prefix expansion, hash-based lookup schemes have been proposed. (See, e.g., the articles: S. Cadambi, S. Chakradhar, and H. Shibata, "Prefix Processing Technique for Faster IP Routing," U.S. Pat. No. 7,398,278; S. Kaxiras and G. Keramidas, "IPStash: A Set-associative Memory Approach for Efficient IP-Lookup," in Proc. of INFOCOM, Vol. 2, pp. 992-1001 (2005); J. Hasan, S. Cadambi, V. Jakkula and S. Chakradhar, "Chisel: A Storage-efficient, Collision-free Hash-based Network Processing Architecture," in Proc of TSCA, pp. 203-215 (2006); H. Song, S. Dharmapurikar, J. Turner, and J. Lockwood, "Fast Hash Table Lookup Using Extended Bloom Filter: An Aid to Network Processing," in Proc of SIGCOMM, pp. 181-192 (2005); S. Dharmapurikar, P. Krishnamurthy and D. E. Taylor, "Longest Prefix Matching Using Bloom Filters," IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 397-409 (2006); H. Song, F. Hao, M. Kodialam and T. Lakshman, "IPv6 Lookups using Distributed and Load Balanced Bloom Filters for 100 Gbps Core Router Line Cards," in Proc. of INFOCOM, pp. 2518-2526 (2009); and M. Bando, N. S. Artan, and H. J. Chao, "FlashLook: 100 Gbps Hash-Tuned Route Lookup Architecture," in Proc. of HPSR, 2009, each of which is incorporated herein by reference.) Whether applying a hash function to each prefix length or to a certain prefix length (e.g., /16, /24 and /32 for IPv4), those prefixes are hashed to a table. Various methods have been proposed to reduce the number of prefixes hashed to the same entry of the hash table. Bloom filters are sometimes used to query the existence of the prefix before finding the next hop information ("NHI") of the prefix.
Hardware trie-based schemes can achieve high throughput. However, they require many memory chips in parallel to accommodate the pipelined stages required by the many levels of the trie (which has a height proportional to the number of bits in the IP address). (See, e.g., the articles: W. Eatherton, G. Varghese and Z. Dittia, "Tree Bitmap: Hardware/Software IP Lookups with Incremental Updates," ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 97-122 (2004); S. Sikka and G. Varghese, "Memory-Efficient State Lookups with Fast Updates," in Proc. of SIGCOMM 2000 pp. 335-347 (2000); R. Sangireddy, N. Futamura, S. Aluru and A. K. Somani, "Scalable, Memory Efficient, High-Speed IP Lookup Algorithms," IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 802-812 (2005); H. Song, J. Turner, and J. Lockwood, "Shape Shifting Tries for Faster IP Route Lookup," in Proc. of ICNP, 2005; A. Basu and G. Narlikar, "Fast Incremental Updates for Pipelined Forwarding Engines," IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 690-703 (2005); and W. Jiang and V. K. Prasanna, "Multi-Terabit IP Lookup Using Parallel Bidirectional Pipelines," in Proc. of CF, pp. 241-250 (2008), each of which is incorporated by reference.) This is especially a problem for IPv6, which has a larger number of bits in the address.
Multibit-trie architectures, such as Tree Bitmap, have gained much attention because they can reduce the number of pipeline stages, and because of their efficient data structures. Each Tree Bitmap node contains two pieces of information: (1) an Internal Bitmap of the sub-trie and a pointer for the NHI; and (2) an External Bitmap for a head pointer to the block of child nodes and a bitmap for child sub-tries. As a result, one lookup requires multiple off-chip memory accesses. To reduce the number of off-chip memory accesses, H. Song et al. proposed Shape Shift Tries ("SST"), which allow the number of trie levels in each access to be flexible. (H. Song et al, Proc of ICNP, 2005) SST can achieve approximately 50% reduction in memory accesses compared to the Tree Bitmap. Although this reduction is significant, the number of memory accesses required by the SST is still considerable. In addition, SST is only suitable for sparse tries, limiting its application to future routers.
A different way to reduce memory accesses in the Tree Bitmap architecture is to increase the "stride size". The stride of an array of data refers to the number of locations in memory between successive array elements, measured in bytes or in units of the size of the array's elements. However, increasing the stride size will increase the bitmap size exponentially and result in more off-chip memory accesses, which limit system performance. Another disadvantage for choosing a large stride size is that update speed may be degraded. This is because there will be more child nodes in each trie, and they are stored in consecutive memory locations. Whenever a new child node is added, many other child nodes are moved to other memory locations. In the worst case, an entire block of child nodes is relocated.
Another typical drawback of trie-based schemes is their uneven distribution of data structures in memory. Usually in the tries, the lower level contains many more prefixes than the higher level. Each pipeline stage consists of either one level or multiple levels in the trie, and typically stores the information of its prefixes in a memory bank. As the number of prefixes differs drastically from stage to stage, the loading among memory modules is quite uneven, resulting in low memory utilization. In W. Jiang, et al, the authors proposed a solution to balance the pipeline memory. (W. Jiang, et al, Proc. of CF, 2008, pp. 241-250) However, their scheme uses twenty-five independent memory chips resulting in a high cost. The number of memory chips required is even more when IPv6 is to be supported.
In view of the foregoing, it would be useful to provide a route lookup system that overcomes one or more of the above-described limitations.

Updating prefix-compressed tries for IP route lookup

Polytechnic Institute of New York University


Aspects of a mobile device integrated visual enhancement system are described herein. The aspects may include a wearable display headset that includes one or more display modules and a mobile device communicatively connected with the wearable display headset. The mobile device may include a first screen, a display detection module configured to detect the one or more display modules and receive display parameters from the wearable display headset, and a content delivery module configured to deliver visual content on the one or more detected display modules in accordance with the display parameters.

Various devices have been developed for visual enhancement technology such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), etc. Typically, such devices may include a main console and one or more remote controllers. For example, Oculus® gaming set may include two remote ring-shaped controllers. PlayStation® gaming set also includes two remote sticks called PlayStation Move® or a gun-shaped VR aim controller.
However, current solutions for visual enhancement technology may require a stand-alone computing device and one or more wired or remote controllers. These solutions may meet the needs of indoor applications of visual enhancement technology but the immobility of the computing device may lead to inconvenience and limit the application scenarios. Further, the additional remote controllers may result in extra cost and need extra power supply.

Mobile device integrated visual enhancement system


To provide a dental abutment having an embedded part embedded into an embedding hole of a block and fixed in the embedding hole. An uniform gap for a dental adhesive can be formed along an approximately entire circumference between an outer peripheral surface of the embedded part and an inner surface of the embedding hole. The dental abutment includes a gingiva contact part 1 having a forward-thicker truncated conical shape on the intraoral side; a fitting part 2 projecting toward the jawbone side from the jawbone-side contact surface 1a of the gingiva contact part 1, and fitted into an end part on the intraoral side of the implant fixture so as not to rotate; and an embedded part 3 to be embedded. Three or more projecting line parts 5 are formed on an outer peripheral surface 3a of the embedded part 3 so as to form the uniform gap.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dental abutment, which is fitted to the intraoral side of an implant fixture embedded in a jawbone and is fixed at the implant fixture with a bolt penetrating a through hole provided to be coaxial with a center axis. The dental abutment can strongly bond and fix a dental prosthesis, which is produced from cutting a ceramics block, to an accurate position based on three-dimensional shape data, (where the dental prosthesis includes members for a dental prosthesis, such as coping and the like).
2. Description of the Conventional Art
As a method of producing a lot of dental prostheses having stable quality for a short time as much as possible while reducing the burden to a dental technician, a dental CAD/CAM system has been developed in recent years. The dental CAD/CAM system is to produce a dental prosthesis by using a three-dimensional measuring apparatus, a computer or the like to create three-dimensional shape data of a dental prosthesis such as an inlay, a crown, a bridge, a coping, or the like, and cutting a block by an automatic cutting machine based on the three-dimensional shape data of the dental prosthesis.
When a dental prosthesis to be attached to the intraoral side of an implant fixture is produced by the dental CAD/CAM system, a different technique from an inlay or a crown is necessary. That is, the dental prosthesis for a dental implant is different from a dental prosthesis such as an inlay, a crown, or the like, and in the production of the dental prosthesis for a dental implant, it is necessary to produce a dental prosthesis capable of being strongly fixed at an accurate position of a dental abutment, so that the dental prosthesis can be placed and fixed at a position as planned, where the dental abutment is fitted to the intraoral side of an implant fixture embedded in a jawbone and fixed at the implant fixture with a bolt penetrating a through hole provided to be coaxial with a center axis.
A metallic dental prosthesis has been conventionally used as the dental prosthesis for a dental implant produced by the dental CAD/CAM system. Thus, since there is no problem in strength, the dental prosthesis is just produced to externally fitted to an accurate position of a dental abutment, which is fitted to the intraoral side of an implant fixture embedded in a jawbone and fixed at the implant fixture with a bolt penetrating a through hole provided to be coaxial with a center axis. However, in recent years, the dental prosthesis for a dental implant produced by the dental CAD/CAM system is made of ceramics such as zirconia or the like in recent years, so that the beauty appearance is not spoiled at a time of deterioration of gingiva after a dental implant treatment.
However, if ceramics such as zirconia or the like is used for a material of the block, the ceramics block is a sintered compact, and the degree of shrinkage generating after sintering is different in places, so that there is a problem that it is difficult to form the dental prosthesis to be externally fitted to the accurate position of the dental abutment after sintering. In addition, there is also a problem that the strength at a portion to be externally fitted to the dental abutment may be lacked in the ceramics dental prosthesis.
Present inventors have invested a method of producing a dental prosthesis to solve problems in the production of a dental prosthesis for a dental implant with the dental CAD/CAM system (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-222225). The method solves a problem that it is difficult to maintain a shape of a fitting part with desired dimensional accuracy after sintering of ceramics such as zirconia or the like, and a problem that the strength of the fitting part may be lacked in ceramics such as zirconia or the like. In the method, a separate part having a fitting part formed to be fitted to an implant fixture is produced in advance, and an embedding part of the separate part is embedded into an embedding hole and fixed, where the embedding hole is formed in advance at a block for a dental prosthesis or formed when cutting the block to be a dental prosthesis. Then, the fitting part to be fitted to the implant fixture is used in a state of projecting.
When the separate part is used, it is necessary to strongly fix the separate part to the block. For example, it is necessary to cut the separate part of a dental abutment or the like and an embedding hole formed at the block in advance or the like with high accuracy, insert an embedding part of the separate part of a dental abutment or the like into the embedding hole of the block, and strongly bond and fix the separate part with an dental adhesive or the like. The reason of this is as follows. That is, in case of the block made of ceramics such as zirconia, which has been widely used in recent years, the strength of the fitting part may be lacked. So, only by fitting a concave part provided at the embedding hole of the block to a projection part provided at the embedded part of the separate part of a dental abutment or the like, the block cannot be prevented from breaking in many cases.
In such a case of adhering and fixing, it is important that a gap for a dental adhesive is kept certainly between the embedding hole formed in the block and the embedded part of a dental abutment or the like, and that the embedded part of a dental abutment or the like is positioned and fixed in the embedding hole of the block. That is, since sufficient adhesive strength cannot be obtained if the coated dental adhesive is too thick, it is necessary to certainly form the gap so that the dental adhesive comes to be an uniformly desired thin layer. However, for example, only by cutting a cylindrical embedding hole and a columnar embedded part, coating an adhesive to an inner surface of the embedding hole and an outer peripheral surface of the embedded part, and inserting the embedded part into the embedding hole, the embedded part with a small diameter is freely moved in the embedding hole with a large diameter. Thus, it is very difficult to form a layer of the adhesive with an uniform thin thickness over an approximately entire circumference between the inner surface of the embedding hole and the outer peripheral surface of the embedded part. Therefore, it is necessary to enable to position and fix the embedded part of a dental abutment or the like in the embedding hole of the block.


In the dielectric barrier discharge lamps according to the invention, the elongate, for example strip-like or linear, electrodes are each separated into two electrode elements (14a, 14b; 15a, 15b) by a gap in the longitudinal direction. This makes it possible, as intended, to operate one element (14a, 15a) of the electrode elements separately from the other element (14b, 15b) and, as a result, to cause either only one part of the lamp to illuminate or the entire lamp. For this purpose, one element (14a, 15a) of the electrode elements is connected to a first operating device (22), and the other element (14b, 15b) to a second operating device (21).

The specification U.S. Pat. No. 6,605,899 B2 has disclosed a tubular barrier discharge lamp having linear inner electrodes. The inner electrodes extend along the entire inner wall of the discharge tube and are passed to the outside in a gas-tight manner at one end. For this purpose, the discharge tube is sealed in a gas-tight manner at the end of the electrode bushings with the aid of a closure element in the form of a plate. For this purpose, the discharge tube is provided at this end with a constriction which annularly surrounds the edge of the closure element in the form of a plate. The constriction and the closure element in the form of a plate are then fused with one another in a gas-tight manner, the inner electrodes being passed through this seal to the outside.
Such lamps having different lengths are required in many applications, for example for scanner areas of different sizes. For example, there are devices which are suitable for documents having a size of up to A3 but also others which are suitable for up to A2 or even up to A0. For this purpose, in each case different lamps having a corresponding length are required. In order in this case to ensure the same illuminance for lamps of different lengths, a correspondingly matched operating device is required for each lamp length. Specifically it has been shown that the illuminance is approximately halved when a lamp is operated which has a length of approximately 650 mm using the same operating device that is designed for a lamp having a length of approximately 350 mm.

Dielectric barrier discharge lamp having divided electrodes

Patent-Treuhand-Gesellschaft fuer Elektrische Gluehlampen mbH


A pluggable optical transceiver having a slidable actuator assembly for quickly and easily removing the transceiver from a receptacle cage assembly is provided. The actuator assembly includes an actuator collar and slide member that can slide in a forward and rearward direction. As force is exerted on the actuator collar, the actuator and slide member slide rearwardly causing the transceiver to become disengaged from the receptacle. In this manner, the transceiver is released and can be removed easily from the receptacle.

The instant invention relates to pluggable optical transceivers. Particularly, the invention relates to a push-pull actuator release collar for quickly and easily removing a small form factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver from a transceiver-receptacle cage assembly.
Pluggable optical transceivers are known in the art, and have been the subject of various industry standards and sourcing agreements between common vendors. In particular, multiple vendors have entered into a multi-source agreement (MSA) setting forth common standards and specifications for small form factor pluggable (SFP) transceivers. By way of review, an optical transceiver is an integrated fiber optic component including an optical transmitter and an optical receiver. The pluggable transceiver includes a first end with a fiber optic connector and a second end with an electrical connector. For the SFP transceiver, the fiber optical connector is an LC-type duplex connector. The electrical connector is a card edge connector that is received into a female electrical connector housed inside a receptacle. The receptacle assembly is mounted on a daughter card of a host system. A common mechanical and electrical outline for the SFP transceiver is defined by the MSA. However, each individual manufacturer (vendor) is responsible for its own development and manufacturing of the SFP transceiver including developing a method for releasing the transceiver from the receptacle assembly.
The MSA provides some specifications for securing the transceiver to the receptacle cage. Particularly, the MSA specifies a spring-loaded latching tab in the receptacle that engages a standard locking detent on the bottom surface of the transceiver. When the transceiver is slidably inserted into the receptacle, the detent engages the latching tab and the transceiver is physically retained in place by the interlocking engagement of the detent to the latching tab.
Turning to the subject of the present invention, the MSA does not provide any standard mechanisms for releasing and removing the transceiver from the receptacle cage. In this regard, the instant invention provides a novel actuator assembly for disengaging the latching tab from the detent, thus allowing a person to easily remove the transceiver.
The actuator assembly of the present invention comprises two separate components. The first component is a slide member slidably mounted on the bottom surface of the transceiver. The slide member is located adjacent to the locking detent on the transceiver.
The second component of the actuator assembly is an actuator collar that is mounted on and surrounds the front end of the transceiver (i.e., the LC Duplex connector end of the transceiver). The actuator collar, adapted to slide in a forward and rear direction, is captured between the slide member and shoulder abutments on the transceiver housing. Pushing the actuator collar rearwardly causes the lower horizontal leg (i.e., cross-bar) of the collar to engage the slide member. The actuator collar pushes the slide in a linear direction rearwardly towards the latching tab in the receptacle cage. The slide member has angled cam-surfaces that engage the latching tab and cause the tab to become disengaged from the locking detent. Thus, the transceiver is released from the receptacle cage. Kick-out springs in the receptacle cage automatically force the transceiver to slide forward. The user can then pull the transceiver easily out of the receptacle.
The slide member further comprises a pair of leaf springs. When the transceiver is released and pulled out of the receptacle cage, the leaf springs force the actuator collar and slide member to spring back to their initial forward positions.
Among the objects of the instant invention are: providing an optical transceiver module having an integrated actuator assembly; providing an actuator assembly having a slide member that can engage a latching tab in a receptacle cage to unlock a transceiver module from the cage; and providing an actuator assembly, wherein the profile of the assembly is substantially within the defined dimensions of the transceiver module.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.

Pluggable optical transceiver with push-pull actuator release collar


The present invention relates to a hand mixer having a heat activation function. The heat activation function preferably allows a user to heat ingredients that are to be mixed by a hand mixer. The hand mixer may include a cavity that has each of a fan, a motor to drive the fan, heated coils, and an output area or mouth. When a user wishes to activate the heating function to soften ingredients in a bowl or other vessel to be mixed, he or she may use a controller to activate the fan and blow air through the heated coils and out from the output area toward the ingredients to be mixed and/or mixing devices used to mix the ingredients, so that the ingredients may be softened.

Mixers are kitchen devices that have long been used by amateurs and professionals alike to mix ingredients prior to cooking or baking. Common mixers include hand mixers and stand mixers, both of which make use of a gear-driven mechanism to rotate beaters. The beaters agitate ingredients in a bowl (e.g. solid, semi-solid, or liquid ingredients). Such mixers help to reduce the time and effort required for laborious tasks like stirring, whisking, and beating.
Mixers may be provided as hand-held "hand mixers" having a handle mounted above an enclosure, the enclosure including the motor and gearing used to drive the beaters. Such hand mixers are ordinarily used for smaller mixing jobs, for example those completed by users in their home kitchen. The hand mixers are typically used to mix ingredients in a kitchen container like a bowl that hold the ingredients while mixing.
Stand mixers are alternatives to hand mixers that are larger and have more powerful motors than hand mixers. They are typically used for larger jobs and can reduce preparation time because of their more powerful motors. Stand mixers mount the motor that drives the rotary action in a frame or stand which bears the weight of the device. They generally have a special container that is locked in place while the mixer is operating. A typical home stand mixer includes a wire whisk for whipping creams and egg whites, a flat beater for mixing batters, and a dough hook for kneading.
Hand and stand mixers are often used to mix ingredients that are not naturally soft. For example, when making cookies, bakers often need to mix a cold stick of butter, sugar, vanilla, and eggs. The cold stick of butter, without being melted or softened prior to mixing, can clump and cause the mixer to get stuck or otherwise not smoothly blend. This sort of clumping can make mixing difficult. Moreover, ingredients mixed at lower temperatures are more likely to stick to the beaters used to mix the ingredients than are heated, softened ingredients. This also can add complexity to the mixing process.
Some bakers soften butter or similar ingredients by microwaving or otherwise heating the butter prior to mixing. However, this occupies valuable time and may introduce foul or otherwise unwelcome flavors and odors into the ingredients. For example, if a baker microwaves butter that will be used to bake cookies in a microwave just used to pop popcorn, the popcorn flavor may be introduced to the butter and subsequently the cookies.
It is therefore desirable to provide a softening function for hand mixers and stand mixers alike to heat food so that it is softened prior to or during the mixing process. That way, ingredients to be mixed are softened and the mixing process is made easier.


The invention relates to a hybrid hinge. The hybrid hinges 7, 8 are used for rotatably adjoining segments S1, S2, S1 of a suitable electronic apparatus. The hybrid hinge 7, 8 comprise respective rigid hinges 2, 4 arranged to rotate the segments S1, S2, respectively S2, S1′ about respective shafts 2, 4. The hybrid hinges further comprise respective elastic hinges having respective portions 3a, 3b, 3c and 5a, 5b, 5c. Preferably, a central portion 3b, 5b of the elastic hinges is arranged to coincide with the shaft 2a, 4a. More preferably, the elastic hinges are arranged to seal an interface between the segments S1, S2 and S2, S1′ in the area of the rigid hinge. The invention further relates to an electronic device comprising the hybrid hinge.

Hinges are widely applicable for adjoining segments, notably of an apparatus, which are conceived to be rotated with respect to each other about a shaft. Hinges between two segments can either be realized by a rigid hinge having a shaft and thereby defining a sole axis of rotation for the segments, or by a elastic hinge, also known as a living hinge or an elastic hinge. An example of the rigid hinge is a butt-hinge comprising the shaft that runs through suitable openings in the two joined segments. The living hinge is usually manufactured from a relatively thin elastic material. The elasticity of a elastic hinge gives the adjoined segments the freedom to rotate with respect to each other, however the rotation axis is not fixed. Therefore, this kind of hinge also gives some freedom for the adjoined segments in other directions than rotation alone. Deformation of the living hinge other than a direction of the rotation around the intended sole axis of an apparatus can cause damage to the apparatus, in particular to parts that bridge the hinge.
It is a disadvantage of the known rigid hinge in that it is comparatively voluminous requiring a substantial space in an apparatus. In addition, gaps are present between the displaceable segments due to the construction of the rigid hinge. It is a disadvantage of the living hinge in that it does not have a well determined axis of rotation allowing for the segments to be twisted with respect to each other.

Hybrid hinge and an electronic device comprising the hybrid hinge